Multiple PGC management

[Yo]

Situation-a DVD with six episodes of a television show, each a little over 23 minutes in length. Ripped with DVD FabDecrypter. The episodes all appear in the same .ifo, as six different PGCs.

I created a batch operation, to create a separate .avi for each of those PGCs, and started it running before going to bed.

I was surprised in the morning. Only the first one is finished so far, and the length of the first one is over 2 hours twenty minutes. The second one seems to be in the latter stages of its creation.

It appears that the first video, which should have been only the first PGC of twenty-three + minutes, ended up encompassing all six PGCs, all of the episodes.

Does anyone know what happened?

[unskinnyboy]

When you initially loaded the IFO into AutoGK, what was the length reported? Was it ~00:23 or was it ~02:20? If it was the latter, then as per the IFO all of the episodes were in sequence and it was encoded the same way too.

When you rip it, rip them into separate directories with one IFO per episode. And then encode each episode individually by pointing AutoGK to the respective IFOs one after the other and then queueing them all in batch mode. Or rip them as one unsplit VOB per episode and encode one VOB after the other in batch mode. Why did you have to use DVD FabDecrypter? Was there some protection scheme which DVD Decrypter wasn't able to circumvent? If not, use DVD Decrypter which has a lot more options (or better still, use RipIt4Me).

Now that you got them all encoded anyway, if you are satisfied with the overall resultant avi, just split them using VirtualDubMoD. Keep in mind that VirtualDubMoD can only cut through keyframes, so the places where it cuts need not coincide with the exact frames where one episode ends and the next one starts.

P.S: Read forum rule #9.

[Yo]

The length reported of each PGC on importation was 23+ minutes. (Of course, if it reported 2:20 I wouldn't be surprised at the results, and wouldn't have set it to rip six times!)

I had ripped it previously to copy the DVD, so it was all together in one directory, not separate.

Why did I rip with Fab? It's simple and fast. I didn't see any reason not to use it. Yes, it doesn't have options, but I wasn't looking for any.

Yes, I will cut the one video into six, or perhaps keep it whole and add chapter points for the episodes. In either case, though, I will have to manually find the split points. (They are titles on the DVD, not chapters.)

I'm still curious why this happened though. And there is a second DVD in the series--also six episodes, also already ripped with Fab, and I'm trying to decide how to do it.

When you initially loaded the IFO into AutoGK, what was the length reported? Was it ~00:23 or was it ~02:20? If it was the latter, then as per the IFO all of the episodes were in sequence and it was encoded the same way too.

When you rip it, rip them into separate directories with one IFO per episode. And then encode each episode individually by pointing AutoGK to the respective IFOs one after the other and then queueing them all in batch mode. Or rip them as one unsplit VOB per episode and encode one VOB after the other in batch mode. Why did you have to use DVD FabDecrypter? Was there some protection scheme which DVD Decrypter wasn't able to circumvent? If not, use DVD Decrypter which has a lot more options (or better still, use RipIt4Me).

Now that you got them all encoded anyway, if you are satisfied with the overall resultant avi, just split them using VirtualDubMoD. Keep in mind that VirtualDubMoD can only cut through keyframes, so the places where it cuts need not coincide with the exact frames where one episode ends and the next one starts.

[CWR03]

Why did I rip with Fab? It's simple and fast. I didn't see any reason not to use it. Yes, it doesn't have options, but I wasn't looking for any.
You should have been. You'll need to rip the episodes individually with DVD Decrypter in .IFO mode. AutoGK doesn't usually handle them properly.

[unskinnyboy]

The length reported of each PGC on importation was 23+ minutes. (Of course, if it reported 2:20 I wouldn't be surprised at the results, and wouldn't have set it to rip six times!)
So you imported a multi-PGC IFO into AutoGK thinking it will process every PGC inside it, right? If so, it doesn't work that way. AutoGK will only consider the PGC you highlight. And probably all of the episodes were lying in consecutively named VOB files. So AutoGK processed everything in sequence. If my assumption is not right, please post a screenshot of the file structure of the VOBs as it lies on your hard disk and a screenshot of AutoGK when you import the IFO.

Like CWR03 said, you need to rip each PGC individually in IFO mode using DVD Decrypter thus allowing one IFO per PGC.

