o0RaidR0o
21st January 2003, 03:05
Hi members I’m back again with a revised version of what works for me when it comes to backing up my DVD’s. Like I’ve mentioned before I have a Sony DAV-S300 DVD theatre system and an APEX 5131 stand-alone. I have been trying for weeks too refine the process and at the same time produce a DVD that would play both in my APEX and Sony. Well I’m happy to say several coasters later that I’ve done just that.
Lets start with the software tools that will be needed.
1. SmartRipper (latest ver)
2. ReMPEG2 (only if files are larger then 4.7 total)
3. IfoEdit (v0.95)
4. Gear Pro Professional 6 (you can find an evaluation copy on Gear Pro site or through KaZaa)
Yes that’s right you only need 4 items, really 5 but a birate calculator doesn’t count :) anyhow here it goes.
When I load SmartRipper (take note of the movie length in the input window, title -> Program Chain -> Angle, you’ll be needing it when you use the birate calc) the only setting changes I have made is to reduce the max-file size from 9000 to 8000, everything else is left at default. Since I’m only concerned with the main movie and nothing else i.e. subtitles, menu’s, etc., under the Stream Process tab the only items I have checked is the main movie which is the first check-box, Audio English and others. When I do check these items on the right-hand side you will see ID=0xE0, the radio button Demux to extra file is checked for both the main movie and audio, others is left at default and then I start the rip process.
Once the ripping is complete I then run ReMPEG2 to reduce the size of my ripped files to fit DVD-5 standard blanks. Click on the Open button and select the file .m2v file that was created by SmartRipper. It is going to look at every single frame in the movie and the process will take 20mins or more. Once its done I then go to the options tab and check the following radio buttons: output resolution 720x480, frame mode match source, everything else is left at default, except of course the birate scale factor. This is where I use the HTML based BirateCalc to fit my DVD on to a DVD-5 blank, remember when I mentioned to take note of the movie length when you load your DVD in smartripper, this is where you need it, if you didn’t take note you can always go to http://www.imdb.com and look up the movie title and it will give you the length of the movie in actual runtime minutes. The fields that you will find when you run Biratecalc are as follows: Video Min, Audio Birate, Type, Advanced tab, depending on what type you choose, in this case DVD, the field will change with your selection describing how many DVD’s or CD’s x GB’s or Min’s, Calculated Average Birate in kbit/s, and again another field depending on type, DVD or CD Max Birate in kbit/s. yes you guessed it the field Video Min is where you are going to input the runtime mins, I use 384 for Audio Birates, type DVD of course, 1 x 4.37 and that is how I get my average birate. BTW I never use advanced mode, it isn’t necessary. Now let’s say your movie length is 158mins, with audio set to 384kbit/s then your average birate would be 3478. You then would slide your scale factor in ReMPEG2 to 3478 or closes to it. Now its been my experience to always scale less then your average birate in order to safely fit on a 4.7 DVD-5. so if my birate is 3478 then I would further scale down to about 3300 or there abouts.
It would REALLY suck to have to do this again because it came out a few Megs to big. Another quick method that I picked up from one of my fellow posters is simply dividing 4 by the size of the demuxed movie file. Example: lets say your ripped .m2v file is 4.9gb’s you would simply divide 4 by this number 4/4.9= 0.81632653061224489795918367346939, the number you are looking for is the first two numbers to the right of the decimal in this case .81 which represents your percentage which is the scale factor used in ReMPEG2.
Are you still with me? After that go back to the main tab, and click encode, and give the new file a name. This is the longest part of the process, on my system and of course depending on the size of the movie it takes anywhere between 5 – 6hrs to encode. Once completed then you should have an .m2v file that is small enough too fit on a 4.7gig DVD5 disc.
Now that you have finished encoding, run IfoEdit click on the Open button down at the bottom, and find the folder where SmartRipper ripped all the files. Open the VTS_01_0.IFO file. It will probably ask you if you want to make multiple files uppercase. It honestly doesn't matter if you say yes or no to those questions (I say yes). Next double click on VTS_PGCITI, then highlight VTS_PGC_1, next select Tools, Save Cell times, Give it a name and save it to your working folder.
Close and re-open IfoEdit select DVD Author, then select Author New DVD and a window will pop open with the following fields that will you’ll only be concerned with: Video: this where you add the .m2v file that ReMPEG2 created, Audio: the .ac3 file that smartripper created, Scene Changes/Chapters: where you will load the Cell times that you created with Ifo/Edit, Output Stream Destination: which you will point to the VIDEO_TS folder and then hit OK.
Close & open IfoEdit once again, find your working VTS_01_0.IFO file within the VIDEO_TS folder then click get “VTS Sectors” you will be prompted to save new ifo’s just say yes to all. I cannot stress how import it is to get VTS sectors, without that process Gear Pro will not import your files properly.
Start Gear Pro hit the “Create” button choose ‘DVD-VIDEO (IS0/UDF), name your project (I use the name of the movie title), after you hit “OK” an explorer type window will open and on top a browse window will open as well. This window will be the Gear DVD-VIDEO import selection window from which you will be prompted too select a directory to import your VIDEO_TS files from. Simply browse to where your VIDEO_TS folder is and hit the “OK” button. Gear will import the files into a proper format, then you just hit the write button with some other default prompts too which you hit “OK”, let it burn. And enjoy what will hopefully be your most compatible DVD backup to date.
Some footnotes I did buy a cake of 25 RITEK DVD5 blanks from ALL MEDIA OUTLET for 41.77 (USD) that includes shipping. I found them to be the most reliable blank media yet. Although there are a lot of DVD burning software available NERO being one of the better ones, I have found that the process that is built-in Gear Pro to be the most compatible producing process so far.
Regards,
O0RaidR0o
Lets start with the software tools that will be needed.
1. SmartRipper (latest ver)
2. ReMPEG2 (only if files are larger then 4.7 total)
3. IfoEdit (v0.95)
4. Gear Pro Professional 6 (you can find an evaluation copy on Gear Pro site or through KaZaa)
Yes that’s right you only need 4 items, really 5 but a birate calculator doesn’t count :) anyhow here it goes.
When I load SmartRipper (take note of the movie length in the input window, title -> Program Chain -> Angle, you’ll be needing it when you use the birate calc) the only setting changes I have made is to reduce the max-file size from 9000 to 8000, everything else is left at default. Since I’m only concerned with the main movie and nothing else i.e. subtitles, menu’s, etc., under the Stream Process tab the only items I have checked is the main movie which is the first check-box, Audio English and others. When I do check these items on the right-hand side you will see ID=0xE0, the radio button Demux to extra file is checked for both the main movie and audio, others is left at default and then I start the rip process.
Once the ripping is complete I then run ReMPEG2 to reduce the size of my ripped files to fit DVD-5 standard blanks. Click on the Open button and select the file .m2v file that was created by SmartRipper. It is going to look at every single frame in the movie and the process will take 20mins or more. Once its done I then go to the options tab and check the following radio buttons: output resolution 720x480, frame mode match source, everything else is left at default, except of course the birate scale factor. This is where I use the HTML based BirateCalc to fit my DVD on to a DVD-5 blank, remember when I mentioned to take note of the movie length when you load your DVD in smartripper, this is where you need it, if you didn’t take note you can always go to http://www.imdb.com and look up the movie title and it will give you the length of the movie in actual runtime minutes. The fields that you will find when you run Biratecalc are as follows: Video Min, Audio Birate, Type, Advanced tab, depending on what type you choose, in this case DVD, the field will change with your selection describing how many DVD’s or CD’s x GB’s or Min’s, Calculated Average Birate in kbit/s, and again another field depending on type, DVD or CD Max Birate in kbit/s. yes you guessed it the field Video Min is where you are going to input the runtime mins, I use 384 for Audio Birates, type DVD of course, 1 x 4.37 and that is how I get my average birate. BTW I never use advanced mode, it isn’t necessary. Now let’s say your movie length is 158mins, with audio set to 384kbit/s then your average birate would be 3478. You then would slide your scale factor in ReMPEG2 to 3478 or closes to it. Now its been my experience to always scale less then your average birate in order to safely fit on a 4.7 DVD-5. so if my birate is 3478 then I would further scale down to about 3300 or there abouts.
It would REALLY suck to have to do this again because it came out a few Megs to big. Another quick method that I picked up from one of my fellow posters is simply dividing 4 by the size of the demuxed movie file. Example: lets say your ripped .m2v file is 4.9gb’s you would simply divide 4 by this number 4/4.9= 0.81632653061224489795918367346939, the number you are looking for is the first two numbers to the right of the decimal in this case .81 which represents your percentage which is the scale factor used in ReMPEG2.
Are you still with me? After that go back to the main tab, and click encode, and give the new file a name. This is the longest part of the process, on my system and of course depending on the size of the movie it takes anywhere between 5 – 6hrs to encode. Once completed then you should have an .m2v file that is small enough too fit on a 4.7gig DVD5 disc.
Now that you have finished encoding, run IfoEdit click on the Open button down at the bottom, and find the folder where SmartRipper ripped all the files. Open the VTS_01_0.IFO file. It will probably ask you if you want to make multiple files uppercase. It honestly doesn't matter if you say yes or no to those questions (I say yes). Next double click on VTS_PGCITI, then highlight VTS_PGC_1, next select Tools, Save Cell times, Give it a name and save it to your working folder.
Close and re-open IfoEdit select DVD Author, then select Author New DVD and a window will pop open with the following fields that will you’ll only be concerned with: Video: this where you add the .m2v file that ReMPEG2 created, Audio: the .ac3 file that smartripper created, Scene Changes/Chapters: where you will load the Cell times that you created with Ifo/Edit, Output Stream Destination: which you will point to the VIDEO_TS folder and then hit OK.
Close & open IfoEdit once again, find your working VTS_01_0.IFO file within the VIDEO_TS folder then click get “VTS Sectors” you will be prompted to save new ifo’s just say yes to all. I cannot stress how import it is to get VTS sectors, without that process Gear Pro will not import your files properly.
Start Gear Pro hit the “Create” button choose ‘DVD-VIDEO (IS0/UDF), name your project (I use the name of the movie title), after you hit “OK” an explorer type window will open and on top a browse window will open as well. This window will be the Gear DVD-VIDEO import selection window from which you will be prompted too select a directory to import your VIDEO_TS files from. Simply browse to where your VIDEO_TS folder is and hit the “OK” button. Gear will import the files into a proper format, then you just hit the write button with some other default prompts too which you hit “OK”, let it burn. And enjoy what will hopefully be your most compatible DVD backup to date.
Some footnotes I did buy a cake of 25 RITEK DVD5 blanks from ALL MEDIA OUTLET for 41.77 (USD) that includes shipping. I found them to be the most reliable blank media yet. Although there are a lot of DVD burning software available NERO being one of the better ones, I have found that the process that is built-in Gear Pro to be the most compatible producing process so far.
Regards,
O0RaidR0o