Zyclops DVD Backup woes (merged)

[Zyclops]

Hey,

I've spent about an entire day researching various dvd backup techniques and i'm at a loss.

The solution that i'd like the best would be a single file with

Subtitles
Mutliple Audio Streams
Chapters
Best video encoding


So i assume i'm down to the choice between two containers MP4 and matroska. I can't decide which one is better, and what the advantages of one over the other? my housemate is also complaining about standalone compatibility.... so that would have to be a factor in deciding(a minor one)

As for ripping dvd's i've been using DVD fabdecrypter, which seams to work fine, I'm now at the stage where i have 18 dvd's clogging up my hard drive.

I've tried MeGui... which has completly lost me... I can convert from an avi to an mp4.. but i have no idea how to get a dvd to input into this program.

I've tried avisynth(no dvd options there)

I've also tried SimpleDivX 1.40.23 with XVID 2 pass, but it doesn't seam to run the second pass(black box opens for second pass and then just closes). It creates the 1st pass file fine, but i can't find any error logs etc. I've tried replacing the copy of mencoder that it came with AND downgrading to xvid 1.1... but i still got the exact same result(and yes i tried with multiple files)

Next i tried gordian Knot but i couldn't even get past vstrip. I read the entire section on vstrip on doom9 include CLI but it just created a tiny 8mb file which appeared to contain no video or audio(when i ran it through videolan).

I then tried doing this manually with x264 and mencoder but then gave up.

so to sum all this up, can somebody please help me with my frustration with:

a)Backing up a dvd to hard drive, compressing with x264 or xvid, and keeping subtitles and chapters(nice but not essential).

Links to guides and tutorials etc very welcome!

Thanks guys

[check]

mp4 vs mkv: Neither format will play on standalones, but a scarce few players support mp4. If your player does, use this format, but be aware it restricts the options of video and audio codecs you can use. You can fit anything into matroska, but only MPEG audio and video (ie xvid/h264 video and mp2/3/aac audio).
You can convert with meGUI with a little work:
First, make sure you have the latest version (download from http://x264.nl/ and run the update for everything).
Use the d2v creator to create a d2v from the .vob file (which you should create with DVD decrypter, and set file splitting to none)
Use the AVS script creator to set up your movie (make sure you get the AR right)
Then choose your encoder (x264/xvid), set your options and away you go!

[Zyclops]

Thanks for the quick reply! Great i'll give that ll a go.

[Zyclops]

I get an error with dj index as follows:

It runs djindex fine and finishes

Cannot open d2v file, 'H:\Ripped DVDs\Test\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_1.d2v'. Error message for your reference: Script error: there is no function named "Mpeg2Source"
Applying force film failed.

on this site:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/avisyntha.html

it says something about LoadPlugin("D:\mpeg2dec.dll") << but i've got no idea where to do that..

any ideas?

[check]

Hmmm, have you installed the latest avisynth and updated meGUI?
This error is probably related to something obvious, but I can't remember what that something is :P

[Zyclops]

ah ha! fixed it, needed to copy a dll to the avisynth folder from dgindex. Now i've encoded a video.... but the audio is in a separate file.. going to try and mux it :|

[Zyclops]

Megui does the first pass ok, does the second pass.... and when it comes to mux the file it deletes it afterwards.... the logs don't show anything

job job3-2 has been processed. This job is linked to the next job: job3-3
Starting job job3-3 at 6:49:48 PM
Job is a mux job. Commandline:
-o "H:\Ripped DVDs\Angel - 4x05 - 4x08\DVD\VIDEO_TS\fckthis.mkv" -A -S "H:\Ripped DVDs\Angel - 4x05 - 4x08\DVD\VIDEO_TS\test.mkv" --language 0:eng -a 0 -D -S "H:\Ripped DVDs\Angel - 4x05 - 4x08\DVD\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_1 T01 3_2ch 384Kbps DELAY -31ms.ac3" --no-clusters-in-meta-seek
successfully set up muxer
Processing ended at 6:49:48 PM

job job3-2 has been processed. This job is linked to the next job: job3-3
Starting job job3-3 at 6:49:48 PM
Job is a mux job. Commandline:
-o "H:\Ripped DVDs\Angel - 4x05 - 4x08\DVD\VIDEO_TS\fckthis.mkv" -A -S "H:\Ripped DVDs\Angel - 4x05 - 4x08\DVD\VIDEO_TS\test.mkv" --language 0:eng -a 0 -D -S "H:\Ripped DVDs\Angel - 4x05 - 4x08\DVD\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_1 T01 3_2ch 384Kbps DELAY -31ms.ac3" --no-clusters-in-meta-seek
successfully set up muxer
Processing ended at 6:49:48 PM

fckthis.mkv does not exist when the muxing finishes... any ideas?

