DivxToDVD & placing episodes on DVD

[billovesit2]

I have some older TV episodes on VHS tapes that have been converted to AVI files.
I used the AVI to DVD "AVISynth CCE" method which I found on Videohelp.com
I was having audio sync problems which were finally attributed to the AVI files themselves, and I decided to use a Free program called DivxToDVD.
The reason I decided to NOT use the CCE and AVISynth method is because these videos aren't the best of quality anyway.
DivxToDVD "converts" the AVI files and there are no sync problems.
The picture quality is not as good as the AVISynth + CCE method, but for these episodes, I decided they we not worth the trouble to try to sync the audio in every one of the episodes.

I'll get to my question after I describe what output I have from DivxToDVD. The output of DivxToDVD is below:
-----------------------------------------------
Each 40 minute episode has it's own "Title" folder with a VIDEO_TS subfolder and these files in VIDEO_TS subfolder:
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.IFO
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_1.VOB
-----------------------------------------------
The DivxToDVD program says it will make ONE AVI into ONE DVD
I have about 22 episodes and each one in "DVD" format, exactly as above, and are about 820MB each.
What I'm asking is this: I want to place as many episodes onto one DVDR as possible, but I'm not sure how to re-structure the filesystems to Make a compliant DVD and be able to skip to each episode with the standalone remote control.
Thank you for reading this,
Bill

[manono]

Hello, and welcome to the forum-

If it were I, and didn't want a true menu, and just wanted to hit "Next" on the remote to get to the next episode, I'd open the VTS_01_1.VOB episodes one at a time in a simple Authoring App that accepts VOB input, like DVDAuthorGUI (free). I don't know for sure whether or not it will accept them if they're all named the same. You might have to rename them, like EP1.VOB, or something like that.

Then hit "Author", and there will be chapters at the beginning of each episode (I'm pretty sure). At 820MB each, you'll be able to put 5 episodes per DVD. Test it out on a software player when done. If it doesn't advance to the next episode when hitting "Next", then go back and create chapters corresponding to the time each episode starts. I think the chapters will be created automatically, though.

[billovesit2]

Thank you for your reply manono.

I named my VOB files:
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_02_1.VOB
VTS_03_1.VOB
VTS_04_1.VOB

And then used DVDAuthorGUI. I tried a very simple menu and all seemed fine until I tried to "Author" the DVD
After I clicked "Author", DVDAuthorGUI processed for a few seconds and then generated this error in the log:

ERR: SCR moves backwards, remultiplex input.
erase "E:\Projects\Divx2DVD\Series_1_4\Series_1_4\*.mpg"

Why was it trying to remux ? I have a known problem with these videos
and I just wanted to put more than One episode on a DVD
What does "SCR" stand for? It moves backwards?
DVDAuthorGUI won't do the task that I want it to do.
I just need it to re-organize the file structure in order that all episodes will play.

Thank you,
Bill

[manono]

Hmmm... Didn't work, eh? I've never used vob input. I just know that it accepts vobs. I've always entered m2v and ac3, and never had a problem. The author of that app hangs around at www.videohelp.com, in the Authoring Forum, if you'd like to ask him. He also has an e-mail in the help file. But I guess there was something about the way it was muxed that it didn't like. I don't know why. Nor do I know what SCR means.

But it didn't remux. It was saying that you should remux.

Alternatively you could demux the video and audio and then try again. But that may be more work than you bargained for.

I'm sure there are other apps that accept vob input, but I don't know which ones they are. But I'm sure there are lots of people that do know. Sorry billovesit2, but I wasn't much help to you.

[billovesit2]

Thank you a lot manono,

I tried demuxing the audio and video out of the VOBs (using VOBedit),and they worked in DVDAuthorGUI and made a DVD structure that would play with PowerDVD. But just as I figured, this further processing caused new problems. Now the picture freezes a lot in high motion scenes. I thought the additional processing steps would make it worse, and not any better.
The main reason I'm using DivxtoDVD, because this program took care of my audio sync problems. I was told to actually "Fix" these videos audio sync problems is to trim them into smaller clips, with a script, and offset the audio in each "smaller" clip until they were satisfactory.

