"Skip PREPARE Phase in Batch" questions

[nathanaa]

I am wondering what effect it would have if I activated the "Skip PREPARE Phase in Batch" option? I often do batch rebuilds at night when I know I'll be gone the next day; would this make the process go quicker?

Are there any dangers I should be aware of (possible errors or ???) with using this option? I just noticed it, although from my searching the site here it's obviously been an option for at least 8 months it seems.

I do a lot of TV show/episodic discs, but plenty of movies too. I have CCE Basic, and for episodic discs I don't steal any space from extra's. For movies I usually steal 25-30% from extra's, sometimes more if it's something I know I'll never watch the extra's for.

Thanks for any explanations on the purpose or usefulness of this option.

[wmansir]

You HAVE to do the Prepare Phase, it's just a matter of when. The option in question is intended for tweakers who want to do a manual prepare, make changes to the prepared files.

Lets say you have several jobs to do. Each job has a source DIR, and you have to give each job it's own Work DIR (and Output DIR if that option is enabled) . You setup each job using DVD-RB's options, save the project file and run the prepare step. Then you tweak the D2VAVS files in the job's Work DIR to your satisfaction. Then you load up your projects in the Batch window.

If you don't enable "Skip Prepare..." DVD-RB will overwrite whatever changes you made. I'm not sure if this option needs to be made when you use DVD-RB's Editor. jdobbs could save changes made there in the project file and reapply them to the source during batch, but I'm not much of a batch user and I haven't tried it.

[stereo]

I use "Skip PREPARE Phase in Batch" when I use RB-Opt to tweak bitrate for different parts of the movie, ie.

1. Run a prepare phase in 3 click mode
2. tweak stuff in RB-Opt + save
3. enable "Skip PREPARE Phase in Batch" + enable 1 click mode
4. save project

That way i might have 3 projects that I can run without interferrence, and - as wmansir said - trust that the tweaked ecl. won't be overridden by a new prepare phase.

[nathanaa]

So, in other words, it's an option for the more tweaker-type person rebuilding their DVDs. Gotcha...I don't want to mess with things that much, I really *love* the batch mode, I was so happy when someone here explained it to me (I'd been doing every disc one at a time up to that point). I am an unsophisticated-enough user that I'm not sure what the benefit of running the Prepare phase separately would really do for me.

So, it sounds like continuing to use DVDRB the way I have been (allowing it to overwrite the <whatever> each time during a batch run) is OK and I'll keep on keepin' on.

Thanks folks!

[stereo]

Like you, I really enjoy the Batch mode. I can prepare like 4 or 5 projects, and load them before I go to bed. When I get back from work the next day, the goodies are waiting for me.

But yeah, if you don't do any tweaking, there's no need to worry about the Skip prepare phase in batch mode.