VobBlanker 1.6.0.6 is out

[blutach]

@tomsem

The warning isn't in its own PGC or at least its own cell? That is unusual!!!

Sometimes, the intro motion menus consists of 2 cells, the animated intro which usually contains motion (but in your case an FBI warning!) then the menu with its buttons etc.

If this is the case, obviously the cell blank is easiest.

I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to cut a menu PGC with VobBlanker (although I've never done it). Interesting issue is the menu buttons though.

Worst comes to the worse, you could find the cell that contains this warning, demux the menu, and replace the whole cell with a bitmap (keeping the buttons, of course).

This guide (http://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?link=713) might be useful.

Regards

[TomSem]

Yep , your right blutach
The first animated intro cell (20 sec) displays a warning screens (about 5 sec somewhere in the middle)
and then it goes to the button cell in a very fluent way.
I could blank the first cell but then i would jump inmediately to the button cell without the nice intro.
I wich there is a way to set markers in the first cell for cutting but the functions are greyed out :(

[blutach]

@tomsem

I know the intros are snappy, but once you seen em once, they can be a waste of time of space. In fact, if you notice, after the movie, or any time you press menu on your remote, you won't get the animated intro. The DVD authors recognise that most people don't wanna keep seeing it.

My advice - blank the cell.

Regards

[blutach]

I've just has another idea, off the top of my head. It will involve you remuxing in this cell, but it's not too difficult.

1. Open the DVD in DVD Shrink.

2. Go to reauthor mode and drag over the menu PGC you are concerned with. Unless it is a "named menu", DVD Shrink will identify it like menu 15 (which means PGC 15).

3. Now play around with the menu in reauthor mode, setting the start and end points. You say the warning is in the middle of the PGC, so you may need to drag the PGC over twice, the first time setting the start/end to start of cell/start of warning, the second time setting the start/end as end of warning/end of cell.

4. Now, save the "project". It will take about 2 seconds!

Note: There will be no buttons.

5. You will need to then follow the guide I sent in my earlier post - demuxing the video to m2v and remuxing it in to the cell in question.

Backup your menu first, naturally (and the IFOs that pertain to that VTS).

Good luck

[TomSem]

thanks blutach
i ll give those methods a try

[jsoto]

Sorry, VobBlanker does not allow to cut PGCs in menus...

jsoto

[jsoto]

Vers 1.6.0.4 (31-01-2005)

Added: Automatically detection/modification of audio attributes when replacing PGCs
Added: Cells preview (Menu and Titles)
Added: User selectable file index in multiple files extraction of cells (asked by 2COOL)
Added: Remove POUPUs even if VTS is skipped (only if working in input folder)
Added: Save settings in Registry (under user request). Automatic loading at startup
Added: A warning is issued if there are zero byte menu VOBs When loading the DVD.
Added: Stream attributes of the Menu VOBs are resetted to 0 when the menu VOB is removed.
Change: Do not warn when deleting playback/blanking if cell commands are LinkTailPGC and no buttons in the PGC.
Change: VobBlanker_backup is now created in the same folder than VIDEO_TS, instead of inside VIDEO_TS, due strange behaviour in Nero if a VOB exists in backup folder
BugFix: (2COOL) Fixed Solid and conditional Goto in postcommand area when changing post into precommands
BugFix: Wrong Cell number logged in Replacing Cells

jsoto

[2COOL]

:thanks:

A request in a future version is to do a pre check on that we have the exact number of titlesets as stated in VIDEO_TS.IFO. It seems DVDs with Arccos have bogus titlesets to throw us off. PgcEdit does this sanity check. I think VobBlanker should too.

I noticed you implemented the 0 menu VOB warning. Good!

[jsoto]

Originally posted by 2COOL
A request in a future version is to do a pre check on that we have the exact number of titlesets as stated in VIDEO_TS.IFO. It seems DVDs with Arccos have bogus titlesets to throw us off. PgcEdit does this sanity check. I think VobBlanker should too.Could you elaborate a little more? What do I have to do if they do not match? correct VIDEO_TS.IFO?

