combining dvds onto 1 dvd

[pjpac]

Forgive me if this is posted somewhere else. I looked through as much as possible but couldn't find an answer.

Here's the deal:
I want to back up my Sopranos DVDs but using DVDShrink will compress each episode too much for my tastes to fit onto 1 DVD. So I want to put 3 episodes on each DVD instead of the 4 that are already on there. My question is how can I put episodes from 2 different DVDs on the same DVD?

If this is possible, let me know the best solution. And if there is a guide, point me to it. Thanks.

[oddyseus]

U may use dvdshrink to ommit the 4th episode in each disk. However to include it in the next, its really a pain.

U could however put all the ommitted episodes in a new dvd-r using a simple menu and dvdlab or tmpeg dvd author etc but I guess u would loose the continuity of the episodes.

I guess the only viable solution is to shrink the 1st and re-author all the rest of the disks.

[surreal120]

Actually, would there be a way to do this using IfoEdit? Odysseus, I know you said it's a "pain", which I think it would be, but how about something along these lines:

1. Rip all the files from the first DVD using DVDDecrypter.

2. Using IfoEdit, strip the VobID(s) for the 4th episode from the movie, along with any unwanted audio and subtitles. Get VTS Sectors. I don't know how the Soprano's DVDs are authored, so this could cause some problems. At the very least, you will probably want to disable the menu button for selecting the 4th episode - take a look at MenuEdit or 2Cool's guide (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=240423#post240423).

3. Make sure everything else still plays correctly in IfoEdit's player.

4. If neccessary, use DVDShrink in File mode to compress the movie. Burn it!

5. Now comes the tricky part. Rip all the files from the original disc again (probably would have been a good idea to make a copy) and this time strip out the first three episodes, keeping just the fourth.

6. Rip the files for the next disc into another folder and strip out episodes 3 and 4 (keeping 1 and 2).

7. Now you want episode 4 from the first disc to be episode 1 on the new disc; and you want episdoes 1 and 2 from the second disc to be episodes 2 and 3 on the new disc. Use "Join Clips" in VobEdit so that Episode 4 starts with the correct VobID for episode 1. Repeat to adjust the VobIDs for the other episodes.

8. Now a significant problem is that your menus will be totally out of whack. If you are not planning to keep the menus, you could just have each episode be in a different title set, and use DVDFab to create the VIDEO_TS files. If the VobIDs follow sequentially, then the episodes will play in order, and most DVD players let you jump to the next/prev title. If you want to keep the menus, then I'm not really sure how to do it without an authoring program like Scenarist or SpruceUp, but that's what this whole was process trying to avoid.

Anyway, this is a really rough idea of how it could be done with a bunch of details probably missing. Odysseus, I'm sure you will know much better than me if this even has a chance of working. As I said in the beginning, though, it is definitely a real pain and I'm only suggesting it if you don't have anything like Scenarist and/or CCE.

Good luck!!

[oddyseus]

surreal, u got me 101%. u'll loose the menus completly. A thing not necesseraly bad. U may want it menuless.

If u want it with their menu and more, since u have to incorporate ep4 of disk 1 to eps 1 and 2 of d2 u have to completly re-author using an authoring program. I went along all the way backing up x-files s4 with it. Its really a pain.

[maa]

Heres another option:
If its a case of doing without the menus then I would do it all with DVD Shrink in re-author mode by chapter - see thread HERE (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=348801) I posted the other day.
For the second DVD do the same and after follow the guides for putting Two DVDs on One with IFO/VOBedit or use a menu guide like mine HERE (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56225)