DVDReMake Wish List

[gnutellafan]

Well so far I have just tried the demo, pretty cool but some things I would like to see:

-A graphical tree (think family tree) layout of the DVD structure, with lines connecting from buttons to the frames they link to, and the ability to relink the buttons by dragging and dropping the end of the line from the botton onto a new frame

-A first play frame icon, displaying the frame of the video that is first played and the ability to drag and drop a different frame into the first play slot (I like to make my movies start with the movie, not the menu)

-Audio preview

-A dvd preview! As far as I can tell the only way to see what you've done is to export the DVD. You cant do this with the demo and no one wants to wait 10-20 min to preview their work. So a nice big play button should start the movie as though you just but the DVD in.

-Preview Debug Mode: While the Preview is playing is stops before each command is executed so you can relink, delete, ect in real time. Have a warning screen that keeps poping up and u want to delete but cant find in the enless menus, as debug plays the warning screen u should be able to hide/delete it.

-Integration with DVD Rebuilder (when it gets better- these two projects would be great together and rebuilders author deserves to make some money as well)

[gnutellafan]

-bypass hidden frames. I just saw a dvd done with remake and there was quite a long pause at the black screens where frames had been hidden, so I guess they are still being played but are just black now to save space. This isnt really much different then the free stuff available in the one click solutions

[Got Milk?]

Originally posted by gnutellafan
-bypass hidden frames. I just saw a dvd done with remake and there was quite a long pause at the black screens where frames had been hidden, so I guess they are still being played but are just black now to save space. This isnt really much different then the free stuff available in the one click solutions They aren't played as black frames for the length of the original video, they are changed to blank 15 frame sections (I think that's true at least). The reason it takes a while when there are a number of blanked out sections is because of the post commands in the section being executed - the DvdReMake thread has some information about it.

[gnutellafan]

Originally posted by gnutellafan
-bypass hidden frames. I just saw a dvd done with remake and there was quite a long pause at the black screens where frames had been hidden, so I guess they are still being played but are just black now to save space. This isnt really much different then the free stuff available in the one click solutions

Thanks, I guess these cant be elimanated w/o changing the structure 2 much and would very alot from disk to disk. Ive only seen one disk made with dvdremake so its a pretty limited sampling.

[Kedirekin]

I guess these cant be elimanated w/o changing the structure 2 much

I agree.

On a lot of disks, eliminating everything in the first play prior to the movie can required 10-15 cell hides (turning the cells into 15 frame black cells). That may not sound like much, but each hidden cell is ~½ second long, so 10-15 cells is 5-7 seconds of blackness. Without the warnings and studio logos to break up the monotony, 5-7 seconds can feel like a very long pause (even though in reality it is not - it's a perceptual thing).

I think the best approach is to manually add commands to bypass things (either cells in a PGC or an entire PGC as appropriate). Since potentially every disk needs a different approach, I don't think there is any way to do this except manually.

As Got Milk stated, you can't eliminate the pauses altogether. Executing pre and post commands and switching from one PGC to another still takes some time (stand-alone players aren't nearly as fast as software players), but bypassing the hidden cells can eliminate ¾ of it.

[gnutellafan]

I dont know if it would be possible to simply relink the cells to bypass these frames

[Kedirekin]

I don't think that is possible. Cell commands execute after the cell has played.

You could add a LinkTailPGC cell command to the first cell of a PGC and bypass all the remaining cells. That would be a pretty universal solution, though it still leaves a minimum of ~½ second of black playback.

Also, many of the PGCs played between first-play and the menu have only one cell. Adding cells commands to them wouldn't have any noticable effect.

[Dimad]

@ gnutellafan

That is a nice set of suggestions you've put together :)

There are plans to implement them (in one or another form), but I'm affraid it will not happen soon :(

It might take some time.

[gnutellafan]

Originally posted by Dimad
@ gnutellafan

That is a nice set of suggestions you've put together :)

There are plans to implement them (in one or another form), but I'm affraid it will not happen soon :(

It might take some time.

Thanks for the reply Dimad. I look forward to the improvements and will definitly pick up the program when some of them are implemented. It will be a great tool in combination with dvd-rebuilder.

