Miami Vice DVD

[gonzalo76]

Hi everybody,

I wanted to backup my Miami Vice DVDs that contains 4 episodes on each DVD and I don't know how because i don't want to loose image quality compressing the full dvd-9 into one dvd-5.
So I just wanted to rip 2 episodes on each dvd-5 with DVD Shrink in "No Compression" mode but I wonder what can I do with the original menus.
I mean, if I keep the original menu, that menu says that the DVD contains 4 episodes, but I'll rip only 2 episodes per DVD.
How can I create or edit the original menu ?
Or is it another way to do this ?

Greetings

[Matthew]

I've done what you have, and used MenuEdit to disable the relevant "stilled" episode buttons.

Fixing the button linking on "play all" can be tricky though, might just be easiest to disable the button. One option is to try vobblanker and use the postcommands->precommands option.

The graphics associated with the blanked eps will still be there, editing that out could take a great deal of time.

[iliketowatch]

You could use IfoEdit (http://www.ifoedit.com/) to split the DVD9 into two DVD5s. The Split a DVD to 2 DVD±R's using IfoEdit 0.89 (http://ifoedit.wh.fr0zen.com/splitdvd.html) guide is very helpful.

IfoEdit is discussed often on the "IFO/VOB Editors" forum.


BTW, do you know the episode that is the sequel/companion to "Stones War"?

[gonzalo76]

Originally posted by iliketowatch
You could use IfoEdit (http://www.ifoedit.com/) to split the DVD9 into two DVD5s. The Split a DVD to 2 DVD±R's using IfoEdit 0.89 (http://ifoedit.wh.fr0zen.com/splitdvd.html) guide is very helpful.

IfoEdit is discussed often on the "IFO/VOB Editors" forum.


BTW, do you know the episode that is the sequel/companion to "Stones War"?

Hi, thank you for your reply, I'll take a look at ifoedit. Actually I didn't want to split the DVD-9 in two DVD-5 but I'll take a look at that guide anyway.
By the way, Stone's War is the sequel of Back In The World (ep. 32 season 2)

[gonzalo76]

Originally posted by Matthew
I've done what you have, and used MenuEdit to disable the relevant "stilled" episode buttons.

Fixing the button linking on "play all" can be tricky though, might just be easiest to disable the button. One option is to try vobblanker and use the postcommands->precommands option.

The graphics associated with the blanked eps will still be there, editing that out could take a great deal of time.

Mmmm, disabling the relevant 'stilled' episode buttons sounds an interesting idea. I'll try MenuEdit to disable them.

About the graphics associated with the blanked eps.. how can I edit them.

[iliketowatch]

Originally posted by gonzalo76
Hi, thank you for your reply, I'll take a look at ifoedit. Actually I didn't want to split the DVD-9 in two DVD-5 but I'll take a look at that guide anyway.
By the way, Stone's War is the sequel of Back In The World (ep. 32 season 2)

Using ifoedit and pgcedit should give you just what you want. I

Spliting the DVD with ifoedit will give you 2 eps per disc with the original menus. Unless a menu jumps directly to a title/episode that is on the other disc, you should be able to use pgcedit to only jump to existing titles. I would need to know more about the disc structure to give more specific help.


Oh, "Stone's War" is the sequel. Thanks for the info and ep reference.

[iliketowatch]

Originally posted by gonzalo76
Hi, thank you for your reply, I'll take a look at ifoedit. Actually I didn't want to split the DVD-9 in two DVD-5 but I'll take a look at that guide anyway.
By the way, Stone's War is the sequel of Back In The World (ep. 32 season 2)

Using ifoedit and pgcedit should give you just what you want. I'm confused though. You have 4 episodes on each DVD and you want to "rip 2 episodes on each dvd-5" and not have compression. I don't see how else you could do this with DVD-5s. (Sorry if I'm missing something.)

Spliting the DVD with ifoedit will give you 2 eps per disc with the original menus. Unless a menu jumps directly to a title/episode that is not there (i.e., it's on the other disc now), you should be able to use pgcedit to modify the code in order to only jump to existing titles. I would need to know more about the disc structure to give you more specific help.


Oh, "Stone's War" is the sequel. Thanks for the info and ep reference.

[gonzalo76]

Originally posted by iliketowatch
Using ifoedit and pgcedit should give you just what you want. I'm confused though. You have 4 episodes on each DVD and you want to "rip 2 episodes on each dvd-5" and not have compression. I don't see how else you could do this with DVD-5s. (Sorry if I'm missing something.)

Spliting the DVD with ifoedit will give you 2 eps per disc with the original menus. Unless a menu jumps directly to a title/episode that is not there (i.e., it's on the other disc now), you should be able to use pgcedit to modify the code in order to only jump to existing titles. I would need to know more about the disc structure to give you more specific help.


Oh, "Stone's War" is the sequel. Thanks for the info and ep reference.

Hi, thank you for your reply.
IfoEdit and PgcEdit sounds great for my needs, but could you please tell me where can I find a good guide of IfoEdit and PgcEdit 'cause I'm really very confused about the hundred of different programs that are available.
Yes, I have 4 episodes on each dvd9 and I want to copy 2 episodes on each dvd5 because I don't want to compress them, just 2 episodes fit perfect on a dvd5 with 'no compression' mode.

