Editing ISO's?

[flambot]

Greetings,

I just added some extra chapters to a DVD following Blutach's guide here (http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/guides/VobBlanker/splitting_cells/index.htm) using VobBlanker. It was as easy as I hoped it would be (searched for a while and read lots of posts before I found the right info). However, I thought I'd read somewhere that VB could open mounted ISO files but I can't seem to find how to do it. I'm almost certain the post I read was incorrect, but can someone advise me. Thx

If VB can't open ISO's, is there any program (free would be good but not mandatory) that can do this and edit the IFO?

BTW - THX blutach fro taking the time to create the guide and to jsoto for a great program. I can see I'm going to be using this a lot as I setup my XMBC interfaced unRAID server.

[Calimari]

You mean an ISO that's already mounted? In that case, the ISO appears as a virtual drive. You should see the content of that drive, so you should be able to point VB to the right IFO to open.

If you still have to mount your iso, Daemon Tools (http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/download.php?mode=ViewCategory&catid=5) is free.

[zacoz]

Just a point if you're not aware. When working from a mounted image you cannot utilise the "Use Input Folder" setting - as the mounted ISO is read only.

[flambot]

Thx for the help.

No...the ISO's are not mounted. The situation is this - I have started ripping my DVD collection to my XBMC interfaced server using file mode (IFO/VOB's). I wanted to use the same format for the TV Show side, but I was informed (after I couldn't get it to work) that it only recognises single files (one episode) because stacking multiple files causes more problems than it was worth. So I started ripping the TV shows as ISO files only to realise they couldn't be edited easily like an IFO/VOB setup. I guess my trouble is that I don't want to have to double handle the files (rip to IFO/VOB - add chapters - re-format to ISO). I was hoping a simple solution was at hand.

It's probably fairly obvious I don't know a lot about all this stuff, but I have done a lot of reading trying to figure it all out. Is there another alternative? I tried to rip the episodes as single VOB files, and while this would work, there is no chapter info without an IFO. So I tried a VOB (named using the episode name) and also an IFO (named the same), but this didn't work. This didn't surprise me because I guess everything is programmed toward the DVD standard of Video_TS.ifo etc.

Still looking for some more answers. Thx again.

[zacoz]

ripping my DVD collection to my XBMC interfaced server
Have no experience with XBMC so don't know if there's any alternative way to structure the IFO/VOB's.
I guess my trouble is that I don't want to have to double handle the files (rip to IFO/VOB - add chapters - re-format to ISO). I was hoping a simple solution was at hand.
I suspect that this "double handling" is still your easiest and quickest route. Generating the ISO should be a fairly quick process anyway - particularly if you've got 2 physical hard drives you can work with (read from one and write to the other). (Imgburn (http://www.imgburn.com/) or PgcEdit (http://download.videohelp.com/r0lZ/pgcedit/index.html) are nice and easy for generating your ISO).
It's probably fairly obvious I don't know a lot about all this stuff, but I have done a lot of reading trying to figure it all out.
Many of us started out in exactly your position, and your attitude in investing time in researching is to be praised.
Is there another alternative?Only alternatives I can think of is going down the Mpeg4 route (significant additional time required for processing), or re-building your individual episodes into a DVD with a freeware authoring program (e.g. DVDAuthorGUI (http://download.videohelp.com/liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl)). But this also is double handling, and may then still need to have ISO generated if the authoring program doesn't output an ISO.

[flambot]

Thx zacoz for your views.

I think you've hit the nail on the head - doesn't seem like an easier way and it looks like I'll have to double hit it. Pity though, I certainly would like to keep the same format throughout my system.

What I'm trying to keep away from is spending more time setting it up and tweaking than actually using it. This is the realisation of a long term dream and I want to get it right (if I can) the first time. I've gone with XBMC because the S/ware is both mature and exceptionally good - and the whole setup is cheap. It's also fast at booting from cold and IR remote capable - lots of pluses IMO. The downside is that the tech behind it is now old and eventually I'll probably upgrade to a HTPC (kept away from it this time because of the complexity, but this setup hasn't been a walk in the park either) What I don't want is to have to reformat things when I do go the HTPC route. Time will tell I guess. Best :)