Better Menu Control

[BadServo]

I am always looking to find new and superior was of making my backups. In teh past I simply used DVDShrink. I always removed excess subtitles and foreign language tracks but nothing further, since I like to retain menus. It works well for a transcoder, and the enhanced processing features are a nice way to squeeze every little bit out. However, shrink quality isn't as good as a full reencoding and it's options for reauthoring are quite limited.

Then I began using DVD-RB, which for teh first time makes full reencoding easy and streamlined enough to be worth it. The processing time is obviously higher but that's to be expected. The addition of the Segment Editor and it's ability to blank out unneeded extras is a godsend, and addresses one of the main complaints with DVD Shrink. Especially since even when replacing segments with still images in shrink, the wait time during actual viewing is identical to the untouched source, and the space savings are less than blanking the video with DVD-RB.

I've since begun running the source through CloneDVD2 without compression before passing to DVD-RB. This allows me to completely strip out unwanted extras and multiple angles. It also seems to give me a bit of control over certain aspects of the menu, while still retaining menus.

But my question is this: Is there any simple program that will allow me further control of segments that are in the Menu VOBs? Because often times, there are the traditional FBI Warnings, as well as forced trailers and the like that preceed the menu, but are included in the menu IFO. I would perfer to lose these to give extra space to the features, but DVD-RB ignores these, and the other aforementioned programs often to not seperate them out to allow for removal.

Is there any simple program with an intuitive GUI that will allow me to selectively remove these portions of video before DVD-RB/CloneDVD2 processing? I'm aware that this sort of thing can be done with IFOEdit, but no matter what I try, I find that software to be an unintelligable mess, giving me unprictable resutls between titles, and often breaking my source files, so that they have to be redumped.

Any help is appreciated. ^_^

[BadServo]

I may have stumbled upon the answer to my own question in the way of "AnyDVD." Was not familiar with teh software until now. Any opinions on whether or not this is effective, and are there any negative expiriences with it's use? I'm still open to a better solution.

[ajp]

AnyDVD is just for decrypting DVDs on the fly and removing region protection etc, at least as far as I know.

I use DVDRemake Pro myself, although I haven't used the "pro" features yet. It's commercial so you'll have to pay for it but it's well worth it if you ask me. There's a demo availible, not sure how limited it is. It's fairly easy to use and I even use it to disable certain buttons in the menus so features I removed can't be accessed. Check it out on www.dimadsoft.com

There are freeware alternatives like VOBBlanker but I don't think they are as easy to use, don't think they can disable buttons in menus either. Haven't looked closely at any of them...

[jptheripper]

dvd remake pro is what you are looking for. ITs amazing, but almost too powerful, i.e. it doesnt prevent the user from royally hosing the disk.

I have completely reauthored disks, command by command, with this tool

[Malphas]

You can use VOBlanker and IfoEdit but it's easier just splash out on DVDReMake Pro.

[BadServo]

Hmmm... OK, I'm tinkering with DVD Remake. I'm selecting the Menus under Video Manager, finding the frame in the upper window that represents teh FBI Warning and the Logos, and then right-clicking and selecting "HIDE." I'm making sure that Auto-Bypass is checked in the options and then exporting the disc. But now when I attempt to play the disc, it starts playing and then instantly stops. ANy idea what I may be doing wrong?

[BadServo]

After struggling with DVD Remake, I tried MenuEdit. Worked FLAWLESSLY! I was able to isolate exactly what needed to be removed, highlight it and press delete.

No relinking PGCs, no lengthy export process, jsut a couple clicks. Thanks again for the advice. With luck, I'll still be able to figure out why DVD Remake was giving me trouble, as it looks like a terribly useful program worth more expirimenting.

[Chelu]

MenuEdit is kind of old school, try out PGCEdit w/ its menu button editing. It also works very well with VOBBlanker for striping out unwanted menu segments after killing playback. Check out the IFO/VOB editor forum itll help answer alot of your questions

[Glyoung]

DVDRemake will not work correctly unless you pay for it. There is no way around it. You must subscribe and enter your computer ID before downloading from the site. The trial will let you edit but the final
DVD will not play correctly. Cracks wont work either.

[BadServo]

I don't know precisely what your attempting to imply, however, the difficulties I had with DVDRemake invovled the demo version, and no cracks or other such nonsense. Although, I was unable to test on the disc I was attempting to backup because of the silly "no multi-angle discs" exclusion in the Demo version.

As it turns out, I think part of my problem was incorrectly blanking something in the first played section of the disc that I shouldn't have.

Nevertheless, while I do find the program interesting, and most likely worth the money to those who need all the features it provides, I think I'm more likely to purchase MenuEdit, since it focuses only on the narrow area of editing I'm interested in. Also, it is significantly less expensive. ^_^

However, I'm still open to other suggestions from anyone on a superior meathod to kill uneeded video segments from the Menu Files.