[Joergen]

I've tried dvdremake 1.4.6 on three discs and out of those 2 have come out with partially unworking menus. The bug seems to be that with some menus, after dvdremake processes them the player will not show the selection buttons at all or for a fraction of a second.

DVDRemake would be unusable for me until these menu problems are fixed.

The discs were:

-Piglets Big Movie R2 nordic (pencil pointer never appears on menu) and
-Hollywood Homicide R2 nordic (language menu pointer displays for about 500ms afterwhich the menu is unfunctional).

DVDRemake is great if it would put out working discs. I asked for a working demo just for this reason, I feared it didnt work as promised.

I've used DVDStripper to do these discs instead without problems (apart from the .BUP bug).

edit: Just thought I'd add that this is probably a small bug and easy to fix if you get the chance to look at it Dimad.. and it might be a one in a thousand chance that a sceptic like me tries your great tool and finds a bug like the guy who wins with his first ever lottery ticket :(

[Dimad]

Originally posted by Joergen
DVDRemake would be unusable for me until these menu problems are fixed.
edit: Just thought I'd add that this is probably a small bug and easy to fix if you get the chance to look at it Dimad.. and it might be a one in a thousand chance that a sceptic like me tries your great tool and finds a bug like the guy who wins with his first ever lottery ticket :(

Yes, it is a bug which might happen when menus are in VMG. It will be fixed in DvdReMake 2 (comming soon).

DVDRemake is great if it would put out working discs. I asked for a working demo just for this reason, I feared it didnt work as promised. Things happen, even if you would get a working version (from me :sly: ) you might have naver see it. Anyway thanks for report.

It is impossible to test the program on all disks. But when bug reports are submitted it usualy does not take long to fix it.

[Joergen]

even if you would get a working version (from me :sly: )
:o

Not to praise dvdstripper though, I just noticed while extensively testing the piglet disc that dvdstripper causes the resulting "oh its not there, look elsewhere" animations in a "picture hunt" game to play all in one go instead of playing just once per item like they should. Luckily this game is in a separate and unchanged menu so copying it over from the original disc gets rid of that problem.

Disney discs are the only ones that make me wish dual-layer was here already ;) (which btw doesnt remove the need for tools like dvdremake to remove pesky trailers or warnings).

Looking forward to DVDRemake2!

[Rille]

Originally posted by Dimad
Yes, it is a bug which might happen when menus are in VMG. It will be fixed in DvdReMake 2 (comming soon).


Does this mean that registered users will have to pay to have this problem fixed? :rolleyes:

[Dimad]

This particular bug: No. It looks like it would be easy to fix it in ver 1 (without making it a ver 2 ;) ). But you need to understand that some things were possible to improve/fix only due to major internal changes done in v2 and it is practically impossible to have them in v1.

Edited 5 hours later:
Ops. Just looked through 1.4.6 code. Seems there were much more changes in v2 then I remembered writing the reply :(
It may not be as easy as I thought. But will try.

[gnutellafan]

So, any preview of the feature list of v2?

[gnutellafan]

If you follow this thread on Van Wilder:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42415

2cool and I (mostly 2cool), relinked the menu, so that the unrated version always played, and we got rid of the widescreen vs full screen menu.

I dont think that these things can be done with DVDremake but this is the sort of power Im looking for. So that I can relink menu items and actually change how the menu plays. Where the dvd starts playing when put in the player, ect...

[Dimad]

Here is a part of the development history list of the DvdReMake 2 betas related to dvd editing (if I inderstand, that is what you are interested in):

add - add titles to VTS
add - add chapters to Title
add - edit chapters in Title

May 24 - beta 11
add - copy/add copied VTS
add - edit/add titles to VMG titles list
add - add vts to dvd
add - "smart" delete/insert cell commands

May 22 - beta 10
add - edit PGC CLUT
add - show pre, post, go up PGC#, still time, playback mode for PGC
add - add/delete First Play to VMG

May 07 - beta 03
add - "add pgc" action for Program Chains;
add - "copy pgc" action for PGC;
add - "add copied pgc" action for Program Chains;
add - "add program" with blank cell to PGC.

