Copying a DVD-9 to 2 DVDRs Guide Need Fixing?

[Josh]

So I take it from reading others posts about the guide Copying a DVD-9 to 2 DVDRs updated on 11/20/02 doesn't work? It seems a lot of people haven't been able to get it to work using that guide. Are we all doing something wrong, or does the guide need updating, or is such a thing impossible with ifoedit? Thanks.

[Josh]

I'm trying this guide now, and disc 1 is burning now without any file reallocation errors, so I think it works. Here's the link if anyone wants to try it out. I could never get the Doom9 guide to work for some reason.

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/9893

The guide works in the link above!!! Just follow this guide!

Yeah, Disc 1 burned perfectly following that guide on the link above. I'm trying to figure out why the Doom9 guide doesn't work, and I think the problem comes when adding the extras, or not taking one off of the end section probably. Other than that, the guides are pretty similar. I even used the DVD-Video in the Nero wizard to burn it and it had no problems, and plays fine.

Another possible problem is that the Doom9 guide says to copy all of the VTS_01 stuff to the 2 disc folders, when in fact ifoedit already does that for you when it splits the discs and copying over those may mess it up.

I just added a bonus material, and the disc worked perfectly too, along with the bonus material I added. No problems burning either. To add bonus material, just copy and paste over the other VOBs (excepot for VOB_01) to one of the discs. Make sure you don't make the disc over 4.38 GB. Don't do anything else, just burn it. You don't need to get VTS sectors or anything. Caution though, I have a feeling if you put the VOB_01 in there it may mess it up as I think that's the title menu, but ifoedit make a title menu anyway so that would put 2 title menus in there. I'm not going to test that since I feel there's no need.

*One observation with adding the bonus material, when you add bonus material it doesn't play on windvd, but does play fine on the standalone dvd player, as well as the bonus features added. The dvds split with just the movie only on them play both on the computer and the standalone.

Also, the Doom9 guide needs to make a note that you don't need to get VTS sectors on the newly created disc 1 and 2, it fails to mention that ifoedit .94 and later already do that. It just says the rest of the instructions are on a seperate page, which tells you to get the VTS sectors. That may mess it up too.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Please keep us updated with your findings :)

[Josh]

Ok, will do. I just tried adding the some bonus materials, and did Get VTS Sectors only for the VIDEO_TS.ifo, and it still didn't play on windvd. I didn't bother trying it on the standalone. Right now I'm trying get VTS sectors for all of the ifos and seeing if that makes a difference. I'm not too worried about fixing the windvd problem, as following the guide above and what I wrote earlier for adding bonus materials works on the standalone, that's all I'm concerned about. But if this solution works, I'll let you know, as well as any other experimenting I do. Anyone else try the guide, or adding bonus materials from the way I suggested? I burned Armeggedon and Lord of the Rings extended version and it burned perfectly for both of those movies and they both play fine in the standalone, as well as the extras.

[2COOL]

I haven't looked at the Doom9's DVD-9 to 2 DVD-5 guide since November 2002. I pretty much memorized the guide since then with a little personal adjustments on picking my correct split points so that I can easily disable my chapters in both disks' scene selection menus. I've done a few cheat sheets on splitting specific movies but have done alot in general. I've managed to backup everything off the original DVD and retain, by preference, all my non-movie files(bonus materials) on the 2nd disk. I can do Get VTS Sectors all day and it doesn't make my DVD go bad. Doom9's guide works is all I can say.:D

[Josh]

I did Get VTS Sectors on all the ifos for the disc, and it played on the computer as well after a minute and on the standalone too, so I agree with 2COOL I don't think that was the problem.
I agree, the Doom9 guide is mostly right, but from my personal experience and a lot of posts from others I've read, a lot of others have had problems with it. I never got it to work the several times I tried it. The only different things I see between the 2 guides, is that Doom 9 says to copy the titlesets VTS_01s to the 2 disc folders (which ifoedit already creates in the VTS_0s it appears), and Doom9's guide also doesn't mention or tell how to remove 1 off the end sector. Those 2 things there may be what was messing up the rest of us, I don't know. But I have never gotten a file reallocation error following the above guide on afterdawn, nor burned a coaster, and every dvd plays great. You didn't mention 2COOL if you're following the Doom9 guide to the teeth (you mentioned you haven't looked at it for a long time), for example copying the original VTS_01 stuff to both new discs like in the Doom9 guide, and not removing 1 off the end sector which isn't in the Doom9 guide either. (Derrow mentions that needed to be done in another post as well http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33120.
All I know, is following the Doom9 guide to the letter doesn't work, but following the guide above to the letter works.

Update 3/2/03- It's ok to add the vts_01 files (if the movie is in a dirrefent file set! Don't copy the originals over ifoedits new movie). Sometimes you need to to make the menu and movie work. Also, Doom9's guide is fine, other than the fact it needs to add the remove 1 end sector to it. If you need help knowing what settings ifoedit should be on, look at their guide.

[2COOL]

Josh,

I revisited Derrow's IFOedit: Copy a DVD-9 to 2 DVDRs Guide, last updated on 11/20/02. To reiterate, I understood the guide then and I still do now but you have to keep in mind that my level of technical comprehension was higher than average. I can pick up on technical stuff quicker. But I know not all people can be realyy technical so I read the guide again at a "real" newbie" point of view. the more I read, the more I wanted to rewrite some sentences. I agree with you that this guide may be old but to be honest with you, it's still workable. I did see alot of sentences that needed to be more clarified and simplified especially to a person who has just starting to do DVD backups. Especially in step 2.

