Multi-episode DVDs a success with DVD2One v1.0.1

[2COOL]

I'm viewing my Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Operation 2 anime DVD right now and all I can say is...SWEEEEEET!:D:D:D With DVD2One's new feature on giving us the option to resize whatever title we want, it has made my multi-episode DVD a big successful project. I made countless attempts on trying to do this for a long time before v1.0.1 came along. Thanks DVD2One team! Thanks Erwin!! Now I have the faith to do more of these now.

PS I forgot to mention that it was a 5 episode DVD with each one averaging about 1.26GB.

[atreides93]

So how did you do it?
Did you use Dvd2one on each title one at a time?
Then demux them all, and reauthor ??

Or did you use IfoEdit to join all the resulting vob's?

[2COOL]

Dealing with Episodes in Separate Titlesets using DVD2One

2/19/2003 Update: Here's my improved guide. With this guide, it is now possible to keep everything on your DVD by just shrinking the size of your VOBs. I used a anime DVD with 5 episodes in separate titlesets for my example DVD.

Tools I used:
DVD2One 1.0.1
IFOupdate
IFOedit 0.95
Calculator
___________________________________________________
1. Create a folder named “Original” and 3 sub-folders named “DVD2One”, “Files”, and “Episodes”
Note: If you can create your “Original” and “DVD2One” folders in separate physical hard drives, it would speed up processing.
___________________________________________________
2. Rip all files to your “Original” folder
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3. At this point you need to distinguish which VOBs are your episode VOBs. It’s kind of easy. You should know right away by just previewing the menu how many episodes you have. If you have 5, then you will have 5 titlesets with VOBs that are just bigger than usual.

If hard drive space is not a problem then you can copy all your episode VOBs into your “Episodes” folder. If not, just drag/cut them over. In my example below, this is what I have in my “Episodes” folder.

Color code
As viewed separately in file properties
As viewed combined in file properties

VTS_07_1.VOB 1,048,404 KB……..0.99 GB (1,073,565,696 bytes)……. 1.23 GB (1,324,294,144 bytes)
VTS_07_2.VOB 244,852 KB……..….239 MB (250,728,448 bytes)

VTS_08_1.VOB 1,048,404 KB……..0.99 GB (1,073,565,696 bytes) …….1.23 GB (1,323,094,016 bytes)
VTS_08_2.VOB 243,680 KB……..….237 MB (249,528,320 bytes)

VTS_15_1.VOB 1,048,404 KB……..0.99 GB (1,073,565,696 bytes) …….1.23 GB (1,327,017,984 bytes)
VTS_15_2.VOB 247,512 KB……..….241 MB (253,452,288 bytes)

VTS_16_1.VOB 1,048,404 KB……..0.99 GB (1,073,565,696 bytes) …….1.25 GB (1,352,425,472 bytes)
VTS_16_2.VOB 272,324 KB……..….265 MB (278,859,776 bytes)

VTS_17_1.VOB 1,048,404 KB……..0.99 GB (1,073,565,696 bytes) ……. 1.26 GB (1,359,202,304 bytes)
VTS_17_2.VOB 278,942 KB……..….272 MB (285,636,608 bytes)
___________________________________________________
4. Here's a simple calculator to help you out for this step in helping you get a proper resize of your VOBs. Created by atreides93 with a little cosmetic makeover by me. It's easy to use and it was saved as a Excel (97-2002) file for compability with older Excel versions. 2/22/03 Download link has been updated

Download Excel Spreadsheet Resize Calculator (http://forum.doom9.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=266665)

So when you get your size values, let’s go to next step.
___________________________________________________
5. Copy your first episode IFO into your “Episodes” folder. In my example, I would copy my VTS_07_0.IFO over. You can copy over all your associated IFOs if you want since you can select it in DVD2One but it’s less confusing on trying to remember which title in DVD2One you need to pick. Just do one at a time to make it simple.
___________________________________________________
6. Start DVD2One 1.0.1 . In the first page, your source folder will be your “Episodes” folder and your Destination folder will be your “DVD2One” folder. For your size, enter the MB you calculated for this titleset in step 4.
___________________________________________________
7. In your second page, you should have only one title to pick. Select and press next button.
_____________________________________________
8. On the third page, select want you want to keep and press start button to begin transcoding.
_____________________________________________
9. When DVD2one is done, go to your DVD2One folder and rename your VOBs accordingly like original VOBs you transcoded. If you have more than one VOB in this folder then the next VOB would be renamed as VTS_*_2.VOB.

