Ripping titles to MPG without reencode

[Hikari]

Hello guys.

I often need to rip movies from DVD-Video, and I like to edit and encode them separately from the ripping process.

Today I use Tsunami DVD Author for that, ripping the movie title to a MPG file, or PgcDemux when TDA doesn't work.

Is there any easier app that rips DVD (including its vobs stored on HD) without any editing or reencoding, leaving an MPG with identical content of the DVD (and removing copy protectors of course)?

tnx a lot!

[Wombler]

The VOBs are already in mpeg format.

Just rename the file extensions to .mpg and that should work.


Wombler

[Hikari]

ah :eek:

and is there a specific way to find out which vob goes to each title?

And when a title has multiple audio streams, will they always be stored on a unique vob?

And when a movie takes almost a full DVD-Video, isn't it stored on more than 1 vob?

tnx and sorry for the nub questions :thanks:

[blutach]

Look at your DVD structure in PgcEdit. Ctrl-A to determine the streams.

If you want a single mpeg, load up your rip in your favourite transcoder, eliminate the unwanted streams and back it up without the 1Gb splits (most have a preference you can set for this; otherwise, use the DOS copy/b command to join them afterward).

Regards

[setarip_old]

@Hikari

Hi!Is there any easier app that rips DVD (including its vobs stored on HD) without any editing or reencoding, leaving an MPG with identical content of the DVD (and removing copy protectors of course)?As far as I know, there is no decrypting/copy protection removal program that output an MPEG-2 file.

[Wombler]

@Hikari

Hi!As far as I know, there is no decrypting/copy protection removal program that output an MPEG-2 file.

Actually they all do.

The VOBs are already in MPEG-2 format.

That's why renaming the files works.


Wombler

[Alex_ander]

There are important differences between VOB and mpeg files:
http://womble.com/support/FAQ09.html
So to prevent bad joining, it is better to use a program that will restore VOB 1GB discontinuities at importing files: TMPGEnc MPEG Editor, VideoReDo TV Suite. Both import (decrypted) DVD video by title (using ifo files) and take chapter data to timeline for cutting (1 audio track, no DTS or subs). Then losslessly output mpeg2 files.

[r0lZ]

Well, the only major difference between VOB and MPG files is the fact that the VOB file must be split in parts if its length is >= 1GB. The additional information used by the DVD players in the VOB files are simply ignored by the MPEG players. And a smart MPEG player should accept the VOB files as well, and join them on the fly when needed.

BTW, I've never understood why Womble cannot deal with multiple VOB segments properly. If they have not been renamed, it is easy to check if the stream continues in another file. Furthermore, at least Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD can handle the multiple VOB files without the gap problem if you create a MBS file referencing the VOB files and load it instead of the VOBs. (BTW, there is a function to automatically generate the MBS files in the Womble plugin for PgcEdit. Why is this feature absent of Womble itself is a mystery for me! Additionally, this plugin can also generate the list of chapters, to be imported as bookmarks in Womble.)
I haven't checked the other Womble programs, but I suppose they support also the MBS files, or something similar.

[EDIT] Hum, thanks to your link above, I realize that they have finally understood the problem, and they have now a tool that does exactly the same thing as the PgcEdit plugin:

Please note that a new tool called "MPEG MBS Scanner" has been added to the editor to alleviate the difficulty caused by the problem discussed above.

[Stu Redman]

If you want a single mpeg, load up your rip in your favourite transcoder, eliminate the unwanted streams and back it up without the 1Gb splits
That's my question too.
I have a DVD (already ripped to hd) with several episodes in one (split) VTS. I'd like to select one of the AC3 streams and create one mpg for each episode, without reencoding anything of course.
Which tool would you suggest for this task ?

[blutach]

That MBS scanner and the timestamp correcting tools are terrific. Now, if Womble only handled subtitles ....

Still, VOBs are a subset of MPEG-2 and therefore, you can strip the streams and join them to have a valid file.

Regards

[Stu Redman]

Womble seems not to import a DVD. I can only open the VOBs, it doesn't help extracting a whole episode which stretches over several of them.

[r0lZ]

It can open the VOBs and produce a new DVD with exactly what you want. But it cannot preserve the original DVD structure. To do that, you have to re-import the modified title produced by Womble in the original DVD with VobBlanker or PgcEdit. I do that sometimes when I have to cut the title with frame-accurate precision, but it's not really easy.

Anyway, forget Womble. My previous post was only a reply to Alex_ander's post #7.

[voo_doo99]

I have a puzzling problem i think is related to the discussion. Hope you all can help me with a solution.

I bought a h/w media player which can play decrypted VOB from the hard drive. The player basically started from the movie _1.VOB and continued through the remaining VOBs. There is no provision for menu or chapter stops, but it can ff or rw via a progress time bar. The problem is on some DVD during ff the progress time code reset after crossing from current VOB to the next VOB. [This drove me crazy as I cannot skip to a point in the movie without sitting through the previous scenes]. But on some other DVD, there was no ff problem.

