New IFOUpdate Version

[jdobbs]

All,

I've created a new version of IFOUpdate (attached). The main change in this version is the inclusion of a new mode call "Adjusted Cell." Other changes are listed in the README file.

You may have noticed that a lot of DVDs have been coming out lately with cells that are a part of more than one PGC (especially in the extras -- a good example is "Unfaithful"). When you break out the PGCs you find that you might have 3 hours of video for what was only 2 hours on the original -- because the duplicate cells are treated as independent when you pull out the PGCs. Using the Maestro mode of IFOUpdate, these blocks can even be out of sequence...

This new mode analyzes the IFO at the cell level, it organizes them based upon sector location so they will always be in order according to the way in which DVD2AVI reads them. It also recognizes duplicates sectors (between or within PGCs) and flags them internally so they won't be repeated. That way you can simply let DVD2AVI create a D2V for then entire VTS and let IFOUpdate worry about the structure... That also means that you can author a multiple PGC title with a package that only supports single PGCs (like SpruceUp).

IFOUpdate does the analysis when it loads the IFO. The secret is to set IFOUpdate to "Adjusted Cell" mode and then write the chapter files/CCE files from the "Save Chapter Files" dialog. Then author the new VTS using the chapters provided --- NO OTHERS -- the chapters have to match exactly when you run IFOUpdate to rebuild the original IFO, or it will bail out...

Please note that this is a new feature -- I've tested it, but not thoroughly. Let me know if you run into problems so I can fix them.

An example Sequence (with little detail) for using this method:

1. Rip the DVD to a directory using SmartRipper or DVDDecrypter.
2. Look at the directory and pick out the VTS (the big one)
holding the movie
3. Open the IFO for that VTS with IFOUpdate.
4. Set to "Adjusted Cell" mode, and write the chapter files.
5. Run DVD2AVI against the entire VTS set
6. Create an AVISYNTH .AVS file to feed to CCE.
7. Open up CCE, load the .AVS, set parameters, and save the
.ECL file.
8. With a text editor, open the .ECL file -- and add the CCE
chapter points
- If FILM source use the FILM .TXT file else use the other
- If you're new to this -- search the forum
9. Open CCE again and reload the ECL -- encode the movie
10. Run PULLDOWN if necessary.
11. Load the file into an authoring package with audio
12. Set the chapters based on the output of step 4.
- The file will import directly into Maestro
13. After you've completed, save he orginal .BUP and IFO files
- This is not required but is a good way to be safe
14. Run IFOUpdate and update the original file (in "Adjusted
Cell" mode).
15. All done. Do any other VTS sets that may need to shrink.

I'm still struggling with the problem encountered when one of the PGCs has no sound and that causes all the following audio to be out of sync. Look for a fix in the next IFOUpdate version... For now you may want to choose the DoItFast4U route on those...


EDITED [18 Jan]: Please download version 0.60 below -- it fixes two important bugs.

[Bear263]

Thank you jdobbs for your continuing effort in enhancing ifoupdate.

Bear

[Eyes`Only]

Amazing conceptual idea! I'm trying it out on a DVD I've waited a long time to backup. I will let you know my results soon!

Great job visualizing a simplistic approach and then implementing it. You are amazing!

That said, let me ask you about something else. Some DVDs I've seen have both pgc1 and pgc2 with a full movie (think regular and director's cut). Then pgcs 3+ (in one DVD there were 30 more PGCs!) are parts of vobids found from both PGC1 and PGC2. Any idea of a way to make IFOUpdate work with this? An analysis of the entire IFO perhaps, so that we can author PGC1 and PGC2 in Scenarist and then IFOUpdate can find the vobids from both and use these to do the rest? I'm sure there could be some DVDs that have 3 PGCs with different VOB IDs too. Is it possible for a revision to check the entire .ifo? We can, of course make sure the vobids match in the PGCs we author, to make it easier if need be.

Eyes`Only

[Eyes`Only]

Jdobbs,

How in the heck do you use this 'adjusted cell method'?

Case scenario:

Original .ifo has 18 PGCs, the first PGC has 50 cells, 29 chapters.

I've tried creating both a single PGC .ifo with 50 chapters in PGC1. IFOUpdate gave me the error 'Original/New Cell Counts do not match, aborting'. Checked the .ifos, both had exactly 50 cells for PGC1. Note: Original .ifo has 18 PGCs, new .ifo has 1 PGC.

So OK I said to myself.. maybe i have to have the same number of chapters(?). So I recreated the exact structure of PGC1 (with Scenarist this is easy.. I don't use Maestro, I rather refuse to touch it because to me it's a toy). Soooo... now my reauthored .ifo has 50 cells and 29 chapters in PGC1. Looks exactly like the original except that I didn't put it together by vobid, I just threw in one .m2v and added 50 chapters. Anyway, it looks just like the original except for that. Here's an example:
---------------------------
Original .ifo:

[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 1/ 1] : time: 00:01:06.00 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:01:06.00] [Frames: 1980]
[Cell 02] [V/C Id: 2/ 1] : time: 00:03:25.11 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:04:31.11] [Frames: 8141]
[Cell 03] [V/C Id: 3/ 1] : time: 00:00:15.00 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:04:46.11] [Frames: 8591]
[Ch 04] [Pg 02] [Cell 04] [V/C Id: 3/ 2] : time: 00:01:39.16 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:06:25.27] [Frames: 11577]
[Cell 05] [V/C Id: 3/ 3] : time: 00:00:37.23 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:07:03.20] [Frames: 12710]
[Ch 05] [Pg 03] [Cell 06] [V/C Id: 4/ 1] : time: 00:01:41.00 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:08:44.20] [Frames: 15740]
----------------------------
Reauthored .ifo:
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 1/ 1] : time: 00:01:05.25 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:01:05.25] [Frames: 1975]
[Cell 02] [V/C Id: 1/ 2] : time: 00:03:25.14 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:04:31.09] [Frames: 8139]
[Cell 03] [V/C Id: 1/ 3] : time: 00:00:15.00 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:04:46.09] [Frames: 8589]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 04] [V/C Id: 1/ 4] : time: 00:01:39.15 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:06:25.24] [Frames: 11574]
[Cell 05] [V/C Id: 1/ 5] : time: 00:00:37.25 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:07:03.19] [Frames: 12709]
[Ch 03] [Pg 03] [Cell 06] [V/C Id: 1/ 6] : time: 00:01:40.28 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:08:44.17] [Frames: 15737]
----------------------------

So now I have the same exact # of cells AND chapters in my reauthored ifo for PGC1 (still no pgc2+ in the reauthored). I try again and get the same error ('Original/New Cell Counts do not match, aborting').

What am I doing wrong? On a whim, i used your program to create a .chp file and then took a look at that.. seems like you're supposed to create one pgc only, according to that ADJUSTED-MAESTRO.CHP file that was output.

So, please. Tell me what I'm doing wrong. Give us an idea of what the heck is supposed to be the structure in the reauthored .ifo, as well as how your program performs this miraculous feature. I'd LOVE to use it, I just can't figure out HOW. And if it can be done in Maestro, it can definitely be done in Scenarist (heck Maestro can't even get multipgc right without mucking about and adding a pgc that you didnt ask for), and you know if it can be done in Scenarist, most likely I already know how to do it! So HELP me please!

[Eyes`Only]

(I have attached both the original and reauthored files to this posting)

[jdobbs]

Eyes' Only,

Regardless of the PGC count you should create a single PGC in your newly authored file -- you can create multiples and it would still work, but it's a waste of time since this mode only looks at the cell level. But the number of cells must match. So for most simple authoring packages that would mean you create a chapter for each cell (since they create them at a 1:1 ratio). I realize you have more control than that in Scenarist. In fact using scenarist you wouldn't even have to create any chapters -- as long as it has the correct number of cells and they begin at the correct point (based upon where they truly sit in the VOB files as defined by the sector pointers).

I'll look at your files and see what I come up with -- gotta be a bug in there somewhere...

[jdobbs]

@Eyes Only

Thanks for finding this... I had two really off-the-wall bugs (I was working late when I finished that version :() that was causing your problem. Sorry, I'm usually a little better at cleaning up the code before I post. But they didn't occur in the version I was using (one of them would only show its ugly head when the chapter-to-cell ratio wasn't 1:1 -- doesn't that figure)

Attached is an updated version. You will see that in your example --although there are only 50 cells -- you would actually be updating 172 cells across the PGCs after all the duplicate pointers are adjusted...

Thanks again.

@Everyone -- please download this version -- the last one sucks.

[jdobbs]

@Eyes Only,

That said, let me ask you about something else. Some DVDs I've seen have both pgc1 and pgc2 with a full movie (think regular and director's cut). Then pgcs 3+ (in one DVD there were 30 more PGCs!) are parts of vobids found from both PGC1 and PGC2. Any idea of a way to make IFOUpdate work with this? An analysis of the entire IFO perhaps, so that we can author PGC1 and PGC2 in Scenarist and then IFOUpdate can find the vobids from both and use these to do the rest? I'm sure there could be some DVDs that have 3 PGCs with different VOB IDs too. Is it possible for a revision to check the entire .ifo? We can, of course make sure the vobids match in the PGCs we author, to make it easier if need be.

That is exactly what "Adjusted Mode" is meant to do. It works across the entire IFO. It will get the cell information from all the PGCs in a VTS (outlined in the IFO) and then you author it all as one. The VOB and CELL IDs are corrected to match the ones found in the new VOBs that were created at authoring.

If you run into any more problems let me know. I have a three day weekend to fix all that needs fixing.

Also: Would you find it useful if I made this mode work on a single PGC as well, perhaps in support of use with DoItFast4U?

[Eyes`Only]

Ok.. to report back.. It worked! However, one major snag...

The DVD i am trying to back up has angles originally. I tried to remove them via IFOEdit, but we all know what a crappy job IFOEdit does keeping chapter points for something like this.. and this time was no exception. The damn cells are all off after IFOEdit messed with em while it was removing angle2.

So.. your tool works great. However I still don't have a good DVDr to burn, because ifoupdate worked correctly, however the chapters in the de-angled ifo are off. Any chance on a 'angle 1 only' type of feature so that I could use my reauthored ifo with 50 cells with an original ifo that has 60 cells but only 50 if you don't count angle 2?

(did that make sense?)

Thanks,

Eyes

[jdobbs]

That's the great area of potential about this method. Since this works at the cell level, you shouldn't really have to remove the angles -- they should roll into the reassembly. The cell entry points output have to be frame accurate. I'm positive the CCE chapter files are, because I've tested them and verified.

I'm not as confident with the ones I output as Maestro chapter points. I've never been able to get those exact. I'm guessing it has to do with drop frame but I still haven't broken the formula. It's close enough for almost everything, but angle breaks have to be perfect.

That's the goal I'd like to meet. In the interim, you could break out the VTS by cell, reencode all the cells (angles and all), reauthor in Scenarist, and it should fit back together perfectly. That would have been a real pain in the past -- but DoItFast4U kills a lot of the backbreaking legwork now! Can it do cells?

What I can do is modify the IFO so the angles disappear -- then DVD Decrypter (in IFO mode) or SmartRipper could rip just that angle.

[Eyes`Only]

If your program had an option to remove cells before it started the cell analysis, it seems it would work fine. I've never thought of making DoItFast4U demux a video with all angles in it... always thought that was a giant waste of time, but I can see how now it could actually help.

Yes, DoItFast4U already has the option to demux by cell id, even removing duplicate cells for you automatically just like it does for vobid mode. I have some ppl currently using this demux mode to analyze the ability to reauthor an Infinifilm title.

[FilipeAmadeuO]

Does the Adjusted Cell mode work using the CCE 2.66 ??
I ask this because in can save the ecl file and i caní insert the chapters directly in CCE.

[FilipeAmadeuO]

Does the Adjusted Cell mode work using the CCE 2.66 ??
I ask this because in can´t save the ecl file and i can´t insert the chapters directly in CCE.

[jdobbs]

It should still work. You can either manually set the chapters in CCE, or you can just be satisfied when the newly authored breakpoints are up to a half-second off (depending upon where the nearest IFRAME is).

[FilipeAmadeuO]

I tried with CCE 2.66 and it WORKS !!!
Outstanding !!! It saves a lot of trouble in multi PGC.
Only one thing:
The Copy Audio and Subpictures tables are always on im teh Adjusted mode cell, isn´t it ???
I tried a VTS with one subpicture (in the original) and in the authored one i didn´t put it, and it shows in the created one a not specific subpicture.
Can you fix it or is it right ???

[emistral]

Does that mean that if I have a VTS title set for the main movie with 5 PGCs in it, I just need to rip the title set, use ifoupdate in adjusted cell s mode, write down the chapters and reauthor the title set by creating only one PGC ?
At the moment with multiple PGCs, I ripped each PGC individually and then recreate all the PGCs in scenarist ?

So your tool, if I am right, will save me time by only ripping the entire VTS and not each PGC adn reauthor it very simply
using IfOupdate should fix multiple PGC problem
Is it correct ?

[Eyes`Only]

emistral, this new feature is only for seamless branching titles. If you're looking for the 'quick fix' for multipgc, you've not found it.

[emistral]

another question I forgot to ask

For the chapters, I currently use chapterxtractor with a filter set up for CCE then scenarist
Before encoding in CCE I use the CCE filter in chapterxtractor and then modify manually the ECL file
Then when it comes to author, I create a new project, drag the audio+video and eventually the subtitles, export the scenario.
Once it is exported, I used then Scenchap and I load the exported scenario and previously I was using chapterxtractor with scenarist setting to import the chapter points from the VTS title set.
So I guess with your new version of ifoupdate I'll have to use the chapter points given by adjusted cells mode instead of chapterxtractor

I might probably have to manually format them to be inserted in the scenarist scenario file but do you think it will work ?

[jdobbs]

Yes you will have to use the chapters provided by IFOUpdate unless you can create cell points with some other method (Scenarist). ChapterXtractor will create the "chapters" of an original single PGC, not the common points for cells.

@emistral
I disagree with Eyes' Only that this won't work on Multiple PGCs. That is the main reason it was created. So you could do multiple PGCs -- and not have to worry whether their individual chapters/cells point to the same sectors. I have used the tool on several multiple PGC DVDs and it works every time except for those annoying instances where there is a PGC in the middle that has no sound. I'm working now on a method to fix that... It may take a little while.

To do a multiple PGC with this you set the mode to "Adjusted" -- and save the "Adjusted" files. It is then important that you use the .TXT files and insert them into CCE's ECL file. They are dead-on accurate, so you can be assured a GOP starts at the Cell point. Then use the chapters provided in the .CHP file when authoring. You may have to adjust these one GOP one way or the other to be exact. I'm still trying to figure out why it doesn't hit exactly when Maestro imports.