[Glyoung]

Sorry man, didn't mean to offend. I wasn't trying to imply anything, I was just giving you the info.

Your problem is with the demo. It's kind of stupid if you ask me because how do you know if it works if it doesn't produce a working DVD.

I do think that DVDRemake is what you are looking for. It's been a godsend for me.

Again, my appologies.

[Malphas]

Yeah the reason you had that problem was probably because you were using the demo version, as Glyoung says it doesn't allow you to export the disc, the only way to test it properly is to buy it. The demo just gives you a feel for the interface and the various features.

[BadServo]

Yeah, after the last post I went back a finddled with it a bit more. I must say it's far more intuitive than similar programs that have so many features. It's something that could probably allow me to do some very creative thigns with my backups. The abiliy to join discs is also rather enticing. However, as has since been pointed out, it's not somethign I can really "try out" with the demo. And It's hard for me to rationalize such a purchase.

Also on the downside, after reading some material about MenuEdit, it seems it causes problems with alot of players and burning applets if used the way I was trying to, so I suppose I'll keep looking for an alternative meathod, or keep struggling with IFOEdit until I figure it out.

And sorry for biting your head off Glyoung, After answering several idiotic questions in my own forums, I was just in that sort of mood. Thanks for all the suggestions and help guys.

[brashquido]

I've only ever felt the need to do something about the size of the menu once, and that was in Finding Nemo. From memory it was something like 600~700MB, and I ended up using VOBBlanker to get the size down to under 10MB. Took me 5~10 minutes to get my head around, and it doesn't allow you to do more advanced things such as button removal, but I still found it suitable for what I wanted.

[BadServo]

Yeah, maybe in a distant future, DVD-RB will have a Segment Editor type feature that allows you to kill PGCs in the menu stream. Seems like it shouldn't be this hard to get rid of a couple company logos and shoot straight to the menu, but then if it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be fun. ^_^

[Zeul]

NuMenu will compress the menues. If you are VIP user then you can use muxman for authoring and strip out unwanted material (and the next build will also automatically remove the buttons that linked to these stripped vobs). Non-Vips must use scenarist, but unreferenced material is still automatically stripped

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=89743

[BadServo]

Thanks for the heads-Up about NuMenu4U. I had heard mention of this utility in many threads, but it was always referred to as simply compressing or shrinking the menus, I wasn't aware of it's reauthoring capability. I'll certainly look into it.

[leopardone]

and... menushrink? :D
http://www.videohelp.com/~menushrink/
from their site:

MenuShrink 2.2 is a small app that lets you compress DVD motion menus by turning them into still menus with or without audio. Best of all, is entirely completely free!
Many DVDs use motion menus (i.e., animated menus where buttons appear in front of a segment of video that usually loops). If you're having problems shrinking your DVD with DVD Shrink because it's too big to begin with, this tool might help you. It will turn your motion menus into still menus (where the buttons are overlaid over a still image), with or without audio.
In many cases, the space savings is tremendous. For some of the Star Wars movies (R1 versions), the main menus take nearly 800MB, and can easily be shrunk to about 40MB (keeping the audio).

[Jack'n'xbox]

Menu shink would work good for your needs.

[Tube]

I would stil go for DVD Remake Pro, and as told in prev. post..no cracked versions works OK. Nether does the demo...it simply gives you a hint of the interface.

DVD Shrink is actually god to shrink the size of motion menus, witch can be terrible large on some disks. Just shrink the menu and leave the extras and main feture uncompressed.

Then run through DVD-RB to do the encoding.

[TuRiSOft]

I suggest using VobBlanker . PGCEdit , MenuShrink and NuMenu4u VIP Version.

They are really simple to use , for example I ever use to edit the PGC where you have to choose your menu language to make it auto-select your language , then I kill(blank) other languages's PGCs with vobBlanker and if the resulting Menu VOBs are still too large I reduce them to still with or without audio using menushrink ! In case of really interesting menus (Like in Finding Nemo) with beutiful transitions I use NuMenu4u .

I also suggest this : If a movie is way too long and the end credits are not so interesting , you can save up to ~200Mb cutting the vob at the real movie end with VobBlanker , then create a new Vob with muxman using a BMP (extracted with PGCEdit) from for example the cast appearing in end credits , then make the movie jump to this new VOB using a macro of PGCEdit (Import Title's Closing Clip). There is a more detailed guide on this feature On PGCEdit home page ( HERE (http://www.videohelp.com/~r0lZ/pgcedit/index.html) ).

[JFerguson]

DVDStripper v0.3.0 is another option. But, be careful when using with menus containing <- -> still navigation.