I noticed you implemented the 0 menu VOB warning. Good! [/B] Yep, but (at the moment) Vobblanker deletes them when finishes its work. What I was working on (until jeanl came with motion2still stuff...) was the 32 k gap (not implemented yet). I'd like to implement it using a menu VOB, to allow any burning SW to manage it.

jsoto

[2COOL]

Originally posted by jsoto
Could you elaborate a little more? What do I have to do if they do not match? correct VIDEO_TS.IFO?
Well, PgcEdit's warning says to delete them (extra VTSs)? but I chose to drag my 2 last titleset because I confirm they were bogus by looking at in it's IFO and the VOBs can't play becuase DVD Decrypter inserted dummy cells. Anyways, here's my experience (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=88100&highlight=resident) on bogus titlesets after ripping.

[mrslacker]

Originally posted by jsoto
Added: Save settings in Registry (under user request). Automatic loading at startup

I honestly hate to complain about any aspect of this program, given how much I appreciate this program and your efforts, but... I don't like to pad my registry any more than necessary. I should have spoke up when this was suggested a while back. Could this be an optional functionality?

[jsoto]

Could this be an optional functionality? It is already optional, in fact Vobblanker only stores the values under user request. So, simply do not do a neither "Settings--> Save to the Registry" nor a "Settings-->Default Settings". If you have already done it, open regedit and delete all the keys under

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/jsoto's tools

But..., this is a safe way to store the checkboxes values and they are all together in a folder. However, there are a lot of keys related with VobBlanker (in fact with any program you run) introduced by Explorer thought.

jsoto

[mrslacker]

Originally posted by jsoto
It is already optional...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/jsoto's tools

But..., this is a safe way to store the checkboxes values and they are all together in a folder. However, there are a lot of keys related with VobBlanker (in fact with any program you run) introduced by Explorer thought.

I should have looked at the options!

Shell integration is one convenience that certainly merits registry settings, and Explorer will do what it will. I mainly just like having settings in an ini file for portability (I have VobBlanker among other wonderful programs on my flash disk).

[2COOL]

@jsoto

I was previewing some VTS that had some PGSs that were trailers that I had t blank. I think it's a better flow to put the "Blank" button and other relevant options in the preview dialog also for a better flow of clicking. When I found what I was looking for, I had to exit out of preview and click on Blank button in main dialog. What do you think?

[jsoto]

May be, but all actions to be done at PGC level are in the same popup menu, and also in the right buttons of the PGC list. I do not like to change this aesthetic :)

jsoto

[CoNS]

Found a small bug (v1.6.0.4): When marking cells for blanking, the output size is not calculated/updated. Then, if I mark the next PGC for blanking and get a warning because it has cell commands, the above mentioned PGC output size is updated when the warning is closed...

[2COOL]

@jsoto

Like I recommended to r0lZ on his growing thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=603389#post603389), I'm asking the same to you. It really helps out on searching.

[jsoto]

Originally posted by CoNS
Found a small bug (v1.6.0.4): When marking cells for blanking, the output size is not calculated/updated. Then, if I mark the next PGC for blanking and get a warning because it has cell commands, the above mentioned PGC output size is updated when the warning is closed...
IIRC, I've fixed it in 1.6.0.5 (unreleased yet)...but to be sure, are you blanking cells in TITLES or in MENUs domain?
jsoto

[jsoto]

Originally posted by 2COOL
Like I recommended to r0lZ on his growing thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=603389#post603389), I'm asking the same to you. It really helps out on searching. Well, this thread is 9 pages long, not 26 like r0lZ's one. Anyway done.
jsoto

[CoNS]

Originally posted by jsoto
IIRC, I've fixed it in 1.6.0.5 (unreleased yet)...but to be sure, are you blanking cells in TITLES or in MENUs domain?
jsoto It was in a VTSM...

[Surf]

Hi Jsoto,

1st. I have been stripping Angles successfully with IFOedit, yet you(VOBblanker) protest still, something like ILVU thingy present and verbosing caution...? Have I missed anything in IFOedit? I did check the "remove ilvu/pointer" box....