[jggimi]

Yo, Unskinnyboy suggested you reread rule #9.

I took the liberty of editing your thread title to comply with the rule.

If you have any questions or comments, please send a PM to me.

[Yo]

So you imported a multi-PGC IFO into AutoGK thinking it will process every PGC inside it, right? If so, it doesn't work that way. AutoGK will only consider the PGC you highlight. And probably all of the episodes were lying in consecutively named VOB files. So AutoGK processed everything in sequence. If my assumption is not right, please post a screenshot of the file structure of the VOBs as it lies on your hard disk and a screenshot of AutoGK when you import the IFO.

Like CWR03 said, you need to rip each PGC individually in IFO mode using DVD Decrypter thus allowing one IFO per PGC.

Re: your first sentence--no, that's not what I did. I thought I was pretty clear. I didn't expect the whole IFO to be processed at once. I highlighted and opened each PGC separately, as a separate job, then ran them as a batch. Each job was separate, and each PGC, on opening, was about 23 minutes long. So, of course I assumed each PGC, in its separate job, would make a separate .avi, each one episode long. Well, the batch did start making six avis, but each was the same, involving all six pgcs.

I believe I have done that before, with a different DVD of TV episodes. On that other one all the episodes were not on the same IFO as on this one, but on some IFOs there were two PGCs (again, speaking about a different video done earlier now), set the same way as the one mentioned above, and they both encoded as separate episodes, as set.

I encoded in file mode because I also made a backup copy of the DVD, and needed file mode for that. (I don't use AutoGK for backup, but rather for making small videos to watch on my Pocket PC.) Therefore, if I were to rip in ifo mode for AutoGK, that would mean I would have to rip the same DVD twice. And if each episode were to be ripped separately, that would mean several rips.

I know for several versions AutoGK only worked from DVDDecrypter IFO mode, but I thought now it worked with file mode as well. It sure would be a lot simpler if the same rip used for the DVD copy could be used for the AutoGK encode. And, since AGK correctly reported the length of each PGC upon importing them, I don't understand why it then created an .AVI that merged all of them.

If anyone has a suggestion how to make what I tried to do work, without having to re-rip each episode in IFO mode, I would appreciate hearing about it. If not, I might just use a different program for these encodes.

Thank you.

[setarip_old]

@Yo

Hi!

I'm just curious to know if this particular episodic DVD is structured (as many such DVDs are) so that you can select either individual episodes or "Play All". If it does, in fact, have these two options, I'd speculate that this is at the root of your problem...

[Yo]

Yo, Unskinnyboy suggested you reread rule #9.

I took the liberty of editing your thread title to comply with the rule.

If you have any questions or comments, please send a PM to me.

Frankly, I don't see where Unskinnyboy suggested that. In re-reading his post, however, I did find something I missed before--his request for a screen shot. I'll try to get that ready, and post it soon.

Thank you for the new thread title. It is more descriptive. Such a title did not occur to me. Since the problem that occurred seemed unusual to me, the title I chose seemed an apt description. However, your title certainly is more descriptive.

[Yo]

@Yo

Hi!

I'm just curious to know if this particular episodic DVD is structured (as many such DVDs are) so that you can select either individual episodes or "Play All". If it does, in fact, have these two options, I'd speculate that this is at the root of your problem...

Hello, Setarip. Thanks for the reply.

I just checked the DVD. The main menu only lists the six episodes, there is no choice of "Play All".

In case anyone is curious what TV Show it is, the two DVDs are the set "The Simpsons-Complete Second Season". (I did a search for "Simpsons" on this board, and found some hits, but none about this particular problem.)

[Yo]

If my assumption is not right, please post a screenshot of the file structure of the VOBs as it lies on your hard disk and a screenshot of AutoGK when you import the IFO.


OK, Unskinny. Attached is a screen shot. On the right is the AutoGK window, with the dialog box asking which PGC to open down below. PGC one is highlighted, and as you can see, just over 23 minutes long. As I wrote, the other 5 episodes are all in that same .ifo (4), and any of the six could be chosen from that dialog box.

On the left is an explorer window (with details) of the VIDEO_TS folder in question.

