New to CCE/Authoring

[luphy]

Repost from CCE forum:

Okay I am an extreme newbie and have not even attempted to encode
with CCE yet. I'm trying to figure out first if it can do what I
want.
From reading MrBass's web site, seems DVD2DVD-R using either
DVDLab or Scenarist to reauthor is the only way to go for NTSC?
No PAL for me unfortunately.

And seems DVDLab is limited to one audio track and no subtitles.
And Scenarist can have many audio tracks but has a compile error
if subtitles are retained.

So my question is how can you backup a movie with multiple audio
tracks and subtitles along with the main movie using CCE/DVD2DVDR?

I actually hate having to wade through most DVD menus and never
backup my movies with the menus and extras. I mainly want the
main movie, along with audio tracks and subtitles.
Thanks for your advice.

[surreal120]

Luphy -

I think you are going to need Scenarist or a similar authoring program - i.e., DVDMaestro, SpruceUp, etc. - to be able to do what you want. I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, since those programs are $$$, but that's really the only way to do it with multiple audio tracks, subs and re-encoded video (from CCE).

Once you do have one of those, however, it's very easy to encode just the main movie, with the audio tracks and subtitles that you want and no menus. DoItFast4U, DoCCE4U and ReAuthorist make it very easy to select just the material that you want, and you can use IfoEdit to strip out menus (take a look at 2Cool's guides in the IfoEdit forum on this).

Alternatively, you could use DVDShrink to fit just the main movie and audio onto a DVD-R, but the quality won't be as good as with CCE. Anyway, if you do decide to get Scenarist and have any questions, let me know and I'll try to help as best I can!

[surreal120]

Just noticed this on MrBass' site:

"If you use IFOEDIT to mux/author NTSC DVDs the movie will play just fine in PowerDVD. However, in your standalone dvd player if you skip to the next chapter or fast forward after a few seconds it'll freeze and there's nothing you can do. It won't display the correct time rather just freeze."

So, you could essentially use IfoEdit to accomplish what you want (for free), except you won't be able to fast forward or advance chapters when you play the DVD on your standalone player. That's clearly not optimal, but may be better than spending a lot of money for Scenarist, et al. Again, check the IfoEdit forum for info on how to do this or let me know if you run into trouble.

[luphy]

Thanks for the reply surreal120.

I found this guide http://www.dvd2dvdr.com/IfoEdit.htm
which seems to be pretty straightforward and easy using
CCE/IfoEdit. Would using this method still give problems
with the standalone chapter scans?

What I am thinking of doing as I only want the main movie, English
subtitles, and one or two audios, is this:

Use DVDShrink to select the title(s), audio, subtitles at zero
compression. I think DVDShrink does this really well and pretty
quick. And I love the start/stop option to cut off the intros
and end credits.
Then I'd use DVD2AVI, then CCE to encode the main movie (hehe,
huge jumps there...this is all theory, I haven't even tried the
software yet). Then run pulldown. Then use VOBEDit to add the
subtitles. Then use IfoEdit. Then burn?

Wow, that's a lot of work. Is using the Reauthorist method with
Scenarist faster/easier?

There seems to be several ways to go about this, and I'd love some
advice on which would be appropriate for my needs.
Thanks.