Apr 30 - beta 01
add - "smart" delete/insert pgc commands ("goto line's" and "block cell command #'s" are changed automaticaly to keep valid navigation)
add - copy/paste commands
add - "smart" add post pgc commands to pre pgc commands (correct goto and break commands)

[Dimad]

Originally posted by gnutellafan
If you follow this thread on Van Wilder:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42415

2cool and I (mostly 2cool), relinked the menu, so that the unrated version always played, and we got rid of the widescreen vs full screen menu.

I dont think that these things can be done with DVDremake but this is the sort of power Im looking for. So that I can relink menu items and actually change how the menu plays. Where the dvd starts playing when put in the player, ect...

What is a big deal about bypassing menu? Have you seen this: http://www.dimadsoft.com/dvdremake/ug_ht_bypass_menu.php

[gnutellafan]

Originally posted by Dimad
What is a big deal about bypassing menu? Have you seen this: http://www.dimadsoft.com/dvdremake/ug_ht_bypass_menu.php

Dimad,
Thanks for the link. Since I dont own the program I havent fully explored it. It seems that this process could be much more automated. A right click menu over the button could give you the option to copy button functions and bypass selected menu. Then you go and past button functions.

IE
Normal dvd function

Play Button->Format section Menu
Widescreen Button->Widescreen Version of movie

Suggested functionality:
Go to Format selection screen, right click on widescreen button and choose "copy button functions and bypass selected menu". Then go to the main menu, right click on the play button and choose "paste menu funtions"

Of course this would not be as nice as the suggested tree, drag and drop cell relinking that I proposed above.


Also, alot more was done then simply bypass a menu here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42415

We made the dvd alway play in the unrated version (I see no easy way in dvdremake to do this short of editing commands - but then I would be basically paying for ifoedit, so without an easy GUI interface to do the work for me I dont know why I would pay)

Then we relinked the play button to just the menu where she takes her shirt off which was then linked to the movie.

Let me know when dvdremake can do all this without me manually editing commands, which I can do with the free ifoedit.

Not that Im nocking your work. Playing with the demo it seems like a great program, but just limited in some areas and not powerful enough (in terms of GUI) in others.

[jptheripper]

well there is no others that do what remake does, so it cant be limited in that respect

and unfortunately, because every dvd is different, what you want is impossible to automate. For example, I have seen disks where the menus are in different titles in different pgcs etc.. There is no way to tell for each disk how to bypass a menu as you need to tell it what you want to bypass too.

The software will do what you want, but not if you are lazy.

[gnutellafan]

Well, I am lazy. At least when I can be. I just dont know why I should pay for ifoedit, since thats basically what it is. It has some nice features that ifoedit doesnt have but most of those are available in 1 click backup solutions. I would just prefer to spend more time watching my movies then backing them up.

Also, much of what people are doing today a year or to ago people on this site where saying was impossible. So I doubt that my requests are not possible. It just a matter of the program understanding the dvd structure and being able to properly remap it as the user sees fit with minimal work on the users part.

[sweetness]

i tried out the demo the other day and this program looks very promissing. it can do the jobs of three or four different programs in one. But one thing I would like to see is something that gnutellafan posted about A graphical tree (think family tree) layout of the DVD structure
but with all the GPRMs values and how they would link around to differnt commands(like IF,THEN,ELSE statements:)). ifoedit sort of does this when you play the dvd and press a button with a dot in it( or a square don't remember right now). you can also have an option to input the SPRM values to see how the GPRMs change. this would sort of help poeple understand the dvd structure and how they can bypass, redirect stuff, and change default language settings or parental levels.
just my opinion but still a great job

[gnutellafan]

It would be interesting to here some technical replies on the merits of the GUI relinking interface from the experts. I have no doubt that a skilled person can do it. To bad derrow is working with dvdxcopy :-(

Get Dimad, Derrow, jdobbs, and DVDShrink together and some amazing things could happen. The could/should start their own company

[gnutellafan]

I was just rereading the feature requests and cant believe I forgot to request:

-remove unwanted audio streams (once again there are alot of free tools that can do this, so why cant a $40 tool?)
-set default audio
-set default sub-titles
-be able to remove parts of a vob from the middle

Integration with DVD-RB:
-set points to compress/lvl of compression

[geffroman]

@Dimad...

You need to give gnutella lover a free copy... That's the only way he'll ever own it... and then he'll learn the program and start singing it's praises instead of looking for all the things it does not do...

