TitleSet Blanker v0.9.5

[shh]

UPDATE:
I've now found a new provider and my pages are back online!
The domain has changed, so you'll need to update links and email-adress.

Download: TitleSet Blanker v0.9.5 (http://shh.sysh.de/files/TitleSetBlanker_v095.zip)
Homepage: shh's MPEG-tools (http://shh.sysh.de)

Changes:
v0.9.5: release: February, 29th 2004
+ removing of audio- and sub-maps of blanked titles
+ command line support
- fixed a boolean type-casting bug
v0.9.4test1: release: January, 25th 2004
+ use a manual replacement VOB
+ adjust still time of the replacement VOB

2Cool> You might want to update the "Title_#: Number of chapters (PTTs)" in VIDEO_TS.IFO / VMG_PTT_SRPT table when a user checks "Merge Programs" and "Merge Cells" options. I selected these options and it still shows my original total of chapters for my blanked out title in VIDEO_TS.IFO. It should be changed to 1

I've checked that, and actually the number of PTTs aren't changed (all chapters are just remapped to the first one). So changing of the chapter-numbers in the VIDEO_TS isn't necessary.

Best regards,
shh

[2COOL]

Originally posted by shh
2Cool> You might want to update the "Title_#: Number of chapters (PTTs)" in VIDEO_TS.IFO / VMG_PTT_SRPT table when a user checks "Merge Programs" and "Merge Cells" options. I selected these options and it still shows my original total of chapters for my blanked out title in VIDEO_TS.IFO. It should be changed to 1 No problem shh. ;)

The only thing I wish you could do is have a browse button for the replacement VOB instead of manually typing the path in. ;)

By the way, thank you for the new version as using 0.9.3 on Spy Kids 3D region 1, I had DVD stoppage when I had blanked out menu VOBs with GPregs being set with audio and subtitle SPreg values in my PGC Command tables. Version 0.9.5 works very well now with this DVD. Thank you!!! :D

Examples:

Set GPreg<12> mov SPreg<audio stream number (ASTN)>
Set GPreg<13> mov SPreg<sub-picture stream number (SPSTN)>

[shh]

Obviously correcting the info about available audio- and sub-streams helped.
Hmm... just the other way round I was thinking. :rolleyes: :D

[DMagic1]

Nice.
Great tool shh.

[rpboy]

Are there any guides for TitleSet Blanker?

Just wondering what some of the options are.

Thanks!

[maa]

This is one of the simplest tools to operate.
It a dream come true for those of us who learnt the hard way and did all this by hand before !!

How to ?

Open your exlorer and look at the DVD structure.
Most extras are in seperate VTS
To check, drag any VOBs onto PowerDVD or MPlayerC (use "open with" or whatever)
If you find one you don't want, just blank it with TSB
- saves a huge amount of space and Shrink encoding time

thanks again SSH

:)

[rpboy]

Originally posted by maa
This is one of the simplest tools to operate.
How to ?
I did figure out the basics because it is a nice and easy tool. However, without some sort of documentation that says what they do, some of the options are not obvious to me.

Such as what does "Remove stops" do? Why would I use it or not use it? Same questions about the merge options? Are there any limitations to the replacement VOB? Can it have audio?

Which is why I asked if there was a guide, as I would much rather go read a well-written guide from a knowledgeable source (like those that forum members like 2COOL regularly produce) than to just ask a bunch of questions here. :)

[ddlooping]

maa, another simple way to check each titleset is to use DVD Shrink v2.3 in "RAW" mode.
The DVD structure is then displayed as titlesets, which can then be checked with the preview. ;)

[RB]

Is the command line support documented anywhere?

[shh]

Oops.. that's no "real" command line support.
It's only possible to open IFOs with TitleSet Blanker now.
So, entering TitleSetBlanker.exe "D:\Your Movies\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_0.IFO" (or doing similar via context menu) opens the movie directory and checks the titleset for blanking.

I don't have any special idea what else could be needed, so I just implemented that command line feature (what was requested before). :)

[bigtoe_rudy]

Can someone help me. I've been to shh's website and d/led this program, but when I try to open it is says it is corrupted. I tried using automatic zip repair to repair it. With NO Help. I've done a complete search on the net for this file, but every site redirects me to shh's site. I had it working till I had to reload XP home cause of virus. Can anyone help with a working file???? Thanks

[2COOL]

Try these again. If they don't work, check your PM.

TitleSetBlanker_v095.zip

www.sysh.net (http://www.sysh.net/files/TitleSetBlanker_v095.zip)
sysh.net (http://sysh.net/files/TitleSetBlanker_v095.zip)

[2COOL]

@shh

I had recently used TitleSet Blanker on Barbie as Rapunzel (Region1) and I noticed a discrepancy. I wanted to blank out VTS_06 so prior to doing so, here's what I have in my VTS_06_0.IFO / VTS_PGCITI / VTS_PGC_1.