Note: Your new episode size will not be exactly as you inputted and this is a quote from ReneB in the official DVD2One Forum:
“It is more like an estimated/desired endsize not a dead-on exact lock on the endsize.”
___________________________________________________
10. Drag VOBs in “DVD2One” folder into your “Original” folder.

Use IFOupdate to edit your IFO associated with your new transcoded episode VOBs. Select this IFO as input into your Original IFO path and VTS_01_0.IFO in your “DVD2One” folder as your authored IFO. You can put your backup anywhere you want.
___________________________________________________
11. Press Update IFO button
___________________________________________________
12. Press Correct VTS Sectors button
___________________________________________________
13. Preview using IFoedit and if everything is fine for you, it’s safe to delete your IFO in your Episodes folder.
___________________________________________________
14. It is also safe to delete all your files in your DVD2One folder too
___________________________________________________
15. Repeat steps 5 to 12 with your remaining episode IFOs
___________________________________________________
16. Check your total movie size in Explorer and if under 4.38 GB then go to next step.
___________________________________________________
17. Open up VIDEO_TS.IFO in IFOedit and press Get VTS Sectors button.
___________________________________________________
18. Press DVDplay button to preview and test.
___________________________________________________


I'm sold on DVD2One. It really beats InstantCopy in lesser total processing time anyday when trying to keep the whole DVD. No more waiting hours for me.:D This method is great for anime fans with DVDs that fall into this multi-episode setup.

[herbapou]

We can also used that feature to compress extras. lets assume we have s source that looks like this:

VOB 1, main movie, 5 gigs
VOB 2, The making of extras, 2 gigs
all other vobs plus VOB 1_0 = 300mb

To make a complete backup, set size for the main movie at 3gigs. Then run DVD2one with the "making of" has source and set size at 1 gig. Then copy all other vobs in a folder plus the 2 re-encode set of vobs and you have a full DVD-9 to DVD-5 backup.

DVD2one is so fast it pretty doable depending on the structure of the source DVD. :D

[atreides93]

Ok I'm going to try your method.
I've never used Ifoupdate before. I'm not sure what it does.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by atreides93
Ok I'm going to try your method.
I've never used Ifoupdate before. I'm not sure what it does.

atreides93,

You NEED to use IFOupdate with your original VOBs as DVD2one's new IFO is for your transcoded movie. The chapters entry points will be all off if you just dragged your DVD2One VOB into your original movie folder and used your untouched original IFO.

[atreides93]

Is there a problem with step 5?? it says you rename the dvd2one ifo file to the correct name and drag it to the original folder. but won't that overwrite the original ifo file before you have a chance to ifoupdate it?

[2COOL]

Originally posted by atreides93
Is there a problem with step 5?? it says you rename the dvd2one ifo file to the correct name and drag it to the original folder. but won't that overwrite the original ifo file before you have a chance to ifoupdate it?

SORRY!:o I just did a allnighter and it should say VOB not IFO. I going to correct that after this post and when I get home from work, I'll see if I can write out a better clarified guide. I can't think right now. Need coffee...

[atreides93]

hahah. get some sleep :)

[atreides93]

OK I just went through the entire thing.
But I can't test it till tonight since I'm on a remote connection.
I got the final DVD from 7 gigs to 4.12 gigs...(my calculations were off)

[rishardc]

Sounds a lot like the same method I already have properly documented here at www.dvd2dvdr.com except you only have to run DVD2ONE one time instead of many times.

You could have done all this in the old version.

[atreides93]

Doesn't seem like the same thing at all.
which page on that site?

[rishardc]

http://www.dvd2dvdr.com/Episode_Guide.htm

Basically all you had to do before was rip the dvd, put all the VOB's in order, use IFOEdit to create new Ifo's and then run DVD2ONE. In some cases you don't even have to do that much. It really depends on the Disk. Most anime Disks I can get away with doing just what I said, but you reallly have to look at it on a case by case basis. in any event using this method you only have to run DVD2ONE one time.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by rishardc
Sounds a lot like the same method I already have properly documented here at www.dvd2dvdr.com except you only have to run DVD2ONE one time instead of many times.

You could have done all this in the old version.

rishardc,

I went over your guide more than once. Now correct me if I'm wrong but your method is combining all your episode VOBs and numbering them orderly as one titleset. You then create new IFOs and you got one big movie ONLY with all the episodes playing back to back. No menu keeping or extras.

