DVD to AVI to VOB?

[joffrey]

Alright, I've been working on editing a DVD for someone to make it shorter. I'm approaching the deadline, and the trial and error thing is taking too long.

So far, using Gordianknot (which is confusing and I didn't really know what a lot of the options meant) I decrypted the dvd and then encoded to an avi file that I can edit. Then I found out that I was going to have to convert the file again into a .vob or whatever, and now I am wondering if I could have just edited the vob files instead of doing all this converting.

Basically, I need to know the fastest way to do this, and I need to know how to ensure that I do not lose much quality in the process.

I really appreciate any help I get. Thanks.

[Stingrey]

When I´m right you just want to edit the movie a bit an then burn it again on a DVD right?

Yes you are right encoding to AVI an then back to MPEG2 is not a real solution to keep the quality hi.

There are many ways of editing a movie, but if you only want to make it shorter to fit on a DVD-R try DVD Shrink (http://www.doom9.org/Soft21/Vobtools/dvdshrink32setup.zip).
A guide is here (http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvdshrink31-main.htm).

[joffrey]

Can I edit the content of the movie with DVDShrink? I need to take out about half of it, and put some dead transition seconds in between.

I may have to have an avi file to do the editing I need to do, in which case, what should I use to put it back in MPEG-2 or whatever?

Thanks for the reply, by the way.

[joffrey]

Also, I ripped the avi file and audio stream separately without knowing what I was doing. So I need to be able to edit them together.

[Stingrey]

Ok, here is a way without encoding the movie to a new format.
1. rip th movie with DVDDecrypter or any other ripping program.
2. demux the video and audio stream using PVAStrumento (http://www.offeryn.de/pvas_2_1.htm)
3. cut the movie with MPEG2Schnitt (http://mdienert.winnt.de/Mpeg2Schnitt06l.zip)
3. remux it with VobEdit (http://www.doom9.org/Soft21/Vobtools/Vobedit06.zip)
4. create a *.ifo file with IfoEdit (http://www.doom9.org/Soft21/Vobtools/Ifoedit096.zip)
5. burn the movie on a DVD

It´s a lot to do, but all the programs are very easy to use.
Everyone has his own good functions.