Anyway -- the result (from Maestro, ReelDVD, SpruceUp, Scenarist) is a single PGC that has cells all properly located at the correct GOP. Then when IFOUpdate moves them back to the original, it simply uses their sector, VOB, and Cell IDs and inserts them at the correct location in the receiving PGCs.

I'm trying to get DVD backing down to its simplest level which is cells and sectors. It leaves out a lot of the guesswork.

@FilipeAmadeuO

The Audio and Subpictures, as well as the color tables are not moved at all in this method (that's why they're grayed out). I could copy them, but since I'm going from one PGC to multiples and these tables are in each PGC, I'd just have to duplicate it across the destination PGCs. My intention was to leave them alone and use the originals -- but if you have a need I can do this.

[emistral]

@jdobbs:
ok I understand your method. However I have another question. The movie I am trying to backup has 5 PGCs. PGC1 is the main movie with 33 chapters and 34 cells (there is an extra one in chapter 13). Then there are 4 more cells for PGC 2,3,4 and 5.
With the method I am using now, I reauthor each PGC. For PGC 1, after importing the scenes chapters form Scenchap, I have 34 entries. Then I drag and drop each scene into the program folder under PGC one to create a chapter (except for chapter 13 for which I drag and drop 2 entry points)
For the other PGCs, I don't have any entry.
so now if I use your method and the new IFOUpdate in Adjusted Cell modes, this should give me a total of 34 + 4 cells (PGC1 = 34 + 4 PGC 2 to 5)
So how do I rearrange these cells ?
If I had to recreate the chapters by dragging and droping the cells in the PGCs, what do I have to do with the 4 extra cells for PGC 2 to 5 ?
Where so they fit in ?
Unless with your method I don't need to do that ?
Thanks

[Eyes`Only]

JDobbs:

Of course this will work with multiple pgcs. I interpreted emistral's question to be asking if this worked on regular multipgc titles, of which the answer is no. If he's asking about a seamless branching title then I misunderstood, but it seems he's just asking about the standard everyday multipgc that doesn't have duplicate vobids in different pgcs.

In a regular multipgc title, I'm still using the standard mode. Should I attempt adjusted cell mode? I can't seem to see a reason.

[FilipeAmadeuO]

About the audio and subpicture tables for me is best that it copies the authored one. I Explian why:
In my method i use CCe to encode the entire VTS, using the D2F file to import chapters (cellls+chapters) to Scenarist.
I also do the subpictures (in all pgc) all at once.
Does the Ifoudate deals well with this ???

[jdobbs]

@Eyes Only

This works on standard Multiple PGC just as well. It just wouldn't find any duplicates and all the Cells would be reproduced in proper order. Where you couldn't use it is in those instances where you are breaking out and encoding the PGCs individually (like with DoItFast4U). Then you would use standard mode. If it weren't for the sound problems I mentioned, you would never have to do that. All DVDs could be treated the same. One of the other possibilities (as we discussed) would be to break out as cell level in DoItFast4U and then recombine in Scenarist. That way you wouldn't need to worry about reconstructing the structure of the original (seamless branches, multiple angles, etc.) -- just making sure all the cells are there in the proper position (and, incidentally, the sound problem disappears as well).

@mistral
Using Adjusted mode you would never author the PGCs individually. For that you would use standard mode. In Adjusted mode you would author a single PGC that has 38 cells in it -- and on reassembly IFOUpdate would put their pointers (sector addresses) along with the correct VOB and CELL IDs at the proper location in the original IFO, and it would again be broken out as 4 PGCs.

@FilipeAmadeuO
I'll enable the ability to copy Color, Audio, and Subpicture information and get another version tested. Just be aware that the same table set (from the single authored PGC) be used in all original PGCs.

[jdobbs]

Attached is a graphic that shows what IFOUpdate does in "Adjusted Cell Mode".

[jdobbs]

@FilipeAmadeuO and any others interested

Attached is a new version (v0.61) that enables copying of the Color, Audio, and Subpicture tables when using "Adjusted Cell" mode. That is the only change.

Are there any other requests? Right now I'm working a "File" option that will graphically represent the Original IFO file's structure. Don't know if it will be in the next version or not yet.

[Eyes`Only]

"ignore angles"? ;)

[jdobbs]

That's the plan :) From what I see the angle is just another cell. If I'm missing something let me know!

Added later:

Whoops -- misunderstood. Just remembered you had asked me to put an option in that would ignore them... I'll work on it.

[fourtyfour]

servus...

Wow, Jdobbs.

Your graphic make it a lot easier to understand.

Do you want to show the ifo-file like these?

Maybe the VobID structure would be very nice.

That would be very helpful with movies like EP2 or Matrix.

[jdobbs]

DAMN, DAMN, DAMN...

I just found an error in my update of v0.61 -- I'd commented out some code for testing and forgot to restore it -- will post changes in v0.62. I just deleted the attachment above.

jdobbs

ADDED:

Note to the 5 people that had already downloaded it: The error will make the CCE and Maestro chapter files incorrectly show chapter points for duplicated cells (it should be obvious).

[jdobbs]

Eyes' Only,

Do you have an example IFO with multiple angles I can use for testing? I'd like to make my next post include a version that ignores angles. I can't seem to find one in my collection...

[jdobbs]

@fourty four

My intent is to display a graphic similar to this in IFOUpdate to make it easier to examine the original's structure.

[Eyes`Only]

Sure thing. In the interest of preserving the idea of copyright non-infringement, I'd like to email it to you though. PM me with your addy please.

[BBWoof]

There is so much talk about cce chapter points and such in this convesation that it brings up a question since I'm working on a program of my own. If you want to add cce chapter points from the file created by dif4u, does that mean that you cannot run decomb's decimate or dvd2avi Force film since this will change the frame numbers?

BBWoof

[BBWoof]

Before anybody replies to the previous post, I apologize. The information appears to be in the first post of this thread. :confused:

BBWoof

[whaqatac]

I have been trying to use this method on a Region 2 Pal DVD and am encountering a curious problem.

Everything is fine until I reach the Maestro stage. I enter the film and the audio, and when I enter the chapters from the *.chp file it tells me that I have entered 14 chapters which is correct.

After I have replaced the new VOB file into the original structure and run ifoupdate it is giving me the error that I have too many chapters (15).

I went back to Maestro to reauthor again and when I enter the chapter *.chp file it again tells me that 14 chapters have been imported but when you count them on the screen there is 15.

It seems to be entering an extra chapter at the beginning which throws out all of the other chapter times.

Any ideas??

[jdobbs]

When Maestro starts up it has one chapter (00:00:00:00) already created. The .CHP file also has that chapter. So when it imports it gives you a result of 14 imported (it didn't import the one that was already there).

[whaqatac]

I understand and agree with that point, jdobbs.

What I can't understand is why when I try to run IFOUpdate to update the IFO it is telling me that it cannot proceed as there are too many chapters in the file, 15 instead of 14.

I followed the guide at the beginning of this thread, with the only difference being that I used VFAPI instead of Avisynth. I entered the chapters from the text file at the end of the *.ecl file and then re-entered them into the file when I was authoring in Maestro (14 entered). I didn't create any playlists in Maestro, just the movie file, saved it and compiled it. The resulting VIDEO_TS file contains the VOBs which contain 1 pgc as your diagram shows, but when I then enter it into IFOupdate to update the IFO it shows me this error of too many chapters.

I have made backups of many titles using the maestro method, for both single and multi pgcs and this is the first one I've ever had this amount of problems with.

Is there any info that I could post that would make this easier for someone to understand and help me to resolve??

[jradams]

I have an example I can send you also if your interested. I was trying to copy X-Men it has 2 PGC's the same length ones prob orig movie and one is direcotires comments you can see what I did in the other thread. I tried the new method and imported the chapters and like you said they were off. then i just decided to compile anyway and then i got an error saying orig ifo has 2 pgc's while authored has 1 and it quit.

What am i doing wrong :) (heheh probably everything)

[jdobbs]

jradams,

You have to use the "Adjusted Cell" mode in the update. That error shouldn't exist if that mode is used.

jdobbs

[SeYtoN]

Think this might be a bug, but i don't know exactly. ifoupdate might be doing this for a reason.

Film: Rush hour 2 Infinifilm edition NTSC.

VTS 1 has 2 pgcs with identical cells (42 in each) and same vob/cell ids in both. Chapters are different, but basically pgcs are identical. So i create a chapter list in adjusted cell mode:

chapter=0:
chapter=2444:
chapter=4888:
chapter=6212:
chapter=7536:
chapter=11956:
chapter=16376:
chapter=19261:
chapter=22146:
chapter=29061:

There are 84 chapter points in the list and it looks like the order is cell1, cell1, cell2, cell2, cell3... So the cells are just duplicated. Shouldnt it just contain 42 chapter points with no duplicates?

[jdobbs]

SeYtoN,

Are you looking at the correct chapter file? If you have "Adjusted Cell" selected you should only have the choice (in the Save Chapter dialog) to output to "Adj. Mode Maestro and CCE Files." It should write every cell point that isn't a repeat as a chapter point.

[SeYtoN]

im 100% sure its adjusted cell mode. there was only the option for that output in the chapter saving box. and the cells are repeated in the list for some very weird reason. its adding the timecodes together for each duplicate. there are 84 chapters in the list, should be 42. ive tested this multiple times. ive included the ifo.

[jdobbs]

@SeYtoN

Read below -- you must be working with the bad version (v0.61)



DAMN, DAMN, DAMN...

I just found an error in my update of v0.61 -- I'd commented out some code for testing and forgot to restore it -- will post changes in v0.62. I just deleted the attachment above.

jdobbs

ADDED:

Note to the 5 people that had already downloaded it: The error will make the CCE and Maestro chapter files incorrectly show chapter points for duplicated cells (it should be obvious).

[jdobbs]

New Version (v0.62) Attached.

@Eyes'Only

I created a new "Ignore Angle Cells (Adjusted Cell Mode)" option. It works for "Adjusted Cell" mode only. When checked it makes the assumption that you the author have split the PGCs out and removed angles. The original file will be updated in a manner that makes the same angle play (the one kept) regardless of the one chosen through menu actions.

@FilipeAmadeuO

Enabled copying Color tables and Audio/Subpicture tables in "Adjusted Cell" mode. Please note that if the number of PGCs in the newly authored IFO is less than the original (e.g. only one), the last found newly authored PGC's tables will be repeated in all the original's remaining PGCs.

@Everyone

Created a new "Graphically Display IFO Layout" option under the "File" Menu. This graphic is the beginning of what should become a more useful analysis tool.

Please let me know if you run into problems.

ATTACHMENT:

Please download version 0.63 attached later in this thread

[SeYtoN]

Amazing. works now.

The 'graphically display IFO layout' is very, very helpful.

One of my concerns are how it will cope with seamless branching. As there is only 1 track/1 vobid per vts now, will that create more gaps between branching as before it was only jumping a few cells, not across a whole vts? And how does it deal with ILVU if at all?

[jdobbs]

SeYtoN,

One of my concerns are how it will cope with seamless branching. As there is only 1 track/1 vobid per vts now, will that create more gaps between branching as before it was only jumping a few cells, not across a whole vts?And how does it deal with ILVU if at all?

I don't think so. It should jump the same number of cells because I'm actually organizing location based upon the physical sector address (actually an offset), not VOB or CELL location.

Hmm... I'm not doing anything with ILVU, and I'm leaving the "Interleaved" flag untouched. I'll have to experiment and see what the impact is.

[SeYtoN]

Maybe another suggestion:

Some hybrid video dvds, common with some seamless branching too, could cause problems during video encoding. It would/may be easier to rip per vobid using dif4u instead of just encoding the vts set as one. The only problem then would be to create chapter lists with the only current method being to use OxP's guide and work out the chapter list manually. This does take time and is considerably difficult for infinifilm titles.

Maybe you could add a feature to ifoupdate so it can create cell lists per vobid? Currently i see that ifoupdate creates an adjusted cell list of all the cells in order by vobid. Would it be possible to adjust this so it output cell lists for each vobid and to adjust the timecode so it would be accepeted into CCE and Scenarist? That way we don't have to make any calculations on the timecodes or select the cells from each pgc. Then its just a matter of adding the tracks to 1 pgc and scenarist and using the adjusted cell mode to put it back together again. It would be very helpful to all if this is possible. Thanks.

[jdobbs]

I can do that. Let me make sure I understand you properly, I would create a chapter file for each VOBID based on the CELLS (along with the CCE files)?

I've been a Maestro and ReelDVD user for quite a while and I'm just beginning to get familiar with Scenarist. I was happily surprised to find out that chapter files I've been creating are frame accurate in Scenarist (at least on the project I'm testing)! They seemed to always be off by a GOP or two in Maestro.

But first a question... How can I import a chapter list into Scenarist? I've created scenes and then cut-and-pasted the timecodes into the properties window for the scene. Is there a better way?

[BBWoof]

You need to export your .scn to a script .scp file, the use ScenChap to create another script with the correct chapter points. Start Scenarist again, and use the "New from script" button to create a new .scn file with chapters.

BBWoof

[BBWoof]

I've just tried using this IfoUpdate method on a two angle extra for the movie Evolution. I've followed all the steps I believe, I ran dvd2avi over the complete vobset, exporting the audio to a single ac3 file. Encoded with the proper chapter points. But when I try to create the layout I get an error:

Size of Vob file "filename..." mismatch. Pleas contact technical support.

BBWoof

[SeYtoN]

jdobbs

Yes, you would create a chapter file for each VOBID based on the CELLS. So if there were 8 vobids then you would have 8 chapter lists for every cell timecode in that vobid, each with their timecode starting from 0 for both CCE and Scenarist. That way we can just import the cell timecodes into CCE and Scenarist without making any calculations. Basically, the same as creating a cell list per PGC, instead its per VOBID.

To add chapters in scenarist you just export the file to a script and then use scenchap. This is documented in the guides on doom9.

Thanks for your help.

[jdobbs]

SeYtoN,

That should be easy to do, I'll have it implemented and uploaded tonight. It'll be another checkbox in the chapter printing dialog.

jdobbs

[fourtyfour]

servus...

Just my 2 cents.

Could you make the window of ifoupdate resizable?

If I can stretch the window. I could read all without scrolling up/down.

BTW: Great work an great support.

