setting chapter markers on series backup

[itchione]

I have 10 seasons of "stargate sg1" & 2 seasons of "Stargate Atlantis" :)

The authoring of these box sets are annoying to say the least..
What is most annoying is that after the initial episode start, i get the episode intro/title, you know, the who is who of the series.
I may watch the episode intro/title of the 1st episode of the 1st season, but i don't care to watch it every episode.
Unfortunately the dvd authors did not define a chapter marker at the end of the episode title/intro so going to the next chapter takes me mid point through the episode :(
And fast forwarding is not so reliable on my dvd player...
Also as i move towards the later seasons, the discs seem to be more prone to tracking problems and scratching so i am concerned about their longevity.

So what i plan to do (at some time) is back up these episodes to hdd/dvd and clean up the authoring so that i have a chapter marker at the end of the episode intro/title (where i want it) and a menu system so i can select a season and episode to play from.
I'm really not interested in other chapter markers within a 40 minute episode, or a menu system allowing me to jump to these other chapters.

Ideally; load dvd/hdd, choose season, choose episode, play, (choose to) jump to next chapter once 1st episode title/intro starts (and ideally automatically jump next episode title/intro if i continue to watch more episodes in a continuous viewing session).

Then i can safely place my box sets in a dark cupboard for safe keeping.

I have played a little with pgcedit, just basic stuff really, but i did manage to joined a flipper discs i have :)
But is this the most effective (free) tool to achieve my plans ?

As we are talking of 12 box sets with 6 discs each, thats 72 backup dvds, keeping it all on hdd or possibly divx encoding on a dvd (per season) may be logical choice in this case :?
What (free) tools should i use if i go down the divx path ?

Cheers, Itchion

[r0lZ]

Just two answers:

You can add chapters to an existing DVD with VobBlanker. Use the Split function in Cells mode.

I use Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD to reauthor existing titles, and create simple menus. You can also add chapters or cut the intro. But it has several limitations. The major one is that it supports only one audio and one subpic stream. Also, it is not free.

[blutach]

I see this a lot of TV Series. As r0lZ said, use VobBlanker (http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/vobblanker.htm) - splitting guide on site written by a total idiot!

Regards

[itchione]

Will try VobBlanker and 'that yellow book' guide to splitting cells ;)
Then see how i progress with the rest of the wish list. :scared:

May even try the trial of Womble, who knows i may like it.
The limit on streams is not an issue as i always strip all audio & subpic streams except for AC3 english.

In any case there is still lots of issues and whether to convert to the divx/xdiv/... (although i will need to by a $100 dvd player to handle that format).

I will take it slow and post findings, questions here :)

Thanks & cheers,

Itchione

[r0lZ]

You can try DVD2AVI to convert to DivX, but I have had many problems with my directx codecs after installing it. I have uninstalled it, and I have no problem any more. Of course, I can't recommend it!

IMO, it is better to use VirtualDUB MPEG, but it's a bit more complex. There are good guides on how to convert DVDs with VirtualDub...

Of course, you cannot create menus with this method.