Restoring DVD9 from 2 DVD5's -- special case

[Itness]

Correction: 3 DVD5's!

My original DVD9 was destroyed in an accident. Luckily, I backed it up on three DVD5's using VobBlanker (three films, about 2.5 GB each). Now that I can burn DVD9 dual layer discs, I would like to restore the original DVD9.

When I made the backups, I first processed the DVD9 using PgcEdit (to jump to the main menu), so I have the original IFOs in the PgcEdit backup folder, saved on Disc 1. Then I used VobBlanker three times, each time keeping one of three titlesets and blanking out the other two (one pgc per titleset).

In my attempt to restore the DVD9, I ripped the contents of each DVD5 onto my hard drive, opened the PgcEdit backup folder, and copied the main movie vob's from each film into the backup folder, plus the VTS_01_0.VOB, which has the title and chapter menus for all three films. I then opened the folder in PgcEdit and rebuilt all title maps. After saving the DVD, the result played fine in my software player and my standalone.

My question is: Was I lucky, or is this sufficient to properly restore the original?

I've noticed that when VobBlanker processes a titleset that I have chosen to "Keep", the resulting vob's are not the same size as the originals, but slightly larger, except for the final vob which is slightly smaller. Thus, my guess is that they will not work with the original IFOs. Is rebuilding the time maps and then saving in PgcEdit enough to correct the original IFOs so they will work with the VobBlanker-created vob's? Is there an easier and/or safer way to restore the DVD9?

[r0lZ]

In your case, you might have been lucky, as the original VOBs are probably still in sync with the IFOs of the backup folder, but since VobBlanker drops any unreferenced material it finds during the processing, that might not always be the case, especially with protected DVDs. You should use "File -> Replace VTST Titles" instead of just copying the VOBs. PgcEdit imports the VOBs and does the necessary modifications to the IFOs. (It is however a good idea to rebuild the time maps anyway.)

BTW, the size of the individual VOB files doesn't matter, as they can be cut at different points by different program. The maximum size of 1GB is imposed by the DVD-Video standard, but all VOB files of the same VTST must be considered as a single big file. The cut points are never referenced in the IFOs. So, if nothing has been discarded by VobBlanker, the TOTAL size of ALL VOBs of the VTST should not change, but the individual size of each VOB can be different. The menu VOB (VTS_**_0.VOB) is of course independent and should not be added to the total.

[Itness]

Thanks, r0lZ, that was exactly the info I was looking for. Very well explained, too. Cheers.