[SeYtoN]

jdobbs,

I was wondering if this would be a problem if you authored using adjusted cell mode for an infinfilm dvd or something complex like the matrix:

During playback from the original dvd, an infinifilm sub pops up and you click a button to jump to another cell in a vts. Then when that finishes it will go back to the start of the cell where it jumped from. With the authored vts, when it tries to return to the cell after playing the infinifilm extra, will it come to the right cell because the PGC info would now be different? And would it jump to the correct cell in another vts too?

Once i get time i will test this out to see if it will work. I just wanted to see what you think about this.

Thanks.

[jdobbs]

@SeYtoN

I won't be able to finish the VOB update tonight. I'm a little trouble determining how I make sure the VOBIDs that are interleaved are reassembled properly. If you reauthor without interleaving, you will get the problem of having continuous video that is not adjacent on the disc. If you use interleaving, I'd have to make the assumption that it has been interleaved exactly as the original -- or it wouldn't know which new cell matches which old cell...

[caprioles9000]

w000ttt jdobs....man this new feature sounds great ....wicked .......i do have one little question...now am i correct in saying ..if i understood this whole thread and the new feature correctly.....this feature of yours would also work on the following:

Minority Report Pal R2 is setup weirdly. The first vob contains the middle of the movie at the start and then six minutes into it the film starts? Therefore Mutli -PGC Maestro way doesnt work! As it is all out of order? They've just put a bogus vob-id 1 at the beginning that isn't referenced by the movie. So now if we use your new feature ...this would mean i'd just have to use dvd2avi to get a d2v file just like we do in the normal multi-pgc maestro method ..and then use your feature to get the chapters ..and author them in the end!!! Is my assumption correct that your new feature would resolve that bogus vob-id ...!!

Greetings
Caprioles9000

[Zeul]

just used for the first time. fantastic. have just done a 5PGC VTS (extended scenes extra) and it played perfectly. Only one problem after encoding the audio is slightly out of synch by the same amount for each PGC. tried again but viewed before creating the VTS in scenarist(tried with maestro aswell) and the synch is always out by 0.5s. The video and audio lenghts are showing as being different by this amount, yet there is no audio delay in the original. encoded with CCE as per the guide on the very first post, without any hiccups. Do you think this is a problem with DVD2AVI or wrong settings with CCE?

[Zeul]

as a footnote to the above this was a PAL movie

[Zeul]

just have one other question. If I strip more than one angle out with ifoedit and keep more than one with the adjusted cells with angle box checked still work correctly?

[influenza]

I always use scenarist to do multiple pgc titles but want to give this method a try.

I run into a problem right away (ofcourse). I have a 7 pgcs extra file (i am sam r2). The saved maestro chapters file contains of al lot of chapters, but most of the chapters are out of range (the chapter point is after the length of the clip). The clip is 45 minutes or so and some chapters say 1:00:05 etc. They don't get imported ofcourse.

[Zeul]

jdobbs

have a query for you. I have been backing up MIB (R2) which is full of multi PGC and angles. Up until now it has always involved the laborious approach of encoding each PGC and building in scenarist, so I thought I'd give your new method a go. Now i have re-encoded the video in a variety of different ways, rebuilt in various authoring packages and always have the same result. ifoupdate works perfecty, the disc plays as it should but the audio progressively goes out of synch. The audio length is shorter than the video stream. As a test i split the VTS in vobedit into each seperate m2v and ac3 file. loaded up all m2v in dvd2avi and encoded as one stream and then carried on as normal. I used a full ac3 stream, and i tried using the 3 seperate audio streams joined together (in maestro-create synch audio). When previewing the full stream is always out of synch, but the joined stream is accurate. Is this something to do with the break in video stream (pgc1 to pgc2), yet the audio stream continues, hence the lag? Is this just MIB disc or am i at fault. I am sure i am using your proggy correctly because re-authoring always works, but i can't get the audio to synch without demuxing the vob.
if this is the way its going to be it is still a damn sight quicker than normal, so congrats for that.

[Jafco]

jdobbs,

Just wanted to say thanks... IFOUpdate has been quite useful up to now, and now I can't wait to try to do some of the multi-pgc (10+ pgc's) titles that I've been holding off on. For example, I have one with something like 83 pgcs in one VTS. (Xfiles bonus disc, 83 individual 10 and 20 second television commercials -- lame, I know).

Thanks for the awesome work.

[jdobbs]

@adamandhelen

There are a few reasons for the audio problems. Most notable is still shots with sound, video with no sound, etc that are a part of the PGC. In NTSC, you will often find a single PGC that has some sections that are from original 29.97 sources, and others the are from 23.976 with RFF. DVD2AVI only lets you choose one or the other. I'm exploring a method with Eyes'Only (using VOBIDs) that should fix that.

[whaqatac]

@ Influenza

'I am Sam' region 2 works perfectly with the IFOUpdate method.

When you use IFOUpdate to write your chapters at the beginning make sure you are using the 'adjusted' mode.

Do the DVD2AVI, Avisynth, etc as normal, add the chapters from the *.chp list into Maestro and it will enter 8 chapters. Do not create any playlists just save and compile.

When you re-adjust it with IFOUpdate it will rewrite all 7 pgc's as they are in the film.

You can then enter the 'all access pass' section and view the whole documentry or just the small segments as with your original.

Hope this helps.

[jdobbs]

All,

And once again, attached is a new version of IFOUpdate (v0.63).

Per request from fourtyfour:

The main program window has been made sizeable so you can stretch it and more easily read the text.

Per request from SeYtoN and Eyes'Only:

Implemented "Chapters for VOB Authoring" checkbox in the "Save Chapter Files" dialog. Please note that this output will examine your choice of the "Ignore Angles" option. In the event you've decided to ignore angles, the VOBID Chapter files will not be created for them. That way you can see which VOBIDs contained the angles (other than the first of course). Make sure that if using this method, you also use the "Ignore Angles" when reassembling your newly authored file. That way the additional "Angles" sectors will be repointed and play will be identical no matter which angle is selected (during playback).

Be careful in trying to recreate angled movies without "Ignore Angles" enabled. In order to do that you MUST reauthor them exactly as the original (angled) or they may not play back correctly (the cells need to be interleaved).

jdobbs

---------
EDIT:

ATTACHMENT DELETED - FOLLOW THE THREAD AND GET THE UPDATED VERSION 0.65

[Zeul]

jdobbs

if dvd2avi does not support this feature, how would you determine before hand whether your particular multiPGC is suitable for ifoupdate, or otherwise how would you import the vob straight into cce. Is there a new virtual dub that has this feature and frameserve the vob to cce?

[jdobbs]

To determine it, you can run DVD2AVI against your VOBs and see if it changes from FILM to NTSC between PGCs. The stills are usually easy to notice, as they have a really short cell length (12 frames or so).

All would be suitable for IFOUpdate. But you'd have to make a decision as to the steps you'd take beforehand. As an example, I have a DVD that has a couple of "no audio" PGCs in it. So keeping the audio in check is near impossible. I am working on a way that IFOUpdate can modify the AC3 file and put in blank periods where appropriate -- but that may be a while.

I can, though, use VSTRIP and output the original VTS to several VOB files based upon the VOBID. I could then (using DVD2AVI and CCE) reencode the VOBs. All I'd have to do then, is reauthor and update with IFOUpdate.

BTW -- I tried demuxing the VOBs with Derrow's VOBEDIT, but it seems to break them apart by CELLID no matter whether I select the CELL or VOB checkbox. Too bad, it works pretty fast.

[Zeul]

jdobbs

i am using a pal movie so there won't be any film or ntsc.

[Eyes`Only]

If you have your DVD in .iso, you can mount it and demux it by vobid using my program. I'll work on adding VobID demux to the capabilities of it soon.

[Ak47]

JDobbs....

Firstly many thanks for the ongoing development work on IFOUpdate...

I have a request, if it's not too presumptious...

can you please, please, add an "IFOEdit Collated CellTimes" output to IFOUpdate.

At the moment i'm editing ADJUSTED-CCE.TXT to create this, which then allows use of multiplex in IFOEdit to rejoin m2v/ac3/subs/chaps.. NO AUTHORING required... i've posted an example of 16 PGC title i had NP updating /reintegrating with v0.62

ADJUSTED-CCE.TXT

chapter=0:
chapter=38970:
chapter=44260:
chapter=49045:
chapter=52575:
chapter=56075:
chapter=59920:
chapter=65482:
chapter=72268:
chapter=78168:
chapter=81650:
chapter=89367:
chapter=92495:
chapter=94915:
chapter=100047:
chapter=101680:
chapter=103013:

Edited to create CellTimes.txt below

38970
44260
49045
52575
56075
59920
65482
72268
78168
81650
89367
92495
94915
100047
101680
103008

If you can make IFOUpdate do this automatically.. would really be helpful...

[Jafco]

jdobbs,

Thanks for the new feature; as expected, it worked just fine as long as every cell had audio. However, I mentioned the 86-or so PGC title set that I'm backing up (VTS6, R1, XFiles, S2, Disc 7). Three or four of the VOB ID's (as reported by vobrator) don't have audio. They're really short (5 packet) VOBID's without any audio, but since they're in the middle, I'm worried that they may throw off synch for everything that is afterward on the timeline. (I'll report after it either does or does not synch up).

**** Edit: Amazingly, they synched up!! Can you imagine how much work this saved me? Thanks, jdobbs!! ****

Of course, since they're just those stupid little 5 packet tiny placeholder VOB-ID's, it may synch up fine.

(I know you recommended the doitfast4u method when audio is missing, but with 86 pgc's, even doitfast4u isn't really practicable (although I suppose it could be done).)


Btw, the ultimate fix for the "no-audio pgc's" isn't really going to lie with you, I think -- it seems that the audio file creation would need to be done differently by dvd2avi (put in silence for the VOBID's with missing audio perhaps).

Thanks again for your work.

[FilipeAmadeuO]

This IfoUpdate is getting better every time :)
Please add the option to save after resizing the main program windows

Thank you and keep up the good working

[caprioles9000]

w000ttt jdobbs....man this new feature sounds great ....wicked .......i do have one little question...now am i correct in saying ..if i understood this whole thread and the new feature correctly.....this feature of yours would also work on the following:

Minority Report Pal R2 is setup weirdly. The first vob contains the middle of the movie at the start and then six minutes into it the film starts? Therefore Mutli -PGC Maestro way doesnt work! As it is all out of order? They've just put a bogus vob-id 1 at the beginning that isn't referenced by the movie. So now if we use your new feature ...this would mean i'd just have to use dvd2avi to get a d2v file just like we do in the normal multi-pgc maestro method ..and then use your feature to get the chapters ..and author them in the end!!! Is my assumption correct that your new feature would resolve that bogus vob-id ...!!

Greetings
Caprioles9000

[jdobbs]

@FilipeAmadeuO

I assume you want me to save the size and position of the main screen when it is changed? That should be easy enough.

@caprioles9000

It should work. Take a look at the graphic representation of the IFO/VOB files and see if the VOB at the beginning of the stream is referenced. The graphic is built from the IFO, so if there is a reference it should show. It's hard to imagine finding authoring software that compiles a VOBID into the stream with no references in the IFO.

[influenza]

I tried this method with different results.

I did the extras of I am sam (documentary) as suggested by someone (thanks) and that work flawlessly. Then I tried on other one (I think some extras on the star wars epidode ii disc). The problem is that there are 55 chapter points (there are 55 pgcs with one chapter point per pgc), with are all in the adjusted cell.chp file.

Importing the chapters in maestro gives a problem (only 14 chapter points are imported). What can be the cause of this? I gues I have to enter all the other chapter point manually?

[jdobbs]

Did you use the CCE chapter points when you encoded? Sometimes when the GOP doesn't fall in the right place Maestro won't import because it would be impossible to put the chapters at a correct point without overlaying one another. Also, make sure you are using the latest version -- there was a chapter bug in an earlier one. Also, look at the times in the .CHP file and make sure they don't have times that are past the end of the video's length.

There are a lot of possibilities for this to happen. Make sure you choose a consistent setting for mode and options and keep them through the entire backup process...

[influenza]

I used the chapter point provided in the celltimes file. The chpater points are within the length of the video,;. What causes the problem I think is that a lot of the chpater times are really close to another (only one or two seconds off or so).

[jdobbs]

Is it NTSC? Also, is the original a mixture of FILM and NTSC?

Please post (in a zip) the contents of the chapter files and the CCE files.

[influenza]

It's Pal. The files are attached. Thanks for the effort

[jdobbs]

I got the file. But I didn't validate for posting. Since we've mentioned the name, and it is in the title, someone might (really stretching it) consider the posting a copyright infringement. Forgive me for being paranoid...

[influenza]

I don't understand? Did or didn't you get it?

[jdobbs]

I got it. Here's the problem: According to your .ECL file there are only 16352 frames in the video -- but there are 70+ chapter points that have frame points beyond that number... There are 14 points under it...

Are you sure you're not using version .60? This is way out of kilter...

[influenza]

I'm using ifoupdate 0.62 and cce 2.50

[jdobbs]

@Influenza,

Check you PM..

[influenza]

here it is

[jdobbs]

@influenza

It looks like the last 70+ chapter points in this IFO are all stills. They are all 12 frames long. Not sure what to tell you as to how to get around that -- but I can say that reencoding this IFO/VOB isn't going to make it any smaller.

[FilipeAmadeuO]

@jdobbs
I assume you want me to save the size and position of the main screen when it is changed? That should be easy enough.


Yes !! Please change it in the next version

[influenza]

I was just fooling around trying to get your method to work. Reencoding something big would take so long that;'s why. I just tries the main movie (of sswII) and have the same problems. This is somewhat more complex (has two angles)

[VEXED]

This question is in referance to jdobbs process at the head of this post. I was wondering when doing this process do i have to lock the dts in maestro for the mv2 to incorporate correctly due to the fact that the menu has a option to enable the dts stream. This maybe a stupid question but i'm new to this process. If i do, however, how do i go about locking it to coeinside with the original menu?

[N3m1515]

@JDobbs. :) Hats off to you on your work.

Excuse my lack of knowledge on this subject, just fell blindly into this DVDR business. :D I am looking for a way to make a multi pgc movie into 1 pgc as I try to get movie and menu from original DVD, extas not wanted. I strip or reencode, compile then place into original, ifoupdate and burn.

I read the methods to cope with multi pgc films but they soo much work esp when I not bothered about extras.

Is it possible in some way to compile new vobs and use your prog to update the original ifo with the new chapters etc and it keep the same structure, hopefully then Ifoupdate could remove/edit references to the other pgcs? Or is it possible using one of the Modes in Ifoupdate to 'fool' the dvd player into thinking(?) the other pgcs are present, as long as I don't try to play them.

