Using DVDShrink output - Part 2

[VioletHue]

A few months ago, when v1.30 was released, I complained as it no longer supported the output from DVDShrink, a program I used to seperate out episodic DVDs and also to perfectly ensure that only what I wanted was qued. I respected AutoGK authors wishes and made no more fuss about it after he declared the topic dead and I resigned myself to never being able to upgrade past v1.25.

Recently, I thought I would look at how things are going and I d/l the latest version and installed it on a different PC. I noticed a new File source option. I tried it on a DVDShrink output and it worked ok but at first it said unkown audio so I was suprised when I had audio. I thought it would be silent.

Can I trust that this will now work? I know it isn't officially supported but do you think I can upgrade AGK on my main media processing PC and have a reasonably sure chance of it working? I promise I will not complain if it doesn't work and I suppose I could always go back to v 1.25 if something happens.

Thanks.

[len0x]

Originally posted by VioletHue
I tried it on a DVDShrink output and it worked ok but at first it said unkown audio so I was suprised when I had audio. I thought it would be silent.


"Unknown Audio" means AutoGK doesn't know type and language of the audio but assumes that it exists, not that it doesn't present.

Originally posted by VioletHue
Can I trust that this will now work?

Yes. File mode can always be used if you have at least one audio track(only first one will be processed though) in vobs and don't care about subtitles.

[VioletHue]

I love you.

[jomomma]

I too was troubled at the mandate to use DVDDc as I have 1.2 TB server with over 350 DVD's ripped to it, all ripped with DVD Shrink to single VOB files.

Yet I completely understand the author's desire to remove the code that parsed IFO files.

I tried File Mode on some of my VOB's and it worked fine, so I want about AGKing all of them. But after a month of processing, about 10% had errors of "No Audio Found." I used VideoRedo to look at the specs of each VOB file that had that error and found that in each of them the audio was not stream 80h, but was instead stream 81h.

That said, the File Mode for AGK works fine except when the audio stream in the VOB file is not stream 80h. For most VOBs, the first audio is 80h but for some it is not.

Since the information about what the audio stream is in in the VOB file (i.e. VideoRedo and other utilities can display it (i.e. AC3 or DTS and how many channels) and they are not parsing IFO files) why could you not do what they do, and look in the VOB file for the audio stream info when in File Mode? You won't get the description of "English" or "French" or "Director's Comments" but you would at least know if it is AC3 or DTS and how many channels it is.

In the alternative, how about letting me enter the hex code of the audio stream to demux from the VOB file (i.e. 81h) in AGK when their is no StreamInfo files from a DVDDc rip?

[len0x]

Originally posted by jomomma
why could you not do what they do, and look in the VOB file for the audio stream info when in File Mode?


that's out of scope of AutoGK - it doesn't parse video files.

Originally posted by jomomma
In the alternative, how about letting me enter the hex code of the audio stream to demux from the VOB file (i.e. 81h) in AGK when their is no StreamInfo files from a DVDDc rip?

You already can do that by putting sample stream info file from some rip with DVDDecrypter and edit audio info in it (you can create a template for later usage) and use AutoGK in DVD mode.

[jomomma]

quote:
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You already can do that by putting sample stream info file from some rip with DVDDecrypter and edit audio info in it (you can create a template for later usage) and use AutoGK in DVD mode.
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Yes, and I have done so.... but that only works if you have the IFO files so you can use DVD mode. You can't do that in File Mode.

Anyone like me who has already ripped a lot of video and didn't keep the IFO files will have to go back to the original source and re-rip it.

It would be nice if AGK would use a stream info file if it exists in *both* DVD and File Modes!

[len0x]

right, actually IFO file is needed only for subs, so I can make even DVD mode work without IFO file by disabling subtitles if IFO file is not found...

[jomomma]

quote:
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that's out of scope of AutoGK - it doesn't parse video files.
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That doesn't seem correct.... AGK does parse the video to learn other information that is displayed in the AGK interface ... such as "Video info: NTSC - 720x480 - 16:9 - 29.997fps." It seems legitimately in the scope to displaying similar information about the first audio stream as it is already doing for the video stream.

I would think providing that info about the audio stream would be as useful (if not more so) than displaying the info about the video stream. It certainly would reduce the number or re-runs users have to do after they waste 2 hours of CPU time and get an AVI file with no or wrong sound! That's a bummer I'm all tooooo familar with.

[jomomma]

quote:
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right, actually IFO file is needed only for subs, so I can make even DVD mode work without IFO file by disabling subtitles if IFO file is not found...
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Very cool... thank you!

[len0x]

Originally posted by jomomma
AGK does parse the video to learn other information that is displayed in the AGK interface ... such as "Video info: NTSC - 720x480 - 16:9 - 29.997fps." It seems legitimately in the scope to displaying similar information about the first audio stream as it is already doing for the video stream.


Don't be fooled that info is coming from stream info file as well (that's why it doesn't contain length for instance - it was requested very often). I really don't do _any_ vob parsing...

[len0x]

Originally posted by jomomma
but that only works if you have the IFO files so you can use DVD mode. You can't do that in File Mode.


Actually I just tried and current version of AutoGK have no issues in DVD mode when IFO file is not present. Is it not working for you ?

[jomomma]

Yes, AGK will work in file mode w/o IFO files... but it will not use the stream info file to give you selection of audio streams.

There are many VOBs that do not have the audio on stream 80h and instead it is on 81h or 82h. In those cases, AGK will fail with "EXCEPTION: Audio is not found." after demuxing.

To be fully functional in that circumstance, AGK should either 1) use VTS_01 - Stream Information.txt if it exists when in File Mode, or 2) give the user the option to enter the steam id (default to 80h, but allow 81h, 82h, etc) when in File Mode.

Are either of these possible without too much trouble?

[len0x]

Originally posted by jomomma
Yes, AGK will work in file mode w/o IFO files...

please re-read what I said above: AutoGK works fine in DVD mode without IFO files (but with stream info file of course).

[jomomma]

Yes, I could get DVD mode to work w/o VOB files as long as the stream info file was present. Thanks for that tip!

But in DVD mode, you can not select which of the files in the directory you want to process, and it has to be named "VTS_01_1.VOB" (all my rips, as for most people with media players like Pinnacle Showcenter, have to rip to single file VOBs because the players can only play a single file for a movie). For a media player setup, you usually name your files to be the movie name so when you are browsing movies on the TV screen, the file names mean something.

The beauty of File Mode was that you could select one file of any name and process it and get an AVI file of the same name.

Take the example of one directory I have (movie trailers) with over 400 VOB files, all with file names of the move. Creating directories for each one, moving and renaming the file, then moving and renaming the resulting AVI files will be a Herculean task. I had resigned myself to not converting them to Xvid ... the you created File Mode!

File Mode was the greatest addition to AGK since sliced bread! But the fact that File Mode will only process stream 80h for audio is a handicap, since all VOBs do not have their audio on stream 80h. That's why there needs to be some way to select the audio stream in File Mode, not just in DVD mode.

[len0x]

Well, i see the point, but full stream info for file mode is a bit overkill and I'm afraid one directory problem is not solvable at the moment since AutoGK always have ONE set of settings per input directory. But AutoGK does use ".audio_pid" file for transport streams in file mode, so I can me it recognize this settings for usual files as well (but as I said one setting per directory)

[jomomma]

Thank you very much! That will work.... I can use something like VideoReDo to peek into the VOBs and move all the VOBs that have their desired audio stream on 81h to their own directory, and process them all with AGK there.

Thanks again.