Programs get revised so often and when a guide exists, that too has to be updated. Derrow probably had this on his to-do list but didn't have the time to do it. A lot of people knew he had a pretty tight schedule back then. Maybe he prayed someone else would take up the challenge and come up with one. Josh?;)

[Chibi Jasmin]

Just to double-check...this removal of one off the end sector has to be done only in the VTS_XX_0.IFO that corresponds to the main movie I just split and only on disc1, not for the copied extras and not for any other ifo. Just for the one ifo from the main movie and just on disc 1...

Is that correct?

BTW: If I understand Doom9's guide correctly, it says, every disc needs a VTS_01 titleset and you should copy vts_01_0.vob/ifo/bup from the original disc into both disc1 and disc2, if it's not there already (newly created by IfoEdit), which is the case, if the movie is the first titleset...you should not overwrite the files from IfoEdit...if the movie is, for example, title set 02, ifoedit creates new vts_02_ifo/bup and this has not to be altered, as it corresponds to the split movie now...

That leaves us with the question: Is that end sector -1 thing the key to success? I am still playing with this...can anyone let me know, please what is the difference between a disc with this end sector -1 thing applied and without it (I know some Nero versions don't burn without it, but apart from that). What is supposed to be the problem with a disc without the sector patch?

And did I get it right, that Get VTS Sectors on all IFOs on the final disc1 and disc2 didn't mess anything up and made it play in WinDVD, where it didn't play without Get VTS Sectors?

UPDATE
I read about the sector fix here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33120) and it seems to at least make sense...by comparing start and end sector for each cell id on original disc and the split discs, it really seems to be one too much for the last end sector of the first disc...

What I am still missing is information on, what problems arise, if one doesn't fix this end sector, as I am just starting to play with this...anyone?

[Josh]

The removing the 1 end sector is probably the key to success. From the guide on afterdawn, yeah, it says just in the titleset and that is the only one I've been doing. But the VTS_01 stuff doesn't ever need to be copied because over if you have the box in ifoedit checked to autocopy the menus to both discs. Otherwise you're putting 2 menus on both discs from what I can tell. I don't know if that causes problems or not. So I don't think you should ever need to copy those over.
Yeah, from my testing the Get VTS sectors didn't mess anything up, and it played on windvd too (it took it about a minute to finally start playing). So that may not be a bad option to add in there.

Update 3/2/03- It's ok to add the vts_01 files. Sometimes you need to to make the menu and movie work.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
The removing the 1 end sector is probably the key to success. But the VTS_01 stuff doesn't ever need to be copied because over if you have the box in ifoedit checked to autocopy the menus to both discs. Otherwise you're putting 2 menus on both discs from what I can tell. I don't know if that causes problems or not. So I don't think you should ever need to copy those over.
Yeah, from my testing the Get VTS sectors didn't mess anything up, and it played on windvd too (it took it about a minute to finally start playing). So that may not be a bad option to add in there.

I just split a dvd with the main movie in vts 10 and ifoedit did not copy over the vts_01 automatically...the doom9 guide wants to say, that vts_01 has to be present on every disc, if it's the main movie, that's no problem (ifo edit creates the files), you don't need to copy them over (you MUSTN'T). But if that's not the main movie, you have to copy them on both discs...as far as I understand...

would you finally tell me, what problems you have, if you don't do the -1 sector fix?

[Josh]

I haven't copied over the VTS_01s on my 2 movies and they're fine. Neither movie has any VTS_01s on it, and neither movie had 01 as the main movie either. The guide on Afterdawn doesn't say to do anything with them either.
The problems we all seemed to get before was the file reallocation error. Basically, with whatever program you used to burn it (Nero, Image Tools, etc), you basically just made a coaster.
I still haven't ruled out the possibility that the VTS_01s might have something to do with the problem either. If someone wants to test that and copy those over to the 2 newly created discs if they're not present please post and let us know if that causes file reallocation erros, and if it plays fine.

Update 3/2/03- It's ok to add the vts_01 files. Sometimes you need to to make the menu and movie work.

[2COOL]

Okay, about the -1 sector stuff. I've read the thread and to tell you the truth, I have never done it. All I do is use Imgtools with reallocation unchecked and burn. I've always been using Nero's 5.5.17.9 API at this time. This has worked for me. Of course, you'll have alot of arguements on what the best burning method for compatibility. Before anyone replies "Use this software...", I'll pre-respond by always saying "My stand-alone Sony player does not like Data DVD movies." :sly:

Did you guys try using Imgtools with reallocation unchecked? Right now, I using v0.95. There are higher version but I stick to the one that works for me. :D

[Josh]

I agree with 2COOL about the data DVDs, those never work in my Pioneer standalone either. 2COOL, try removing 1 end sector on the first disc only, in the main title only, and I have a feeling you you'll be able to leave the box checked for reallocation in image tools or the DVD-Video option in Nero too, and I don't think we'll get any more reallocation errors. I think the end sector is the culprit behind the reallocation problems.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
I haven't copied over the VTS_01s on my 2 movies and they're fine. Neither movie has any VTS_01s on it, and neither movie had 01 as the main movie either. The guide on Afterdawn doesn't say to do anything with them either.
The problems we all seemed to get before was the file reallocation error. Basically, with whatever program you used to burn it (Nero, Image Tools, etc), you basically just made a coaster.
I still haven't ruled out the possibility that the VTS_01s might have something to do with the problem either. If someone wants to test that and copy those over to the 2 newly created discs if they're not present please post and let us know if that causes file reallocation erros, and if it plays fine.

