Making a DVD Series back up with BD Rebuilder?

[thegame]

Hi Everyone,
I have been reading a lot lately about people doing this, I was actually going to try to do something like this manually lol but it would take way to long, but from what I have been reading this can be done with BD Rebuilder? if so is there a guide somewhere on this? I would like to try this out with my Sons Teen Titans DVD's and have some nice custom menu backgrounds.

Thanks for any and all guidance here, really would love to try this out.

ps. do the DVD video files get re-encoded for the BD, or are they left alone?

[Sharc]

Hi Everyone,
I have been reading a lot lately about people doing this, I was actually going to try to do something like this manually lol but it would take way to long, but from what I have been reading this can be done with BD Rebuilder? if so is there a guide somewhere on this? I would like to try this out with my Sons Teen Titans DVD's and have some nice custom menu backgrounds.

Thanks for any and all guidance here, really would love to try this out.

ps. do the DVD video files get re-encoded for the BD, or are they left alone?
Yes, BD-RB can do this.
- Move your DVD's (e.g. DVD1, DVD2 ....with their Audio_ts and Video_ts subfolders) into a single new directory
- Import this directory which contains all your DVDs into BD-RB via File/Import/DVD(s) - Quick Reauthored

If happy:
- Donate to jdobbs ;)

[jdobbs]

I do it all the time. I just put "Hill Street Blues - Complete Season One" on a single BD-25 today.

They don't get reencoded when you import, and they really don't have to since DVD's MPEG-2 is compatible with BD. But since AVC is 2-4 times as efficient as MPEG-2 (DVD) I would recommend you do a full-backup reencode to get them all on a single BD disc (or two).

[thegame]

I do it all the time. I just put "Hill Street Blues - Complete Season One" on a single BD-25 today.

They don't get reencoded when you import, and they really don't have to since DVD's MPEG-2 is compatible with BD. But since AVC is 2-4 times as efficient as MPEG-2 (DVD) I would recommend you do a full-backup reencode to get them all on a single BD disc (or two).

Thank you guys so much for the help, so how do I do a full back up to get the AVC encode? also how do you use your own background, I saw someone used a custom Lost background in the bugs reporting thread, and 1 more thing, well I hope just 1 more lol, how does BD-RB let you choose what episode to watch, how is it labeled on the menu?

Thanks again for all the help, I am now trying to find all 5 Seasons of Teen Titans to try this out, probably should add the movie as well and make it 100% complete.

[thegame]

OK I sure wish there was a guide somewhere to do this lol, I selected full back up under mode and it still is no re-encoding the video, also how do you add your own background, plus I need to figure out how to keep the extras out and only the episodes in.

Thanks again for all the help but could use a little more lol.

*edit, ok after trying again for Season 1 Teen Titans I figured out how to change the background and change the title for each video\episode, but it still is not re-encoding at all, my video is still MPEG-2, and when I test the BDROM folder the menu is first play then I select my episode and it plays, so far all is looking good, but when episode ends it does nothing, blank screen, then when I hit top menu it is still blank screen, I test with software which is WinDVD and I understand some software just do not handle this stuff right, so my question is after the episode should it go back to the menu to select another episode? and when the episode is over will it auto go back to menu?

Thanks again

[Sharc]

..... I test with software which is WinDVD and I understand some software just do not handle this stuff right, so my question is after the episode should it go back to the menu to select another episode? and when the episode is over will it auto go back to menu?
Yes, per default it returns to the menu and highlights the next episode. You should burn it to disc and try with a HW standalone player.
You can change the default settings via Settings/Import/Quick-Play settings (last 2 checkboxes).

It doesn't re-encode when there is no need for processing like resize, deinterlace, compression etc.

[jdobbs]

If it will fit without reencoding it is always better to keep it intact. The advantage of AVC is that you can fit a lot more on a disc without loss of quality.

If you want to force encoding anyway, however, you can add:

FORCE_ENCODE=1

to your Config/INI file.

[thegame]

Thanks to you guys for the help, I plan on testing more today, these are obviously 4:3 cartoons at about 21 minutes long each, there are 5 Seasons each having what appears to be 13 episodes, then there is a movie, how many BD25's do you think I should use to get the most on 1 Disc without hindering quality?

Thanks again

[Sharc]

This depends on many factors, like
- Resolution of the video
- Complexity and quality of the source (details, action ....)
- Type an number of audio tracks
- encoder settings (-> time for encoding)
- and in particular: what means "hindering quality" to your eyes, i.e. what is acceptable.

To give a rough idea:
- DVD resolution: up to 20 hours playtime
- Full HD resolution: 3 ... 8 hours playtime

But try yourself what look good to you.

[thegame]

It is just DVD, these are not HD, damn I wish these were on Blu-ray lol, and there is only one DD 2.0 audio and 1 sub track per episode, I was just meaning how many Seasons would you try and squeeze on 1 BD25 knowing all this info.

Thanks

[thegame]

lol I just cannot get this thing to encode no matter what, I tried putting seasons 1&2 together and it made a BD at 25 GB's, now if I could get this to encode it may have been just the right size for a BD25 right? is there a particular place you need to put the Force_Encode line? I even unchecked the English subs because I do not need them and they still keep getting added in lol, I am starting to think that this little program does not like me at all, I don't suppose someone can tell me exactly what to do here so I can get this right and then I will be good to go from then on.

Each season is 2 DVD's, I ripped them with AnyDVD HD and I placed seasons 1&2 in the same folder, 4 DVD's total, 1 season alone is to small, but both of together are a little to big at 25 GB's, so if I can just get the force encode command to work I should be good correct? lol I don't know what else to try, I am stuck.

Thanks

[jdobbs]

lol I just cannot get this thing to encode, I tried putting seasons 1&2 together and it made a BD at 25 GB's, now if I could get this to encode it may have been just the right size for a BD25 right? is there a particular place you need to put the Force_Encode line?

ThanksHere's how I do it, assuming you have AnyDVD installed:

1. I create an appropriate background -- or just use the default

2. Create a folder to be used as your working folder. Example:

D:\WORKING1

3. Create a folder to hold all the DVDs, it should be meaningful but short. I'll just use "SERIES".

4. Create a folder for each disc of the series, example:

D:\SERIES
D:\SERIES\DISC1
D:\SERIES\DISC2
D:\SERIES\DISC3
D:\SERIES\DISC4

5. Insert the first disc and copy VIDEO_TS AND AUDIO_TS from the disc to the folder called DISC1

6. Repeat step 5 for for discs 2, 3, and 4

7. Open up BD_Rebuilder and select FILE/IMPORT/DVDs...

8. Browse to D:\SERIES

9. BD-RB will open a dialog showing all the default names for the episodes it finds as well as the title lengths.

10. Rename the episodes if you would like it to be custom. I usually get the names of the episodes from the source discs or from Wikipedia via a search for "xxx" list of episodes (xxx= the name of the series).

11. Edit the Title (if you want to)

12. Click on "Save and Continue"

13. BD will go through the steps of importing
- Note: No encode will occur during import... the DVDs
- are just converted to BD format.

14. At the end of the import BD-RB's Source Path will point to the import
- Unless you change with hidden settings, the import will be in a folder called IMPORTS in your working folder. Example:

D:\WORKING1\IMPORTS

15. Set BD-RB to do a full backup. If the total of the output is greater than you target size, or if you have selected any kind of resizing (ex: SD to 720p) it will be reencoded. If you want to force encoding set FORCE_ENCODE=1 in the config/INI file.

16. The reencode will take some time. The output will be in your working folder. In this example it will be called SERIES.

17. Once you have output that you like, don't forget to clean up the IMPORTS folder. It can get big fast with a few imports. You can also get rid of the SERIES folders you created for the import.

The defaults for importing (like the minimum size for a title) can be modified in the import dialog (under the Settings menu). That's also where you might change the default background. The default minimum playlist size is 15 minutes. If it looks like you are pulling in extras you don't want, and your episodes are 50 mins (for example) you might set the minimum size to 30 just to limit the playlists included.

[thegame]

Thank you very, very much, I am going to try that out ASAP.

[thegame]

OK I feel a little dumb now lol, I was not letting BD-RB run its full course, now all is good and the AVC encode really looks good, but I have this which comes and goes on all the episodes, and sometimes it appears on the left side as well, and it is not always real bright green like shown, I will attach a screenshot so you can see, I hope there is a way to get rid of this, I am thinking that some cropping needs to be done first on the DVD source to make it a nice clean image before processing.

Thanks again jdobbs for the detailed how to, it was a HUGE help.

*edit, ok I just looked at the IMPORTED DVD files and they all seem to look good, so I am not sure if I need to crop out some from the bottom and left side, so hopefully you have run across this before and know how to mkae this a lot better.

http://i.imgur.com/p8OUpLb.png?1

[jdobbs]

Just as an FYI -- it works pretty much the same way for BD imports or Video File imports.

Another note: If you want to keep your imports separate from your working drive you can set an alternate location for importing with the hidden option IMPORT_FOLDER (see HIDDENOPTS.TXT).

You shouldn't need to crop anything. I'm not sure why you'd see the noise at the bottom/side of the encode. I've never experienced that.

[thegame]

Just as an FYI -- it works pretty much the same way for BD imports or Video File imports.

Another note: If you want to keep your imports separate from your working drive you can set an alternate location for importing with the hidden option IMPORT_FOLDER (see HIDDENOPTS.TXT).

You shouldn't need to crop anything. I'm not sure why you'd see the noise at the bottom/side of the encode. I've never experienced that.

Thanks for all the tips, but do you have any suggestions at all on how I can get rid of that noise? it is pretty bad so I scrapped this attempt, I will have to do it again.

Thanks again for all your help.

[thegame]

So no one has any ideas at all or suggestions of what I can try to avoid this on my episodes?

Thanks

[jdobbs]

Sorry but no. I do DVD conversion pretty much every day, and I've never seen it before. Can you try a different DVD to see if maybe it is just that disc? If not, maybe a reinstall of FFDSHOW, as some other CODEC may have overridden it.

[thegame]

Sorry but no. I do DVD conversion pretty much every day, and I've never seen it before. Can you try a different DVD to see if maybe it is just that disc? If not, maybe a reinstall of FFDSHOW, as some other CODEC may have overridden it.

Thanks I will try this out, I guess I could always go back to non encoding again I suppose.

[jdobbs]

Thanks I will try this out, I guess I could always go back to non encoding again I suppose.Yes, but if the problem exists there and is not corrected -- it will likely surface somewhere else as well.

[thegame]

I was just thinking on what you told me to try, I actually have done different DVD's, Season 1 is 2 DVD's and then I also added Season 2 which is 2 DVD's, so this kind of makes me think it is not the DVD's, it would seem really strange to have the same issue on Season 2 lol after it was released a while after Season 1 right?

Thanks again, and of course you are right, I rally need to sort this out.

[jdobbs]

Uninstall BD-RB and all helper apps and then reinstall them. I have to believe that something is intercepting the normal FFDSHOW flow.