2nd. Trimmming the main movie. If I choose to strip the audio stream, then the VOBblanker would grey-out the cut buttons inside the cut/preview page...is this the limitation? I can't strip and cut and chop and dice and puree all at once? <<<< lol, me a chef/butcher :D

[jsoto]

Hi Surf,

1st. I never deleted angles with IFOEdit... Not sure if you did all the needed things. VB will complain about angles and/or ILV cells. ILV cells are managed, but they will be de-interleaved, so may be a pause appear during playback

2nd. Yes this is a limitation. No cut and strip at the same time.

jsoto

[Surf]

"never delete angles with IFOedit" ??

I have been doing so without noticing any errors...especially with the Disneys. These angles are meant to display other languages. The process is very similar to 2COOL's mock strip with VOBextra.

Options

R Strip Streams'
R Strip VobID's
R Correct Vob-Unit (Navigation Pack) pointers in VOB-files ( Default )
R Correct original IFO files ( Default )

VOB EXPERT Options

R Remove P-Uops ( Default )
R Remove Macrovision ( Default )
R Adjust Vob-Unit pointers. ( Default )
R Adjust Audio/Subp point. ( Default )

Two more checkboxes to choose from: Remove or Adjust ILVU/ANGLE. I have been choosing the remove checkbox.

[jsoto]

I know it can be done (IIRC, there is a guide in doom9's general guides), but I never did it, so I have no experience with possible problems/issues.
jsoto

[jsoto]

Hi all,

Main feature is motion2still. Jeanl started to push on it and we worked in paralel, with great help from r0lZ/2COOL/blutach and unvaluable technical help from mpucoder. Thanks to all of them.
We (jeanl and I) are not sharing code, but our process is quite similar.


Changelog
Vers 1.6.0.5 (24-02-2005)
Added: Motion2Still in menus: Reduce to still with or without audio.
Added: Advanced settings panel with more options
Added: Change Next PGCN pointer to itself option in menus and titles.
Added: Change Prev PGCN pointer to itself option in menus and titles.
Added: Added an option to clear or not the audio/subs attr in blanked PGCs.
Added: Log version and Save it in project file
Change: Default to skip in VTSs if process in input folder is defaulted
BugFix: Error in file numbering in error message when VOB doesn't exist
BugFix: Crash if a referenced Menu VOB does not exist
BugFix: Corrupted VIDEO_TS.IFO generated in some cases, not usual.

jsoto

[jeanl]

jsoto,
This is great. I just checked out the motion2still panel that allows you to select the I-frame. Looks great.
I have one suggestion though (a bit late, sorry!).
I find the bottom slider very confusing. Since we're supposed to navigate in a single cell (which the top slider does), it's quite confusing to have the bottom slider let you navigate to adjacent cells (without you even knowing it unless the info panel is open).
I would strongly suggest that you remove the botton slider...

Other than that, it's GREAT!

Jeanl

[blutach]

May I add my great thanks to you jsoto.

Regards

[voo_doo99]

Could someone explain the steps to use Motion2Still feature in VobBlanker 1.6.0.5 to select the still frame that I want to use?. I could only see the pre-selected choice of First, Middle, or Last.

Thanks a bundle.

[jeanl]

Originally posted by voo_doo99
Could someone explain the steps to use Motion2Still feature in VobBlanker 1.6.0.5 to select the still frame that I want to use?. I could only see the pre-selected choice of First, Middle, or Last.

Thanks a bundle.
you can only select the I-frame if you do it on a cell by cell basis (it makes no sense to select an I-frame for a whole PGC where there might be several cells, right). So to enable that, you have to select the PGC, then click on the "cells" buttons. Then, for each cell, you can select "Still", which will popup a panel to select the frame.
jeanl

[jsoto]

A tip:
Select the PGC as Still (w or w/o audio) and, after that, click on Cells. All the cells are marked now as still. Manually select the the IFrame in the cell you want, all the other cells will be in "default" mode (default= first/last/middle/auto "general" setting).

jsoto

[voo_doo99]

The problem with tool developers is that they think users know their tool just as well! :rolleyes:

If anyone needs a little more details than what I got: ;)

