dvd2dvd 1.2.1 Build 2 released

[layer3maniac]

http://www.dvd2dvd.org

Man, that was QUICK! This guy is GOOD! Testing it out on LOTR-TT right now.

BTW, he accepts donations... :)

02 sep 2003 version 1.2.1 build 2
- Bug fix: DTS audio for dvd2dvd didn't work when DTS was selected as the second audio track
- Change: Some users was displeased that I had removed SVCD resolution (480*480/576) for VCD creation.
- Bug fix: Using External subtitles as Permanent subs what screw up the subtitles in the movie.
- Bug fix: In an effort to make DVD2SVCD easy to use dvd2svcd is, if the scenarist exe field is empty, finding the path for scenarist.exe in the registry, however I forgot to tak possible quotes (") into account. They should have been removed.
- Bug fix: It was possible to select ntsc2pal when the "Do Not Convert Audio" was selected which would result in async audio. Also since no tools exists (as I know of) to manipulate DTS streams, ntsc2pal and frameselection is disabled if you want to use DTS audio
- Bug Fix: DVD Chapters were wrong when making NTSC DVD's with scenarist
- Update: IMDB had changed layout. I have updated dvd2svcd to use the new layout, unfortunately that means that I have once again lost access to covers.
- Enhancement: "Only Forced Subtitles" is now supported
- Enhancement: Now you have the choice between using "Max. Bitrate" or "Calculated Bitrate as Max. Bitrate" (the former is used in 1.2.1 and the latter in the previous versions) when using 1-pass-vbr in CCE.
- Enhancement: Add DVD sizes for both DVD-r and DVD+r:) :) :) :)

[snidely]

Cool...I'm trying it out as we speak. I'll report back here later to let you know if some of these bugs are actually fixed (like the wrong DVD chapters and Scenarist opening properly). Since I'm using 3 pass VBR, it'll be sometime tomorrow before I have the results :)

[snidely]

Ok, the chapters are now fixed! :D

Scenarist still gives a "layout failed" error message, but appears to have worked correctly. I have an excellent finished product of LOTR - The Two Towers!

[chipvideo]

The only problem I have is that scenarist opens up and does its thing and then I have to manually go to layout and check the create dvd video and create disc image. What do I do to have it automaticaly do this?

[layer3maniac]

Well, I did LOTR-TT, it worked perfectly. The chapters are right on now. One thing, though, I consider the default size for a DVD+R (4350) to be much too low so I kicked it up to 4450. The image came out at 4.34 GB (4,670,009,344 bytes).

[filmking]

I think that dvd2svcd is a wonderfull freeware program that got me started into making backups on CD-Roms. With cheap DVD burners readily available burning SVCDs is history. But I'm at a complete loss as to why dvd2dvd is being developed and used. It doesn't come close to the convenience and speed of either IC or Shrink. Also who can afford to have Scenarist?? I used dvd2dvd with TMPGEnc on Gunfight At OK Corral. Without Scenarist I stopped the program when the encoded video was completed then used DVDLAB to mux the extracted audio with the encoded video and produce a burnable DVD-R. Took about 16 hours. The video didn't look a bit better than what SHRINk or IC produce. Why use dvd2dvd?? Am I missing something here?

[mrbass]

People aren't trying to sell it to you as dvd2dvd is free. If it's not your cup-of-tea then ...no your not missing a thing.

I'm testing like crazy why the layout failed. It seems to be happening with two audio streams. Anyone getting it with just one audio stream? Do you get the total bitrate is too high error too?

[Matthew]

Originally posted by filmking
Am I missing something here?

Yeah you are missing the fact that CCE produces better quality video - especially at low bitrates - than apps like dvdshrink and instantcopy.

So there is definately a place in the market for DVD2DVD...even though personally it isn't my cup of tea.

[layer3maniac]

Originally posted by mrbass
I'm testing like crazy why the layout failed. It seems to be happening with two audio streams. Anyone getting it with just one audio stream? Do you get the total bitrate is too high error too? I just did The Ring with only one audio stream and the CD size set at 4450. It worked flawlessly. I will try doing a movie with multiple audio streams, one of which is DTS, later tonight and report back with my results.

[snidely]

Anyone getting it with just one audio stream? Do you get the total bitrate is too high error too?

Mrbass, like I said, I did LOTR - The Two Towers with just one audio stream and English subtitles. In Scenarist, I got the "layout failed" message, but when I checked the files it produced, everything seems to be perfect, including the chapters. It seems to me that the message is in error and that Scenarist is actually working just fine. I have not gotten "the total bitrate is too high" error, but I have only tried the one title.

