Office Space - Dvd-9 that looks like a Dvd-5

[Markbo98]

Has anyone here backed up the movie Office Space? It was my new
project on Tuesday, and it took me about 3 days to make a successful
Backup. Here are some details on why it took so long.

I used Dvd Decryptor and ripped the disc in file mode. It turned out to be 4.0gb exactly! Great I thought, a DVD-5 Hollywood movie, this should be an easy one (NOT!) As it turns out, it was really just a DVD-9 disc with a 4gb movie, but more on that later.

I opened the Ifo's in Ifoedit and removed the Region checking from VIDEO_TS title set. I removed the P-UOP's from all the title sets, did a Get-VTS sectors and all was fine. I tested it with the built in Ifoedit DVD player and with PowerDvd, and it played ok. I burned it with Nero (many times!) to a DVD-RW according to the guides.

The disc did not play in the standalone player. After studying the Ifo's for a long time 2 things stood out.

1. There was region checking in VIDEO_TS as well as VTS_01_0.IFO

Removing the region checking from both these title sets resolved the region problems.

2. Because this movie was a DVD-9 disc, both VTS_01_0.IFO (main movie) and VTS_02_0.IFO (trailer) had a LAYER BR. at the end of the last program chain. This caused my standalone player to thrash for 25 seconds and crash with a CH-13 error.

I didn't want to strip anything out of this movie because it was a perfect size, but in order to remove the LAYER BR. from VTS_01_0.IFO and VTS_02_0.IFO it was necessary to go through a VOB-EXTRAS cycle for both title sets. I selected CORRECT VOB-UNIT & CORRECT IFO TABLES, and that removed the LAYER BR. Problem.

I burned the disc, and SUCCESS! Finally it worked after 3 days of burning.

After this experience I would like to suggest a couple of enhancements to my favorite program IFOEDIT. If these were present it would have saved me days of frustration.

1. When you click Region Free, check ALL the title sets in the directory for region checking. If region checking is found in any of the other title sets, warn the user and allow him to fix it. This would be similar to the way get VTS sectors prompts you to correct all the title sets.

2. During region checking or when removing P-UOPS, check for a LAYER BR. in all the title sets. If it is found, warn the user that it may not work when the movie is burned to a DVD-5. You might even suggest a VOB-EXTRAS cycle to correct each title set.

Thanks for a great program and a great DVD community.

[snidely]

Huh? I don't understand. What was so different with this DVD than any other? I have burned about 150 DVDs to date, and I have never run into this problem. When you rip the movie to your hard drive the layer break is removed, so what makes you think it was giving you a problem? I think it may have just been the fact that you were using a DVD-RW instead of a DVD-R. The RW's give the standalone players much more of a hard time than the R's do. Maybe I'm missing something here.

[Markbo98]

As stated before

'When you rip the movie to your hard drive the layer break is removed'

I am using the very latest version of DvdDecryptor 3.1.1.0 and it does not remove the LAYER BR. automatically. It's there because I see it there. It is removed when doing any IfoEdit stripping operation on the title set. In this case, there was no need to strip any streams, because the size was perfect. Therefore, the LAYER BR. was still there. I believe that when the standalone sees a DVD-5 with a Layer Br. it crashes while looking for the other layer(that isn't there). When the Layer Br. was removed the DVD-RW worked fine in the standalone player. This leads me to believe that a Layer Br. is bad for DVD-5's.

[snidely]

Hmmm...I use SmartRipper instead of DVD Decryptor, so maybe that is the difference. I have burned many DVDs that had a layer break (including Office Space) directly from the SmartRipper rip, without processing through IfoEdit and never ran into any of these problems. Maybe I've just been lucky.

[Markbo98]

I just re-ripped Office Space with SmartRipper 2.40. It does NOT remove the DVD-9 LAYER BR. command. Maybe my Sony DVP-S560D DVD player is very sensitive to this command. Certain DVD players are probably more forgiving. If you already have this title, maybe you could check the IFO's and see if the DVD-9 LAYER BR. command is present. If it so, and it still plays fine, then you have a great dvd player! :D

[snidely]

Yup, you are correct. The layer break is still there, but my Pioneer player doesn't seem to care. I guess I better hold on to that player :)

[golfextreme]

Huh? What version of office space are you doing? I just did a straight iso to dvd burn with that movie and it was single layer. I didn't know there was more than one version. Mine is R1, are you using a different one?

[Markbo98]

How can you tell the release version? The box has a date on it 06/18/02. It may be a newer release but I can't tell.

"I just did a straight iso to dvd burn with that movie and it was single layer."

This was the first thing I tried and it didn't work in my standalone. Dvd Decryptor doesn't strip out the LAYER BR. chapter even for iso images. If you check VTS_01_0.IFO you may see this in your version.

It may be that your Dvd player doesn't mind this. My Sony refuses to play when it sees a LAYER BR chapter without a 2nd layer. It craps out with a CH-13 error (A Sony general error?). If you want to make the most compatible Dvd it would probably be wise to strip out the LAYER BR. chapter. Otherwise, when you take the disc over to your friends house, it may not work, and you'll wonder why.

:confused:

[Scoobydeux]

Just did this disc, standard file copy, and it plays fine on my Sony DVPS-530D. Anyone else had anything similiar to the original poster's problem?

[jesoonster]

very very interesting post. maybe this is a reason why some of my dvd-5 copies are not working. Thx for the post.