In my way, I use DVD2one to transcode all 5 of my episodes SEPARATELY so that I can put them back in their original spot with IFOupdate fixing the original IFOs chapters points. This way, I get to keep EVERYTHING!:D Just like the original DVD.

Just got back from work. A little tired but still hangin'.

[int 21h]

Do this with a multi-PGC title, and I will be impressed. (i.e. Simpsons Season 1)

[atreides93]

I just did :)

But the quality sucked cause it was nearly 4 hours of video. no way you can get 4 hours of video to look good in only 4.3 gigs!! i think 3 hours is the max...

I tried your method 2cool and it worked fine! Definitely looking forward to trying it on something that isn't 4 hours long hehe

[int 21h]

I am confused.


08/30/2001 05:21 PM 38,510,592 VTS_04_0.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 1,073,709,056 VTS_04_1.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 1,073,709,056 VTS_04_2.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 1,073,709,056 VTS_04_3.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 1,073,709,056 VTS_04_4.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 1,073,709,056 VTS_04_5.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 1,073,709,056 VTS_04_6.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 1,073,709,056 VTS_04_7.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 62,535,680 VTS_04_8.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 30,720 VTS_05_0.BUP
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 30,720 VTS_05_0.IFO
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 34,150,400 VTS_05_0.VOB
08/30/2001 05:21 PM 10,240 VTS_05_1.VOB


That is the lay out of one of the discs, within the 4th titleset, are all 6 episodes (6 PGCs). How can you use this guide to accomplish this?

[2COOL]

int21h,

Maybe I should rename my guide as a "non-strand" guide. Non-strand is what rishardc referred to in his guide as episodes in separate titlesets. What you have is a "strand" structure in which all your episodes are in one titleset. I'm brainstorming right now on what I would do with yours while I'm updating my small guide. I've had a long day so multi-tasking at this moment is putting a strain on the brain.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by atreides93
I just did :)

But the quality sucked cause it was nearly 4 hours of video. no way you can get 4 hours of video to look good in only 4.3 gigs!! i think 3 hours is the max...

I tried your method 2cool and it worked fine! Definitely looking forward to trying it on something that isn't 4 hours long hehe

Glad it worked for you.:D Now do you SEE the difference between my way and rishardc's way?

[int 21h]

Yea, you did a good job on putting all of this info in one place 2Cool, and I knew this was not meant for multi-PGC in one titleset (when I read your original post saying it was one ep per title), I was just confused on what Atreides93 meant...

[HeeD]

I did a backup of LEXX Season 2 Vol. 1. using both InstantCopy trial and DVD2One v1.0.1 It has four episodes plus a couple other videos (making of LEXX, short about divine shadow and Interview with Michael McManus.

I used 2COOL's method and wound up with what was essentially a full backup of the DVD with menus and extras etc. It took me over hour and a half of messing around because I was not sure what I was doing. After doing it once now, I probably could do all the encoding, renaming and IFOUpdate stuff in an hour with DVD2One. The first part before doing any encoding at all was figuring out how much to reduce each VOB by. I figured in my case that a multiplier of .55 worked. Following is how I determined this:

I took total DVD size 7.64GB and subtracted from it the total of VOBs that I planned on transcoding with DVD2One, which was 7.58GB. This leaves me with a result of 0.06GB of extras that I leave as static. To derive the multiplication factor which will be used to reduce VOBs to fit on a DVDR - it is simple formula of: (DVDR_dest_size - static)/(DVD_orig_size - static), in this case (4.3 - 0.06)/(7.64 - 0.06) = 0.559. A simple verification shows that 7.58*0.559 +.06 = just under 4.3GB. I decide to reduce the factor to 0.55 for some headroom. eg. one of the VOBs was 1.70GB, therefore 1.70GB x 0.55 = 0.935GB, or 957.5 MB (0.935x1024). I round down so I entered 957MB in DVD2One for that particular VOB. As you are doing each VOB check how many MB it actually results in - it may be a meg or two larger so reduce the next VOB target size a little bit to compensate. I ended up with entire dir as 4.26GB after I was done.

InstantCopy was much easier - just let it do its work for a few hours.

Which one produced better results?

InstantCopy did! The DVD2One version had way too much artifacting. Even though the InstantCopy version also had lots of artifacting, it was different and not as irritating to watch. InstantCopy did not require any prep work, calculating VOB sizes or interacting with it in any way during its process. With DVD2One I had to do lots of calculating and basically be there with it renaming VOBs and transcoding.

Both programs show promise and I look forward to the retail version of InstantCopy that I ordered and also when DVD2One can backup an entire DVD automatically. I think they should work on an option to make the quality better first though - even if it takes longer to transcode.