[iliketowatch]

Originally posted by gonzalo76
Hi, thank you for your reply.
IfoEdit and PgcEdit sounds great for my needs, but could you please tell me where can I find a good guide of IfoEdit and PgcEdit 'cause I'm really very confused about the hundred of different programs that are available.
Yes, I have 4 episodes on each dvd9 and I want to copy 2 episodes on each dvd5 because I don't want to compress them, just 2 episodes fit perfect on a dvd5 with 'no compression' mode.

True, there are many programs out there for DVD manipulation. Many folks seem to get most editing (and some authoring) tasks done with ifoedit and pgcedit. Pgcedit was started as a complement to ifoedit. These are discussed in the Doom9 IFO/VOB Editors Forum (http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&forumid=50).

IfoEdit (http://www.ifoedit.com/) has several guides. (I mentioned the link for the splitting guide previously in this thread.)
PgcEdit (http://www.videohelp.com/~r0lZ/pgcedit/index.html) has links to several third party guides. 2COOL's PgcEdit Guides (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=244793#post244793) are quite useful as are Jeanl's Guides for PgcEdit (http://jean.laroche.free.fr/).
Almost every guide will assume that you have "ripped" the disc to your hard drive.

I should mention that I use GNU/Linux. So, any windows program I mention, I run with Wine (http://www.winehq.org). I assume you run windoze; which is fine because most of the programs are more functional in that OS.

The IfoEdit splitting guide is just what you need for the first step. It was the first thing I did and the guide was easy to follow. (But I also have programming experience, which might have helped.) The guide tells you how to determine a good split point. What also helps is that you can click on a cell listed in the window and it pops-up a preview window. That way you can find the split between eps.

Pgcedit allows you to edit/trace the program chains (PGCs) of a DVD. One really nice thing about pgcedit is that it has a trace function. It's like a program debugger. You can have it run the playing of the DVD; it will stop at a menu and pop-up a window with buttons for each menu button. It can also step through the DVD code one line at a time.
This will help you determine any problems from splitting the disk. Some split fine, others need a bit of work after splitting.

Read the guides, get used to the programs and try simple tasks at first. That's what I did. It takes a bit of time, patience and reading, but you will know how to manipulate DVDs and have a better understanding of how they work. Of course there are always folks on the forums to help.

It is also valuable to have a software DVD player to test your changes. DVD+RW/DVD-RW disks are also very handy for testing.

I hope that gets you started. Keep us posted on your progress.

[Matthew]

Because this is an episodic disc (presumably with 4 equal-length eps), personally I think it's easier to avoid the splitting apps, unless they have an advantage I'm unaware of (such as changing the play all links).

I'm no fan of DVD Shrink as a transcoder, but it's ability to "still" episodes means that it is an easy/useful option for the task at hand, and very safe as far as alterations to the disc structure are concerned.

Splitting movies...now that's where IFOEdit, DVDFab, etc must be used :)

[gonzalo76]

Thank you iliketowatch for your reply.
But I found IfoEdit and PgcEdit very difficult for me to use them.
I found VobBlanker and MenuEdit more easy to use and both of them worked great for what I wanted to do.
I mean, VobBlanker to blank/remove VTS video titles(like dvd extras), replace titles with an external one, strip audio tracks, IFO tables adjusting... and MenuEdit to edit menus to disable/edit buttons linking to pruned parts of the DVD and bypassing unwanted materials, removes buttons from dvd menu screens and replaces unwanted material with what you like.

[iliketowatch]

Originally posted by gonzalo76
Thank you iliketowatch for your reply.
But I found IfoEdit and PgcEdit very difficult for me to use them.
I found VobBlanker and MenuEdit more easy to use and both of them worked great for what I wanted to do.
I mean, VobBlanker to blank/remove VTS video titles(like dvd extras), replace titles with an external one, strip audio tracks, IFO tables adjusting... and MenuEdit to edit menus to disable/edit buttons linking to pruned parts of the DVD and bypassing unwanted materials, removes buttons from dvd menu screens and replaces unwanted material with what you like.

I see where you're going: take two copies of the DVD and prune each one to the desired content. Sounds like a good idea. Glad to know I'm still learning. :)
I need to revisit getting VobBlanker and MenuEdit running under Wine. Those are obviously very nice tools.

Yes, IfoEdit and PgcEdit are not easy at first.
Happy editting.

[gonzalo76]

Originally posted by iliketowatch
I see where you're going: take two copies of the DVD and prune each one to the desired content. Sounds like a good idea. Glad to know I'm still learning. :)
I need to revisit getting VobBlanker and MenuEdit running under Wine. Those are obviously very nice tools.

Yes, IfoEdit and PgcEdit are not easy at first.
Happy editting.

Well, thank you iliketowatch for all the help you gave me here !!!
I'm reading IFO/VOB Editors section and I found a lot of interesting posts about what I wanted to do. I see I made a mistake posting in Authoring section, sorry :) But I really didn't know in which section to post.