How do I delete part of a cell?

[zavar]

Hi all!

I want to make a backup of the movie Dawn Of The Dead and I've used DVD decrypter & Ifoedit to strip extras, menus etc.

The problem is that I also want to remove a logo that appears in the beginning of the movie. This logo is inside PGC01/cell #1. I can't delete the whole cell because I would be deleting the first chapter of the movie as well.

What's the easy way to edit this cell? And also what do I do if I want to add a blank screen that will play for 2 seconds before the movie starts?

Any help would be much appreciated!

[jeanl]

vobblanker is the dude man. Free and very good. It will do exactly what you want.
Jeanl

[zavar]

I'm afraid Vobblanker either doesn't edit inside cells, or I don't know how to do it. Any other suggestions?

[jeanl]

Originally posted by zavar
I'm afraid Vobblanker either doesn't edit inside cells, or I don't know how to do it. Any other suggestions?
wait, sure it does!! You select the PGC in which you want to cut material, then you click the Prev/Cut button, which pops up the preview window. There you "mark" the start and end of what you want to cut, select the "cut movie" option and click OK.
http://img203.exs.cx/img203/1354/vobb6kn.png
Have you tried that?


Jeanl

[zavar]

Thanks jeanl. I just tried that and it works. The only problem is that I can't mark the exact frames I want (the sector slider can't be set at each individual frame), so I don't know if cutting this way will work for every movie.

[jeanl]

Originally posted by zavar
Thanks jeanl. I just tried that and it works. The only problem is that I can't mark the exact frames I want (the sector slider can't be set at each individual frame), so I don't know if cutting this way will work for every movie.
Yes, that's "normal". Vobblanker only cuts at VOBUs boundaries (I think) meaning, you can only cut before an I-frame (a complete frame), and only if the GOP is not open, if I remember correctly. That's about every .5s, so it's not great as far as precision, but in most cases, it's good enough.
In any case, that's a constraint that's imposed by the MPEG video structure, and it would be incredibly hard to work around it (i.e., cut in the middle of a GOP!). I know that TMPGenc now has an advanced MPEG editor that lets you do that, but that involves re-encoding part of the GOP, highly non-trivial, but very cool of course. But that can't really be used to modify a small part of an existing DVD, that's not what it's intende to, I don't think.

Jeanl

[zavar]

Ok jeanl. At first I used vobedit to demux the vob to an .m2v file, then edited with VirtualDubMod which unfortunately could only save it as an .avi file (which I didn't know how to convert back to a vob). I'll give TMPGenc a shot. Thanks again!

Oh, and how about adding a blank screen at the start of the movie? Is there a simple way to do it?

[jeanl]

Originally posted by zavar

Oh, and how about adding a blank screen at the start of the movie? Is there a simple way to do it?
How do you mean that?
I know PgcEdit has a "Import Title's Intro Clip" which is probably what you want. It puts a small clip that plays right before the specified title starts. That's in the Macro menu. I've never used it though, but you can ask in the PgcEdit thread, if you can't make it to work.
Jean

[zavar]

Yeah, that sounds like what I want. Thanks for all the help. :)

[jsoto]

Thanks jeanl. I just tried that and it works. The only problem is that I can't mark the exact frames I want (the sector slider can't be set at each individual frame), so I don't know if cutting this way will work for every movie. Yes, jeanl is right. VobBlanker is only able to cut at GOP boundaries. But the slider is not the best option to select the I-Frame. Use the slider to go near to your frame and then use then "Next" and "Prev" buttons. They navigate GOP by GOP.
jsoto

[sweetness]

Originally posted by zavar
I'm afraid Vobblanker either doesn't edit inside cells, or I don't know how to do it. Any other suggestions?
i made some guides on VobBlanker basic functions. just waiting for my friend to put them into html and host them for me.