@ALL... DVD-ReMake does NOT DO EVERYTHING... It does however do things NO other program can do... and it replaces almost ALL editing programs you currently use for 99% of editing...

To suggest DVD-ReMake falls short at all only suggests everything else falls far shorter...

[gnutellafan]

Originally posted by geffroman
@Dimad...

You need to give gnutella lover a free copy... That's the only way he'll ever own it... and then he'll learn the program and start singing it's praises instead of looking for all the things it does not do...

@ALL... DVD-ReMake does NOT DO EVERYTHING... It does however do things NO other program can do... and it replaces almost ALL editing programs you currently use for 99% of editing...

To suggest DVD-ReMake falls short at all only suggests everything else falls far shorter...

geffroman,
lol, well, having played with the demo I just dont see how it does that much more. Maybe Im wrong but it cant even do basic things many free pkgs can. Im not saying that it doesnt look like a great tool, I just cant justify $40 for it at this time. I wouldnt post my wishes here except that from playing with the tool its clear Dimad can produce something similiar to what Im describing.

[writersblock29]

The biggest suggestion that I could contribute is one that hopefully I'm not alone in wishing: That we had more ways to offer payment other than only through Paypal. Paypal

just

plain

sucks.

Red tape and run-arounds. Customer service which consists of form Emails that only vaguely pertain to the problem you contacted them about. I know I'm running the risk of someone "reminding" me that this isn't a Paypal-bashing forum; and they'd be right about that. It isn't. But please know before telling me that, that I have yet to be able to even obtain a fully-working copy of this software -- and it's because of Paypal and their highly-toned hoop-jumping requirements. (I'll spare you the details... I owe you, the reader, at least that much!) Since Paypal HAS to be involved in some way with every transaction for this software, as the website is now... how many others are in the same boat with me?

We need more payment options. Even if it's a PO box to send a snail-mail payment to (and after the payment clears, the log-in screen allows you your copy of what you ordered). Hell, my own bank even offers ways of paying individuals Online... and I could use 'em here (just like I've used 'em elsewhere), if I could only do so without Paypal standing in the way at the checkout gate.

Whatdaya say, Dimad? Anything like that on the horizon?

*Disclaimer: If anything other than frustration at Paypal shows within these words, it's unintentional. I have nothing but respect for Dimad and have a huge interest in his software, believing it will fit my needs and wanting to buy in order to support his work.

[geffroman]

I hate PayPal too... how about you mail me a check... well that won't help you much... but I can go buy some beer anyway... LOL

[Dimad]

@writersblock29

Yes, I've heard from some people already that they don't like PayPal. And I understand why :) was trying to contact their support once - miserably failed. But they do provide smallest margins for processing. Some people may prefer not to pay extra $2-3 for better customer support as they will never actually use it.

It will be possible (soon) to use another online store for DvdReMake (Pro)purchase. They accept different types of payments and don't have contries limitations. But they charge quite a lot more for transactions. So it would be slightly more expensive to order through them (probably by $2).

@gnutellafan
Sorry for not responding to your suggestions. They are very reasonable (although some are not easy to implement :) ) and I do keep them in mind developing DvdReMake Pro.
...there are alot of free tools that can do this, so why cant a $40 tool?
For this very reason :) Can't implement everything at once, just don't have time. So I decided that I will implement things not found in other tools first and add available later just for completness.

[Dimad]

...
-set default audio
-set default sub-titles
...


May be I'm missing something, but the only way I know to do it is to have a VM command inserted to instruct player what stream to use. Since you can edit commands anyway you like in Pro then it should not be a problem to set an audio/subpicture.

[gnutellafan]

Dimad,
I was thinking of a much more graphical interface. Such as a subtiles page where all the subtitles are listed, then there could be simple options such as radial buttons next to each of the (and one choice of subtiles off) where you simply click what you want to be on by default. You could also use this menu to delete unwanted subtitles.

Same basic thing goes for audio

As for the option I now understand your priorities. At the same time I hate all the programs I have to jump back and forth between to get a dvd ready, so the real draw for me would be a true (and POWERFUL) all in one tool with a VERY easy GUI. I would just prefer to spend more time watching my movies then backing them up.