Hope this not a stupid question or totally out there, it makes sense to me anyway.:p

Thanks you.:cool:

[Eyes`Only]

You are correct in your actions, JDobbs. Either the name needs to be edited out of the post, or the .ifos cannot be attached. Someone (namely production companies) could see it as a copyright violation, and that's the last thing we want to happen.

Influenza: in the future, assume that we do not need to know the title of the movie in order to diagnose things, please. Because, really, we don't. Whenever ppl email me about DoItfast4U and have a question about an .ifo, I ask for the .ifo but never once ask for the title. It's really not important to us to know that, and almost better if we don't! :D

[drmih]

I've tried a few examples over the weekend and to avoid any sync errors I have stripped out the vob-id which is the annoying little 0.1 sec first with ifoedit. Of the titles I have tried all seem to function fine without these vobs, so I'm hoping that this holds generally. The only difficulty I have found (and it's only minor) is when the subsequent pgcs after the main film use different audio tracks, when using dvd2avi you get say 0x80 at 100 mins and then 0x83 at 20 mins, with the video component 120 mins. Therefore when you use Maestro you have to physically drag the secondary audio track to the correct position in the timeline. However, if you zoom right in and use the chapter break that was created as a guide it syncs fine. I know there is nothing the ifoupdate can do about this but this information may be of use to anybody who is a bit puzzled.

ps Another error you may find
I was a bit of a knob-head when first using this method as I forgot that the secondary hard disk I was using was still fat32. Using the normal method of ripping and re-encoding I never touched the 4 gb limit as everything is in bits. However, using the ifoupdate method the m2v compononet created by CCE for a title with everything in vts_01 exceeded the limit - or rather CCE gave an error about writing to the disk and disk space free. Therefore for anybody else who doesn't have their brain in gear, if CCE gives a disk space error for what seems like no good reason check that it's not a fat32 error.

[mikeathome]

@Jdobbs:
Thanks for this great update. I really like the Chapter export for VobID authoring. That's what I was looking for since ages ! It gives you the cell/scene chapter points (per VobID/track) for e.g. Scenarist project rebuild w/o any manual re-calculation. Great for titles like Matrix, where the Adjusted Method won't work ;-). Why, well, you would need to create 136 chapters in a title, where the maximum allowed is 99.

I am waiting for Matrix II, we'll discuss this further. Same as I am currently discussing with NIC about the DVD2AVI/MPEGDecoder wrong frame count issue ...

mike

P.S.
WOuld you do me a favor ? Would it be possible to have a CLI version with the following functionality:


IfoUdateCLI input.ifo [options(parameter)]

Options:
-e #export Chapterlist (see parameter)
-c #chapterfilename exportfolder
-o #Original IFO
-n #newly authored Ifo
-b #backup Ifo
-m #mode

Parameter for -e switch:
V #VobID Authoring
A #adjusted
M #MultiPGC
...

Example:
IfoUpdateCLI H:\MATRIX\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_0.IFO -eV -cD:\DVD\Matrix

=> Export Chapterlist for VobID Authoring from H:\... into folder D:\DVD\Matrix


Would be great.

[influenza]

@Eyes`Only

I'll think better next time (just took the suggested name of winrar). No more titles in my posts.

[jdobbs]

@mikeathome

I'll see what I can do for CLI interface. How about it still runs as a window (minimized maybe?) but automatically executes and exits?

[mikeathome]

Originally posted by jdobbs
@mikeathome

I'll see what I can do for CLI interface. How about it still runs as a window (minimized maybe?) but automatically executes and exits?

Hi,

everything which enables to automate jobs is highly appreciated. CLI, minimized Window, I would like to execute it from a batch if possible. I could experiment with key-stroke-automate-programs but I don't really like, hmm how to express in english in german we say 'frickeln' ;-)

Thx. for your support !!!

mike

[stationx]

Just tried this method for the first time on some extra’s and it worked like a charm. Just one question, at the author stage I dropped some of the audio and subtitles leaving English audio and subs. Is Ifoupdate in “Adjusted Cell” mode ok with this? The finished result works fine suggesting that it is. I just wanted confirmation that I’m ok to do this in the future and my working DVD extra’s weren’t just a one off.

Thanks
Stationx

[caprioles9000]

Hmm just to get things straight a question for everyone!!!!! ...so when should i really be using this method.....only on extras with too many pgcs to make playlists for ..or also the main movie who has too many pgcs.....i guess if you have 5 pgcs or something ..its not necessary to use this method.....am i correct.....so when would it be smart to use this method then????????

[mikeathome]

Originally posted by caprioles9000
Hmm just to get things straight a question for everyone!!!!! ...so when should i really be using this method.....only on extras with too many pgcs to make playlists for ..or also the main movie who has too many pgcs.....i guess if you have 5 pgcs or something ..its not necessary to use this method.....am i correct.....so when would it be smart to use this method then????????

Hi,

if you get more than 99 chapters then you CAN'T use it. Maximum is 99 by DVDSpec. That's why you can't use it e.g. for Matrix (136 chapters in adjusted mode).

mike

[caprioles9000]

@ mikeathome....

So you are basically saying that if i get DVD's with many PGC's then i should use this method ..but to use this method for a DVD with just a couple of pgcs then its just not necessary!!! I am just looking for the difference between de normal multi-pgc method ..and the new adjusted method!!!

[TRILIGHT]

I've not really had much of a chance to look into this or test it out yet. However, if I understand correctly, it's advantage comes in when you have just a handful of vobid's that are re-used throughout many different PGC's. All you do is strip by vobid and create one big PGC from these sections. IFOupdate does the job of recreating the many different PGC's for you. At least, this is my current understanding of what adjusted cell mode does. Like I said, I haven't had a chance to play with it myself yet.

[jdobbs]

I personally use it for all multiple PGC movies except when there are sound or NTSC related problems (see earlier comments)... It is designed to make the process simple by not making you have to reauthor multiple PGCs.

[TRILIGHT]

Jdobbs...

I apologize for asking a question without having a chance to test it myself. However, is it intended to be extracted by VOBID and then reconstructed as listed in the graphical representation? Or are you able to do a complete extraction of the VTS and recreate that way? Thanks!

[jdobbs]

It is meant to work with the entire VTS with no further work. The only time you would need to extract by VOBID is in those instances where there is sound missing in the original or video mixtures (where you want to encode parts at 29.97 and other parts at 23.976 followed by pulldown).

[Jafco]

jdobbs,

Just wanted to alert you to an odd situation:

I used your IFOUpdate, version 0.63, in Multi-PGC mode, to re-construct the Green Mile R1/NTSC. I used "Autocorrect VTS Sectors," which it claimed to do. However, when it didn't play back exactly correctly in my standalone (unusually), I double checked the VTS Sectors by using IFOEdit to get the VTS Sectors again. Lo and behold, it found something to correct.

I double checked that I had IFOUpdate set to automatically correct VTS sectors, and it was properly set. You may, therefore have a bug.

**** EDIT ****
Actually, my problem was due to a "zero byte" VTS_02_0.VOB file. Literally, it was zero bytes, and it was screwing up the get VTS sector functions of either IFOUpdate, IFOEdit, or both. Most importantly, it caused me to coaster a couple of discs because my standalone was choking when trying to play VTS_2.




Thanks,

Jafco

[TRILIGHT]

Very interesting! Can't wait to try this out. :)

[jdobbs]

@Jafco

That would definitely be a bug... could you look at the message displayed by IFOUpdate and let me know what was missed?

[FilipeAmadeuO]

@Jafco

Look if there is not any 0 Kb file ?????
Because if it is , you must delete before doing Get VTS Sectors

@jdobbs

Do you have any ifo editor for DVD Audio ????
If you want i can send you some ifos.
Ifo edit doesn´t work

[TRILIGHT]

Originally posted by Jafco
Actually, my problem was due to a "zero byte" VTS_02_0.VOB file. Literally, it was zero bytes, and it was screwing up the get VTS sector functions of either IFOUpdate, IFOEdit, or both. Most importantly, it caused me to coaster a couple of discs because my standalone was choking when trying to play VTS_2.

It is exactly for reasons like this that myself and many others do not support stripping and deleting things out. If you just REALLY feel the need then you should still be following the procedures we lay out and just replacing things you don't want with clips of "nothing". Deleting and stripping things will always lead to inconsistent results. Just one example of many.

[Jafco]

@jdobbs

It was the 0 kb VOB file that was screwing it up. Rookie mistake. Thanks and sorry for the needless alarm.

@FilipeAmadeuO

Thanks for the tip.

[Xitrum]

Jdobbs,
I tried out your new features in IFOUpdate last night and it worked like a charm. Thanks a lot for the tool because it will take away alot of laborious manual process when it comes to multi PGC programs.

I have a DVD title that I have been hold off for a while, I will try to do it with your new tool this weekend, but before I do it, I just want to ask you whether your tool will work on this DVD?

The main movie file of this DVD has 3 PGC, the first PGC is the main movie, the second PGC is a dummy PGC with about 12 frames and the third PGC contains some of the making of the movie.

The things that make this a strange movie is in the sound tracks. The first PGC has 2 sound tracks, the first sound track is 2channel with a bit rate of 192kbps, the 2nd sound track is 5.1 channel with the bit rate of 448kbps. The dummy pgc did not have any sound track. The third PGC has one 2channel sound track, but the bit rate for this track is the same as the 5.1 channel sound track of the first PGC (ie. 448kbps.)

When I tried to reauthor the DVD in scenrist, Scenarist gave me an error when I tried to re-encoded the third PGC with the sound track in the x80 position and said that the bit rate is different between the first track and the third track. When I tried to put a dummy file in the first track and the real track in the second (x81),it also complained that the number of channel are different between the first PGC and the third PGC. Finally, I have to put a dummy third track in the first PGC and 2 dummy track in the first two positions in the third PGC and the real track in the third position, only then Scenarist allowed me to reauthor the DVD.

However, after IFOUpdated the .IFO file and also using IFOEdit to edit the address of the third sound track in PGC 3 to the first position (x80), I tried to play the movie. The movie played fine, but when it come to the extras at the end of the movie I can only get the picture but not sound.

I am aware that if I used your new "Adjust cell mode method", I will get a delay in audio when it comes to the extras due to the dummy PGC in the middle, but I just want to find out whether your method will still work with these strange sound tracks in different PGCs?

I think I have seen a couple movie with strange sound track in the past without the dummy PGC in the middle, I will try and do those with your method as well. One come to my mind immediately is one of the superman movie has 2 PGCs the first PGC has 2 sound track with address (x80,x81) but the second PGC has only one sound track with address x83. Does your method still works with these movies?

I can't wait till you fix the problem with dummy PGC in the middle with no sound tracks. Any idea how long before you have that fixed?

Thanks.

[Eyes`Only]

JDobbs,

While you're still diligently working on your code, I had an idea. Not fully thought out, but here's the gist of it:

Can u make it to where we author a 1pgc scenarist/maestro project, then specify which pgc of the original that we reauthored? Some movies have the 'short' version in pgc1, and then the 'extended version' in pgc2. If we could just reauthor pgc2 and then tell ifoupdate that we used pgc2, we could reauthor these with ease. Unless you have another way?

[Xitrum]

Eye` only,
As I understand it and already tried out this method on a couple DVDs, the current method will take care of that for you. You don't have to worry about any "short" PGC with this new method. The only time where you have to watch out is when there are Dummy/Short (less than 1 second) PGCs with no sound track in the middle of other normal PGCs. (Also when there are multi angles PGCs as well, or when there are PGCs with funny sound track addresses as I mentioned above).

Other than that, JDobbs new "Adjusted Cell mode" method would works whether there are short or long PGCs or whether there are repeated VOBID in other PGCs or not. That why I asked you in the other thread to see if you can modify your DIF4U program to allows for demuxing a movie at the VTS level, and if possile give a warning message when it detected there are PGCs with no sound track in the movie.

[Eyes`Only]

I dont want to transcode a whole pgc1 when all i need is pgc2. Your method relies on putting all the pgcs together and authoring. To me, this is totally unnecessary, which is why I'd like a better method. I don't want to stick PGC1 and PGC2 and PGC3 together, etc. I want to do it efficiently. I also want my vobids to match the original, as I know how to do complex stuff like button over video, and this wont work with this 'hacked' method you seem to be proposing, far as I can tell.

If you don't understand now, you will someday when you really try to reauthor something like button-over-video, infinifilm, etc. The GPRMs won't line up from the original IFO/Vobs.

But, like I said, if it does happen that the button over video and infinifilm will still work, I'll be happy to add it to DoItFast4U. I'm just not a big fan of hacked processes, as you can tell. And an .ifo with only vobid1 in it to me is a hack. Our current methods always used the correct vobids just like the original. To stray from that is to introduce issues I am sure I don't really want to deal with.

Jdobbs is looking at infinifilm as we speak, and hopefully soon he'll have answers for how we can replicate those marvelous DVDs.

By the way: once you start putting multiple pgcs into one stream, you lose the ability to diagnose the stream type. What if pgc1 and pgc2 are FILM but pgc3-40 are IVTC or interlaced? You're going to have to transcode the WHOLE m2v as some type right? And the only way you can do so and have a good picture in the previous example would be to use decomb/deinterlace methods. Which would slow down your transcoding of PGC1 and PGC2. If you were to not use decomb/deinterlace, PGC1 and PGC2 will be fine, PGC3-40 will look like hell. Not to mention you can't forcefilm it (for NTSC ppl) because your interlaced will go all screwy if you do. There's WAY TOO MANY scenarios you people haven't thought of that could go wrong. I took all these things into consideration and that's why I don't think this is a good idea! I'm not trying to rain on the parade, I'm just being thoughtful and meticulous about what will work and what won't. Too many unfixable (at this point) variables that will cause endless headache for this VOBID1 method, IMO.

[Xitrum]

Eyes` Only,
I think you still don't understand how this method works.
With this method, you don't have to put all the PGCs together, all you need to do is just put one PGC together for the whole VTS and then IFOUPdate will then do it work and produce a new IFO with multiple PGCs and multiple VOBID as the original. With this method, you don't end up with one VOBID but the same number of VOBID as the original. That's the beauty of this new method.

I haven't done one DVD with video over button before (I tried to do the Matrix but gave up as it was too complicated) so I don't know whether this method would work. But I think you should try this method out with a short (30min) extra of a movie where it has more than 1 PGC and more than one VOBID in the PGC to see how good this method is.

Sorry, I did not look at it closely before, but the Update IFO only contains 1 VOBID but the number of PGCs are the same as the original.

