PgcEdit 0.6.0

Originally Posted by OhMickey

I know there was a post on this subject earlier and I wanted to reply to it, but it seems it has vanished from the thread

@Mickey
Post can be found here

[mp3boy]

is it possible to only import/export menu commands only? rather than the whole alignment and navigations?

[r0lZ]

Originally Posted by Cela

there are 2 clicks per command. A question window pops up everytime and needs the answer YES to proceed.

...

Probably even less work to implement would be, to simply take the question pop-up out. And take the answer YES for granted.

I forgot to say this can already be done. The confirmation dialog can be turned off with the "Expert Mode" option.
(Just remember to turn it back on before using a new function, or a function you don't know well. These dialogs are sometimes useful to understand exactly what the function will do!)

[r0lZ]

Originally Posted by OhMickey

to put it short, I'd like to ask you if you could update pskill.exe in PgcEdit package to a newer version, because the newer version does not seem to be "infected". In the rest of my post I just elaborate on the subject.

Sure! I didn't know a new version was available. I will use it in the next PgcEdit release. Thanks, and welcome to the forum!

Originally Posted by OhMickey

and now I'm running PgcEdit using a batch file (.cmd) invoking freeWrap on PgcEdit.tcl. (I have also downloaded sources from the linux download section on your site and tried to pack it back into a single .exe file, but freeWrap constantly reported it cannot find the .exe residing in the same folder where pskill.exe resides. I have obviously missed something.)

Note that you can invoke PgcEdit.tcl directly, if you associate the .tcl files with freeWrap.exe. (But you will not be able to open a DVD by clicking or right-clicking on its icon.)

The problem with the packed files is probably due to your files being not stored in the right place. This is a limitation in the way freeWrap (and the zip filesystem it uses internally) stores the pathnames internally. If you put the files to wrap in C:\Tcl\work\PGCEDIT\ (case sensitive!), everything should work fine. You will find a batch file called wrap.cmd in the source archive. To recreate the standalone exe, edit it to suit your needs (in particular, you should remove the Linux and security backup stuff), but don't change the file locations. Good luck!

[OhMickey]

Originally Posted by zacoz

@Mickey
Post can be found here

Thank you zacoz. That's the one I mentioned. It's just that I had to wait 5 days after registering before I was allowed to post anything... so the post I read before moved around and I couldn't find it.

Greets,
Mickey

[r0lZ]

Originally Posted by mp3boy

is it possible to only export menu commands only? rather than the whole alignment and navigations?

Why do you need that?
You can already copy/paste single menu button commands, and if you really needs to import the commands without modifying the other params, you may edit the exported file. You should remove everything except, of course, the commands, and the two lines:

set ::menued::numbuts 4
set ::menued::numgroups 1

[OhMickey]

Originally Posted by r0lZ

Sure! I didn't know a new version was available. I will use it in the next PgcEdit release. Thanks, and welcome to the forum!

Thank you very much! I'm looking forward to it.

Also, thank you for the instructions about freeWrap! I have no intention of altering anything in your PgcEdit.exe package. I just needed a way to replace the "infected" file. Now that you're going to update it with the new version of pskill.exe, there won't be any problems. I've scanned it with Kaspreski AV and it doesn't complain.

Best regards,
Mickey

[2COOL]

@r0lZ

Can you add the option to add end frame of last chapter when creating celltimes.txt?

My first foray into "Blank out all Menus PGC's" today and seeking some clarification on the options.

I am processing a number of tv series episode disc's which are all authored the same way. After tracing through the first one I have confirmed that I need to blank all menu PGC's in the VMGM, however i need to kill playback on them also.

Historically I would have used the kill playback macro on each PGC individually and then selected Yes to the dialog to convert each to a dummy.

When using "Blank out all Menus PGC's" I have the options of

1. completely removing the VOB
2. replace menus by a black frame (with kill playback options)
3. replace menus with imported clip

I was expecting to have an option to completely remove VOB with kill playback options.

Does this mean that if the VOB is removed, that "playback" of the PGC will flow through the Pre-commands and then straight onto the Post-commands, thus achieving the same result as having killed playback anyway - hence no need for kill playback? (assuming commands themselves don't direct flow elsewhere)

[blutach]

Removing the VOB also does a kill playback. On useless menus, I use this technique.

Give it a try!

Regards

@blutach
using "Remove VOB", it's not changing the commands at all.

The normal kill playback inserts a NOP at the end of the pre-commands and then pastes the post commands after this in the pre-command section. Is this what you expected to happen here also, or are you indicating that the vob removal effectively kills playback without the need to change the commands?

@r0lZ

I don't recall it having been asked before (that may just be my bad memory), but is it viable to have a "macro" to identify all the unreferenced PGC's? Basically, looking for a "goto calling command" that checks all PGC's not just the selected one and only lists those that would show as unreferenced.

Reason being is that I like to do my rips with DVD-D leaving the unreferenced material in place so that I can see what's there. I then need to load it into DVDShrink purely to see what, if any, unreferenced material there is. What I really want to do is just load it straight into PgcEdit and check it out as part of my processing.

Seems 2COOL & blutach may also find this useful. Any support from others ????

[r0lZ]

Originally Posted by 2COOL

Can you add the option to add end frame of last chapter when creating celltimes.txt?

Why do you need that? You may already concat several PGCs in the same celltime.txt file with the offset option, because, if the offset is non-zero, it will be added as the first cell time.
Also, the offset is the last celltime (actually the time of the first frame after the end frame of the last cell). It is displayed in the title bar of the text viewer, and in the offset requester the next time you launch the function. All you need to do is to copy it manually (eventally, decrease it by one if you really wants the time of the last frame).