[jptheripper]

I think was dimad was saying (correct me if i am wrong) is that movies each have a different way of setting the active audio and subtitle streams using variables. There may be a defualt setting (i dont know enough yet) If so the above suggestion would be a nice way to reset the default and to maintain the menu customability.

-JP

[MackemX]

I'd be happy with an audio/subs remapping feature
(with same effect as 2COOL's guide http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46909)
so you can fill the ghost streams with audio/subs and even if they are selected by default or via menu's then your selected default audio/subs will play

@gnutellafan, most users would get away with 3 processes to create a backup if you take away the audio/subs process or at least you won't have to jump from one to the other

step 1: rip with DVDShrink using no compression (not 100% as it may have issues) and just remove audio/subs (do not use logical remapping). I doubt Dimad would implement ripping and although you can use tools such as AnyDVD/DVD43 to process direct and skip ripping I think HD processing is better in most cases when using DVDRemake as you will save time loading projects, doing test exports and eventuall processing. Even more so as the files on your HD will be smaller due to the stripped audio/subs :)

step 2: process with Remake

step 3: compress with whatever process you use

you are talking maybe a few minutes to set DVDShrink away and the rest just follows on from that. DRM is just an extra step to customise the DVD and takes you how ever long to customise the DVD and no jumping from program to program is involved really in adding this step. If you want to finally customise the DVD with other tools that DRM cannot replace then do it after DRM process

the best thing is it gives the most reliabe results when you do more than just stripping the odd title ;)

I would like to see it have individual VTS processing like Ifoedit so there is no need to process the whole DVD when you modify only 1 VTS as this would speed processing time up greatly

I know it's not automated the way you suggest but you can add a first play frame if you want and once you know how it would take you a few minutes work. You just add a new VTS and insert your frame (you would need to create a VOB first) and point the first play there instead after setting a value in the precommands and then get it to return to the first play I've added a first play Title Menu to a 2 disc DVD merger with full working menu's and it's rather simple to do once you get the hang of it :). The hardest part is writing the guides :(

I asked last year for the guys you listed to get together as I know they could have made the ultimate tool but they didn't and it's everyone's loss I feel :(

@sweetness, try using Mark's Tray DVD player as you testing player as it tells you all the values just as Ifoedit but in an easy way to understand via it's GUI. It tells you what angle/chapter/title etc is playing so again this helps identifying those hard to find cells. It also saves a navigation log to tell you how it's playing the DVD and also reports errors so basically used alongside DRM it's a great tool and gnutellafan it would be a temporary stop gap for 2 of your previous requests

[Peison]

@MackemX

Maybe use No Compression instead of 100% in shrink. 100% can use some sort of compression in some cases.

[MackemX]

thanks for correcting me as that as that's what I meant :)

I'll edit my post also

[Dimad]

Originally posted by writersblock29
The biggest suggestion that I could contribute is one that hopefully I'm not alone in wishing: That we had more ways to offer payment other than only through Paypal.

You've got it. :) More details (http://www.dimadsoft.com/order.php)

[writersblock29]

@Dimad

Re: Payment Options

Thank you, thank you, a million times, thank you! I've already used Paypal to send you an Echeck; so I'm waiting for that to clear in order to download my registered software... but if it saves someone else the headache, it's all good! (Not to mention that I like the idea of having options when paying for new programs or major updates.)

Much appreciated! :)

[gnutellafan]

Originally posted by MackemX
I doubt Dimad would implement ripping


Wouldnt expect him to. I just use DVD Decrypter for that as I want the whole thing on my HD anyway. I guess it would be kind of cool if decrypter could be plugged in to Remake, but this is one area I understand and dont really care if its not all in one.



I asked last year for the guys you listed to get together as I know they could have made the ultimate tool but they didn't and it's everyone's loss I feel :(


Yes, I remember your efforts. To bad they wouldnt work together as they all clearly have alot of talent and could be making good money for themselves instead of these big companies leaching off of their talents.

[gnutellafan]

Ill just keep adding. I see that DVDdecryptor has a CLI. Well, how about adding support (very low on my list but would still be nice)

[Dimad]

Originally posted by gnutellafan
Ill just keep adding. I see that DVDdecryptor has a CLI. Well, how about adding support (very low on my list but would still be nice) What kind of support? Have a button to start Decryptor and rip disk to HD?