[Eyes`Only]

I think you still don't understand how this method works.
With this method, you don't have to put all the PGCs together, all you need to do is just put one PGC together for the whole VTS

Do you understand what happens when u demux a VTS? Your resulting .m2v is one that's mixing all the PGCs together!

And I have tested this method. If your reauthored .ifo has one VOBID, ifoupdate uses that and your IFOUpdated .ifo now has one too. Haven't you looked at your .ifos? I helped test this method with JDobbs directly. Trust me I know how it works. I also told him directly that I don't like the idea of the single VOBID method.

[Xitrum]

Eyes` Only
I just did one this morning, and compared the 2 .IFO files, the IFO produced by Scenarist contains one PGC with one VOB, but when I used IFOUpdate with the "Adjusted Cell Mode", my new .IFO file now have the same number of PGCs as the Original and the same number of VOBID as the original.

Maybe you were using the older version of IFOUpdate, the version I used was IFOUpdate v0.63

[Eyes`Only]

This is an example of my reauthored/ifoupdated .ifo:

PGC_1 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 1] [02:34:11.21 / 30 fps] (Programs: 50) (Cells: 50) (uses VOB-IDs: 1)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 1/ 1] : time: 00:01:05.24 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:01:05.24] [Frames: 1974]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 1/ 2] Layer Br.: time: 00:03:25.07 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:04:31.01] [Frames: 8131]
[Ch 03] [Pg 03] [Cell 03] [V/C Id: 1/ 3] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:15.00 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:04:46.01] [Frames: 8581]
[Ch 04] [Pg 04] [Cell 04] [V/C Id: 1/ 4] : time: 00:01:39.12 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:06:25.13] [Frames: 11563]
[Ch 05] [Pg 05] [Cell 05] [V/C Id: 1/ 5]

Those are 1/1, 1/2, 2/1, 2/2, and 2/3 in the original .ifo.

You're saying yours ends up with something like 1/1, 1/2, 2/1, 2/2, 3/1, etc?

[Xitrum]

Eyes` Only,
Sorry, my mistake. After used IFOUpdate, I still ended up with one VOBID, but I do get the same number of PGCs as the original, and each PGC has the same number of cell as the original.

I don't know whether different vobids has any significant, but the DVDs I copied played perfectly.

[jdobbs]

@Xitrum

I'm not sure whether we will ever get past the sound problems. You might check and see if you have "Copy Audio and Subpictures" checked, as that can make a difference.

The sound issue is one of the reasons Eyes'Only is looking so hard at the VOBID breakout.

For almost all movies, it makes no difference whether you are working with one VOBID or 10... The PGCs look at cells and generally don't care about what VOBID is assigned to it just as long as it matches what is listed in the IFO. But the key word here is "almost." There are some (admittedly rare) exceptions.

As for the multiple VOBIDs -- it all depends how you author it. If you author in a single PGC with multiple VOBIDs... then they carry over. That's one of the reasons I'm looking so closely at methods to break out the stream by VOBID. If you author it with a single VOBID and a long list of CELLS, that's what you get...

Here is what I think would make the perfect rip in any case:

1. You break it out VOBID (but not by individual PGC).
2. Reencode all the VOBIDs.
3. Put it back together in Scenarist.
4. Update using IFOUpdate and Adjusted Mode.

But -- like I said, the single (authored) PGC rip is very effective, and it doesn't get much simpler than how it works.

Note: Multiple PGCs can all use the same VOBID.

[Eyes`Only]

Here is what I think would make the perfect rip in any case:

1. You break it out VOBID (but not by individual PGC).
2. Reencode all the VOBIDs.
3. Put it back together in Scenarist.
4. Update using IFOUpdate and Adjusted Mode.

I agree. I have done this method twice now and it works flawlessly. And I have my original structure of VOBIDs still! Awesome work, JDobbs.

[TRILIGHT]

I'll admit it's a good idea in theory but it just won't work reliably for the reasons Eyes`Only mentioned. Many times you have different video types and they even need to be encoded at different settings. You just can't do this with one big file. Then there's the audio problem Jdobbs mentioned.

I think the idea Jdobbs has about recreating all the vobid's is going to be the only way to do anything reliably. However, as was pointed out, this is WAY overkill for something that can be recreated simply by doing PGC's.

[jdobbs]

Remember, though, that a lot of the folks here aren't using NTSC. So the single PGC Adjusted Mode works a lot more reliably with PAL. Those damn empty sound spots are a horror though. I was planning to create filler for the blank spots -- but my knowledge of AC3 streams just doesn't hack it...

[Xitrum]

I agreed with you all that this new method will not work in all cases, but in a lot of cases this method should work, and when it does work, it cut down a lot of laborious works.
Like other methods, there are some DVDs that none of the methods currently available will not produce an exact copy of the original DVD, we just have to choose the most appropriate method to use and just have to live without some of the fancy stuff in the original DVD.
What I wanted to say is that method will add one more to the already available methods that we are currently using.
Anyway, I also wanted to say that I really appriciated for all the works and effort that you guys had put in to produce all the awesome tools that I'm currently using.

[jdobbs]

You are exactly right. That's the main reason I created it, because sometimes you just want it to be easy. The VOBID method (while a lot more complex) is for when you want it to be perfect.

[TRILIGHT]

Originally posted by Xitrum
Like other methods, there are some DVDs that none of the methods currently available will produce an exact copy of the original DVD, we just have to choose the most appropriate method to use and just have to live without some of the fancy stuff in the original DVD.

I certainly don't mean this to sound like I'm geing argumentative but I beg to differ. I know that Eyes and myself as well as a lot of others never leave anything out on the disc. The method we use is very reliable. The one place I see "adjusted cell mode" really shining would be a VTS set that has a LOT of PGC's made up of the same (and relatively few) VOBID's. This is where it would be very reliable and would save a lot of time. The "one stream" thing is just a bad idea IMO.

By the way, I'm not knockin ya, Jdobbs! You know I LOVE the work you've done! I just don't think the "one stream" thing will ever produce anything that is reliable in reintegrating with the original disc layout. There are just way too many variables to consider in re-encoding and reauthoring to have the disc look and behave correctly.

[Xitrum]

I certainly don't mean this to sound like I'm geing argumentative but I beg to differ. I know that Eyes and myself as well as a lot of others never leave anything out on the disc. The method we use is very reliable. The one place I see "adjusted cell mode" really shining would be a VTS set that has a LOT of PGC's made up of the same (and relatively few) VOBID's. This is where it would be very reliable and would save a lot of time. The "one stream" thing is just a bad idea IMO

I tried to copy a couple of DVD using the VOBID method, but gave up in the end due to the amount of works involved.

Would this method work if one of the PGCs has 2 sound track at address x80 and x81 and another PGC has only 1 sound track at address x83?

Also, another question, I currently using the demux by PGC method for one of the 007 movie, and this movie has a couple of PGCs with 3 VOBID in each. The first vob is 00:00:00.12 frames long the 2nd is 00:00:00.24 frames long and the third is 00:00:01.11 frames long. I used DIF4U to produced an .avs file for these PGC but when I tried to drag and drop these .avs into CCE it refused to accepted. (personally, I don't wanted to CCE these short mpv files, but when I tried to import this mpv file into scenarist, it complained because the scenes are too short). So I'm sort of stuck at the moment.
Would the VOBID method you're using works on this kind of movies?

[Eyes`Only]

In that situation, I'd throw those .m2vs into Scenarist as-is.

[TRILIGHT]

Yes, it would. The way you make a determination if something should be done by PGC or vobid is to inspect the IFO structure and see if vobid's are re-used in other PGCs. If they are, you should do it by vobid. Now there is ONE exception to this rule and it is the situation you describe. Many times, there is a single vobid that is referenced throughout the many PGC's and it is like a 15 frame clip that seems to appear at the end of them all. This is just a chapter point so there is something to jump through if you hit the chapter forward key. Also, there are sometimes commands attached to this vobid so you'll want to recreate it properly.

The idea is to not use up more space than is necessary. If this is the only repeated vobid then you could do it by PGC and simply place a "scene" (as it's referred to in Scenarist) or "chapter" at the end of this video clip and it will suffice. Now I'm not sure about your "1 sec" clip. I would imagine it too is nothing more than a "chapter point" or "placeholder" if you will for commands. As for the audio, that is easily recreated by using dummy clips (which I have for download at my site by the way) to recreate the structure. You might want to invest some time into learning the way we do our titles. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how reliable it is to do full backups this way.

[Xitrum]

Firstly, I would like to say that I really appreciated the oppotunity to be able to pick the brains of 3 experts at the same time (Trilight, Eyes` Only and JDobbs). If you guys don't mind, I would like to ask a couple more questions:

@Eyes` Only
In that situation, I'd throw those .m2vs into Scenarist as-is.

I tried that, but as I mentioned Scenarist complained that the scenes are too short and did not allowed me to encode the movie, and CCE did not allowed me to import this file as .avs. Any ideas???

@Trilight
As for the audio, that is easily recreated by using dummy clips (which I have for download at my site by the way) to recreate the structure. You might want to invest some time into learning the way we do our titles. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how reliable it is to do full backups this way.

I did tried using dummy audio tracks before and did had some success, but how would go about doing the DVDs with the weird sound track I mentioned earlier?
Basically, the VTS has 3 PGCs
The first PGCs has 2 sound tracks:
1. x80 is a 2channel sound track with a bit rate of 196kbps
2. x81 is a 5.1 channel sound track with a bit rate of 448kbps.

The second PGCs is a dummy PGC with no sound track.

The third PGCs has 1 sound track which is a 2 channel with a bit rate of 448kbps.

trying to put the sound track in the first position won't work because of the different bit rate. The second position won't work because of the different sound channels. So I ended up put it in the third position and also put in a dummy sound track in the first PGC to match.
After re-author, I used your method to change the address of the third sound track in PGC 3 to the first position, but the sound did not played.
Any ideas how to fix this and is there a better solution for this kind of DVDs?

[TRILIGHT]

I can't help but feel as if your extraction is wrong or you're being fed incorrect information on the audio. I've never seen an audio file encoded at 196kbps. In fact, I'm not even certain Dolby Digital can be encoded at that bitrate. All 2 channel audio I've seen is 192kbps. Which leads me to the second thing you said that sounds way off. A 448kbps 2ch file. I've never seen a DVD waste 448kbps on a 2 channel file. Your information must be incorrect somehow.

[Xitrum]

Trilight,
The number I quoted might be wrong, but they are in that order, as I only type it from memory, I think the 192kbps is correct as you said but I'm pretty sure that there is a 2ch audio track with a bit rate of 400 and something does exist.

This is a Music DVD by the way, so a 2ch sound track of a bit rate of 448kbps is not unusual.

[influenza]

@Xitrum

The problem you're describing with the audio track is quite common, I had the same problem too with some DVDs (probably the same you're mentioning). The solution is quite easy (I think I got if from trilight). Author the dvd you did. After recompiling open you ifo (of the vob set) in ifoedit and go to VTS_PGCITY and then to the pgc where the sound does not play (actually it does play I gues, but plays the dummy soundless track, if you switch manually to the third track you would have sound). Now you'll see the audio statusses Double click on the track you wnat to play (3) and copy the value. Now double click on track one and copy over this value. Track 2 and 3 can be changed to value 0. This should solve it

Good luck

[drmih]

What purpose do the clips of less than a second serve and are they ever critical? I have been trying this method with a few titles and prior to using the Adjusted method have used ifoedit to strip out these vob-ids. All of the titles played fine both before being re-encoded and after. The only problem I see is if you have a PGC made up entirely of just one of these vob-ids - (PAL MIB II has one) or maybe if the short sequence is a Cell-id as ifoedit doesn't have the cabability to strip out cells (I think).

[Xitrum]

@influenza
The problem you're describing with the audio track is quite common, I had the same problem too with some DVDs (probably the same you're mentioning). The solution is quite easy (I think I got if from trilight). Author the dvd you did. After recompiling open you ifo (of the vob set) in ifoedit and go to VTS_PGCITY and then to the pgc where the sound does not play (actually it does play I gues, but plays the dummy soundless track, if you switch manually to the third track you would have sound). Now you'll see the audio statusses Double click on the track you wnat to play (3) and copy the value. Now double click on track one and copy over this value. Track 2 and 3 can be changed to value 0. This should solve it
I tried this method before on a couple of DVDs and their worked, but it did not work on this particular DVD. I think it might got something to do with the dummy PGC in the middle, which may has a command to tell the DVD player to jump to a particular tracks. I sort of got stucked that why I wanted to try out the new Adjusted cell mode method from JDoobs to see if it work. Because with that method, I assumed DVD2AVI would demux only one sound track for the whole movie and does not complained about different bitrate, and hopefully, Scenarist will not complain when I import the sound track in.

[TRILIGHT]

You're straying again, Xitrum.

"Stay on target.....Stay on target!!" hehe

[Xitrum]

@Trilight
I'm desperately wanted to backup this particular DVD, but so far has not been successful.
Therefore any helpful suggestions would be muchly appreciated

[jdobbs]

JDoobs?

[Xitrum]

Oop! I'm really sorry to mispelled your name Jdobbs

By the way, I have a suggestion which I personally think would make IFOUpdate more user friendly.

With the options in IFOUpdate, instead of having them listed in a drop down menu at the top, I think it would be more user friendly, if you list them out with tick boxes or radio buttons, like Eyes` Only did with his DIF4U. That way, we can see all the options straight away rather than click on different menu to see different options, also if you make a mistake with a mouse by select/unselect an option because it hidden away, you can't see the mistake, but if you got it layout in front of you then you can see it straight away.

[Eyes`Only]

ooh i second that request. If you want to select 3 checkboxes the way it is currently, you have to check one, let the dropbox close, drop the menu back down, select another, let it close, drop it back down, select the third...

Would be nice to just be able to go click click click UPDATE.

An option to not pop up warnings for each step (this will happen.. do you want to continue?) would be nice too.

[Shamanis]

I have no real complaints about the menuing system. The thing i find most annoying is that whenever you click browse on the authored ifo, it points to the original and then if you click browse on the original its then pointing to the authored one. If it remembered the same path for each button, it'd save me frustration in locating my files. (mainly when i'm doing multiple updates one after another).

One minor little request... can we have a CLI added for the chaptering. I'd love to be able to have "IFOupdate -MaestroPGC -infile "C:\mydvd\VTS_01_0.IFO" -outpath "C:\myoutputfolder\" or such, so i can automate several VTS chapter extractions at once.

[jdobbs]

Ok.

1. I agree with the warnings, it can get annoying. But rather than make them go away -- I will put an option to "Skip Warnings." I personally like to know before a program changes the contents of 6 or more IFO files...

