Chapter Problems with WinDVD playing ripped DVDs

[Jack Leonard]

I ripped Gattaca (Superbit) to my hard drive with SMARTRIPPER 2.41, using the full 'Backup' option tab. Smartripper created a default video_ts folder on my computer. Visual examination via Windows Explorer indicated all the files from the DVD were transfered to the PC. Smartipper did not indicate any problems.
I removed the disk from the DVD drive, and directed WinDVD 2.3 to playback the movie on the PC using the procedure in the guide. Everything proceeded smoothly until it got to chapter 16, at which time the movie started over from chapter 1. The chapter indicator listed chapter 20. Chapter 21 played back chapter 2, etc. No chapters beyond 15 were accessible via WinDVD, yet it appears that all the VOB files on the PC were present and accounted for.

Subsequent experiments with other DVD movies also resulted in chapter problems using WinDVD / Smartripper combination:
Toy Story 2 - The first two chapters are by-passed on playback, then the rest of the movie is fine. All menu options work fine, except when you try to access chapter 1 or 2, at which time it pops to chapter three. (Note: this only occurs on the widescreen version, the full screen version is fine.)
Golden Eye - The movie begins with James Bond cuting his way into the bathroom at the Soviet dam facility, about three or four minutes into the movie. The rest of the movie plays fine.
The Parent Trap – Fine through chapter 13, then skips to chapter 18 playing the middle of chapter 1.

This problem is not universal. The DVD Airplane! played back perfectly after ripping.

In all cases, WinDVD (version 2.3) plays all of the above DVDs just fine from the original disk.
I tried using DVD Decrypter (file mode, all files) and got the same results.

What gives? WinDVD? The method used (thought I followed the guide)?

[LIGHTNING UK!]

I thought the 'play from folder' option was new in WinDVD 4?
It might be worth giving it, or PowerDVD XP a try.

Give ISO mode in DVD Decrypter a bash. If the original DVD plays fine, so should the ISO, once it has been mounted as a virtual drive in Daemon Tools.

[Jack Leonard]

Perhaps my original post was confusing. Let me try again.

Objective: Place the entire contents of a DVD movie onto the computer hard drive, and then play it back with the same software I used to play the original disk (WinDVD 2.3). No fancy compressions, no stripping out various audio tracks, no deleting trailers and features. Just copy the entire contents to the hard drive, and play it back using the same software that I used to play the original DVD.

Problem: I tried Smartripper 2.41 (backup option) and DVD Decrypter 3.1.0.0 (file mode, select all files) to rip the DVDs, but WinDVD 2.3 does not play the movie in proper order. Features playback fine, aspect ratio is fine, it’s just the movie. A major bummer.

Since the player works properly in playing the original disk, I must conclude either (1) something is wrong with the aforementioned rippers, or (2) the ripping options I used from the guides were done incorrectly. If the answer is number 2, then can someone reply with a simple definitive set of instructions on what I am doing wrong. (Steps I used are on my original post.)

I would be most appreciative.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Ok, that second post was much easier to understand, however, it doesnt change my answer.

Playing the entire dvd from a folder on your hdd is, I believe, only officially supported in WinDVD v4 and PowerDVD XP.

Using ISO mode would be your best bet here because it 'copies' the disc in its entirity - hence you have no problems playing it with any software.
Daemon Tools will give you a virtual drive to play with - yes, that means another drive will show up in 'My Computer'.
This drive gets its contents from images that you load into it. Here you will load the ISO image that DVD Decrypter creates. Programs have no way of telling this virtual drive apart from a real drive....they work in exactly the same way, using the exact same low level commands for communication with the OS.

[Jack Leonard]

Thanks for your interest. But, if you will, humor me...
What is the deal with WinDVD 4? When I used DVD Decrypter 3.1.0.0 (file mode, and selected all files option) it created a folder whose name was the name of the movie and then a "video_ts" folder underneath that. I simply moved the video_ts folder to the root of the hdd and went into the properties of WinDVD 2.3 and made the corresponding hdd the default DVD drive. The movie started fine, but as I indicated previously, the chapter problem showed up after about an hour into the movie. Maybe version 4 of WinDVD would save me the step of having to move the video_ts folder to the root, but that in itself should not fix the playback problem. Did I miss something?

And what is the difference between file and ISO modes? According to DOOM9 guide the ISO mode is used if you wish to later transfer the output to a DVD recorder (not my wish). What is the real difference between these two modes? And what is this business about layers? Is this a reason why some movies copy fine in terms of playback and some don't?

If you don't have the time to answer my questions, can you point me to a basic site with answers to these fundementals. Thanks

[valent]

This is the problem of WinDVD. I didn't tested WinDVD 4, but WinDVD 3 plays ripped DVD from HDD correctly. It is not necessary to move Video_ts to the root directory. You can use subst command. PowerDVD 4 plays ripped DVD correctly too. I've tested WinDVD 2.3 a long time ago and don't remember all, but i think WinDVD can't play (ripped) DVD with two layers.

[Jack Leonard]

Thanks for the response.
I did some further testing and discovered the following: WinDVD 2.3 DOES NOT PLAYBACK RIPPED 2-LAYER DVDS FROM A HARDDRIVE. The problem/solutions in this thread have nothing to do with the ripper used. If you make a mirror backup of the DVD onto your harddrive and then move VIDEO_TS folder to the root of that drive (if your ripper software does not put it there), then success in playing back the the DVD from hdd with WinDVD 2.3 is simply a function of the number of layers of the original DVD. Single-layer DVDs work and two-layers don't. QED.

[Markbo98]

Lightning UK Wrote
"Give ISO mode in DVD Decrypter a bash. If the original DVD plays fine, so should the ISO, once it has been mounted as a virtual drive in Daemon Tools."

I tried this with 2 DVD's. The first with no CSS, the 2nd was encrypted with CSS. I created both ISO files with the default settings in DVD Decrytptor (the latest version).

I mounted both as virtual DVD's using Daemon Tools 3.17. The non-CSS'ed ISO image played fine in PowerDvd. The CSS'ed image crashed PowerDvd. I tried WinDVD on the CSS'ed version and it played sound but no picture.

Any idea why PowerDvd crashes, or why WinDVD doesn't play the picture? It seems like it has something to do with CSS?

:confused:

[Sparkplug]

Did you try to correct the start sector with IFOEDIT in the folder
where the ripped files are?

[Sparkplug]

All the symptoms indicated that is need to correct the start sector
in the ripped folder,cause the start sector has changed in the change
of layer. When you play like a file all works fine, but playing
like a DVD on HDD (UDF universal disc format) is used to access
the information then sectors must be corrected. I think.