So was it an authoring defect on the problem DVD? or was it the discontinuities resulting from the 1GB splitting? Do I need a new big VOB without the split? or can it be corrected in PgcEdit to retain the the DVD structure good for burning?

Please advice, TIA.

[setarip_old]

Hi!

If there aren't very many such problematic DVD "packages", perhaps it would be simple enough to just burn them to DVD burnable media and play them on the player.

BTW - What is the brand and model of the player?

[r0lZ]

IMO, the problem should not come directly from the VOB splitting.

Although it's not a requirement of the DVD-Video standard, some DVD are authored with a split in VOB files at the layer break position, and with a VOB ID change. When the VOB ID changes, the time codes have to be reset to 0. A good player should add the duration of the previous part to build a new time code and assure a continuous playback. Your player may not do that correctly.

Also, I have a cheap Magnum DVD/VHS recorder that has problems with some DVDs when reaching a new cell (including when only the Cell ID changes.) A little pause occurs, without reason (but the display of the elapsed time is correct.) I guess it doesn't support well the way some MPEG encoders join the cells together.

In both cases, I suggest remuxing the title with Muxman. (You have to demux it with PgcDemux first.) By default, Muxman muxes the whole movie using only a single VOB ID. Since your player doesn't handle the menus anyway, there is no need to rebuild the original DVD structure, and you can burn the files produced by Muxman directly. If it works, try also to process the main movie with DVD Shrink in re-author mode. (There is no need to compress the movie if it fits to a DVD+R.) Shrink may rebuild the muxing in a way more compatible with your player, and with a little luck it will split the files at different positions, but it will not modify the VOB IDs. In both cases, burn a RW first to test it.

Of course, you can also try to rebuild the time maps with PgcEdit, but I doubt that doing this could help. That doesn't hurt anyway.

One question: Have you tried to play a multi-angle DVD in your player? If the problem comes from the VOB ID changes, I guess it will completely fail!

[voo_doo99]

Hi setarip_old and r0lZ, thank you for your responses. The h/w player is "WD TV HD Media Player" and the problem DVD is "Mongol". This player is dumb as mud but it does play multi-format SD and HD media files with decent video pictures. I wanted a low cost media player that can work from USB storage; but perhaps I should spend more for HTPC features. Please Santa, for this Xmas give me a VLC-emulation firmware update :p

r0lZ, your explanation made great sense. I will check the ifo, but the DVD authoring must have a VOB split with VOB ID changes. That explains why other DVDs have no problem. I did think earlier and tried movie-only reauthoring via DVD Shrink but same problem. Hmn, I wonder if Ifoedit can do any remux trick?

So the option to try is remuxing with Muxman for single VOB ID. Sound complicated, I will appreciate links to any guides on line.

Of course, for multi-angle VOB file this player stutters miserably but I remember VLC has same problem playing single m/a VOB

It felt nostalgic to slip back for a visit. I hardly shrink or blank any more, just crazy about high bit rate and DTS and hi-def these days. Bought again a lot of favorite movies on fire sale in Superbit format last month. Collected new titles in HD only and hope to have a complete setup for 1080p, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD someday soon. It's simpler now, Barnaby :D

Thanks again, gents.

[r0lZ]

IfoEdit can remux, but it has some bugs. I highly recommend Muxman.

Using Muxman is complicated only if you want to create a complete DVD structure, with several titles and menus. In your case, you have simply to demux the main movie with PgcDemux. Don't forget to produce also the celltimes.txt file if you want to keep the chapter points. Then, add the streams in muxman. (Since you don't keep the original DVD structure, you can import them in any order, preferably with the most useful streams first.) You will have to specify the language codes for the audio and subpic streams. Don't forget to import also celltimes.txt (from the File menu.) Process. That's all.

[Hikari]

Tnx for the tips guys!

I did some more tests with a movie, and with it I was able to understand better the vobs structure.

TDA is able to convert them to a mpg, but it seems that if the video is bigger than 1h it is split. In that case, PgcDemux seems to really be the best solution, it extracts each stream separately with 1 file for each of them.

With PgcDemux output I'm able to open the video on MeGUI, which creates an avisynth script that I can use to open it even at VirtualDub/Mod.

I think that's everything I need. Audio I keep the original ac3, and use subrip to extract the subs.

The only difficulty I still have is when ac3 is not synchronized with video, in that case I use MKV delay tag.

tnx for the help!!

[r0lZ]

PgcDemux can also show you the audio delay, and you can specify it in Muxman (if it is not too long.)

[blutach]

And if it is, use DelayCut to cut out the offending frames / insert silence.

Regards

[Hikari]

PgcDemux can also show you the audio delay, and you can specify it in Muxman (if it is not too long.)

What's the option to enable it?
I'm not able to see where delay info is stored

I'll also test DelayCut, tnx!!

[r0lZ]

"Check A/V Delay" in the lower right part of the GUI.

[Hikari]

ah ok!
I was looking near those checkboxes and didn't even saw that :p