However, I think another useful option should be to include only the chapter or program times. Currently, all cells are included. If, for example, a cell is used for the layer break position only, it will be converted to a chapter by Muxman and IfoEdit. This is not necessary what you need.
So, maybe I will revamp the interface, and include the option you want...

[r0lZ]

Originally Posted by zacoz

Does this mean that if the VOB is removed, that "playback" of the PGC will flow through the Pre-commands and then straight onto the Post-commands, thus achieving the same result as having killed playback anyway - hence no need for kill playback? (assuming commands themselves don't direct flow elsewhere)

Exactly! If a PGC has no video to play, the pre commands and the post commands are executed. No need to change anything.
Like Blutach, I use the Completely remove VOB option whenever possible. It's clean, fast, and you don't need to process the VMGM with VobBlanker to recover the VOB space.

Note: if you use that option on the VMGM, you should burn the DVD with the 32K gap option enabled, or your VIDEO_TS.IFO and VIDEO_TS.BUP files will certainly be on the same ECC block.

[r0lZ]

Originally Posted by zacoz

@r0lZ

I don't recall it having been asked before (that may just be my bad memory), but is it viable to have a "macro" to identify all the unreferenced PGC's? Basically, looking for a "goto calling command" that checks all PGC's not just the selected one and only lists those that would show as unreferenced.

Reason being is that I like to do my rips with DVD-D leaving the unreferenced material in place so that I can see what's there. I then need to load it into DVDShrink purely to see what, if any, unreferenced material there is. What I really want to do is just load it straight into PgcEdit and check it out as part of my processing.

Seems 2COOL & blutach may also find this useful. Any support from others ????

First, a little clarification. There is two kind of unreferenced stuff in a DVD.

1. Unreferenced VOB cells are video cells present in the VOB but these cells are never used by any PGC in the IFOs. These VOB cells are dropped automatically by VobBlanker, and they appear in the unreferenced section in DVD Shrink. Being an IFO editor, PgcEdit has currently no way to display these VOB cells to the user.
There are several ways to convert regular VOB cells to unreferenced ones in PgcEdit: Kill Playback on menu PGC when you answer yes at the question to remove the references in the IFOs, PGC Editor -> Remove Cell, PGC Editor -> Remap VOB/Cell ID, Remove last PGC in domain, etc...

2. Unreferenced PGCs are PGCs that are never called by another one. These PGCs are unreferenced, but the VOB cells they use are referenced, since they are referenced in the IFOs.
When you use the Info -> Calls Cross References, these PGCs are detected, and displayed in pink in the PGC selector pane, and at the end of the info text. To be considered as unreferenced, a PGC may not be called by any command, nor by a Prev/Next/GoUpPGC link. Also, a menu PGC is considered as referenced if it is theorically callable by pressing a menu button on the remote (Title, Root, Chapter menu, etc...) Note that a PGC may be referenced by an unreferenced PGC! This is why you have the option to remove the commands in the unreferenced PGCs when launching the Calls Cross References function.

In your case, I suggest you use several times the Calls Cross References function with the option to remove the commands. Then, kill playback on the unreferenced menu PGCs, with the option to remove the refs. Kill playback also on the unreferenced Title PGCs, and process them with VobBlanker.

It is theorically possible to display a list of unreferenced VOB cells in PgcEdit, at least in the menu VOBs, and in the title VOBs which have been scanned for BOVs, because PgcEdit maintain a list of the VOB cells internally. Scanning the PGCs to see if all cells are referenced is not very difficult, and I will probably add this feature with the Blank with VobBlanker function. I have still to release a new version of PgcEdit before beginning this job...

[2COOL]

Originally Posted by r0lZ

1. Unreferenced VOB cells are video cells present in the VOB but these cells are never used by any PGC in the IFOs. These VOB cells are dropped automatically by VobBlanker, and they appear in the unreferenced section in DVD Shrink.

In the case of Sin City (R1), VobBlanker won't automatically remove the cells as the PGC was not reported as unreferenced.

[blutach]

@zacoz - I just use Ctrl-H consecutively (excising the commands as I go) till there are no more "pinks". Of course, on complex DVDs, you might find it easier to "re-build" your DVD with the media elements you want on it, either with PgcEdit or DVDRMP.

Regards

Thanks guys.....I had overlooked the Calls Cross References function. Also hadn't thought about the 2 unreferenced types (VOB cells/PGC's) you mentioned r0lZ. I'd only thought about unreferenced and unplayed (as in video cells referenced by the PGC but never played due to pre commands that always jumped elsewhere before cell could be played - as mentioned by 2COOL).

[2COOL]

Originally Posted by r0lZ

However, I think another useful option should be to include only the chapter or program times.

This would be a plus.

[Taelon]

A title I recently reauthored had a significant amount of space left so I decide to try adding back in some of the 'Featurettes'. Everything tested fine in the Software players, but my old standalone would just flicker when 'Featurettes' was selected. My only guess is that there is a problem with this code:

  -- pre 6 : (JumpSS) Jump to VTSM 2, Root menu (TTN 2)

I screwed up, there is only 1 title in that VTS, I mistakenly thought setting sprm(5) = (TTN 2) was just for the indicator on the player, and since it wasn't the Main Title I figured I should call it Title 2.

So I'm wondering if PGCEdit can perform a check and flag authoring errors like this?

I also thought possibly the (JumpSS) Jump to VTSM 2, was a problem, and that I should have simply used a (JumpTT) but I have other disks that use (JumpSS) without problems, my confusion comes from The unofficial DVD Guide:

This command jumps to a PGC in the system space...
The system space encloses the menu space and the first-play domain. Note that the title domain (Video Title Set VTS domain) is not part of the system space.

So it sounds like (JumpSS) here would be illegal?