I see, so play testing the disc was out of the question, because, if you got it burned at all, it was completely unplayable (without the -1 fix)?

All I can tell you at the moment is, I have created a few disc images (with ImageTools V0.89) with the VTS_01 copied over (main movie was another titleset) and the images worked fine...I didn't burn them as of yet...I don't think, it hurts copying them over, since it doesn't hurt copying the other titlesets (extras)...I am still not sure, but I also think, Get VTS Sectors is a good thing to do at the very end of your process before burning or creating images...

One more thing...I just tried creating a DVD with Nero and it complained about files not being there (reallocation error), such as VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_02_1.VOB and so on, which is the extras I only have on one disk...do you guys ignore this, when burning with Nero? I only tried ImageTools 0.89 for IMG-creation so far...???

Maybe this is the thing you all been talking about? But this is with missing extras...!? I don't get it...

Update
I found out something more...following Doom9's guide, I copied all VTS_XX_0.VOB,IFO,BUP sets (without the VTS_XX_1.VOB) over to both discs, for every VTS_XX_0.VOB that existed...on the one disc without extras (where the corresponding VTS_XX_1.VOB was missing), Nero complained...I will try leaving them out altogether (including VTS_01_0.VOB, Doom9's guide also says, this has to be on both discs)...Doom9 said it's needed for the menu and in fact, checking some of them with Vobrator reveals part of the menu...well, will try...

This probably leaves me with one disc without extras and with half of the menu...anyone knows a way to kill the complete menu on one disc and just have one half of the movie on it?

Update
This leaves me with an unplayable disc (at least from HD on my PC)...probably because VTS_01 is missing? Maybe this is not mandatory for some standalones, but on PC? Don't know...well, I could include VTS_01_0.vob,ifo, bup and vts_01_1.vob...if it's not too big...should work then...but I still have half of a menu then...and holes in the dvd structure VTS_01, next is VTS_10...are not that nice, too, I have heard...so same question: how to get just the movie (the one half from the split set), without any extras/menu on one of the discs? I am playing with the Create New Ifo (movie only) option in IfoEdit right now, will keep you posted.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Okay, after playing a bit, I have finally come up with a method, which at least seems to work on the one disc I've been playing with all the time...I will retest this from scratch, but share with you first...

The following method leaves you with a DVD-9 split to two discs, with menu and everything else working on one disc (except one half of the movie missing), and just the other half of the movie with nothing else on the other disc, no reallocation errors!

It's not edited yet for being understandable, more or like my own notes, but I think you'll get through it...

here it comes:

- Make Full Rip of the DVD (all files)
- Split to 2 DVD-R with IfoEdit, open main movie ifo and check:
correct Vob-Unit, Correct orig. IFO-Files, Split to 2 DVD-Rs, Create subfolders, Autocopy Menu-files
Vob-expert: Remove P-UOPs, Remove Macrovision, Adjust Vob-Unit pointers, adjust audio/subp. pointers, VOB-Size 1 GB! Select split point etc.
- Disk 1: open VTS_XX_0.ifo (split movie) from Disk 1 with IFOEDIT. Click on VTS_C_ADT at the top. Scroll all the way to the bottom (LAST end sector
entry) and double click next to END SECTOR and reduce the value by 1. Click save and resave it over the VTS_0x_0.ifo you opened. It will ask if you want
to overwrite. Press Yes, then OK. -> this corrects a bug in ifoedit splitting, if you don't do it you get nero file reallocation error.
- Copy all extras and menus to one of the discs (vts_XX_0.vob,.ifo,.bup + corresponding vts_xx_1.vob, vts_xx_2.vob etc.)
- on the other disc (without extras) delete everything except vts_xx_0.ifo,.bup (xx=main movie here), and the main movie vobs (vts_xx_1.vob, vts_xx_2.vob
etc., normally vts_xx_0.vob is not part of the main movie (check!), but some menu, in that case you also delete it)...rename all files from vts_xx_* to
vts_01_*, open vts_01_1.ifo in ifoedit (This is for keeping chapters...if you delete the old ifo and reauthor with ifoedit, you lose chapters. Note that
with this method, chapter numbering always starts with chapter 1 and you just get as many chapters as there are on that particular disc!)
and choose:
vob extras, create new ifo:
Corr. Vob unit, Corr orig. ifo, create new ifo.
Vob-expert: Remove P-UOPs, Remove Macrovision, Adjust Vob-Unit pointers, adjust audio/subp. pointers, VOB-Size 1 GB!
copy all newly created files to the disc (overwriting old ifos etc.)
- Load VIDEO_TS.IFO into IfoEdit and press the Region free button (for both discs) and save
- Load VIDEO_TS.IFO and press the Remove P-UPs button at the bottom (for both discs) and save
- load any of the IFO files from each(!) disc, then press Get VTS sectors. This will adjust all IFO files and overwrite the old ones with the adjusted ones.
- Ready to burn: Make image or burn directly..

Let me know, what you think...

[Chibi Jasmin]

Okay, I redid the above procedure from scratch and it still seemed valid.

I am still left with the following minor problems (disc 1 is the one with the menu and extras):

1. Language selection while movie playing not possible on disc 1, when using ZoomPlayer (other players fine), works from menu...might be ZoomPlayer, or might be an issue with the Ifoedit's split procedure that only comes up with ZoomPlayer...

2. Seeking impossible in the short intro movies (adverts and stuff), although all UOP removed (with all tested players) in disc1. On the original disc, you can't skip these intros, but on the rip, after removing UOPs you can skip them just fine, but you still can't seek...I checked all IFOs and there were no prohibitions...what can be the cause?