If I can be of help, let me know what you would like me to test and I'll be glad to check it out for you. BTW, I am using Scenarist 2.6, not 2.7, if that makes any difference.

[KungFuCow]

The only time I have gotten the "Bitrate too high" error was when doing a two audio track movie. When I selected only 1 audio track, it worked fine.

[mrbass]

Well try setting your bitrate Max. to 8500...but leave it at 9000 at first. I think this is only an issue when I do DTS and AC3. But if I do DTS by itself or AC3 by itself or AC3 5.1 and AC3 2.0 together then it's not an issue (layout failed message). You can test like one chapter at a time too (rip with internal routines).

also click Start | Run | aspichk
and see if all your ASPI layer is 4.60 or whatever.

[KungFuCow]

Ripping 1 chapter I have not been able to make it fail. I tried that before I did the whole movie. I will retry it tho lowering the overall bitrate.

[SOD]

I don't have scenarist to create the dvd with, only ifoedit to author it. Dvd2svcd then wants to use BBMPEG to mux the audiostreams and the video whereby it crashes. Maybe there could be an extra option for DVD2SVCD to deliver the right files (subs and chapter) for multiplexing in IFOedit?

Great functionality btw, i loved the program when I was making SVCDs. Wouldn't this topic belong in the subforum of DVD2SVCD?

Another question is that in the extra cce tab (right under) there is an option for dvd compliant. Is this necessary to check this?

[VILLA21]

Originally posted by SOD
I don't have scenarist to create the dvd with, only ifoedit to author it. Dvd2svcd then wants to use BBMPEG to mux the audiostreams and the video whereby it crashes. Maybe there could be an extra option for DVD2SVCD to deliver the right files (subs and chapter) for multiplexing in IFOedit?

Great functionality btw, i loved the program when I was making SVCDs. Wouldn't this topic belong in the subforum of DVD2SVCD?

Another question is that in the extra cce tab (right under) there is an option for dvd compliant. Is this necessary to check this?

Think that "DVD compliant" and "close GOPs" have to be selected.
Two times i tried Scenarist, the conversion ended succsesfully but the images were buggy(misplaced subs, DVD stopped playing..etc). I mux and author the same files with IfoEdit and everything is ok...Seems that there is an issue with the info that D2S passes to Scenarist.

[mrbass]

Close all GOP's
When strong random accessibility for a stream is demanded (An example is when a multi-angle is used for DVD creation, where frequent channel hopping is executed), set this option, then all GOPs can be set to Closed GOP (individual frames in a GOP do not refer to frames outside the GOP). Since image quality slightly drops, use this function only when absolutely necessary.

DVD Compliant default off

If DVD compliant is selected in the video settings screen, a stream is created assuming that DVD will be created. In this case, the following is executed.

Changing frame size --- If the frame size of the original picture does not conform to DVD standards, the frame size is changed. When the frame rate is 29.97 fps or 30 fps, the frame size is changed to 720×480, and when the frame rate is 25 fps, the frame size is changed to 720 × 576. Even if the frame size is changed, the original image is not enlarged, but is matted.

Bitrate limitation ---In the DVD standard, the maximum bitrate of Video ES is limited to 9.8 Mbps. In the MPEG-2 VIDEO international standard (ISO/IEC 13818-2), the size of an individual picture is limited using the concept of “VBV (Video Buffering Verifier)”. In the concept of VBV, a stream having a 9.8 Mbps bitrate can create GOP which has a size equivalent to a maximum of 11 Mbps. This perfectly
conforms to the MPEG-2 VIDEO international standard (ISO/IEC 13818-2), but whether it conforms to the 9.8 Mbps restriction of DVD depends on interpretation.

If DVD compliant is selected, instantaneous bitrate in GOP units is controlled to be a maximum of 9.8Mbps. During VBR operation, 9.8 Mbps is always written to the sequence header regardless the specified maximum bitrate. 9.8 Mbps is the maximum bitrate allowed under the DVD standard. 9.8 Mbps is used here because in the case of the VBV model in VBR, bit allocation planning by the encoder becomes more flexible as the maximum bitrate becomes higher, therefore higher image quality can be achieved.

[DDogg]

New executable in this thread that is supposed to fix these problems. D2S post dated 8th September 2003 08:25.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60391&perpage=30&pagenumber=2

[DDogg]

New executable test build for PAL users with disks that played fine in WinDVD or PowerDVD but NOT on standalone. The PAL disks were being written with a NTSC header by the scenarist script. Thanks go to InF for reporting this.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=377691#post377691