[jeanl]

Originally posted by sweetness
i made some guides on VobBlanker basic functions. just waiting for my friend to put them into html and host them for me.
GREAT! That's excellent news! There isn't any good guide for vobblanker yet, and it's such a powerful app that it's a bit intimidating at first without a good guide!

Great news! Thanks a bunch! :D
Jeanl

[jsoto]

Hey, I'll be happy to host them on my sites...

Thanks.
jsoto

[Surf]

A leetle deviation than Zavar's.

jsoto, I wonder if you're going to implement trimming the cells of the motion menus. Them Disneys' and toon movies are famous for a menu file with 2 to 3 minute playback time, occupying say 40-50megs of precious space! So far I have been experimenting by blanking say the 1st of the two or three cells(of the menu). Or the last cell of that group. The leaner sized menu's more desirable. Possible?

cheers.

[jeanl]

Originally posted by Surf

jsoto, I wonder if you're going to implement trimming the cells of the motion menus.
:D
Jeanl

[blutach]

Surf is clairvoyant :)

Regards

[jsoto]

Yes, I'm going to implement motion2still. (but seems jeanl is going to arrive with an exe before me :) )

jsoto

[blutach]

I think it will be integrated in a couple of products eventually.

Very much looking forward to it.

Regards

[jeanl]

Originally posted by jsoto
Yes, I'm going to implement motion2still. (but seems jeanl is going to arrive with an exe before me :) )

jsoto
non non non! I'm still experimenting, and I'm taking my time!!
I'm rewriting the code in a way that will make it much easier to do advanced modifications such as taking the n-th frame, etc...
jeanl

[Surf]

Awww shucks:o :o .

So I can follow the game afterall:p .

Now I know why Jeanl's talking about this mumbo jumbo on I-Frame, X-frame :D .

"couldn't wait".

[Dimad]

Originally posted by zavar
Oh, and how about adding a blank screen at the start of the movie? Is there a simple way to do it?

Jast a -blank- screen? Why would you need something like this? Anyway, there are plenty of ways to do it. Probably it is easiest with DvdReMake (you don't even need Pro for this I think). It is "couple clics" procedure and can be done without messing with disk navigation.

Navigate to the PGC with movie, select first cell, scroll preview a little bit to move "deeper" into the movie (this is needed to enable next step), rigth click in preview and select "split cell here". This will make two cells out of original and automatically modify whole DVD (where needed) to preserve original navigation.

What it has to do with inserting a blank (or any other clip) at the begining of a movie? Here is the trick: do a restore for second half of the split and you get your original cell. Do a hide (or use replace) for the first part - and you get your blank cell (or whatever you want) in front of your movie. All the menus, chapters, etc will work just like in the original and you did not change a sinle VM command. :)

[voo_doo99]

Hi, I like to revisit the question of menu cell trimming that @Surf brought up at one point. For my purpose I wanted to remove the ARM when backing up the DVD "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid".

Now, @2COOL guide to use PgcEdit to blank out the ARM cell worked great, however some of the ARM frames existed in another cell just before. I know what I could do to fix that was either to blank out the other cell with PgcEdit, or use VobBlanker to still the cell.

But the real answer would be some swanking new functionality like Menu Cell cutting in VobBlanker, or Split-Cell macro in PgcEdit. So would the DVD Tool Captains of the Free World Tomorrow like to step up to the challenge? :D

Hail! Hail! Hail! :p

[blutach]

Either use jeanl's guide to get to the main menu (with 2COOL's JMP2PGC prog - available on the PgcEdit site), or simply kill playback of the whole cell after inserting a precommand to select the button for the aspect ratio you require.

If this doesn't work, you might like to post the code of the PGCs here, together with a PgcEdit screen shot of the menu concerned.

Regards

[voo_doo99]

Thanks for responding, but I found my solution here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=625708#post625708)

Hot dickety, it worked!. VobBlanker rocks! If you know how to harness its power that is :p
Love your tips, Captain @jsoso :D