DVD-RB batch process problem

[AxelF]

Hello,

I'm using DVD-RB 0.79 (Free). I wanted to backup 2 movies with DVD-RB in batch mode. Movie 1 was full backup and Movie 2 was backup where I opted "Steal Space from Extras". Now when I made settings for movie 1 I didn't have "Steal Space From Extras" option selected -> I saved project. Then I made settings for Movie 2 and selected "Steal Space from Extras" and saved project. Then I launched DVD-RB again, relected batch mode and added Movie 1 project and Movie 2 project to Batch processing window and started process. To my surprise DVD-RB selected "Steal Space from Extras" for the Movie 1 too even i didn't select it when making that project.

Project file for movie 1:
[Options]
OneClick=1
AdditionalOutput=1
AudioDub=0
idct7Opt=1
CCE=1
RemoveDTS=1
EncoderMinimized=1
LogFile=1
NoWarn=0
Completed=11
ReduceOpt=0
Skin=Rockas Original
Reminder=10
HalfD1=00
Convert_16_9=00
DisableInterlace=00
[CCEOptions]
VBR_bias=25
Quality_prec=16
eclPasses=3
[Paths]
CCENEW=D:\Utils\CCE\cctsp.exe
MPEG2DEC=D:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\DGDecode.dll
DECOMB=D:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\Decomb521.dll
Source=J:\LOTR_TWO_TOWERS_D1\VIDEO_TS\
Working=G:\WORKING\
Output=F:\LOTR_T\
[Setup]
sLanguage00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Language00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[Audio]
Selected=11

Part of Movie 1 rebuilder.log:
Transcoding...
-----------------
[20:13:31] Phase I, PREPARATION started.
- "Steal Space from Extras" mode is enabled.
- VTS_01: 3 711 323 sectors.
-- Scanning and writing .D2V file
-- Processed 258 101 frames.
-- Building .AVS and .ECL files
- Reduction Level for DVD-5: 51,7%
- Overall Bitrate : 2 650Kbs
- Space for Video : 3 339 608KB
- Movie improvement from extra reduction = ,0%
- HIGH/LOW/AVERAGE Cell Bitrates: 3 541/410/2 650 Kbs
[20:17:54] Phase I, PREPARATION completed in 4 minutes.

Project File for Movie 2:
[Options]
OneClick=1
AdditionalOutput=1
AudioDub=0
idct7Opt=1
CCE=1
RemoveDTS=1
EncoderMinimized=1
LogFile=1
NoWarn=0
Completed=11
ReduceOpt=2
Skin=Rockas Original
Reminder=10
HalfD1=000
Convert_16_9=000
DisableInterlace=000
[CCEOptions]
VBR_bias=25
Quality_prec=16
eclPasses=3
[Paths]
CCENEW=D:\Utils\CCE\cctsp.exe
MPEG2DEC=D:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\DGDecode.dll
DECOMB=D:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\Decomb521.dll
Source=J:\GRUDGE\VIDEO_TS\
Working=G:\WORKING2\
Output=F:\GRU\
[Setup]
sLanguage00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Language00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[Audio]
Selected=101

Part of Movie 2 rebuilder.log:
Transcoding...
-----------------
[01:43:00] Phase I, PREPARATION started.
- "Steal Space from Extras" mode is enabled.
- VTS_01: 2 085 979 sectors.
-- Scanning and writing .D2V file
-- Processed 131 436 frames.
-- Building .AVS and .ECL files
- VTS_02: 997 784 sectors.
-- Scanning and writing .D2V file
-- Processed 71 365 frames.
-- Building .AVS and .ECL files
- Reduction Level for DVD-5: 63,3%
- Overall Bitrate : 3 689Kbs
- Space for Video : 3 652 834KB
- Movie improvement from extra reduction = 16,4%
- HIGH/LOW/AVERAGE Cell Bitrates: 5 402/100/3 689 Kbs
[01:46:48] Phase I, PREPARATION completed in 3 minutes.

Now luckily that Movie 1 didn't have any extras to steal space from so in this case thare was no real problem, but I'm just wondering if DVD-RB is supposed to work this way? It selected "steal Space from Extras" for movie 1 too even that was not my intention. By the way encoding and rebuilding went just fine for the both movies. I'm just wondering if there is some problems when / how DVD-RB reads project file in it does not change settings for each movie correctly.

DVD-RB is great tool :)

[JohnG]

I've experienced the same problem.

[jdobbs]

Ok.. I'll work it.

[Chelu]

I also noticed something similar to this with 'Project 2' taking the settings of 'Project 1'. I did a batch process of 2 projects in v0.80. Both projects were doing the same movie (Closer) but both had different working and output directories. The only difference was one project was saved to run in CCE mode and the other to run in HC mode. I let it run overnight and woke up to an error in the CCE project (runtime error 53.2 iirc) I also woke up to the new/amazing version v0.81 so im going to try the same thing again with this version.

I think the same thing will happen again because i noticed something before i started the batch. If HC mode is selected, then a project which has CCE mode is opened, both HC mode and CCE mode will be checked.

It is probably what crashed the CCE project and i noticed that i have a HC.ini in the CCE project working dir and also the following in the rebuilder.ecl

; CCE SP Trial Version -- Encoder Control List
; HC Encoder -- