I really wish for a new button: 'encode only'!

[Chetwood]

The further I get with my encoding results the more I love this tool but I think DVD2SVCD is really missing this option: 'encode only'.

As said before I'm encoding some Buffy eps for my little cousin and I've ripped those eps with the internal routines to my HD 1 cause I only borrowed the DVDs. Currently I'm doing some encoding tests on a single episode which is about 1.8 GB. I've ripped this episode seperately leaving the others on the DVD.

Now when I wanna encode this ep I can only select 'rip and encode' so that the already perfectly ripped DVD gets ripped a second time (waste of time) to my HD 2 (waste of space) before it gets encoded and saved to HD 2. Even though both HDs have 30 GB each I still have no space left; I already deleted everything that's not needed any more. When I got back I saw that DVD2SVCD had stopped simply because it could not write to HD 2 anymore as it was full. The dir with the almost finished SVCD took up 4+ GB!

I'd unchecked 'don't delete any files' but still there's too much 'useless' data cause - as already pointed out - the vobs are already ripped to HD1.

Of course I don't know how the program really works so it might be a necessity to rip the stuff again before encoding it, still I think this to be very unlikely especially when the stuff has been ripped with the internal routines already.

What do you think?

[dvd2svcd]

Why don't you just disable DVD ripping ?

[Chetwood]

Originally posted by dvd2svcd
Why don't you just disable DVD ripping ?

Simply because I'm too stupid!!!

Honestly, those tons of tabs simply confuse me. It's not your fault but the way those tabs are implemented in the Windows GUI. Gosh, it's not the first time that I mangaged to skip some tab with important no matter how often I browsed through them. Evidently I never turned off DVDripping.

Feel free to laugh...

[PCBadBoy]

:stupid: Just Kidding. Some options are easy to miss when you first get started, but you will get the hang of it.

Keep on keepin' on.

[Chetwood]

Originally posted by PCBadBoy
Keep on keepin' on. [/B]

Thanks but I'm happy to say I'm not totally retarded. Cause when I turn off 'DVD rip (internal routines)' I CANNOT encode only a certain chapter of a DVD. This seems weird to me.

As said before, I'm going to run a few test on the very same chapter of a few mins (3:46) and even though I have already ripped the whole DVD to my HD I gotta rip this very same chapter again when I wanna encode only this. So again this is a bit of waste of time and space (how much waste certainly depends on the size of the chapter).

For a test I tried to rip only this chapter (with the internal routines) and then encoded it after having turned off 'dvd rip'. It did not work at all. The ifo was interpreted but nothing happened...

[PCBadBoy]

When I do only a test I use Smart Ripper for a short chapter at the beginning of the DVD that way I ensure that it is in the first VOB. This makes sure that the IFO is right no matter what.

Then I save time and space by unchecking the Ripping option. I used this method to convert widescreen to fullscreen before the new Half DVD size option.

[Chetwood]

Originally posted by PCBadBoy
When I do only a test I use Smart Ripper for a short chapter at the beginning of the DVD that way I ensure that it is in the first VOB. This makes sure that the IFO is right no matter what.

Then I save time and space by unchecking the Ripping option. I used this method to convert widescreen to fullscreen before the new Half DVD size option.

On second thought - and after some further testing - I do not seem to be as stupid as I feared.

I've ripped the complete Buffy DVD to HD 1 cause I only borrowed it and had to give it back. Now I wanna encode only the first ep (12 or so chapters). When I deactivate 'internal ripping' and select 'start conversion' the whole DVD (ALL eps) gets ripped!! But I just wanna encode the first ep!

But to do so I gotta enable internal ripping which again leads to a waste of time and space since the complete first ep is ripped again to HD 2 even if it is already on HD 1. Again my HD was full so the muxing process stopped and I had to retry after I deleted the 1.4 GB of vobs that were ripped again.

I've tried to rip the first ep with Smartripper but when I verified this with PowerDVD it could not be played back from my HD, so this method does not seem to work for me.

[PCBadBoy]

I am not too sure about this, but I think you can use an IFO Editor and edit the IFO to only include the Episode that you want in your Encode.

Don't quote me on that but maybe someone here can respond to this point.

[Jason28]

If you do a search on ripping you find many things about it.

1) Some episodic DVDs have one .ifo file that points to all the different episodes that are on that DVD. If you want to rip select episodes then you need to figure out what episodes are what chapters and then in the conversion tab select ONLY the chapters (episodes) that you want. Sometimes this wont work and you will only be able to select some random stuff, what you have to do is switch to vstrip and then look in the movie length box and you should see the different episodes there. As far as I can tell these are the most common type that you wil find. Sex and the City, The Sopranos, and Neon Genesis are like this.

2) The left over episodic DVDs have different .ifos that point to the different episodes. What you have to do is manually go through all the .ifos and see if they are about the same length as the episode that you are trying to rip. If they are then you can rip those with the IRs or Vstrip what ever you want. Also I have noticed that the 1st episode that you find on the DVD will most likley be the 1st episode that is supposed to be played.

If you have any questions just ask. :)

[R2D2]

My case: "rip only" the DVD on HDD. Then, build SVCD's (usually 3 of them) using CBR=2500 and selecting the necessary number of chapters, so the result will ceate 1 SVCD of max. 800Mb. In doing so, I must go through "Rip & convert" option, with "Rip using internal routines" option active, since otherwise, the drop-down list of the chapters will not be accessible for selection. No complain about extra time spent of double ripping, since it takes so little time that - does not matter 1/2 hour more per DVD. The only issue is HDD space. Even my HDD is 60 Gb, sometimes I get tight, especially when I get 3-4 DVD's ripped in the "waiting list" and I have to folow the process closely and erase the unneeded files.

Therefore, creating a 'Encode only' option may not alleviate my problem, since the only way to select the chapters I want for a SVCD, will need the rip activated and "Rip & convert" option used. Ideal will be if the drop-down list of chapters could be accessible with or without "Rip" activated, and so, the solution proposed by DVD2SVCD (disable DVD ripping) will be fully valid.

[Chetwood]

Originally posted by R2D2
Therefore, creating a 'Encode only' option may not alleviate my problem, since the only way to select the chapters I want for a SVCD, will need the rip activated and "Rip & convert" option used. Ideal will be if the drop-down list of chapters could be accessible with or without "Rip" activated, and so, the solution proposed by DVD2SVCD (disable DVD ripping) will be fully valid.

Well, that's what I meant. There should be an option to encode chapters from an already grabbed vob-file without having to rip that vob again. Even with small eps like Buffy you gonna waste another 1.4 GB or more and this can become critical when you also rip 2 audio and subtitle streams...

[dvd2svcd]

Ahh, but you see now it's out of the hands of dvd2svcd, since it uses dvd2avi to make the project file from the ripped vob files. And dvd2svcd cannot tell dvd2avi to just use a small part of any vob files, they must be ripped again to other filenames.