I have 22 of them and I'm assuming they all have the sync problems when re-encoded.
The AVIs actually play pretty well on the computer and the sync problem isn't noticable until they are re-encoded.

I heard today that there is a $50 DVD player that plays Divx, AVI, ect, that will hook up to a TV set. If that is the case, I could fit 11-12 of these episodes onto one DVD.
Thank you again,
Bill

[manono]

Hi-

I don't know DivX2DVD. Not to say it isn't good. It's just that I'm not familiar with it. Around here, for such projects, we usually recommend DVD2SVCD, which also does AVI to DVD. It has its own forum, and the developer is a mod in that forum. And the other mods are very good. Doom9 even has a guide:

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvd2svcd-avi.htm

My guess is that your synch problems can be traced to how you demuxed the audio from the AVI originally. If, for example, you used Virtual Dub, that would easily account for it, as VDub doesn't support VBR MP3 (if that's what the audio is). For such projects, Virtual Dub Mod is much better suited. You can find it in the Downloads section of this site.

Now the picture freezes a lot in high motion scenes.

There's at least a chance that it's caused by the bitrate going over the max allowed during those intense scenes. Max bitrate is determined by video plus audio bitrate. It might also explain the DVDAuthorGUI error message when authoring the DVD. It could also be caused by you using DVDR media incompatable with your player. That same videohelp site to which I linked earlier has a database of players and which media works best with the various players.

But yes, a standalone DVD/MPEG-4 player could solve all of your problems, and save you a lot of time and frustration. Good Luck.

[billovesit2]

Thank you for your reply.
I did use VirtualDubMod and DJRumpy's Guide:
"AVI to DVD MPEG (CCE or TMPGenc encoders)"
and used the Alternate VBR MP3 Audio method.
On my first encode, the audio was so far out of sync that the dialog was from a completely different scene in the m2v file that CCE created.
Playing the AVS script, the audio was out of sync, but not as far out of sync as the encoded m2v. I was told there is corruption in the mp3 audio. But this is not noticable in the original AVI.

Anyway, I found a method to make a complient DVD, by using the individual VOBs that DvixtoDVD created.
I went to http://ifoedit.wh.fr0zen.com/ and used these TWO guides.
1. Joining VOB files (Clips) to one DVD-R (with VobEdit)
2. Create complete new IFO files for a set of VOB files (updated)

These guides accomplished the results I wanted.
DvixtoDVD creates 9 chapters in each VOB. After joining my VOBs and creating new IFO files the, (now 5 VOB set), has 45 chapter points.
I would try to place a menu in this set, but the gigabyte count in windows explorer is at 4.37GB and I'm not sure if this will even fit onto a DVDR with overhead introduced by the burning app. (I'm going to use a DVDRW) to test this with.
I'm thrilled to have found this method, because I knew I already had my VOB files, but didn't know how to "construct" a compliant DVD filesystem.
Thank you again,
Bill

[manono]

Hi-

Blank DVD-R 4,489MB 4,706,074,624 bytes or 4.383GB
Blank DVD+R 4,483MB 4,700,372,992 bytes or 4.377GB

That's from Mr. Bass's DVD2DVD Guide:

http://www.mrbass.org/dvd/dvd2dvd/

So you do have some leeway.

I'm still perplexed over how the audio got unsynched. When opening the AVI in VDubMod, it presents you with a message about VBR MP3, asking some question or other. If you clicked on "Yes". then you were doomed from the beginning. Answer "No". Maybe DJRumpy mentioned that in his guide. I don't know.

Glad you got it sorted out. Thanks for reporting back. Maybe the next time someone else asks a similar question, I'll be able to answer it. Or maybe you will. :)