[rishardc]

Originally posted by 2COOL
rishardc,

I went over your guide more than once. Now correct me if I'm wrong but your method is combining all your episode VOBs and numbering them orderly as one titleset. You then create new IFOs and you got one big movie ONLY with all the episodes playing back to back. No menu keeping or extras.

In my way, I use DVD2one to transcode all 5 of my episodes SEPARATELY so that I can put them back in their original spot with IFOupdate fixing the original IFOs chapters points. This way, I get to keep EVERYTHING!:D Just like the original DVD.

Just got back from work. A little tired but still hangin'.


It keeps the original chapter points and it does play them back to back, but it looses the menu's and such.

[atreides93]

I wrote an excel spreadsheet which should make it real easy to calculate the sizes.
anyone want it???

[tyee]

Yes atreides93 please post the spreadsheet

tyee

[atreides93]

here it is!

[repdetect2]

Hey, can you repost it? I didn't come through.
Also, any ideas on the single strand with DVD2one?

[atreides93]

2cool did some nice mods/improvements to the spreadsheet making it look nice.
i'm not sure how to upload files on here.
i attached it but it didn't show up

I think i figured it out. someone has to approve it. i'll ask the mod for this forum.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by atreides93
I think i figured it out. someone has to approve it. i'll ask the mod for this forum.

Did you know that all this time, there's this poor guy waiting for months for a moderator in DVD burning forum to approve his file in his post? He's probably still there lost in the archives.:p :D

atreides93, I didn't know if you preferred a green or red theme on your spreadsheet. Decided to go for green as it's easier on the eyes.;)

[repdetect2]

Could you mail me the spreadsheet at repdetect2@hotmail.com?

[HeeD]

2COOL, nice work!

Can you verify what mode should be used IFOUpdate?
Someone in a similar discussion said it should be "Adjusted Cell Mode". The default for it is "Standard".

[2COOL]

Originally posted by HeeD
2COOL, nice work!

Can you verify what mode should be used IFOUpdate?
Someone in a similar discussion said it should be "Adjusted Cell Mode". The default for it is "Standard".

To tell you the truth, I assumed it was set for Cell Mode but after I already burnt the DVD, I saw it set at Standard. I don't recall ever encountering a non strand DVD with multi-PGCs.

[mrbass]

FYI ..this is really minor...I use openoffice 1.0.2. The first calc works fine but the modified one just shows up blank. Just thought I'd save others the trouble of finding that out for themselves.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by mrbass
FYI ..this is really minor...I use openoffice 1.0.2. The first calc works fine but the modified one just shows up blank. Just thought I'd save others the trouble of finding that out for themselves.

The modified one was done and saved in Excel XP so earlier versions of Excel can't play it. Sorry, I wasn't thinking about it at the time. Will work on saving it in a more compatible excel format and posting it again. I also mentioned this in my guide.

[2COOL]

Here's the updated resize calculator save in Excel 97 to 2002 format. There was one field that was corrected of not containing a formula. If you don't see it, a moderator in this forum needs to approve of it before uploading.

[vljenewein]

Don't see it..
vern at jenefarm@direcway.com

Thanks!

[2COOL]

Excel resize calculator has been corrected and also saved as a 97-2002 file for compability with older Excel versions. Download link in my guide on first page has been updated.

[vljenewein]

Thanks Max!
You're true blue.. and cool.. delivering a tool.

Many thanks, from an ol' fool. :D

I like how you did the set up. You really do need commending on taking the time to do this up and then to post it for anyone!

again...THANKS!

Vern

[2COOL]

Thanks but most of the credit goes to atreides93.:D I would've made my own but he beat me to the punch.

[cmc]

2COOL,

I believe you mentioned you were running win98se under the FAT32. Is this the same proc. to do a DVD-9 if not can you point me in the right direction?


Thanks,
P3, win98se, 512ram,ext 60 HD (maxtor), ext.Sony 500ul.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by cmc
2COOL,

I believe you mentioned you were running win98se under the FAT32. Is this the same proc. to do a DVD-9 if not can you point me in the right direction?


Thanks,
P3, win98se, 512ram,ext 60 HD (maxtor), ext.Sony 500ul.

cmc,

Just recently, I have upgraded to WinXP with SP1. It was about time I did a full format of my harddrive and install everything back from scratch to clean out any bad glitches or deinstallation residue. I really should be doing this annually.

