Newbie Video/audio encoding

[Myselfsama]

Hello, im relatively new when it comes to this video editing deal. And I had some questions which I figured this might be the best place to ask them.

My friend gave me an anime dvd as a gift but i would like to store it on my HD for viewing on my laptop when im unable to tote around DVDs, so I was able to copy its contents to my computer using DVDDecrypter. But its still in its DVD lookin format, such as the Video_ts, VTS_01_0, stuff like that. Now I would like to take those files (which there appears to be many) and turn it into maybe 1 or 2 .mkv files with 2 audio stream selections and 2 subtitle selections. And also reducing the file size from 4Gbs to a max of 1ish. Is this possible and can anyone help me, what do I need, and how do I do it? Thanks

-Myself

[CWR03]

If it's anime episodes, you'll need to re-rip each episode individually with DVD Decrypter in .IFO mode with file splitting set to none, then you can encode them with AutoGK, one of the simplest and most fool-proof applications around.

[Myselfsama]

Thank you, I will try this asap and tell you how it went.

[Myselfsama]

What about if its an anime movie? Its just over an hour, and its not in episodes, how would I go about splitting it into 2 files with the both English, japanese and its subtitles?

[CWR03]

You can still accomplish most of this with AutoGK - I only mentioned the .IFO ripping in case it was needed. For a full movie you can rip in either file mode or .IFO mode if AutoGK can't run it directly from the disk, but as far as I know you will have to extract the subs yourself with something like VobSub in order to have multiple sub streams. I would suggest encoding the entire movie in one file leaving room for the subs, and ripping the subs separately with VobSub. You can easily convert them to .srt format with SubRip, load both English and Japanese subs into the file with VirtualDubMod then save it in two halves. AutoGK has been having trouble with subs synching, and only does "hard-coded" subs that can't be switched.

[Myselfsama]

Sorry to bother you again, I attempted to try what you suggested in your last post but im still very newbie at this. Im not sure if I understand your last post when I try to do it. I opened AutoGK browse into the cd's directory and select Video_TS.vob. However, there are many files in the directory, IFOs, VOBs, and BUPs. Im not really sure which one to select, and Video_TS.vob doesnt seem to work once i press start. (I also made sure it was saving the output onto my HD). It didnt allow me to select an audio track either.

Your suggestion was to use AutoGK to encode the whole movie into one file (with audio or without?). Then use VobSub to extract the multiple sub streams (is that the audio or just subtitles?) . Then compile the stuff using VirtualDubMod.

One last question, is it ok if AutoGK forces me to save it as an avi? (When my goal is to have a format that supports different audio and subs). Again thanks for your time and patience XD.

Myself

[CWR03]

I would suggest you first rip the disk with DVD Decrypter in .IFO mode. From there, open the single .IFO file with AutoGK, which will automatically load all the pertaining .VOB files. You will be able to select two audio tracks at that point for your encode.

VobSub only extracts the subs from the disk. They're usually in the VTS_01_1.VOB. You can save the original ripped subs or convert them to .SRT which will have a better on-screen image as well as a much smaller filesize. SubRip can do that. Whichever you decide to use, you may want to do that first so you know how much file space to allow for the subs when setting up AutoGK.

VirtualDubMod can import multiple audio and sub streams into an .AVI, or you can select .MKV. AutoGK uses the .AVI container, but the audio and video streams are perfectly usable in the other common file types. I have successfully imported three audio streams and two sub streams into a single .AVI using VirtualDubMod.

You may also want to allow a few extra MB (five or more) for splitting the file - VirtualDubMod can only split an MPEG-4 video on I-frames , which are about 10 seconds apart. If you make the file an exact size for two CD's and you can't split it exactly in the middle, one file will be too big.