2. I completely agree with the paths not being saved properly. I've reminded myself to fix that several times, and versions just keep coming and going without the change.

3. I don't want to put the checkboxes on the main screen. I get a headache when I look at a really busy interface. And judging by the number of options that have been added since this started, I could eventually fill a whole screen with tickboxes. I may move it to a dialog.

4. I'm working on a CLI from an earlier request.

I'd like to make a lot of other changes, but it seems that my real job (the one that pays the mortgage) just keeps getting in the way!!

[TRILIGHT]

Originally posted by jdobbs
I'd like to make a lot of other changes, but it seems that my real job (the one that pays the mortgage) just keeps getting in the way!!

Damn! I can relate to this ALL too well! ;)

[Shamanis]

well, your doing a fantastic job. Without IFOUpdate, we'd all be in a pickle... or reautoring every menu... *shudder*. So, anyway, just wanted to say thanks and give you a thumbs up... damn... no emoticon for that.... how bout a cheesy grin instead :D

[jdobbs]

A new version (v0.65) of IFOUpdate is attached. This one has two minor version updates (v0.64 was an interim test version). Here are the changes to this version:

1. Finally added code to keep track of the path for the Original, Newly Authored, and Backup file paths so you do less directory browsing.

2. Added a "Disable Warnings" switch to the Options Menu. If this is set there are no warnings before modification to IFO files. Error message will still print.

3. Added command line interface so IFOUpdate can be used from a batch file. I warn you ahead of time -- this mode sets the "Disable Warnings" flag every time it is used. When a parameter is not provided, IFOUpdate uses previous values in many areas (just as it did when in GUI mode) Also, all commands are handled in the order you place them on the command line -- so for example if you set -c after you've done a -e you may have chapters in a different directory than you originally intended. If you execute -u the program makes IFO updates. So it should normally be the last command in the path. If you put it first, you may update the wrong IFO. So DON'T BLAME ME if your incorrect command line accidentally changes a group of IFOs without any warnings. Update follows all the "Auto" options you've set in the "Options" menu. CLI mode follows the usage convention below and is not case sensitive:

-oifofilepath #path to the orignal IFO file
-nifofilepath #path to the newly authored IFO file
-bpath #path for backing up IFO file
-mm #Adjusted Cell Mode
#replace the second "m" with
S for standard mode
M for multiple PGC mode
A for adjusted cell mode
C for Cell Only mode
-cchappath #path in which to store chapters
-em #export chapters
#replace m with any combination of characters containing
M for "Maestro File"
P for "Maestro -- Multiple PGCs"
I for "IFOEDIT File"
Z for "IFOEDIT (FILM)"
C for "CCE Chapter file"
F for "CCE Chapter (FILM)"
S for "Scenarist Chapter"
D for "Semicolon Delimiter"
A for "Adjusted Mode..."
V for "VOBID Authoring Files"
X for "VOBID (Scenarist)"
-u #Update - just like clicking "Update IFO"

4. Added "Chaps for VOBID (Scenarist)" checkbox in the "Save Chapter Files" dialog. Creates one file for each of chapters, cce, and cce-film for those who are not happy with having to deal with individual files for each VOBID. I plan to remove the option that creates multiple files in a later version unless someone asks otherwise.

5. Added a "Settings" Menu item. Added "Save Current Size an Position" so the program will remember the size and position you've chosen.

I've tested these changes, but please check them out yourself before assuming everything is bug-free.

jdobbs

[jradams]

have you found a way around the multi pgc dvd's that have like:

pgc1 00:01:00
pgc2 01:45:32
pgc3 00:00:15
pgc4 00:06:21

When using multipgc mode the audio doesnt synch up and when using adjusted cell mode it doesnt work either. Just wondering what can be done when I ran into a dvd like this setup and still use maestro instead of scenarist :)

[jdobbs]

Still no solution for the sound problem... sorry.

[trigger638]

I am kind of new to all this so there is a grave possibility that I have made an error. Let me start by providing some details.

The main film contains 40 PGC's. There are 42 vob id's. Vobid 1 and 2 contain the entire film, start to finish. Vobid's 3-42 are all stills. The first PGC calls vobid's 1,2 and 3 in that order. All of the rest of the PGC's simply call a few cells in either vobid 1 or 2, followed by one of the stills. Each of the PGC's contains one still as the last vobid (hence there are 42 id's as 1 and 2 contain the film and all 40 PGC's contain a still).

Because of the massive amount of stills at the end of the stream I broke out by vobid, as trying to simply go by chapter points will not work as a majority of the chapters would be off the end of the video stream.

I recreated the Title/PGC/Chapter/Cell structure exactly as it was reported in the original ifo by InfoEdit. I used the Chaps for VOBID (Scenarist) from adjusted mode for both CCE and the scenes in Scenarist. I was using 0.65.

After everything was compiled I replaced the original vob set (no not the ifo or the _0 files) with the authored ones. I fired up InfoUpdate, and recieved the following error when attempting to update the original ifo:

ERROR: The new IFO file has more cells than the original. ABORTING.


Something does not add up with this. I opened the original and the newly authored ifo files side by side and the structures and cell counts were exactly the same. I even went down each PGC chain in each file and checked the cells to make sure.

I am certainly stuck as I cannot understand how this could possibly happen when I recreated the structure exactly. By the way I have re-authored this 3 times now (in the event that I may have made an error) and each time I tripple checked both files for cell accuracy and each time they reported exactly the same cell count.

I have a copy of both the author'd and the original IFO files. I will refrain from posting them unless they are requested.

Thanks in advance.

[mike4692]

I to have had a similar problem doing bad company (R2),

1. I first put ifoupdate into adj cell mode
2. saved the resulting CCe and maestro txt file and chp file
3. vfapi the d2v file
4. import to cce
5. add the txt file to the saved ecl file
6. encode to m2v
7. import the ac3 audio and m2v file into meastro
8. import the chp file that ifoupdate created
9. compile a single pgcwith no play list
10. swap the original vobs with the new vobs maestro created
11. made sure they were named correctly
12. run ifoupdate in adj cell mode
13. error original/new cell count dont match ABORTING

what am I doing wrong
:confused:
bad company has 2 pgc's

[jdobbs]

@mike4692

Check step 8 and make sure all the chapters were actually imported...

There are way too many possible things external to IFOUpdate that can cause these unmatched chapter problems. To assist in debugging I plan to add an option in the next version to output the tables to a text file for debugging. That way it will be possible to post the tables and figure what happened...

The only way I can figure out what happened now is to get a copy of your two IFO files -- but there are fears here that posting IFOs might be construed as copyright violations.

What I can say is that in almost every one of these that I found so far (with a couple notable exceptions), the problem was in the authoring. In Adjusted mode IFOUpdate analyzes and determines how many cells to author in its preprocessing of the Original IFO. It writes those to the .CHP files. When doing the update, it runs that exact same routine (against what should at that point be an unchanged original IFO) and compares the number of cells being read. If they don't match -- something is wrong.

That doesn't mean there is no room for errors (bugs), though.

[mike4692]

I did every thing that you said in the original post, I reauthored with meastro and imported the adj_maestro .chp file and I used CCe adj file and pasted it to the ecl file , I didn't put any subtitles in it htough , do you think this could be the prob, I am currently re-doing it with the old add playlist way and see how it turns out

[jdobbs]

Subtitles shouldn't have an effect.

[mike4692]

I checked the chapter situation , it seem that the spruce file for the chapter section is missing three (I think ) there should be 18 according to the file ifoupdate creates but when i import them it says 15 chapters imported , I will re try it from scratch again and see how I get on, when I tryed it the add play list way they also were missing , the last two ,
the multi pgc file looks like this

$Spruce_IFrame_List

00:00:00:00
00:07:19:04
00:18:50:22
00:26:30:17
00:34:25:18
00:38:37:17
00:43:53:10
00:47:10:10
00:51:24:18
01:03:46:03
01:11:55:09
01:20:14:17
01:23:26:22
01:28:10:10
01:34:04:13
01:43:20:12
01:51:51:08
01:51:51:23

I cant understand why maestro doesnt see all of these , I think the last two are crutial

pgc 1 is as follows

$Spruce_IFrame_List

00:00:00:00
00:07:19:04
00:18:50:22
00:26:30:17
00:34:25:18
00:38:37:17
00:43:53:10
00:47:10:10
00:51:24:18
01:03:46:03
01:11:55:09
01:20:14:17
01:23:26:22
01:28:10:10
01:34:04:13
01:43:20:12
01:51:51:08

And pgc 2 is as follows

00:00:00:00

theres definatly an extra time in the multi pgc file that is not in either pgc's

01:51:51:23 ?

am I correct or is this meant to be , the hole thing is very confuseing :confused: :confused

[needle]

It seems that the chapter files/CCE files obtained in "Adjusted Cell" mode by ifoupdate
point out to frames not existing in the vob files. See the following example:

Adjusted-cce.txt:

chapter=0:
chapter=14715:
chapter=14728:
chapter=26438:
chapter=26451:
chapter=31866:
chapter=31879:
chapter=36839:
chapter=38229:
chapter=38242:
chapter=41732:
chapter=41745:
chapter=44345:
chapter=44358:
chapter=47008:
chapter=47021:
chapter=48561:
chapter=48574:
chapter=50874:
chapter=50887:
chapter=50900:
chapter=50913:


Last frame found by dvd2avi was 50779. Hence, the "adjusted cell" procedure does not work
since the last four chapters points are missing in the authored title set and the error
'Original/New Cell Counts do not match, aborting' appears.

[jdobbs]

@needle

Look at your last four entries. They are all only 12 frames long. That has been discussed at length in this forum. It is an indicator of a still-frame. In a still there is a single frame that is held for a defined period of time. However, when DVD2AVI reads the file it doesn't know it is a still and sees it as a single frame.

IFOUpdate reads the file correctly and reports the "time" associated with each Program/Cell. The author is responsible for adjusting for still-frames.

IFOUpdate can make your life easier, but it can't do everything for you -- do you want your money back? Oh.. Wait... I forgot... I did all this work for nothing.

jdobbs

[needle]

@jdobbs

Thanks for your reply. I think that a possible workaround to this nuisance is to consider the stills as a chapter with only one frame and then correct accordingly the initial frame of each chapter found by ifoupdate. But, which is the minimum allowable chapter lenght in a DVD title?

Best,

needle

[jdobbs]

The minimum length is the GOP. That's usually either 12 (most common, IBBPBBPBBPBB) or 15 (IBBPBBPBBPBBPBB).

[trigger638]

As suggested I double checked my chapter points in regaurds to my above post. All of the chapter points are there, although some of the time stamps are reported slightly off by scenarist (always past the original, never before and only by a few seconds at the most). I would assume that this is not critical, however, as it relates to the new ifo has more cells error? Still not sure what is happening. I would like to try to find out what is going on with this, if anyone can help me, but it can certainly wait until the debugging option is available (thanks jdobbs).

Based on the last post by jdobbs, it would seem that in fact I was missing something as it relates to how exactly to use adjusted mode correctly when there are stills at the end of the stream.

So when you see a still in the chapter files (this would be both the one for cce and the one for the autoring software) it is reporting the "time" that the still will actually play and not the size of the still itself. So the correct thing to do would be to adjust the chapter points so that they reflect only one frame? So as in needles example the still chapters would be changed to look like this in both the cce and the authoring software chapter files:

chapter=50874:
chapter=50875:
chapter=50876:
chapter=50877:

Is this correct?? Sorry for all the questions I am just trying to understand it all. Thanks in advance.

[jdobbs]

@Trigger638

That would work in theory -- but in fact the authoring program won't normally let you create multiple chapter points at the same location.

When you see these at the end of a file like this, they are typically exit points (use the IFOUpdate graphic mode and you'll see that each PGC is probably exiting through one of these last few cells.

In the case of this example, I would put 4 Chapter points at the end of the file each the minimum distance apart. Then everything would work -- but one of the exit points that normally would have a 1/2 second delay before exiting may have as much as 2 seconds -- no big deal.

As for the times being slightly off. I have tested and the CCE outputs I present are exactly frame accurate. If chapters for authoring are off (occuring too late) I would guess it means that you are working with NTSC and have to (IFOUpdate actually should do this but doesn't) account for drop-frame. In drop-frame you are losing (about) two frames per minute of viewing, so for each 15 minutes of video it may be off by 1 second... I'll fix that some day.

[trigger638]

@jdobbs

First thanks for taking the time to answer.

I suspected exactly what you stated regaurding the chapter points and drop-frame. The fact that the chapter points are slightly off does not bother me at all (it might some, but I could care less). The real issue above is that I am getting the more cells in new ifo error, but like I said that can wait until we have a good means of looking at the data involved.

You are exactly correct. They are indeed exit frames. There is one for every PGC starting with the first all the way to the 40th. I think what you are suggesting in this case (just to double check) is that I would create chapter points at the minimum allowable size at the end of my steam for each still. This makes sence to me. So, in needles case this would equate to the following where the last valid frame was 50779:

For GOP N/M=4

50731
50743
50755
50767

Question: Would these need to be set in the chapters data for CCE? And if so would the above be correct if you were setting N/M=4 in the encoder, or would you have to check the original vob to see what the GOP is?

I can see where in the authoring software this would be fairly easy to do, as you would just set chapter points starting from the end as close togather as possible, one for each still. Perhaps this is all that is needed??

Thanks again.

[jdobbs]

No you don't have to put it in CCE, in fact you don't have to even reencode. All CCE's chapter points do is put an I-Frame and flag a new GOP at every frame you've identified. Since you have GOP N/M=4 there will be an I-Frame every 12 frames... assuming the Frames you've chosen are I-Frames it should be fine.

[emistral]

@jdobbs:
just a quick question that might sound silly.
After ripping a DVD, I want to get rid of some subtitles and audio tracks with IFOEdit
Then I reauthor this DVD with Scenarist.
My question is:
- should I use Ifoupdate in advanced cells mode on the original IFO (before stripping it) or on the new one after stripping the unwanted parts ? or it does not matter ?

according to my experience, I would say it should not matter since stripping audio/subtitles should not modify the number of frames which are used for chapter points in CCE

[jdobbs]

I wouldn't mess with the original. It's too unpredictable. I've had a lot of errors reported that were caused by people modifying the original IFO file. Instead, just don't add the subtitles/tracks you don't want when you reauthor. IFOUpdate will transfer the audio/subpicture tables from the newly authored to the original file.

[trigger638]

After days on end I finally got my title working, it is exact now. Thanks jdobbs for all the advice, I figured out exactly what I was doing wrong and it was my error, not a problem in your software at all.

I am going to share what I encountered here in the hopes that it might save someone from the same fate (assuming they read before they try).