1.In Main VobBlanker screen, select Title Set and click Menu
2.In Title Set Menu screen, select Language Unit# to see list of PGC
3.Select PGC# and click 'One Still' to apply DEFAULT setting [at bottom of Menu screen] to the whole PGC. Select to 'keep Audio', or not, from the pop-up message box.
3.To go to custom Still frame selection, click 'Cells'. Select Cell# and click 'Still'
4.In the Cell Preview screen, use the Top Left 'Go to' slider [not the bottom Preview slider] to select your custom Still frame. Then go over the 'I Frame Selection' box to change the setting to 'Custom' and click 'Mark' to lock in the Sector#. Verify the 'keep audio' setting. Click 'OK' to complete.
5.Apply, OK, PROCESS

Watch the running log and you will see the sectors that you marked reported there. Work amazingly well! :):)

However I did notice a problem: for those Still Menu frame with the 'WARNING: Truncating audio. Buttons start in the middle of cell', the BUTTON HIGHLIGHT IS LOST, eventhough button action still works.

Great feature!. It would be really super if the highlighting problem can be fixed. Thanks.

[jeanl]

Thanks for the detailed steps!!!
jsoto, where is someone coming up with a nice guide/user manual for vobblanker?! It's urgently needed!

voo_doo99 about the missing highlights, it would be great if you could tell us exactly which DVD, which menu (even which cell if you can!) has the problem. I suspect that MenuShrink would have the same problem (but maybe you can confirm that).
thanks,
jeanl

[jsoto]

jsoto, where is someone coming up with a nice guide/user manual for vobblanker?! It's urgently needed! sweetness did it (in 1.6.0.4) Motion2still will come soon (I hope).
See my sites and thanks sweetness.

jsoto

[jsoto]

@voo_doo99

Please do the following in the problematic menu:
- Use VobBlanker to extract the Cell
- Use Cutfile to cut the Cell from one nav before the sector reported in VobBlanker to one nav after. (Check the sectors with VobEdit)

zip the VOB_XX_CUT.VOB and send it to us.

jsoto

[blueboyec]

Jsoto,

In menu2still, how does the auto mode decide which I-frame to choose for the still? Just curious.

blueboy

[jsoto]

auto mode= largest I frame in the Cell
However, the IFrame size is not fully accurate, because it is estimated from the info in the nav pack

jsoto

[CoNS]

jsoto, when I go to More Settings and then click Default the values change - even though I haven't changed anything first?

[jsoto]

Probably you have stored your settings in the Registry and VB loads them at startup. Defaults in "more settings" dialog are hard-coded. If you store them again in the Registry (or delete the registry entries), the defaults should be the same

jsoto

[CoNS]

Hmmm, but aren't the "More Settings" options new in 1.6.0.5? When I first ran this version and went straight into More Settings, I clicked default w/o changing any settings first. And the various values then changed...? :confused:

[jsoto]

OK, I found the differences. They are in the combos..

If there are no keys in the registry (you can delete all of them if you want) the defaults (wrong) are:
- Selection of IFrame:---> First
- Min still... -----> 11
- Max still... -----> 6

And the "true" defaults should be(you can get them pushing the button)
- Selection of IFrame:---> Auto
- Min still... -----> 10
- Max still... -----> 5

First combo is a change I've done (from first to auto) and I forgot to update the initial case.
The other two, well, a bug in internal numbering (from 1 to n instead of from 0 to n-1)

Not really significative, and you can avoid it storing your settings in the Registry.

jsoto

[MomoNyo]

I'm trying to add subs to a DVD here and have followed the guide that came with Subtitle Creator. At the end it shows that you can import your new set of (subbed) vobs into the original DVD set using VobBlanker and thus keep the original menus etc. This is exactly what I've been looking for and was chuffed to find such an easy way of doing it.

Only problem is I can't get it to work properly. Initially I had problems with the new vobs not having the same amount of cells as the ones I was to replace. Then I spotted that ReJig hadn't added the chapter times. So I went through the demux/mux routine again in IFOEdit and this time it added the proper cell info (although as the source DVD is NTSC it made a mess of the sync so I'll have to persevere with ReJig).

But when I open the original files in VobBlanker and "replace" VTS_01 with my new ones, the subtitles are lost (I would have thought that replacing the vobs for VTS_01 would also replace the IFO, but it seems not) and the chapter menu doesn't work (it just returns to the start of the movie each time I select a chapter). I tried a dirty hack by replacing the the VTS_01 IFO and BUP files with the ones from the subbed vobs, but although that got the subs to appear it broke the menus.