PGC (program chain):
[00000002] Number of Programs 26
[00000003] Number of Cells 26
[00000004] Playback time (BCD) 19141350
Playback time (hh:mm:ss.frame) 01:24:12.26 / 30 fps

After using TitleSet Blanker, this is what I have for my new Playback time (BCD). Note: I didn't need to merge Programs and Cells.

PGC (program chain):
[00000002] Number of Programs 26
[00000003] Number of Cells 26
[00000004] Playback time (BCD) 218
Playback time (hh:mm:ss.frame) 00:00:00.1a / 30 fps

[shh]

Oh, I know of that...
just another one of the lazyness-bugs. :)
I just didn'd implement anything to wrap the frames to seconds (or minutes).

Did you recognize any playback-problems?

[2COOL]

shh,

I have two questions regarding if my files processed with TSB are in DVD specs.

First, blank cells are changed to a time of 00:00:00.01. In all commercial DVDs I have, 99% of the time, the blanks cells are at 00:00:00.15. Is one frame acceptable? I tried searching for a justification but didn't find any. :( The best I came up with is that a VOBU can be somewhere between 0.4 to 1.2 seconds. Anyways, maybe you can implement a option to select a custom time or maybe to choose one or the other?

Second, lately I have been getting major playback issues with my burnt disks on my Sony standalone. In fact, I've been getting no playback at titlesets I have chose to blank out. :( In turn, my standalone produces an error message and aborts. I believe it has something to do with TSB clearing out VTS_TMAPTI. In this link (http://dvd.sourceforge.net/dvdinfo/ifo_vts.html), at offset 8 of VTS_TMAPTI, it says
Note: each PGC MUST have a time map, even if it is empty
In my test, I've done two methods. One using TSB and the other using my guide (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60533). A VTS_TMAPTI was existing prior to each test. Playback of each backup DVD played flawlessly on my PC but only the TSB backup failed on the standalone. I've done quite a few test with other DVDs with consistent results . Sony DVD players are reputed to be very fussy and sensitive so I'm almost convinced that the missing VTS_TMAPTI is the culprit. Again, if I can't convince you to retain a VTS_TMAPTI, maybe a option to choose whether to keep it or not.

Anyways, I've been using the same media (Fujifilm) and burning with same as I've always done, either Imgtools or Nero directly.

[mpucoder]

That's correct on both issues.
Scenarist, which is the most compliant authoring tool, insists on a minimum duration of 0.4 seconds for a cell.
Every PGC must have a time map. You might get by with this on some players, but if the PGC is one-sequential (meaning the title has only one PGC, not a series of PGCs linked together) the player will need the time map for the time display.

[2COOL]

Thanks mpucoder! :)

Wow! 2 big nasty bugs! I'm surprised no one had stepped up to report playback problems. I guess I was just a little more knowledgable on pin-pointing these discrepancies. Honestly, from the initial release of TSB, I was a little concerned about the cell times of 00:00:00.01.

[riprazor]

I agree that these two issues need to be corrected, however, having used the tool inconjunction with ifoedit and menuedit, I have yet to create a disc that would not play in either my Xbox or Phillips Q50, both notoriously picky on disc format.

Regards as always,
Riprazor

[shh]

> Note: each PGC MUST have a time map, even if it is empty

Ok, convinced! :)
But I have found some commercial DVDs which sometimes didn't have the time-map. I thought it wasn't necessary.
I can't remember, if the PGC was empty, when there was no time-map.

> changed to a time of 00:00:00.01

Especially in menus you can find cells which have just one frame, so why should't that be possible? Also I don't think that the default options in the authoring programs (15 frames or 0.4sec) have any relevance. So far I didn't find any restriction in the DVD-specs (and you didn't either ;)).
But maybe these one-frame-cells only work 100% correct, if they're stills, that last for at least 0.4sec.... I didn't check that. I also didn't find a PGC-time which was smaller than 00:00:00.15 if it wasn't empty, so perhaps celltimes may be 00:00:00.01, but PGC-times must at least have 00:00:00.15. Hmmm....

Bug-list so far:
1. Wrap frames to seconds in the cell-times
2. Create new time-maps for the inserted blank-VOB.
3. Probably(!) set the playtime of the blank-VOBs to at least 0.4sec. Options: insert longer blank-VOB (15 frames), or just lengthen cell-time to 00:00:00.15, or creating a still which lasts a sec.

Have I forgotten something?
Unfortunately I don't have the time right now to fix the issues.

[P3gasus]

I don't know if it can be helpful for anyone but I found a nice cli software in jsoto's home page. It calculates tmapti table from vob files and stores it in the original ifo files. You can download it here (http://www.iespana.es/jsoto/tools/tmapti.zip). I've not tested it jet but judging from the developer, it should work.
I hope this helps.
Bye

[2COOL]

Originally posted by shh
3. Probably(!) set the playtime of the blank-VOBs to at least 0.4sec. Options: insert longer blank-VOB (15 frames), or just lengthen cell-time to 00:00:00.15, or creating a still which lasts a sec.Though some people don't have problems with 00:00:00.01, perhaps an option to set whatever we want or maybe a bunch of option buttons with set frames.