Anyone has an idea about one or both of the above problems?

Update
Issue number one is gone, after creating an image with imgtools 0.89...before I have just been playing the video_ts folder directly from hard disk. Language selection is fine with the mounted image, also in ZoomPlayer...anyone knows why?

Issue number two remains also in the created image. Maybe it's
this (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42991).

[Chibi Jasmin]

Okay, one more, for some reason, I can't disable subs in the extras...although UOPs removed (I can disable them now in the main movie, which was not possible before)...no UOPs in the IFOs...anyone could imagine why?

[Josh]

Yeah, your updated guide looks ok from what I can tell. Yeah, it's nice not getting those dumb file reallocation errors! Yeah, if that end sector isn't removed and you get the reallocation error, you get a coaster if you choose to ignore it.
As far as the sub problems, I have not yet had that issue. The only thing I see is to not copy the menus (VIDEO_TSs and VTS_01s) over manually because ifoedit does that already for you. No need to have them on there twice. If you watch ifoedit autocopy the menus at the end of splitting the discs, it looks like it puts the menus in the VIDEO_TS items. Maybe there's a conflict there putting 2 menus on it. I'm thinking correct right, that the VTS_01s is the menu stuff?
I also don't delete anything anywhere from the newly created disc1 and 2 folders.
I agree the Get VTS sectors is probably good, but I don't like copying and pasting over the new files in the disc 1 and 2 folder, ifoedit already has those files made properly in those new folders all ready to go. But if extras are added, then yeah, get VTS sectors. If no extras, just remove the end sector on disc 1 and burn.

Here's my personal preference, in simple terms:
1. Split discs with ifoedit (using all the settings you said)
2. Remove 1 end sector from disk one (like you said how to do).
3. Add all the other extras: VTS_XX.ifos/vobs/bups except for 01. (Optional)
4. Get VTS Sectors on all ifos if extras are added. Otherwise skip this step.
5. (Optional) If you like, there is a way to get the DVD to jump to the movie and not to the menu upon insertion.
To do this, open VIDEO_TS.ifo in Disk 2 directory with IFOEDIT.
Click VMGM_MAT toward the top.
Then press the + next to it and highlight FIRST PLAY PGC.
Scroll to 000000f4 and right click and edit command.
Press Jump_TT Jump to Title and type 1 in the box beneath it (usually 1)
Press SAVE and close IFOEDIT
Now the DVD will go to the movie instead of the menu upon Disk 2 insertion
6. Burn using Nero's Wizard for DVD-Video

Let me know what you think.

Update 3/2/03- It's ok to add the vts_01 files. My oversight.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
Yeah, your updated guide looks ok from what I can tell. Yeah, it's nice not getting those dumb file reallocation errors! Yeah, if that end sector isn't removed and you get the reallocation error, you get a coaster if you choose to ignore it.
As far as the sub problems, I have not yet had that issue. The only thing I see is to not copy the menus (VIDEO_TSs and VTS_01s) over manually because ifoedit does that already for you. No need to have them on there twice. If you watch ifoedit autocopy the menus at the end of splitting the discs, it looks like it puts the menus in the VIDEO_TS items. Maybe there's a conflict there putting 2 menus on it. I'm thinking correct right, that the VTS_01s is the menu stuff?
I also don't delete anything anywhere from the newly created disc1 and 2 folders.
I agree the Get VTS sectors is probably good, but I don't like copying and pasting over the new files in the disc 1 and 2 folder, ifoedit already has those files made properly in those new folders all ready to go. But if extras are added, then yeah, get VTS sectors. If no extras, just remove the end sector on disc 1 and burn.

Here's my personal preference, in simple terms:
1. Split discs with ifoedit (using all the settings you said)
2. Remove 1 end sector from disk one (like you said how to do).
3. Add all the other extras: VTS_XX.ifos/vobs/bups except for 01. (Optional)
4. Get VTS Sectors on all ifos if extras are added. Otherwise skip this step.
5. (Optional) If you like, there is a way to get the DVD to jump to the movie and not to the menu upon insertion.
To do this, open VIDEO_TS.ifo in Disk 2 directory with IFOEDIT.
Click VMGM_MAT toward the top.
Then press the + next to it and highlight FIRST PLAY PGC.
Scroll to 000000f4 and right click and edit command.
Press Jump_TT Jump to Title and type 1 in the box beneath it (usually 1)
Press SAVE and close IFOEDIT
Now the DVD will go to the movie instead of the menu upon Disk 2 insertion
6. Burn using Nero's Wizard for DVD-Video




Let me know what you think.

I have nothing copied over that IfoEdit has already done...ifoedit in my case copied over video_ts.vob.ifo.bup and did new vts_10_0.ifo.bup, copied over vts_10_0.vob and created vts_10_1.vob _2.vob etc...you can't have them twice I think, and i don't think IfoEdit does something to the menu...on this dvd the menu was spread over several titlesets...it was even in the vts_10_0.vob right before the movie....so I copied all the menu and extras onto one disc and have just the movie (one half) on the other disc, recreated with the create ifo procedure, so no dumb errors...

And I didn't copy over anything ifoedit created on the first disc...I just added the extras and menus and got vts sectors...as you can all read...for the second disc, I let ifoedit recreate the ifos as you can read and killed the menu vts_10_0.vob in my case...I didn't want half a menu, it gave me file reallocation error, I would have to copy all extras stuff also on the second disc not to have that error, so I decided to kill the menu altogether with the create new ifo procedure...you don't need the jump to title fix in that case, as ifoedit already creates an ifo just to play the movie...