[geffroman]

Dimad this might make some sense... Right now you have to have a full set of files on the HD... Then ReMake creates a second set of files as it does it's job... For many folks this is hard to do for Hard Disc Space...

If I could set up a project in ReMake that was looking directly at the DVD-VIDEO disc and then RIP and SAVE one set of finished files to my HD then life would be good. I am guessing you would probably have to RIP a complete set of TEMP files to disc anyway but they could be dumped and cleared automatically at the end of the process...

This wouldn't be much different than RIPPING the files to disc... Running ReMake and then throwing away the original files manually... However, It could be a BIG time saver for the user as I would have just one visit to the computer and be able to walk away until I have finished files waiting for me after I hit the GO button...

All that said, I still don't think gunutlover is going to buy a copy no matter what you do... But I think it would be a nice feature for others...

[gnutellafan]

Originally posted by geffroman

All that said, I still don't think gunutlover is going to buy a copy no matter what you do... But I think it would be a nice feature for others...

And why not. I can see that Dimad has the ability to make my life much easier, but I havent found much with my limited experience with the demo (I admit I havent even tried the 2.0 demo) that sets it apart from free tools like DVDShrink and IFOedit. I plan to soon undertake the re-ripping of my 200+ dvd collection from the original discs and set up a central media server to stream the movies off of. Its going to be a hell of alot of work and I would gladly pay ~$30 to save myself many long hours. I just dont see DRM as doing the job yet. Im hoping that Dimad likes many of my suggestions so I will have the tool I need to help with the project.

[MackemX]

can you not just DVD43 and process direct from DVD?

I've done it a couple of times and it seemed to work fine for me :)

[Got Milk?]

Would it be possible to add a feature to copy a command from a button and then paste it as a pre or post command rather than having to do it manually?

[Dimad]

It is there. Just right click on button, select "copy command".

[Got Milk?]

Dimad: I didn't know there were any updates to ReMake since I last downloaded it so I was working with an old version without the feature. How about setting up a mailing list so registered users know when new versions are released? I read the Doom9 forums every day, but missed the news if it was posted.

r0lZ: I do use PgcEdit, but for something as simple as copying a command from a button, It'd save me time just being able to do it in ReMake.

[Dimad]

Originally posted by Got Milk?
[b]Dimad: I didn't know there were any updates to ReMake since I last downloaded it so I was working with an old version without the feature. How about setting up a mailing list so registered users know when new versions are released? I read the Doom9 forums every day, but missed the news if it was posted.

Well, yes DvdReMake releases do not appear in Doom9 news. It is probably due to its being not a freeware, I don't know. For this very reason I'm trying not to post much about DvdReMake to make sure that I do not unintensionaly violate any DOOM9 rules. There is a thread you can subscribe to, to receive notifications about new releases (http://cdr-zone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=734).

[TheSeeker]

Personally I think its worth paying for Remake just for the ability to hide buttons. If Remake had the ability to strip out audio and sub streams than I would never use IFOEdit and would happily use my normal Remake/InstantCopy or Remake/Rebuilder combo. Really it is like a nice combo of IFOEdit and a simple reauthoring tool without the hassle/learning curve and big price tag inherent in those two programs. Though I must admit I was a little taken aback at $40.

[writersblock29]

@Dimad

What I'd like to see in DVDRemake Pro, is the ability to replace a menu with a bitmap image of the user's choice. Whenever I've reauthored DVDs, I've always made my own still menus by capturing frames and adding buttons to them regarding all the stuff that I chose to keep. It's cool to be able to remove the buttons... but it looks far more professional if your project doesn't still have print that pertains to buttons which are no longer there. Since Remake can edit button functions as well as create new buttons altogether, would this be a possible add-on?

Other than this, I absolutely love this program and consider it money well spent! Thanks! :p

[Dimad]

Glad you like the program guys and will try to make it even better.

@writersblock29 Adding/changing buttons and changing video in a cell are quite different things. "... replace a menu with a bitmap image ..." means having mpeg encoder implemented in DvdReMake. Which is of course possible, but with the amount of available authoring tools around will not happen soon, most probably.

Ability to use encoded video to replace video in menu will happen sooner, but "not tommorow".

There should be quite a few threads (here and on DvdReMake forum) on how to create a new menu which can be used to replace original.