len0x
12th June 2004, 16:51
This is my last post on the subject which should shed some light on why AutoGK works as it is.
When I started developing AutoGK (even before GUI looked as it is now) I needed somehow to test actual internal encoding routines. So I new nothing about DVD authoring and structure of IFO files. So somewhere over the internet I found pieces of IFO parsing code which I put in (with a bit of modifying effort) just to test audio and subtitle selection. This was supposed to be a temporary solution because I wasn't gonna support that part of the code ever.
Next I looked at proper solution for DVD input. I never planned ripping step to be included in the application for legal reasons, but I still needed a structured input. So DVDDecrypter came in handy as I was using it for quite a while and it turned out that its stream info file can provide all I needed. I was not planning to support many ripping application, so I decided that DVDDecrypter is good enough. Its simple and does the job really well. If you feel like AutoGK is forcing you to use DVDdecrypter, then yes it does. But its not like I introduce totally new method of ripping. I said from the beginning that AutoGK only supports certain ripping application. All tutorials and guides over the internet only mention DVDdecrypter and nothing else. So how come somebody's using DVD Shrink etc - I don't know. I never said I was gonna support it, simply due to lack of time (personally I have nothing against other tools).
So now, starting from version 1.30, AutoGK does not longer support non-DVDDecrypter inputs. The reason being - the IFO parsing code is gone for good (I knew that it might cause some problems so I actually deleted it completely and do not have a backup copy. Just in case I get convinced to put it back I can't do that even if I wanted without some serious developing efforts). May be I spoiled you guys, but I quite often I get some weird problems reported in the forum which are related to unsuported ripping methods. I spent considerable amount of time supporting AutoGK in these forums and would like to reduce that (obviously), so the choice of removing parsing of IFO code (which I repeat was not supposed to be used in the first place) was primarily to make life easier for me.
No offence to my users, but: I don't care if you are not used to DVDdecrypter or like some other tool - if you want to use AutoGK then you have to deal with it or stop using it.
P.S. obvously faking usage of DVDDecrypter will always work. For those wishing to know what exactly AutoGK takes from stream info file - I have answer. As of version 1.35 the only useful piece of info there is correspondance between language description and stream ID (that hex number in the beginning of each line) for audio and subtitle tracks (video doesn't matter anymore). So its not difficult to fake it and if you badly want to continue using other ripping tools you still can with a bit of troubles. Those complaning about extra steps can re-read paragraph above.
P.P.S I feel like I said quite enough, so to avoid future discussions on the subjects - threads will be closed immediately.
Happy ripping,
len0x
When I started developing AutoGK (even before GUI looked as it is now) I needed somehow to test actual internal encoding routines. So I new nothing about DVD authoring and structure of IFO files. So somewhere over the internet I found pieces of IFO parsing code which I put in (with a bit of modifying effort) just to test audio and subtitle selection. This was supposed to be a temporary solution because I wasn't gonna support that part of the code ever.
Next I looked at proper solution for DVD input. I never planned ripping step to be included in the application for legal reasons, but I still needed a structured input. So DVDDecrypter came in handy as I was using it for quite a while and it turned out that its stream info file can provide all I needed. I was not planning to support many ripping application, so I decided that DVDDecrypter is good enough. Its simple and does the job really well. If you feel like AutoGK is forcing you to use DVDdecrypter, then yes it does. But its not like I introduce totally new method of ripping. I said from the beginning that AutoGK only supports certain ripping application. All tutorials and guides over the internet only mention DVDdecrypter and nothing else. So how come somebody's using DVD Shrink etc - I don't know. I never said I was gonna support it, simply due to lack of time (personally I have nothing against other tools).
So now, starting from version 1.30, AutoGK does not longer support non-DVDDecrypter inputs. The reason being - the IFO parsing code is gone for good (I knew that it might cause some problems so I actually deleted it completely and do not have a backup copy. Just in case I get convinced to put it back I can't do that even if I wanted without some serious developing efforts). May be I spoiled you guys, but I quite often I get some weird problems reported in the forum which are related to unsuported ripping methods. I spent considerable amount of time supporting AutoGK in these forums and would like to reduce that (obviously), so the choice of removing parsing of IFO code (which I repeat was not supposed to be used in the first place) was primarily to make life easier for me.
No offence to my users, but: I don't care if you are not used to DVDdecrypter or like some other tool - if you want to use AutoGK then you have to deal with it or stop using it.
P.S. obvously faking usage of DVDDecrypter will always work. For those wishing to know what exactly AutoGK takes from stream info file - I have answer. As of version 1.35 the only useful piece of info there is correspondance between language description and stream ID (that hex number in the beginning of each line) for audio and subtitle tracks (video doesn't matter anymore). So its not difficult to fake it and if you badly want to continue using other ripping tools you still can with a bit of troubles. Those complaning about extra steps can re-read paragraph above.
P.P.S I feel like I said quite enough, so to avoid future discussions on the subjects - threads will be closed immediately.
Happy ripping,
len0x