vob to divx problems

[katkid15]

Hi,
Okay this is a long one. I am trying to convert the vobs off of an anime dvd (Onegai Teacher if you're familiar with it) to divx. I ripped the vobs with dvddecrypter (or at least my dad did). My problem is two fold.
One, the shows are split into ~23 min episodes which just go over the 1 gig limit. So I end up which one 1 gig video and 1 ~150mb video. The second video is not split on a cell, and is in the middle of a GOP according to DVD2AVI. Nothing I have tried (vdub mod, DVD2AVI, TMPG, vobedit, dos copy command, and several random file joiners) is able to either concatenate or demux the video from the 2nd file. DVD2AVI can concat, but doesn't handle the audio sync very well according to a post on this forum.
Two, the audio is way out of sync. Not just skewed, the audio, after demuxed (besweet, vdub mod, TMPG, vobedit) is approx. 2 min longer than the video. I have looked at the frame rate of the video; I believe it is 29.97 but I get various results from different tools. I have tried both wav and ac3, ac3 seems closer but not by much.
So my question is, does anyone have any tips on converting this to divx. I figure that I may just have to rip the vobs again, but I would rather not if I can avoid it.

Thanks for any help.

[jggimi]

Hello, and welcome to Doom9's forum.

Your dad ripped with DVD Decrypter in File mode. That mode is not helpful for conversion to DivX. Instead, delete these vob sets and re-rip in IFO mode. When in IFO mode, you (or your dad) will select a single program chain (PGC). These PGCs are typically single episodes. Rip each episode into separate vob sets -- and it will be easier if they are ripped into separate folders, since they are likely to have duplicate names.

I recommend encoding each episode separately -- at 350MB you'll be able to get 2 on each CD, or at 233MB you could get 3 on each CD. Since you're posting in Newbies, this is my recommendation.

Alternatively, you can concatenate them with AviSynth and encode them all together, then split to CDs afterwards. I wouldn't recommend it unless you are extremely comfortable with AviSynth scripting and with managing audio inside AviSynth. And that means converting the audio to WAV, then converting once more to your final audio format. But this level of complexity is usually beyond the newbie.

[katkid15]

Hi,
I'm not a newbie to video in general. I've been encoding video off of tv tapes for about a half a year. I know a fair amount about vdub and how to handle audio conversion ect. I just posted in 'newbie' because I'm new to dvd encodeing and how to handle dvd format files.
The vobs are split at each episode, my problem is that a single episode is just barely longer than 1gb. But, avisynth will let me concat the video. Great. I'll test that tonight.
But, how about the audio, does anyone have any idea on how to deal with the audio sync problem? Both the delay (though not as important) and the extreme difference in time (~2 min). I thought of something just now (dumb me for not thinking of it earlier) I'll demux the audio and transcode it to wav. Then cut the audio to see if the offset is linear or not. Though I don't think that it is a linear offset.
My intention is that (since there are only 13 eps. and the video is really good quality) to use 350mb per eps. It only takes a light touch with donald graft's smartsmoother to clean it and a resize + crop to remove the border.

Sorry for the confusion and thanks for the help.

[jggimi]

I will repeat my strong recommendation that each PGC be ripped in IFO mode separately, to keep sound in sync within each episode. For information on how to concatenate with AviSynth, including audio sync between episodes, see http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=439844#post439844

[katkid15]

My apologies. I don't have a dvd drive of my own. So, my dad uses his to rip the vobs; thus I don't know much about dvddecrypter. I was confused as to what you meant by ifo mode. Thanks again and i'll try that tonight.