IfoUpdate path

[dgwak]

Ok, so I created set of VOB's and ifo files from Maestro.

I am rather confused about how to direct the paths of the proper ifo files.

I changed the authored VOB's to VTS_04_x.vob and copied them to the original directory (c:\id4) of ripped movie. I deleted the original vob's (but not VTS_04_0.vob) and here is my question.

So in Ifoupdate, which file is the original IFO? Did I not just delete those?
What about the backup path? Did I need to back up the original vobs' before I deleted them?

[jdobbs]

You should only delete the VOBs you just recreated, not all the VOBs (for example you should not have deleted VTS_01_1.VOB -- as you were replacing VTS_04_X.VOB).

The "Original IFO" should exist in the directory into which you ripped the DVD -- that looks like it is c:\ID4\VTS_04_0.IFO in your case. The "Newly Authored" is the IFO you just created in Maestro and picked an output location. It is usually named "VTS_01_0.IFO" in that directory.

The backup path is anywhere you'd like IFOUPDATE to save the original IFO before it makes changes to it (just in case).

[dgwak]

Hi thanks for your help.

OK this is what I did. Originals (VTS_04_x.VOB)are in C:\ID4 directory. The authored VOB's are in c:\ID4-2 directory.

So I renamed the authored ones from VTS_01 to VTS_04 then copied them to C:\ID4 directory which will undoubtedly relpace the original VOB's. (Did I do this right? The DVD9toDVD5 instruction says to copy them over, but not ifo files)

Then I still have those authored VOB's in C:\ID4-2 as VTS_04_x.VOB (it was VTS_01_x till I renamed them). Also, in C:\ID4 direcotory I have VTS_04_x.VOB as well.

This is what I did and I don't think it was right...

[jdobbs]

Heres what I would do:

Assume that all the original files from the DVD are in C:\ID4...

1. Create a temp directory to save my originals. (c:\temp)
2. Move the original VTS_04_X.VOB files to the temp directory. (moving files only takes a second -- copying takes forever).
3. Copy the original VTS_04_0.IFO file to the temp directory.
4. Rename the VTS_01_X.VOB files in the newly authored directory to VTS_04_X.VOB.
5. Move the newly renamed files into the original directory. (From C:\ID4-2 to C:\ID4)
6. Start IFOUpdate and set the original file to "c:\ID4\vts_04_0.IFO"
7. Set the "Newly Authored" file to "c:\ID4-2\vts_01_0.IFO"
8. Do the update.
9. If you had "Autocorrect Sectors" set you are ready to go, else run "Correct VTS Sectors"

All done. Run PowerDVD in c:\ID4 and everything should work correctly.

If all is well, delete everything out of the temp directory.

[dgwak]

That is much clearer...Why don't they write guide like that? (for people like me..lol)

Thanks...

However, did you mean to say original is c:\ID4\VTS_04_0.ifo, not C:\VTS_04_0.ifo? (Same with the authored ones too)

[jdobbs]

Whoops...

Yes, I've corrected the paths above.

[dgwak]

jdobbs, Thanks for your input. It helped a lot but I am at the end of the process and can't seem to break through here. So your help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is my question.

I can do everything including compiling but can't seem to fiqure out how to put it all back together at the end.

Here is what I did.

1) Ripped ALL files using Decryptor (including trailers)
2) DVD2AVI to creat d2v and ac3 file.
3) Creat Chapter and Subtitle using ChapterXtractor and Subrip
4) Avisynth2 to frameserve
5) CCE2.50 to encode to a smaller size
6) Pulldown to create NTSC 29.97 fps
7) Import media to Maestro and compile new set of VOB's and ifo's

Now when I play the authored VOB's they look fine. No problem, all subtitle matches and audio works great too.

8)Now I use IfoUpdate. Rename authored VOB's to (in this case) VTS_04_x.vob and moved them (except for VTS_04_0.vob) to the directory of the originals. Run IfoUpdate and it corrects everything fine including VTS Sector.

Now I can play them in hard drive. This is what it does. It first plays FBI warning then to the menu. I can select main movie or trailers. (I can do this since I have ripped all files in there) Here is my problem. All files there including trailers are too big to fit on my DVD.

So what step do I need to take now? I looked at all available guides but they don't go into details of the final steps.

[jdobbs]

When you run the video through CCE you have to make is small enough so the final product (all files) will fit on a DVD-R. Using the Robshot method you can see clearly what the resulting filesize will be.

If reducing the file to fit would cause too much image degradation (this usually happens when there are a lot of space hogging extras on a disc) you can run the procedure against other VTS sets until it gets small enough.

[dgwak]

jdobbs,

Thanks for your input. I have done both of your methods and plus one more. One, I shrunk the size of main VTS set (in this case, VTS_04) smaller to fit in one DVD. Like I said previously, I can play just fine from hard drive, but when I tried to burn it using Nero, it gives me an error message "One of more VOB's do not belong to VTS_04.ifo" and won't even try to burn. I looked into the preference to see if it's a setup thing that I could override but no avail.


The second method I tried. I did shrink the trailer and in Maestro created a menu(a simply one at best since I don't have much knowledge yet as to creating menus) which will direct to either the main movie or trailer. But the trailer is 40 minutes long and has many differnt parts to it. (however, ChapterXtractor shows no chapter) So how do I make it go to certain parts of the trailer depending on buttons I push?

Third method, I shrunk the trailer and tried to keep the same menus and structures of the DVD. I used VOBEdit for that. But I still run into the same problem as stated in the second method.

[jdobbs]

I guess I don't understand why you are creating another menu in Maestro. When you leave the VTS_XX_0.VOB behind in the original it (normally) holds the original menus. So authoring another menu is an unnecessary step (and in this method it would be thrown away in the update anyhow.

I never use Nero so I can't comment on the error. A while back when DVD Authoring was new I started out using Nero but found so many errors that I dumped it for PrimoDVD. Now I just compile using Maestro and burn using SpruceUp (since I have it installed anyway).

[dgwak]

Ok, in the third method where I shrunk both the main movie and the trailer (VTS_08, in this case). I prefer to keep the original menu but when I push on the buttons in menu (trailer part of the menu) it goes to wrong places in the trailer. (I guess compressing threw off the places where it supposed to enter)

So my question is how do I manually edit the VTS_08_.ifo to go to the right places of the trailer? I wish VOBEdit had fixed this problem automatically but it did not.

[jdobbs]

You shouldn't have to do any manual editing. IFOUpdate should insert the chapter points properly in the file.