[jsoto]

@P3gasus
tmapti is a very simple app. VobBlanker is also able to recalculate time table. But this is TitleSet Blanker thread, so discussing about other tools is out of scope.

jsoto

[2COOL]

Originally posted by shh
Have I forgotten something?Don't forget this...

Originally posted by 2COOL
The only thing I wish you could do is have a browse button for the replacement VOB instead of manually typing the path in. ;)

[voo_doo99]

Originally posted by 2COOL
Thanks mpucoder! :)

Wow! 2 big nasty bugs! I'm surprised no one had stepped up to report playback problems. I guess I was just a little more knowledgable on pin-pointing these discrepancies. Honestly, from the initial release of TSB, I was a little concerned about the cell times of 00:00:00.01.

I was surprised I did not have any playback problem with TSB when I read the post. I am seeing it now after using TSB on VTS_01 of Something's Gotta Give. DVD playback hung up here when click Play from the menu. Strangely, IFOedit would play thru it but lucky for me both WinDVD and PowerDVD caught the problem before burning.

Now, I think I did not see this problem before because I always used IFOedit to bypass playback after TSB. Since the DVD above has pretty complex IFO script I did not try to bypass and so see the playback problem. And it definitely linked to the missing Time Map table, because the IFOedit blanking/mock stripping method retained this table and had no playback problem.

I like to thank TSB author for this free tool, and really look forward to the fix 'cause TSB is such a neat time-saver.

Edit: I did not have any problem with the cell time 00:00:00:01 but it could be because I usually bypass playback of blank VTS.

[The_Flash]

This is a great and easy to use tool. For some reason however, any backup that is pre-processed with this tool refuses to play in my Apex AD-800. The same disc plays fine in my Xbox and Sony player though. Just a heads up.

[Joergen]

Has development of this tool stopped? It's a d*mn shame :(

People keep posting bugs and warnings about TitleSetBlanker but I've used it on almost all disc I've done the past month with absolutely no problems with sony, pioneer and panasonic players. "A poor man shouldnt buy cheap" is a good saying.

On the other hand, VobBlanker doesnt replace this tool cause it runs through the entire disc or needs trickery to process just one title, and hasnt let me process a single VIDEO_TS.VOB to this date (where the copyright warnings most often reside).

And I managed to burn a coaster using DVDRemake cause the language selection menu of a disc wouldnt wait for button presses and hangs the player (also PowerDVD, but works in WinDVD). I had to use DVDStripper for that one.

ssh, please update this great soft so people can stop bashing it! :o

[jsoto]

Has development of this tool stopped? It's a d*mn shame Agree.
VobBlanker doesnt replace this tool Also agree.
jsoto

[shh]

I was very busy the last months and unfortunately my old provider gone bankrupt, what took my time as well.

Well I don't "intend" to stop the development on Titleset Blanker, but I just don't find any time for programming.
I hope this changes the following weeks and I'm able to fix at least the bugs, you've pointed out.

Cheers,

[ddlooping]

Glad to hear it, shh. :)

[Joergen]

Great news! Thanks shh!

[Joergen]

I'm a continuing happy user of TitleSetBlanker.

I'd like to see these (small?) additions:

-Untick video_ts.vob by default (I have to untick it each time)
-Warn if a title you are blanking contains menu buttons (so I dont have to check with menuedit or dvd2avi that a studio logo or copyright warning doesnt contain the language menu).
-Do not crap out if dvd2avi has one title open (causes titlesetblanker to give a german error and rename some vobs to .VOB~ and halt, and the user panics).

Hope to hear from you soon shh! Thanks!

[maa]

Agree and I'd like to remind of my suggestion of putting the backups in a folder instead of a ~ after a VOB

thanks

maa

[maa]

Shame - TitleSet Blanker seems to have dissapeared.
Anyone know what happened ?

ta

[blutach]

Wow - reviving a thread that is almost 3 years old. What happened is its functionality was quickly overtaken by PgcEdit, VobBlanker and DVD Remake Pro.

Regards

[r0lZ]

Hi maa!

Yes, blu is right. You can do exactly what TitleSetBlanker did with PgcEdit's Blank Out All PGCs in Domain, but with more power. (You can, for example, request to also kill the playback of the blanked PGCs so that the black frames that replace the original content of the PGCs are not shown at all any more, or, in the menu domains, remove completely the menu VOB file.)

[maa]

Oh great - thanks rOlZ !!

I've not done much recently and missed out on the developments.
When I searched Google I got threads I'd writen myself ;)

Cheers

M

(BTW - thanks for PGCedit - brilliant work)