I don't see a problem btw with adding vts_01...my nero always complained if I didn't have everything complete, right up to the movie (vts_10), that means vts_01_0.vob,ifo,bup + vts_01_1.vob same for vts_02_0.vob,ifo,bup + vts_02_1.vob right up to vts_09_0.vob,ifo,bup and vts_09_1.vob this is the complete menu and extras...and as I said, I didn't wanna put the same crap on both discs, I just recreated the second one to have simple movie playing ifo and the movie in vts_01 (done by the renaming and recreating procedure)....except for the subs thing (which might have another reason, UOPs are removed everywhere, still searching for a cause), the discs are fine...on the original disc, you can't disable subs for a certain language in the main movie...on the copied one you now can and you can now skip chapters of the adverts, which you couldn't do before, so removing UOPs did something...no clue, why it didn't work for the subs in the extras...I didn't find any remaining UOPs in the ifos....anyone?

[Josh]

Sounds good! Hopefully others realize they can split dvds now. That was really frustrating not being able to do it.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
Sounds good! Hopefully others realize they can split dvds now. That was really frustrating not being able to do it.

Well, I never realized it was a problem...I just got my burner a few days ago and started looking into it...I was always thinking, it can be easily done...well, after a bit of research and experimentation it can indeed...I don't mind using 2 dvds for an untouched copy of a movie with all extras...like it much more than a mediocre dvd2one copy on one dvd or a hell of a lot of work with cce for a complete one dvd copy and still reduced quality, while just splitting to two dvds with original quality is so easy :-)

[Josh]

Amen! You said it! :D

[Chibi Jasmin]

:D So someone should fix the guide now as you suggested :D

[Josh]

Right. I agree.

[Josh]

Hey Chibi, have you found a way to split the dvds, with just the movie on the first disc and the extras on the 2nd? Can that be done using the ifoedit split to 2 discs? It doesn't seem like it. If so, that would be cool.

[2COOL]

Originally posted by Josh
Hey Chibi, have you found a way to split the dvds, with just the movie on the first disc and the extras on the 2nd? Can that be done using the ifoedit split to 2 discs? It doesn't seem like it. If so, that would be cool.

Of course you can do it!:) It would be just a matter of disabling which buttons in your main menus for both disks.

[Josh]

Actually,I found another way to do it. This is only for movies that can normally fit on 1 DVD if you were to do the movie only. Do the split to 2 DVD-R's, create 2 subfolders. In the options box check all boxes except for Re-Mux and Rebuild PTS. Then choose the end of the movie on the last chapter for the splitting point, check the vob-ids for the movie only and choose the streams you want.
Ifo edit will put the movie in disc one, and then you can just put all of the extras in disc 2. Ifoedit already creates the menus for both discs, so just copy and paste the extras, and get vts sectors.
Most movies I won't do 2 discs, but there are a couple of movies with some cool bonus features I don't mind doing.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
Hey Chibi, have you found a way to split the dvds, with just the movie on the first disc and the extras on the 2nd? Can that be done using the ifoedit split to 2 discs? It doesn't seem like it. If so, that would be cool.

I haven't tested yet, but it should work with my procedure above...just copy the extras and menus to the second disc and do the 'create new ifo' process for the first one, after splitting...let me know, if it works...

[Doom9]

pardon for asking, but you know that you're going outside of the specs of my guide by using Nero and Nero isn't exactly number one when it comes to burning DVDs. I have tried splitting (though not many times) following my guide and burning using imgtools/dvddecrypter, it actually works, and I'm not convinced that the problem isn't the use of Nero.

[Josh]

From what we've found, Nero isn't the problem. Nero hasn't had any problems after we solved the bug (well, Derrow solved it actually. We just told everybody how to do it). The problem was reducing the end sector by 1. I couldn't get DVD to work with any program without reducing the end sector. I even tried ImageTools and it didn't work. The problem is the bug with ifoedit, reducing the disc 1 end sector. Nero wasn't the problem, ifoedit's bug was the problem. If you do reduce the end sector by 1 on disc 1, you should be able to use ANY program. You can even leave the file reallocation box checked in image tools and you won't get an error. And you can use the Nero DVD-Video option and do it that way with no errors. The key was to reduce the end sector on the 1st disc by 1.

[Chibi Jasmin]

With my limited experience, I agree...I only used Nero to check for this reallocation thing...not actually burned with it...

I remember reading somewhere that Nero might be actually stricter in enforcing some things than the specs, but what passes Nero's test should actually work...don't know, if this is true...I can confirm, that reducing the endsector by 1 on the first disc solved a reallocation problem with Nero.

Nero also enforces having the title sets complete (a vts_XX_1.vob for every set) and allows no gaps (vts_01 and then vts_03 without vts_02...). I don't know, if this is needed...this is part of the reason for the renaming and create new ifo process in my procedure above...you won't have no incomplete titlesets/menus and you will have the movie in titleset 01 at the end on the disc, that has only one half of the movie...the other disc stays totally intact except for half of the movie missing...seemed at least logical and it worked so far...I was also able to pass all of Nero's tests :)

I can't contribute more at the moment, as I just started playing with this...

BUT: I cannot confirm that Doom9's guide does burn coasters, as I never tried...I did never burn disks that had reallocation error in Nero, because I got told they are coasters. It might just as well be, that some/most/all dvds work fine with Doom9's guide, but some people seemed to have problems with it...