InfoUpdate adjusted mode expects to see the reauthored vob set in exactly the same format, regaurdless of the method you use to get it there. In my case, I was recreating the structure exactly as it was reported in InfoEdit (I broke the original out by vobid). Here is a shortened example:

PGC_6 (program chain): Programs: 2) (Cells: 3) (uses VOB-IDs: 1,8) [Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 1/ 1]
[Cell 02] [V/C Id: 1/ 2]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 03] [V/C Id: 8/ 1]

Thing to note here is that the first 2 cells are pointers to the first vobid that is allready represented in the first PGC (contains the entire main film). During the reauthoring I was actually recreating the pointers so that PGC 6 actually contained scene one and two (from the same track) of vobid 1 and then vobid 8. This is incorrect. InfoUpdate was giving me an error that there were more cells than the original (in fact there were not more cells, there were exactly the same number of cells), BUT there were more cells than what InfoUpdate expected to see in the reauthored ifo. The reason for this is that it assumes that you are using the method that jdobbs described in detail in earlier posts, meaning reauthoring the entire vob set just as it is while using the chapter files that it created. Here in lies my error, as I was not keeping that structure. By adding the pointers to the first vobid I was creating additional information that InfoUpdate was not expecting. I simply reauthored again, but this time I kept everything in the same PGC, recreated the main movie exactly as it was, and then added the vobid's that represented the stills in order at the end. Ran InfoUpdate and it is perfect.

Could not have figured this out without jdobbs detailed answers to my previous questions, thanks again.

To the pros out there I am sure that this is common knowledge, but I figured that if I got stuck on it I might save someone else the hassle.

[jdobbs]

Thanks for the kind words, Trigger638.

[^Sp|ke^]

hey jdobbs nice wotk with ifoupdate unfortunately with terminator 2 which is a seamless branching title i got the 1 pgc with all the cells from scenarist but when i put it back with the original using adjusted cell mode the cell count for each pgc is correct but it uses every vobid
any idea why?

[Zeul]

@jdobbs

is there any chance of creating a batch system in ifoupdate to enable us to update all ifo's at once, or even create a new interface that utilises ifo update with just the original,authored and back up directories to be filled in?

[jdobbs]

@^Sp|ke^

You have to really be careful with how you create the seamless branching titles in Scenarist. I'm not sure how you did it. The easiest way is to break the stream out by VOBID, reencode, and then reassemble.


@adamandhelen

Update all IFOs? When are you changing more than one at a time?

[TRILIGHT]

What adamandhelen is referring to is probably extras. On a disc where most things are by VTS and not PGC, it can get a bit troublesome to update as many as 10-15 VTS's IFO's individually. I don't know how much of a pain it might be for you, Jdobbs but if it's possible, I too would like to see this as a feature! It would be nice to point it to each of the VTS's re-done and then update them all at once! :) True, it doesn't happen a LOT but it sure would be a hell of a nice feature to have when it does. Thanks for your consideration and work, Jdobbs!!

[^Sp|ke^]

hey i did in fact author by vobids
so my vobid count and cell count matches

[mikeathome]

Originally posted by adamandhelen
@jdobbs

is there any chance of creating a batch system in ifoupdate
to enable us to update all ifo's at once, or even create a new
interface that utilises ifo update with just the original, authored
and back up directories to be filled in?
Hi,
it can be done already ! I do, I author more then one titleset in
Maestro and udate after compile in a batch using IfoUpdate CLI. This
works as well for multiple titlesets from one movie or even separate
movies, just a matter of hard disk space.
Just use the CLI parameters provided by IfoUdate, look into the
Readme.

@jdobbs:
Next try:
The CLI parameter -c (set chapter path) and -e export chapter are
not working either in Ver. 0.67 nor in Ver. 0.69. The -c parameter
is ignored and e.g. a -ev parameter presents the selection mask w/o
anything checked and stops. Can you pls. check, I am desparately
looking for that function to finish my project.

Example follows (WinNT SP6):
c:\progra~1\vobutils\ifoudate -og:\dvd\job1\VTS_01_0.IFO -ni:\dvd\job1\VTS_01_0.IFO -bh:\dvd\job1\VTS_01_0_IFO.BAK -ch:\dvd\job1\ -ev

Anything wrong here ? For the -c I found a workaround, just @echo ChapPath=h:^\dvd^\job1^\ >c:\progra~1\vobutils\ifoudate.ini

For the -ev I have to Macro Playback, odd...

regards, mike

[jdobbs]

@mikeathome

I'm working on the CLI problem. Kind of stupid, actually. In the -c I grabbed the parameter and then failed to use it... The -e is giving my some funny problems. I should have it for you tomorrow.

[mikeathome]

Originally posted by jdobbs
@mikeathome

I'm working on the CLI problem. Kind of stupid, actually. In the -c I grabbed the parameter and then failed to use it... The -e is giving my some funny problems. I should have it for you tomorrow.

... rocking, you made my day.

thx a lot

mike

[jdobbs]

Thanks. Sorry I haven't posted yet. The -e problem is seriously kicking my butt. It is causing a "subscript out of bounds" error that I can't for the life of me figure out... I'll fix it even if I have to rewrite that module.

[int 21h]

I attempted to use the adjusted-cell mode on Futurama S1D1, and encountered some strange errors. I encoded as NTSC @ 29.97fps, used the CCE chapters in my ECL, and imported the .chp into Maestro. Unfortunately, Maestro tells me that some chapters violate the minimum length requirement between chapters and will not be imported... I may be wrong, but this is a big problem isn't it? Maestro only ends up importing about 12 of the 26 entries in the file. Is this a limitation of this method? Of Maestro? Or my own stupidity? Any advice appreciated.

[jdobbs]

Is there any chance the original was using stills? Can you take a look at the original IFO file? When you see a cell with a length of 00:00:00:12 or so, it usually indicates (not always though) a still frame.

[int 21h]

Here's the PGCs...


PGC_1 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 1] [00:23:18.03 / 30 fps] (Programs: 6) (Cells: 10) (uses VOB-IDs: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 1/ 1] : time: 00:03:07.02 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:03:07.02] [Frames: 5612]
[Cell 02] [V/C Id: 2/ 1] : time: 00:00:28.04 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:03:35.06] [Frames: 6456]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 03] [V/C Id: 2/ 2] : time: 00:05:35.12 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:09:10.18] [Frames: 16518]
[Ch 03] [Pg 03] [Cell 04] [V/C Id: 3/ 1] : time: 00:05:58.26 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:15:09.14] [Frames: 27284]
[Ch 04] [Pg 04] [Cell 05] [V/C Id: 4/ 1] : time: 00:06:44.23 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:21:54.07] [Frames: 39427]
[Ch 05] [Pg 05] [Cell 06] [V/C Id: 5/ 1] : time: 00:00:30.03 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:24.10] [Frames: 40330]
[Cell 07] [V/C Id: 6/ 1] : time: 00:00:03.00 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:27.10] [Frames: 40420]
[Cell 08] [V/C Id: 7/ 1] : time: 00:00:04.10 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:31.20] [Frames: 40550]
[Cell 09] [V/C Id: 8/ 1] : time: 00:00:45.28 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:23:17.18] [Frames: 41928]
[Ch 06] [Pg 06] [Cell 10] [V/C Id: 9/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.15 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:23:18.03] [Frames: 41943]

PGC_2 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 2] [00:22:32.10 / 30 fps] (Programs: 6) (Cells: 10) (uses VOB-IDs: 10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 10/ 1] : time: 00:01:43.12 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:01:43.12] [Frames: 3102]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 11/ 1] : time: 00:04:47.21 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:06:31.03] [Frames: 11733]
[Ch 03] [Pg 03] [Cell 03] [V/C Id: 11/ 2] : time: 00:03:12.14 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:09:43.17] [Frames: 17507]
[Cell 04] [V/C Id: 12/ 1] : time: 00:03:33.24 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:13:17.11] [Frames: 23921]
[Ch 04] [Pg 04] [Cell 05] [V/C Id: 12/ 2] : time: 00:04:27.11 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:17:44.22] [Frames: 31942]
[Cell 06] [V/C Id: 13/ 1] : time: 00:04:09.06 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:21:53.28] [Frames: 39418]
[Ch 05] [Pg 05] [Cell 07] [V/C Id: 14/ 1] : time: 00:00:30.04 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:24.02] [Frames: 40322]
[Cell 08] [V/C Id: 15/ 1] : time: 00:00:03.00 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:27.02] [Frames: 40412]
[Cell 09] [V/C Id: 16/ 1] : time: 00:00:04.23 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:31.25] [Frames: 40555]
[Ch 06] [Pg 06] [Cell 10] [V/C Id: 17/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.15 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:32.10] [Frames: 40570]

PGC_3 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 3] [00:22:31.10 / 30 fps] (Programs: 6) (Cells: 8) (uses VOB-IDs: 18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 18/ 1] : time: 00:00:30.17 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:00:30.17] [Frames: 917]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 19/ 1] : time: 00:06:42.29 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:07:13.16] [Frames: 13006]
[Ch 03] [Pg 03] [Cell 03] [V/C Id: 20/ 1] : time: 00:08:41.16 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:15:55.02] [Frames: 28652]
[Ch 04] [Pg 04] [Cell 04] [V/C Id: 21/ 1] : time: 00:05:58.14 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:21:53.16] [Frames: 39406]
[Ch 05] [Pg 05] [Cell 05] [V/C Id: 22/ 1] : time: 00:00:30.10 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:23.26] [Frames: 40316]
[Cell 06] [V/C Id: 23/ 1] : time: 00:00:03.00 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:26.26] [Frames: 40406]
[Cell 07] [V/C Id: 24/ 1] : time: 00:00:03.29 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:30.25] [Frames: 40525]
[Ch 06] [Pg 06] [Cell 08] [V/C Id: 25/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.15 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:31.10] [Frames: 40540]

PGC_4 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 4] [00:22:31.06 / 30 fps] (Programs: 6) (Cells: 8) (uses VOB-IDs: 26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 26/ 1] : time: 00:00:49.12 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:00:49.12] [Frames: 1482]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 27/ 1] : time: 00:05:30.18 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:06:20.00] [Frames: 11400]
[Ch 03] [Pg 03] [Cell 03] [V/C Id: 28/ 1] : time: 00:07:27.05 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:13:47.05] [Frames: 24815]
[Ch 04] [Pg 04] [Cell 04] [V/C Id: 29/ 1] : time: 00:08:05.28 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:21:53.03] [Frames: 39393]
[Ch 05] [Pg 05] [Cell 05] [V/C Id: 30/ 1] : time: 00:00:30.09 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:23.12] [Frames: 40302]
[Cell 06] [V/C Id: 31/ 1] : time: 00:00:03.00 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:26.12] [Frames: 40392]
[Cell 07] [V/C Id: 32/ 1] : time: 00:00:04.09 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:30.21] [Frames: 40521]
[Ch 06] [Pg 06] [Cell 08] [V/C Id: 33/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.15 / 30 fps [Pos: 00:22:31.06] [Frames: 40536]

[jdobbs]

Hmmm... I don't see anything here that should cause a problem. There are chapters that are only 15 frames long, but they are the typical PGC exit points.

It looks to me, though like you should have 36 chapter points and I don't see any obvious multiply used Cells (I'd assume they'd have the same length). Are you using the "Adjusted Mode" chapter files output?

[int 21h]

Yep, using Adjusted mode, that's the only way I can get the 'Save' button to light up.

This is the Maestro file that comes from it....

$Spruce_IFrame_List

00:00:00:00
00:03:07:02
00:03:35:06
00:09:10:18
00:15:09:14
00:21:54:07
00:22:24:10
00:22:27:10
00:22:31:20
00:23:17:18
00:23:18:03
00:25:01:15
00:29:49:06
00:33:01:20
00:36:35:14
00:41:02:25
00:45:12:01
00:45:42:05
00:45:45:05
00:45:49:28
00:45:50:13
00:46:21:00
00:53:03:29
01:01:45:15
01:07:43:29
01:08:14:09
01:08:17:09
01:08:21:08
01:08:21:23
01:09:11:05
01:14:41:23
01:22:08:28
01:30:14:26
01:30:45:05
01:30:48:05
01:30:52:14


I think alot of those chapters are just too close together for Maestro to import.

[jdobbs]

These are the only ones I see that seem to be too close together...

00:23:17:18
00:23:18:03

01:08:21:08
01:08:21:23

Have you tried to manually add any of these to see what happens?

[int 21h]

I finally gave up with the CCE method on this and used DVDShrink, I'll try this again with another Disc in the series.

[RB]

I'm trying to backup the Special Features disk from the Godfather DVD collection using the adjusted cell mode method and ran into problems.

Ripped entire disk with DVDDecrypter in file mode and used DVD2AVI 1.76 to create projects for the VTS_01, VTS_03, VTS_04, VTS_05 and VTS_06 VOBs (VTS_02 contains the menu and I leave this untouched). Used IfoUpdate 0.71 in adjusted cell mode to save chapter files.

Now the problem is that when I load the D2V's into CCE via AVISynth (2.51 with mpeg2dec3.dll), the video is shorter than what it should be according to the CCE_ADJUSTED.TXT files IfoUpdate created. For instance, for VTS_03, the last four chapter points IfoUpdate wants me to set in CCE are at frame 50874, 50887, 50900 and 50913. However, the VTS_03 DVD2AVI project reports only 50779 frames when loaded into CCE. Similar for all the other VTS'es.