[Zyclops]

I've also tried creating it as mp4, but mp4 won't allow me to add the ac3 track

[Zyclops]

I tried muxing it using avi.... i get an avi file with no sound called test-muxed.

job job3-2 has been processed. This job is linked to the next job: job3-3
Starting job job3-3 at 6:49:48 PM
Job is a mux job. Commandline:
-o "H:\Ripped DVDs\Angel - 4x05 - 4x08\DVD\VIDEO_TS\fzyclops_file.mkv" -A -S "H:\Ripped DVDs\Angel - 4x05 - 4x08\DVD\VIDEO_TS\test.mkv" --language 0:eng -a 0 -D -S "H:\Ripped DVDs\Angel - 4x05 - 4x08\DVD\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_1 T01 3_2ch 384Kbps DELAY -31ms.ac3" --no-clusters-in-meta-seek
successfully set up muxer
Processing ended at 6:49:48 PM

[check]

Well, are you setting the output filename of the muxed file?

[Zyclops]

Hey check,

you can see the commands the mux job is running in my last post.

I'm pretty sure zyclops_file.mkv was the output name... chipz suggested i uncheck delete intermidate files in the settings. I'll try that and see how i go

[ammck55]

zyclops--Leave the "F" word out of your filenames and posts. We try to keep it cleaner than that around here.

[Zyclops]

I apologise. i assume your refering to the abbreivated file names i was using. I was getting very frustrated at that point. But things are starting to work... and hopefully i should have a succesfull encode in a few hours.

[check]

One of the first laws of video encoding is be patient. Many a time I realise that I cropped half the video off 6 hours too late :D

[Zyclops]

Now the audio is out of sync.... new thread

[Zyclops]

I've been trying to encode a dvd and the encode ends up out of sync. The audio is synced right up until 1:42 seconds on an avi(xvid) i encoded in Avi.net and a mkv(x264) i encoded using Megui.

In avi.net i just used the original audio of the dvd stream.

In Megui, i ran dv2creater(dgindex gui) and extracted the audio(into an ac3 file).

Now the audio is massivly out of sync after 1:42.

I know i could probably fix it by cutting it into two parts, resync the audio where it's broken and then join them back together but i'd prefer to work out why it happened in the first place so i can prevent it happening on future rips.

I can re-rip the dvd if required.

[Burning Fury]

mmm, so what exactly are you trying to do?
and .AVI or MKV?

I can re-rip the dvd if required.

Why don't you do that again and follow this guide:

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/autogk.htm

It will give you a very good quality .AVI file with synced audio.

Or if you want Matroska output, follow this guide:

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/vdubmod-procedures.htm

Cheers ;)

[Zyclops]

I'll give AutoGK a go, do you have any suggestions of what "percentage" quality to use? I usually encode 1500 - 1800mb dvd's with the original ac3 soundtracks.

[jel]

@ Zyclops
i have merged this new thread with your previous

in future please do not start a new thread, simply because your initial problem goes into new territory.

it is far better for someone trying to help you to have the FULL picture.

cheers

j

[Zyclops]

Ahh ok :)

[Zyclops]

I've been reading the other forums regarding AutoGk epsecially the one here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=69130)

(correct me if i should be posting in that thread rather than this one)

It says that "2 pass encoding is if you require a specific file size"

I don't require a specific file size. But won't a 2 pass encode always produce the same quality file at a lower size?

[check]

The way wpass works (compared to 1 pass) is that the first time it goes through the file, it just logs the complexity (and therefore the amount of space required to compress) every frame. Then when it goes through the second time, it uses this information to optimally distribute among the whole file. This significantly increases the quality as the encoder knows if it needs to save bits for complex scenes ahead or spend them and use less bits for less complex scenes.
You should only use 1pass mode when you cannot run 2 passes, eg you are recording a live stream.