I know this isn't really what VobBlanker was intended for, but I'm just hoping someone may have tried this hack and figured out the problems I'm having.

[jsoto]

VobBlanker takes care about video attributes and Audio ones, and automatically update the IFOs for you.
But it does not the same in the case of subpictures...
VobBlanker keeps the original IFOs as they are (in terms of subs) so , in your case you have to modify the IFOs to "add" your new sub track.
You cannot replace the IFOs, because there are alot of pointers inside...

The easiest way is:
1) Create your VOB with ReJig or better Muxman. You can get the Celltimes.txt with IFOEdit or with PgcDemux.
2) Replace the PGC with VobBlanker.
3) Adjust the sub attributes and stream index with pgcEdit.

If you need more help in some step, please ask again.

jsoto

[MomoNyo]

Hi jsoto

Thank you for the quick reply and also for suggesting MuxMan (great tool!). I've just retraced my steps using MuxMan and imported the new vobs into my DVD. Unlike my earlier attempts with ReJig and IFOEdit I didn't get any warnings about an incorrect number of cells and now the menus and chapter selections are working perfectly! The only quirk is that it seems to have added an extra chapter at the end (the celltimes only had 8 chapter points but MuxMan reported there were 9 chapters imported). However this doesn't seem to have had any adverse effect.

So it seems that all there is left to do is add the subs to the IFO. I would really appreciate some pointers on how to do this with pgcEdit as I'm hopelessly lost among it's many menus. Also I'm guessing I should be able to force the subtitles in this step? I'd like to have them display by default when the DVD is played.

[jsoto]

To Add the sub
STEP A) Modify VTSI_MAT (Domain attrinutes) table
I really do not know how to do this (add a new stream) in pgcEdit. But you can do it with IFOEdit:
- Adjust the number of subs in offset 0x255
- Modify attributes of the new sub stream
STEP B) Modify your pgc to add the new stream
- Open your newly authored DVD in pgcEdit.
- Select your title. At the left side, you will find your VTSs ordered, and, in each one the menu pgcs labeled as VTSM and below the titles labeled as VTST.
- Double click on it: A new dialog (PGC editor) will pop up.
- See Subpicture streams area, and select the "new" one.
STEP C) Add a precommand do preselect your stream
- Open your DVD in pgcedit
- Select your PGC.
- On the right side you will see the related commands.
- Add a new command to preselect your stream

Beware: STEP C) can be much more complicated. Usually you have to do some kind of "reverse engineering" to understand what is coded in the commands. PgcEdit is the tool for this work, using its trace mode you will be able to easily follow the sequence of commands.

In any case, play with PgcEdit. Although you will need some time to find and understand all its capablilities, after a while, you will find the tool unvaluable.

jsoto

[CoNS]

I'm not sure it can be done using PgcEdit. Another way to do Step A+B is by editing the disc (after the new PGC is imported with VobBlanker) with IfoEdit alone. You'll have to do this:
Change subtitle stream number in VIDEO_TS.IFO in the VMG_VTS_ATRT section.
And correspondingly in VTS_xx_00.IFO in the VTSI_MAT section.
In VTS_xx_00.IFO in the VTSI_MAT, set the subtitle stream attribute for the new stream you added.
In VTS_xx_00.IFO in the VTS_PGCITI/VTS_PGC_x section, set the subtitle stream status for your new stream.You can find help for Step C in this guide (http://home.tiscali.be/debie.roland/pgcedit/third_party/2cool/subtitles/subtitles_on_default_pgcedit.htm) by 2COOL. There's a discussion thread for the guide here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83756). Good luck! :)

[sweetness]

if i want to prcocess(still)only the menus i would uncheck process titles and check use input folder. this works good but the VIDEO_TS is considered a title, so it is not processed. i would have to run vobblanker again with all the titled skipped to still the VIDEO_TS. can you make it so it is processed with the menus?

one more thing the select all in the PCGs in Selected tilteSet window doesn't work.

ADDED LATER: for a minute you had me all excited, in the cell list of a PGC the still button is grayed out but if you right click it's not. you can even the perview to select the i frame, but it doesn't still the PGC. let me tell you you had me going there for a minute.(i have to sit down)

[jsoto]

Originally posted by sweetness
if i want to prcocess(still)only the menus i would uncheck process titles and check use input folder. this works good but the VIDEO_TS is considered a title, so it is not processed. i would have to run vobblanker again with all the titled skipped to still the VIDEO_TS. can you make it so it is processed with the menus? It should not be as you describe... VIDEO_TS is considered as a menu (because it is menu only). I'll check it but could you double check, please?. Of course it is affected by its own PROCESS/SKIP flag

one more thing the select all in the PCGs in Selected tilteSet window doesn't work.. True . I forgot to add the code :) (I was working on menus...)

ADDED LATER: for a minute you had me all excited, in the cell list of a PGC the still button is grayed out but if you right click it's not. you can even the perview to select the i frame, but it doesn't still the PGC. let me tell you you had me going there for a minute.(i have to sit down) Not understand well... Still button/menu in Cells panel works different if there is one cell selected or if there are more than one selected.
If only one:--> New preview dlg to manually select the I Frame
If mode than one:-> ask about audio, and mark to still w or w/o audio (using default IFrame selection mode) all the selected cells.

EDIT:
You can also combine this two selection methods.
- Select all (or a group) of cells and mark as still (default I Frame selection will be used)
- After that, select only one of them and press still button to select the I Frame you want. (choosing "custom" in the combobox)

jsoto

[sweetness]

i double checked and it is processed with the menus. must have pressed(or not pressed)someting too many times.

no about the still thing. i'm talking about if i select a PGC in PCGs in Selected tilteSet window and click cells the still button is grayed but when you right click it's an option. i thought maybe we can still a PGC(not a menu) because it was an option.

[jsoto]

Originally posted by sweetness
i double checked and it is processed with the menus. must have pressed(or not pressed)someting too many times.Good.
no about the still thing. i'm talking about if i select a PGC in PCGs in Selected tilteSet window and click cells the still button is grayed but when you right click it's an option. i thought maybe we can still a PGC(not a menu) because it was an option. Ooops. It should be grayed out. It's a bug, I'm not offering the motion2still in titles domain.
jsoto

[MomoNyo]

UPDATE

Ignore this post for now. I think I have it sorted now. I did jsoto's STEP B with pgcEdit and things seem to be working ok.

Thanks for the help guys! But I'm still having some problems. Here's what I'm doing:

Following CoNS's method with IfoEdit, I added the subpic stream as explained in step 1 (Change subtitle stream number in VIDEO_TS.IFO in the VMG_VTS_ATRT section.) by changing the value from 0 to 1. Now, when I do this it adds an extra line for "Sub-picture stream 1 attributes" which needs to be filled in with the HexEdit module. However I don't know what to put in here.

Then, I go to the next step (And correspondingly in VTS_xx_00.IFO in the VTSI_MAT section.). This I think is straightforward enough. I change the value to 1 again. Next step (In VTS_xx_00.IFO in the VTSI_MAT, set the subtitle stream attribute for the new stream you added.) I set the language to English. I leave the "Language type" and "Coding caption" attributes alone.

The last step I am unsure about (In VTS_xx_00.IFO in the VTS_PGCITI/VTS_PGC_x section, set the subtitle stream status for your new stream.). I changed the status from 0 to 1. Is this right? The audio stream has a status of 32768. If it is not 1, how do I find out the correct value?

After doing all this, the subtitle stream is still not available. I'm guessing it's because I didn't know what to set for the sub-picture stream 1 attributes in step 1.

With what I had, I followed the "Turning Subtitles On by Default" guide using pgcEdit and this did enable the subs in ZoomPlayer, but not with my Hollywood Plus card. Playing the DVD in IfoEdit, the subs are "Off" but still display. Setting them to "English" and then back to "Off" disables them. They still don't appear as an available stream (the Subtitle menu in ZP just shows a greyed-out "Closed Caption" option).

So I reckon if I can fill in the blanks in the IfoEdit steps above, I should be sorted.