Thanks for any insight and suggestions. :)

[CWR03]

As I also wrote, AutoGK doesn't usually handle the selection of individual PGC's properly. The only way to make it work is to rip the episodes individually with DVD Decrypter, or revert to a version of AutoGK that will work with a rip from DVDFab Decrypter.

[Yo]

........ or revert to a version of AutoGK that will work with a rip from DVDFab Decrypter.

Which versions of AutoGK might that be?

Actually, I wouldn't say in general that the current version of AutoGK has problems with DVDs ripped with Fab. Other fab-ripped DVDs have come out fine converted with AutoGK.

[unskinnyboy]

Let me re-quote 2 lines from my earlier post - And probably all of the episodes were lying in consecutively named VOB files. So AutoGK processed everything in sequence.

Regardless of whatever the PGC length is, once AutoGK starts processing the first VOB corresponding to the IFO you selected, it will process ALL the VOBs with the same naming convention. Here you pointed it to VTS_04_0.IFO, so it will do VTS_04_1.VOB through VTS_04_8.VOB - known behavior. A DVD player would be able to properly navigate and play these multiple PGC per IFO scenario without any issues, but not our AutoGK. Which is why we keep saying to re-rip the DVD with DVD Decrypter with one IFO *per* PGC.

[laserfan]

If all this is too much work for you Yo, download and try Fairuse Wizard which handles episode discs very well IMO.

Search Doom9 for Fairuse Wizard 2.5 and look for celtic_druid's build.

[Yo]

If all this is too much work for you Yo, download and try Fairuse Wizard which handles episode discs very well IMO.

Search Doom9 for Fairuse Wizard 2.5 and look for celtic_druid's build.

I have Fairuse Wizard. In general when I tried it I didn't get as good results as with AutoGK, and it was very slow, if I remember correctly. Also, I believe it cannot work with a DVD folder on a hard drive, it will only open an actual disc. (Of course, I can put in the disc. Agaiin though, since I had already ripped the disc, that involves re-ripping (including re-decrypting), wasted time.)

But I may re-try it for the second of those Simpson DVDs, since you say it works better with episodes. I am not familiar with celtic druid's build. Is that different from the official one on the Fairuse web site? What is different about it? How did you work with it with an episode DVD?

Thank you.

[laserfan]

I am not familiar with celtic druid's build...It is exactly the same as the payware v2.5 except it is better--it fixes a bug when using your own (external) XviD codec (FUW also has its own internallly).

I use AGK also, and don't agree that FUW is slow by comparison. It is DIFFERENT ie. you have to wait while FUW is indexing a file; but unlike AGK after the file is indexed FUW gives one far more options for selecting resolution & bitrate etc.

I rip DVDs to ISO format and then open the ISO w/FUW. Yes if your rip is already on your hard disk as VIDEO_TS then it doesn't work with it--you'd have to re-rip, or convert to ISO using ImgBurn (I haven't tried this but it sounds very cool).

[laserfan]

How did you work with it with an episode DVD?When Fairuse Wizard opens a DVD or ISO rip, it presents you with a list of all the programs on the DVD. It's easy to see the episodes, and you can select any or all of them for processing. Once "indexed" you can use the same settings for all, or you can select each and tweak (I usually fiddle with bitrate for each).

I like it so much I use it exclusively for TV episode DVD conversions. Indeed I use AGK less & less these days since celtic_druid fixed the bug w/FUW.

[vissa]

I've experienced the exact same problem with AutoGK on dvd's with episodes. The strange thing is it shows all the different pgcs with the correct times for each -- and lets you select them -- so then why does it go ahead and rip them all together into one big file? It's misleading when it shows that you can individually select pgcs. I would consider this a bug.

[manono]

It may be a bug, but it's an admitted bug and since you and everyone else reading this thread is aware of it, and knows the workaround, I don't see the problem. It's even mentioned in the included tutorial.

Note that AutoGK cannot work properly on a vobset that still has multiple angles/program chains, so make sure to use appropriate tools to prepare the vobset.

http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=TutorialEN

In the Using AutoGK section.

By the way, if you already have the complete DVD files on your hard drive, then you can still separate out the different episodes for use in AutoGK with PGCDemux. Check "Create a PGC Vob".