Here's how VTS_03_0.IFO looks like in IfoEdit 0.95:

VTS overview:

Menu attributes:
Video: MPEG-2 720x576 (PAL) (PAL 625/50) (4:3) (not specified perm.display)
SubPicture 1: Not Specified (2-bit rle )

Title Set (Movie) attributes:
Video: MPEG-2 720x576 (PAL) (PAL 625/50) (4:3) (not specified perm.display)
Audio 1: English (Dolby AC-3) 2ch 48Kbps DRC normal (ID: 0x80)
SubPicture 1: Turkish (2-bit rle ) (ID: 0x20)
SubPicture 2: Français (2-bit rle ) (ID: 0x21)
SubPicture 3: Deutsch (2-bit rle ) (ID: 0x22)
SubPicture 4: English (2-bit rle ) (ID: 0x23)

PGC_1 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 1] [00:09:49.03 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 1,2)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 1/ 1] : time: 00:09:48.15 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:09:48.15] [Frames: 14715]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 2/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:09:49.03] [Frames: 14728]

PGC_2 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 2] [00:07:48.23 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 3,4)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 3/ 1] : time: 00:07:48.10 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:07:48.10] [Frames: 11710]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 4/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:07:48.23] [Frames: 11723]

PGC_3 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 3] [00:03:37.03 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 5,6)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 5/ 1] : time: 00:03:36.15 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:03:36.15] [Frames: 5415]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 6/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:03:37.03] [Frames: 5428]

PGC_4 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 4] [00:04:14.13 / 25 fps] (Programs: 3) (Cells: 3) (uses VOB-IDs: 7,8,9)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 7/ 1] : time: 00:03:18.10 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:03:18.10] [Frames: 4960]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 8/ 1] : time: 00:00:55.15 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:04:14.00] [Frames: 6350]
[Ch 03] [Pg 03] [Cell 03] [V/C Id: 9/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:04:14.13] [Frames: 6363]

PGC_5 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 5] [00:02:20.03 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 10,11)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 10/ 1] : time: 00:02:19.15 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:02:19.15] [Frames: 3490]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 11/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:02:20.03] [Frames: 3503]

PGC_6 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 6] [00:01:44.13 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 12,13)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 12/ 1] : time: 00:01:44.00 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:01:44.00] [Frames: 2600]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 13/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:01:44.13] [Frames: 2613]

PGC_7 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 7] [00:01:46.13 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 14,15)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 14/ 1] : time: 00:01:46.00 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:01:46.00] [Frames: 2650]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 15/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:01:46.13] [Frames: 2663]

PGC_8 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 8] [00:01:02.03 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 16,17)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 16/ 1] : time: 00:01:01.15 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:01:01.15] [Frames: 1540]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 17/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:01:02.03] [Frames: 1553]

PGC_9 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 9] [00:01:32.13 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 18,19)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 18/ 1] : time: 00:01:32.00 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:01:32.00] [Frames: 2300]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 19/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:01:32.13] [Frames: 2313]

PGC_10 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 10] [00:09:49.03 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 1,20)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 1/ 1] : time: 00:09:48.15 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:09:48.15] [Frames: 14715]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 20/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:09:49.03] [Frames: 14728]

PGC_11 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 11] [00:07:48.23 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 3,21)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 3/ 1] : time: 00:07:48.10 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:07:48.10] [Frames: 11710]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 21/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:07:48.23] [Frames: 11723]

PGC_12 (program chain): [Title(TTN): 12] [00:03:37.03 / 25 fps] (Programs: 2) (Cells: 2) (uses VOB-IDs: 5,22)
[Ch 01] [Pg 01] [Cell 01] [V/C Id: 5/ 1] : time: 00:03:36.15 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:03:36.15] [Frames: 5415]
[Ch 02] [Pg 02] [Cell 02] [V/C Id: 22/ 1] Layer Br.: time: 00:00:00.13 / 25 fps [Pos: 00:03:37.03] [Frames: 5428]

Menu Language Units: 1
Language Menu Unit 1: [English]

Language Menu Unit 1: [English]
Menu 1: [Root-Menu] (entry PGC) (Programs: 4) (Cells: 4) (uses VOB-IDs: 1)
Menu 2: [entry only] (Programs: 4) (Cells: 4) (uses VOB-IDs: 2)

It looks like these "Layer break" cells are the problem as they seem to be "fake" and do not seem to actually contain 13 frames each.

Is there anything I can do about this?

[The_Flash]

I think I may have the same problem as above.

Adjusted CCE Film .txt specifies three i-frames past the total number of frames in the movie, which is 237100. Yet 237111, 237123, and 237135 are all asked for.


My video file is then 2:44:39:03 in length. The Adjusted Maestro .chp file asks for chapters at 02:44:39:04, 02:44:39:19, 02:44:40:04, and 02:44:40:19.

What can I do about this? I'm using IFOUpdate v0.71

[RB]

jdobbs, sorry, just re-read the entire thread and found that this problem has been discussed at length already. It sounds like I can simply manually create the four chapters that are "off the end" somewhere near the end of the video stream in Maestro and it would work. But this time simply used IC to transcode and that worked fine as well :)

I have another question, though. What about having an option to ignore/remove the layer break in the original IFO?

Thanks again for the great program.

[jdobbs]

@RB

I'll take a look at it.

[The_Flash]

I just tried another DVD from a different series and I get the same problems. IFOUpdate reports chapters for frames that are beyond the total frame count of the video. That's two discs from different manufacturers now with the same problem. This does work for NTSC right?

[jdobbs]

NTSC is all I ever do.

[quantum]

So far I've successfully used the "adjusted cell mode" on two different titles. A third title worked 95%, but I got stuck on a multi-angle problem and gave up. I think I could have worked it out if I wanted to.

I always work with NTSC disks.

My most recent backup was Space 1999 which is a multi episode multi pgc disk.

I didn't import the chapter points into CCE. I only bring them into maestro.

I used DVD2AVI on the entire VTS set so I ended up with a single mpv and audio file. Did a 4-pass with CCE then into maestro and imported the chapters file created by ifoupdate.

Compiled in maestro and did the ifoupdate thing and everything works, menus, chapter selections, etc. This is so much faster than breaking up by pgc and reauthoring in scenarist.

I did notice a glitch on my failed title. On a few occassions ifoupdate complained that chapters didn't match. I manually added a chapter to the end of the video in maestro and that cleared it up.

It is important to set the vts_tmapti table transfer option or the discard vts_tmapti option in ifoupdate otherwise navigation won't work right when jumping to a specific time on either the PC or standalone player.

Nero still complains about missing vobs. Apparently something is not being completely fixed in the IFO's when I trim down the vob set due to compression. Ifoedit "get vts sectors" doesn't report any problems and the disk seems to burn and play fine.

I'm sure there are cases where this process will not work. But for those that do work, it's a great option.

[RB]

Checking the "Transfer VTS_C_ADT Table" option solved that Nero reallocation problem for me.

[quantum]

Checking the "Transfer VTS_C_ADT Table" option solved that Nero reallocation problem for me. Thanks for this tip. This seems to have cleared it up for me too.

I am confused about the vts_tmapti table transfer option and the discard vts_tmapti option. It seems one or the other is needed to have a correctly navigable dvd when jumping to a specific time. In some cases I need to use the first option and others the second. It seems I have to try it one way and if it doesn't work, switch it to the other and it will work.

[AndyP]

Hi

I get the following error message:

New VTS_VOBU_ADMAP is too large to fit. VTS_TMAPTI not transferred.

When using the VTS_TMAPTI transfer option. Is there any way to resolve it??

Thanks
Andy

[quantum]

Good question. I've had that error before. On my current project I have 'Unequal VTS_TMAPTI table sizes. Not trasferred'. I haven't found any way around these errors.

This means I will not be able to navigate to a specific time on my two standalones or my software dvd player. Using 'Discard VTS_TMAPTI' doesn't help.

Is there another way to transfer to VTS_TMAPTI table when ifoupdate can't handle it?

I guess most people don't notice this, or if they do, they don't consider this a big issue. I think it's a serious issue. If I take a disk out of my standalone in the middle of a movie, I write down the time so I can return to the correct spot. When VTS_TMAPTI is not correct, I can't jump to a specific spot, and I have to use chapter buttons or fast forward and reverse.

[quantum]

And my very next project:

VTS_VOBU_ADMAP is too large to fit. VTS_TMAPTI not transferred.

This seems to happen with a large percentage of disks.

Ouch - got this error on two out of three VTS sets.

The good news is I copied the VTS_TMAPTI table manually from the authored ifo using a hex editor and it seems to work as expected. Of course it's a pain to do it that way, but worth it to me to have a correctly functioning disk.

[AndyP]

quantum,

Would it be possible for you to elaborate how you copied it.... I am relatively new at this DVD stuff (but can use a hex editor). What am I copying and where....

Cheers
Andy

[quantum]

This is not easy, but here goes:

Start with the authored IFO:
1) Open the IFO in ifoedit
2) Go to VTS_TMAPTI
3) Look for the hex value of 'end byte of the VTS_TMAPs table' and record it.
4) Open the IFO in hex editor and find the hex value from step 3. Verify you found the correct one by looking at adjacent hex values in ifoedit.
5) Copy the VTS_TMAPTI table in the hex editor. Use the hex value of the last entry in the table to make sure you have all of it. In the few I've done so far, the end of the table is easy to spot as it's padded with 00's after the end.
6) Now using the original ifo (as ifoupdate calls it) repeat steps 1-4
7) Paste the table from the authored ifo into the original ifo overwriting existing table.

When pasting, it's important not to shift anything up or down. The file size should remain the same. It took me a while to figure out how to paste it correctly using my hex editor (Ultraedit).

This seemed to work fine with "VTS_VOBU_ADMAP is too large to fit" errors. However the one time I had "Unequal VTS_TMAPTI table sizes" the resulting paste overwrote some existing data in the IFO (past the 00's padding) and caused errors.

It would be nice if we could get jdobbs to figure out how to transfer VTS_TMAPTI in a more robust way, such that it splits, inserts, then fixes up the IFO so VTS_TMAPTI can be transferred in all cases :-)

[Sargondvd]

JDobbs , knowing your a talanted guy , how hard would it be to add title information etc into the VMG_TXTDT_MG into the VIDEO_TS.ifo , using Ifoupdate.

A lot times this information is not put in on DVD , but is used multi disk players to add information into their Disk Explorer.

Creation of the text is easy enough via Maestro if you are rencoding , but a tool to do this so that the created files from DVD shrink , DVD2one etc , to add this info would be of great use

Regards

[jdobbs]

I'll look at it.

[Sargondvd]

AS allways , thanks for all ongoing your efforts , they are much welcomed :p

regards

[Piece]

hi!

i think i have a problem with ifoupdate. i've used the ra-guide to encode a dvd9 -> dvd5. know i have the output of scenarist. when i make an iso of this it works fine, but has of course no menus. now i've used ifoupdate (as usual) onto all authored vts (2,3,4). when i make the iso now it doesn't work the way it should. vts 2 and 4 seem to work fine but vts 2 has some errors. vts 3 has 4 pgcs in it. pgc 1+2 play fine. 3 is missing and the original 4th pgc is 3rd after update. when i want to play the 4th pgc it takes me right back to the menu. any suggestions?

greetz piece

[Ak47]

Originally posted by The_Flash
I just tried another DVD from a different series and I get the same problems. IFOUpdate reports chapters for frames that are beyond the total frame count of the video. That's two discs from different manufacturers now with the same problem. This does work for NTSC right?

You get this prob becuase of the content versus control information prob that sometimes crops up with IFOUpdate Chaps...

i.e the VTS may have a still which the IFO states is displayed for 10 secs.. however if you examine the VOB you'll see that the still only actually exisits in the VOB for a single VOB Sector...

this means that CCE may interpret the still as a single-frame from the d2v project info instead of the IFO requirement of 250 - 290+ frames.. the answer is easy ... just manually adjust the chap points until they are in range..

[Zeul]

@ jdobbs

Just would like to know if an updated release will be available that diasables all the message boxes from commandline?

thanks
Zeul

[Sargondvd]

i was also wondering , how it is going on adding the dvd text info into VIDEO_TS file ?

[geffroman]

Originally posted by Sargondvd
i was also wondering , how it is going on adding the dvd text info into VIDEO_TS file ?

BOY DON'T I WISH THIS WAS DOABLE... It's a bitch having to type this information into my DVD Changer for every disc...

[Sargondvd]

well if it is possible , then ifoupdate must be the tool to make possible , it solves alot of problems , the author seems to know , more than few ways to get the results required upto date , i just hope it is soon , cos as you say it a real pain without the text info as part of the DVD.

[geffroman]

Originally posted by Sargondvd
well if it is possible , then ifoupdate must be the tool to make possible , it solves alot of problems , the author seems to know , more than few ways to get the results required upto date , i just hope it is soon , cos as you say it a real pain without the text info as part of the DVD.

I think everyone is going to wish someone came up with a solution in about 6 months when ALL DVD players display this information and we all have 500 movies on DVD+R without it...

Today it only seems to affect a few of us... But hind sight is going to be 20/20...

Hint Hint... HELP...

[ImaWeTodd]

I've added dvd-text to already authored dvd's for a little while. I'd say I've done about 200 without problems.

You need to hexedit the video_ts.ifo and add the text sector. If the ifo is complex you have to move some sectors down. I'd say it takes 5 minutes once you get the hang of it.

Here is a quick guide:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/175537.php

May work for you :)

[Sargondvd]

tryed this several times and it is a bit hit and miss , as you say it is a bit complex , ideal for inclusion though for ifoedit program i would have thought

[geffroman]

Originally posted by ImaWeTodd
I've added dvd-text to already authored dvd's for a little while. I'd say I've done about 200 without problems.

You need to hexedit the video_ts.ifo and add the text sector. If the ifo is complex you have to move some sectors down. I'd say it takes 5 minutes once you get the hang of it.

Here is a quick guide:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/175537.php

May work for you :)

I was thrilled to see your post as I have been looking for this info for a long time. I am having a problem trying to make a go of your advise.

1) - Your link to a sample file does not work. Where can I find this file?

2) - Point B.6. (Simple example)needs more clarification to be helpful. (Where did the number 3 come from? Was this a 2 +1 in the first non zero number above the text sector from an example you did not show us? And where did 000D7 come into play?)

3) - Point C.1. This lost me completely.
Calculate the sectors - You need 2 values, the old C_ADT and the new C_ADT spot. To get the hex values, multiply sector # by 2048 and convert it to hex using the windows calculator (scientific view). Here are some for ya (4=2000,5=2800,6=3000,7=3800,8=4000)
how does 5 = 2800? 5x2048= Dec 10240 or Hex A168.

I can see that you have this all worked out... I am very excited to learn this but need more help PLEASE.

I appreciate very much you filling in the gaps!

Regards... Jeff

[Fallen]

Hi New to this forum I've written a proggie to insert/add title segment. According to feedback it seems to work fine for adding titles in jukebox situations. I'm trying for multiline text/genre inclusion. Seems to work on sonys not on pioneer. Also help would be appreciated on 100 word pointer table (???Title pointers -- If so screwy numbers????) at offset hex 24 (text segment). My current method scrolls text on led contents of title entry only if there is one entry per title/volume (fails on multiple entries).

Studied many examples (commercial discs)- Only conclusion is that nobody actually knows whats going on in this area.

Heres link to proggie:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35890

FAllenAngel

[geffroman]

I've since written a guide on doing this with HEXEdit... I will look at your proggie... I am curious to see if it does everything I have learned from the hard way round... Hope so...

UPDATE: Looks good so far... Did a quick test. Seems to insert everything I need OK. Definately will save me a minute or two on each DVD. Thanks.