[Doom9]

josh: when I say Imgtools I mean version 0.89, that is the one NOT using Nero API. Imgtools 0.99.x = Nero in my eyes, it uses the same engine. And, I have burned many discs that Nero bitched about (that was the initial reason to move away from Nero) and none had any problems on the standalones I've tested them on.

[Josh]

I see what you're saying. I guess it could be Nero's API. But, I did install a lot of the older versions that a lot of other people on other posts said to use and they didn't work either. I don't mind removing the 1 end sector, the movies work fine and I don't get coasters anymore.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Well, we already read this (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33120) sticky...about a possible bug (the -1 thing)...

I personally haven't got DVDSplit, but I found this (http://www.dvdr-digest.com/software/software.php?file=dvdsplit) today, where it says:

This app should fix the problem with the 'Illegal Navigation error occured'., and the "DVD Video files allocation failure" in Nero.

So at least, there was some bug...could someone (Doom9?) with DVDSplit please split the same DVD at the same point one time with IfoEdit and another time with DVDSplit and see, if the endsector is -1 in DVDSplit's version?

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
Hey Chibi, have you found a way to split the dvds, with just the movie on the first disc and the extras on the 2nd? Can that be done using the ifoedit split to 2 discs? It doesn't seem like it. If so, that would be cool.

I just realised what you meant...you meant the full movie unsplit on one dvd and only the extras on the second dvd...

my answer before wanted to say that my procedure posted above works for

1. 1st half of movie + extras on 1st disc, 2nd half of movie only on 2nd disc
OR
2. 1st half of movie only on 1st disc, 2nd half of movie + extras on 2nd disc

In the meantime I tested this btw, procedure works fine for both case 1 and case 2.

But back to your question...I haven't tried that yet...thinking about it, I would create new ifo just as in my procedure for the movie, so you have one disc with the full movie on one disc...for the other disc, we could disable the button to play the movie...but we might end up with a disc nero complains about, if the movie is missing...if that is a problem, I don't know...another idea would be to leave the button as it is and replace the movie by a short dummy movie...let us know, if you tried and got it to work...

[Josh]

Originally posted by Chibi Jasmin
Well, we already read this (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33120) sticky...about a possible bug (the -1 thing)...

I personally haven't got DVDSplit, but I found this (http://www.dvdr-digest.com/software/software.php?file=dvdsplit) today, where it says:

This app should fix the problem with the 'Illegal Navigation error occured'., and the "DVD Video files allocation failure" in Nero.

So at least, there was some bug...could someone (Doom9?) with DVDSplit please split the same DVD at the same point one time with IfoEdit and another time with DVDSplit and see, if the endsector is -1 in DVDSplit's version?

I like your idea about trying DVDSplit vs Ifoedit to see if it is ifoedit with the -1 end sector bug. I'm more interested in fixing the bug that will make the movie work regardless of whatever program is being used to burn the movie.

Next time I try and do the movie only on the first disc and the extras on a 2nd I'll let you know how it works. I rarely want the extras, was just wondering. Sometimes it is nice to have though.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
[B]I'm more interested in fixing the bug that will make the movie work regardless of whatever program is being used to burn the movie.


Well, what exactly is the problem? I think, if you do it with my procedure above, you should be able to get a working copy out of Nero as well as both ImgTools Versions (the one that creates an image and the one that burn with NeroAPI) and other programs...

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
I like your idea about trying DVDSplit vs Ifoedit to see if it is ifoedit with the -1 end sector bug.

I just compared DVDSplit versus my IFOEdit procedure from above.

Result:

The -1 end sector thing is NOT needed with DVDSplit, it makes the correct entry. You can set it to copy selected title sets (menu, extras) over to one of the discs (if you select all of them you're set with one of the disc, just like with my procedure). For the other disc, with just one half of the movie (assuming my movie is not in vts_01) it copies, vts_01_0.ifo, bup, vob, leaving out vts_01_1.vob and the rest of the title sets, up to the movie in vts_xx_0.ifo,bup,vob and vts_xx_1,2,3.vob...it includes full vts_xx_0.vob (which is not needed). Nero complains about this disc with the usual file reallocation error. We know, it might still play, if we burn it, but just in case you can use the create new ifo procedure, just as with my procedure on this disk...(then you have the movie in vts_01_1,2,3.vob, no vts_01_0.vob and a complete vts_01 titleset, so a complete structure, even Nero doesn't complain about).

So basically DVDSplit makes things a bit easier than IfoEdit, saves a few button clicks and the -1 correction...but result might still need some handwork to be done, as described above...

This leads us to the following procedure...

DVDDecrypter/DVDSplit (uses IFOEdit) procedure:

- Make full rip of the DVD with DVDDecrypter File mode (all files),
set DVDDecrypter to remove P-uOPs and Region Protection, if needed.
- Use DVDSplit to split to two DVDs: Select main movie title set and
suitable split point (default is layer break), in the next step
include all menus and extras on one of the discs (to have a complete
working structure with all menus/extras on the disc, even Nero doesn't
complain about), next step (which of the disks to start with movie/menu)
depends on, if you have extras/menu on disc 1 or 2. if you have menus/extras
on disc 1, select 'start only second disc with movie'), if you have
menus/extras on disc 2, select 'NO'. In both cases, we will recreate the ifo
for the disc with only the movie, so you don't have to worry about missing
menu files on that disc. (Note: You might want to experiment with leaving
out title sets, spreading extras on both discs, and the setting for which
disc to start with movie or menu and leaving out the below ifo recreation
for one disc with movie only. You then get a disc, Nero complains about, but
it might still work. The procedure as described leaves you with a complete
working disc with all menus/extras on one disc and a clean movie-only-
structure on the other). Start splitting and wait.
- on the disc without extras/menus delete everything except vts_xx_0.ifo,.bup
(xx=main movie here), and the main movie vobs (vts_xx_1.vob, vts_xx_2.vob etc.,
normally vts_xx_0.vob is not part of the main movie (check!), but some menu, in
that case you also delete it)...rename all files from vts_xx_* to vts_01_*,
open vts_01_1.ifo in ifoedit (This is for keeping chapters...if you delete the
old ifo and reauthor with ifoedit, you lose chapters. Note that with this method,
chapter numbering always starts with chapter 1 and you just get as many chapters
as there are on that particular disc! You also do this, if your main movie is
in vts_01, because it rids you of the unnecessary vts_01_0.vob, which might
contain some unused menu, as a result you get a clean structured movie only
disc, even Nero doesn't complain about) and choose: vob extras, create new ifo:
Corr. Vob unit, Corr orig. ifo, create new ifo, Vob-expert: Remove P-UOPs,
Remove Macrovision, Adjust Vob-Unit pointers, adjust audio/subp. pointers,
VOB-Size 1 GB! use other destination directory, if done, copy all newly created
files to the disc (overwriting the already existing ifos etc.)
Load any of the IFO files from this disc (movie only), then press Get VTS sectors.
This will adjust all IFO files and overwrite the old ones with the adjusted ones.
(You don't need get vts sectors for the other disc with menu/extras, if using DVDSplit)
- Discs are ready to burn. Create image with ImgTools 0.89 and burn with
DVDDecrypter (ISO Mode), or burn directly with Nero or ImgTools 0.99.9 (uses
NeroAPI).

[Josh]

Originally posted by Chibi Jasmin
Well, what exactly is the problem? I think, if you do it with my procedure above, you should be able to get a working copy out of Nero as well as both ImgTools Versions (the one that creates an image and the one that burn with NeroAPI) and other programs...

No, I know your method works because I use that method too. I'm just stating that there was a bug in ifoedit and that you had to fix the end sector thing.
That's cool about DVDSplit.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
No, I know your method works because I use that method too. I'm just stating that there was a bug in ifoedit and that you had to fix the end sector thing.
That's cool about DVDSplit.

DVDSplit seems to be cool anyway...it's faster [Quote from DVDDigest: And it is even faster then IfoEdits implementation, cause it doesn't need to correct VobUnit pointers .-) ] and does basically the same, although it still needs some handwork for a totally clean structure, as pointed out above...

Here's some more info:

Differences between IfoEdit-split and DVDSplit:

1. DVDSplit leaves VIDEO_TS.IFO's VMGM_MAT to Region 1-8 enabled Regional Code Mask 0
(this was set by DVDDecrypter's Region Free), where IFOEdit's Region Free button sets
Region 1-6 and 8 to enabled with Regional Code Mask 64
2. On Disc 1 DVDSplit sets number of chapters for the split main movie title in
VMG_PTT_SRPT (VIDEO_TS.IFO) to the real (after split) number of chapters, where IFOEdit's
split leaves it at the full number of chapters from the original disc. The difference is
whether you see full number of chapters on Disc 1, where the last chapters all point to the
last real existing chapter on Disc 1 (IFOEdit), or you see only real existing number of
chapters (right-clicking in software dvd-player for direct selection, don't know about
differences for standalones)
[Editing this to the real number of chapters after IFOEdit splitting has been recommended
by Derrow anyway on http://ifoedit.wh.fr0zen.com/splitdvd.html. But there it is
recommended for disc2 also, which screws chapter selection on the second disc!]
3. On Disc 1 DVDSplit truncates entries in PTT_SRPTI of VTS_XX_0.IFO (main movie) to the real
number of chapters, where IFOEdit's split leaves all entries there for the full number of
chapters. This probably corresponds to number 2. Although only doing the fix in VIDEO_TS.IFO
manually after IFOEdit procedure (as in 2) [as suggested by derrow, but only in Disc 1],
leaving this one out, seems to work the same.

BTW: Did you try your project having the full movie only on one disc and menu/extras only on the other disc already? As I said, I personally would try the rename/create ifo procedure for the movie disc and use the full dvd (complete rip) dvd for the other disc and just replace the main movie with some dummy...then chapters and pointers might have to be edited, or maybe they can just be left as they are and a get vts sectors is enough? I don't know too much about this...another possibility is to do it just as in doom9's ifoedit basic guide (stripping unwanted extras/menus) and just strip the complete movie with this procedure, leaving the rest intact...

[Josh]

No, I haven't been able to get much done the last few days, I've been having computer problems, I think my Ram is going bad. Anyway, yeah, I think one of those ways should work for doing the extras only on 1 dvd. As soon as I can I'll do a test.

[Josh]

Hey Chibi, now that we've conquered the dvd splitting, we now need to figure out how to split dvds with angles. I'm trying to do Kate & Leopold now, that one is a headache trying to get right. :scared:

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
Hey Chibi, now that we've conquered the dvd splitting, we now need to figure out how to split dvds with angles. I'm trying to do Kate & Leopold now, that one is a headache trying to get right. :scared:

I have never tried that, so let me know, where the problem is first, so I know what to expect...is your goal keeping the angles or selecting one angle?