But the answer to your first question, is yes. There's nothing in my guide that calls for you to have files over 4GB. And your second question, you are facing the right direction. :D

[devilmaycry]

To 2cool or anyone,

Yes, I have tried this method of 2cool on this one cartoon episode dvd 9. But I cant get the ifos to work properly. okay, here is what i am doing. After getting the vobs to be compressed by dvd2one 1.02 there are several ifo and bu files and video_ts. Anyway, according to 2cools instructions, I start up ifoupdate and update the ifo according to its original and its author ifos. But after pressing correct sector, it pops up an error saying video_ts doesnt work and have to be aborted. Is it suppose to do this?

Well, in 2cools instructions, it says that we can delete the ifos both in the dvd2one and episode folder. Does this mean that we do not have any ifos that we just created but just the original ones?? Or are we suppose to bring in these updated ifos and replace the old ones?

Thirdly, after doing everything to the vobs, do we bring these new vobs and replace them in the original folder? And which video_ts file are we suppose to open up in ifoedit?

Thank you. Please help me out. I really appreciate it.

[xmenxmen]

Say your vob are 02_VTS set.

You created the new set with ifo.

Rename the set to 01_VTS since IFOedit only creates 01_VTS ifo.

Run DVD2one against it.

Rename new DVD2one vobs back to 02_VTS.

Run Ifoupdate, original would be 02_VTS.ifo file inside the original rip directory.

Author would be the 01_VTS.ifo file.

Ensure mode is Adjust Cell.

Now update.

Copy/Move 02_VTS vobs onto original rip directory.

Done.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by devilmaycry
Anyway, according to 2cools instructions, I start up ifoupdate and update the ifo according to its original and its author ifos. But after pressing correct sector, it pops up an error saying video_ts doesnt work and have to be aborted. Is it suppose to do this?
Hmmm...I had my IFOupdate in Standard mode when I updated. If not, try using Adjusted Cell Mode with Option "Auto Analyze Original IFO" checked. I hope you selected the correct IFO in your original folder that is associated with the VOBs you compressed in DVD2One at the time.


Well, in 2cools instructions, it says that we can delete the ifos both in the dvd2one and episode folder. Does this mean that we do not have any ifos that we just created but just the original ones??Okay, according to my instructions, you should have all your episode VOBs, excluding *_0.VOB, in your "Episode" folder. It doesn't matter is you copied or dragged them into this folder. As long as they are present. After you get your calculated sizes for your episodes, the next step was to copy over one episode IFO into your "Episode" folder. I mentioned that you need to do one IFO at a time or else if you moved all your associated IFOs to your episode VOBs, You would get a big list of all your titles in the second page of DVD2One. I would be confusing for some trying to select the correct title to the episode you are going to work on. If you did one at a time, you definitely know which one you are working on.

The next steps after DVD2One has compressed your episode VOBs is to rename and drag them into your Original folder. You must drag your original VOBs, if present, of the episode you're working on to another folder or delete them. IFOupdate and preview. If no problems then you can delete you IFOs in your "Episode" folder and "DVD2One". Remember in step 5, you "copied" over your IFO. Since your episode you worked on tested good then we don't need to work on it no more so you can delete as it is just a copy. As for your DVD2One files, it's going to be over written anyways when you repeat the procedures for the next episode title.

Or are we suppose to bring in these updated ifos and replace the old ones?You shouldn't have to "bring in" your updated IFOs. Your original IFOs remains in your Original folder at ALL times. I hope you didn't "dragged" it into your Episode folder as I stated that you should have copied it over. IFOupdate updates your original IFO using your DVD2One VTS_01_0.IFO as your authored IFO.

Thirdly, after doing everything to the vobs, do we bring these new vobs and replace them in the original folder?
Yes, but have to rename them as the same titleset as the episode VOBs you were working on. DVD2One, by default, always produces VTS_01 files. So if you worked on VTS_02, you have to rename before you drag.

And which video_ts file are we suppose to open up in ifoedit?I don't quite understand this question. If you want to view your movie in your original folder, just open up any IFO and press DVDplay.

[ZIZZI]

I don't found the link to Download Excel Spreadsheet Resize Calculator...
2cool!!! can you help me?
:(

[2COOL]

Originally posted by ZIZZI
I don't found the link to Download Excel Spreadsheet Resize Calculator...
2cool!!! can you help me?
:( There's has been problems lately on attachments. Read this thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52523). I hope it gets corrected soon. If not, send me a PM with an email address so that I can send it to you.

[jedster]

any idea when attachments will be back up?