[Josh]

I tried only keeping 1 angle, that might be my problem. But also the splitting point, kind of unsure where to put that at because it has 2 Program Chains with 20 chapters each. I'm not sure if I put it in the middle of one of the program chains, or at the end of Program chain 1. When I get it figured out I'll let you know.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
I tried only keeping 1 angle, that might be my problem. But also the splitting point, kind of unsure where to put that at because it has 2 Program Chains with 20 chapters each. I'm not sure if I put it in the middle of one of the program chains, or at the end of Program chain 1. When I get it figured out I'll let you know.

Yeah let me know...probably depends on where different angles appear in the movie and how often...

Maybe split both program chains in the middle!?

I am not sure, I can try at the moment at all, maybe I don't have any multi-angle discs...will have to look...

[Josh]

I've found a way, a very simple way but you get no menus or extras. I'll have to play around a little more with that. I was also having problems with Sweet Home Alabama, it wasn't a multi-angle movie but for some reason that one wasn't working either. Anyway, what I did was stripped the movie first (follwing Doom9's guide on getting the movie only with no extras) then I split the movie only to 2 discs with ifoedit using the method we came up with before. So, that's one way to do it, movie only. Sweet home Alabama has 2 program chains in it too, so that may be the cause of the the movies not working, I don't know. But I followed all the steps and Leopold and Alabama wouldn't work, just made coasters. The program chains is the culprit I think... .
For Kate & Leopold, ripped all the files with DVD Decrytpor, in the settings I chose angle 1. The in ifoedit, it has never done this before with Kate & Leopold, it game me the option for seamless branching!! Maybe selecting angle 1 in DVD Decryptor made it work in ifoedit now... I don't know why. But I chose Keep Title: PGC 2 for the longer director's cut version. And it came to 4.07GB when done to fit on one disc. I'll have to post this finding in the other posts with Kate & leopold multiangel problems, ther ehave been a few.
There may be another way just using the split discs, but I haven't found it yet. Seems like I've tried everything too.But doing the movie only first then splitting that to 2 discs works, you just don't get a menu or extras. (It may be easy to add, I just haven't attempted it yet).
And, maybe the secret to get the Seamless Branching to work in dvds is to select angle 1 in DVD Decryptor when copying the files to the hard drive. I have read other posts where poeple wanted to use that option but it was greyed out for some reason. I don't know why all of a sudden it ungreyed except for the angle 1 thing.

[2COOL]

@Josh and Chibi Jasmin,

Try doing your splitting with your problem DVDs with IFOedit 0.91. There were issues about the Angles options being greyed out in 0.95 and Derrow knew about this too. Give it a try because I, for a fact, now remember doing it with 0.91 back last December. I can't remember what movie I did but it worked for me.

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by 2COOL
@Josh and Chibi Jasmin,

Try doing your splitting your problem DVDs with IFOedit 0.91. There were issues about the Angles options being greyed out in 0.95 and Derrow knew about this too. Give it a try because I, for a fact, now remember doing with 0.91 back last December. I can't remember what movie I did but it worked for me.

Well, thanx for the tip...

But a question, isn't it true, that if we want to keep all angles, it's no problem, that angles option is greyed out? Anyway, I will check IFOEdit 0.91 in case of any problems with angles...

I am also curious, what DVDSplit will make of multiangles and/or seamless branching...

[Chibi Jasmin]

Originally posted by Josh
I've found a way, a very simple way but you get no menus or extras. I'll have to play around a little more with that. I was also having problems with Sweet Home Alabama, it wasn't a multi-angle movie but for some reason that one wasn't working either. Anyway, what I did was stripped the movie first (follwing Doom9's guide on getting the movie only with no extras) then I split the movie only to 2 discs with ifoedit using the method we came up with before. So, that's one way to do it, movie only. Sweet home Alabama has 2 program chains in it too, so that may be the cause of the the movies not working, I don't know. But I followed all the steps and Leopold and Alabama wouldn't work, just made coasters. The program chains is the culprit I think... .
For Kate & Leopold, ripped all the files with DVD Decrytpor, in the settings I chose angle 1. The in ifoedit, it has never done this before with Kate & Leopold, it game me the option for seamless branching!! Maybe selecting angle 1 in DVD Decryptor made it work in ifoedit now... I don't know why. But I chose Keep Title: PGC 2 for the longer director's cut version. And it came to 4.07GB when done to fit on one disc. I'll have to post this finding in the other posts with Kate & leopold multiangel problems, ther ehave been a few.
There may be another way just using the split discs, but I haven't found it yet. Seems like I've tried everything too.But doing the movie only first then splitting that to 2 discs works, you just don't get a menu or extras. (It may be easy to add, I just haven't attempted it yet).
And, maybe the secret to get the Seamless Branching to work in dvds is to select angle 1 in DVD Decryptor when copying the files to the hard drive. I have read other posts where poeple wanted to use that option but it was greyed out for some reason. I don't know why all of a sudden it ungreyed except for the angle 1 thing.

Well, for seamless branching normally one program chain represents one version of the movie...so selecting only one program chain and doing movie only should work...but then there's angles...will have to try myself, can't say anything at the moment...but thanks for your findings so far...will see, if I get my hands on a multiangle dvd...
or a seamless branching one...

[Chibi Jasmin]

I found a simple multi-angle title in my collection: Get Over It RC1, it has english or french ending credits, depending on angle. That's all there is about angles, looks like an easy start...will first see, what DVDSplit makes of it...

UPDATE
What could I say...it simply worked fine! Without any special precautions...both angles still there in first and second disc (it's no use for the first one, because there's no difference...), switching between them works fine, also from the menu (you do this by selecting a certain audio language and it selects the corresponding credits).

BTW: Remove Angles is indeed greyed out with IFOEdit V0.95 and accessible with IFOEdit V0.91!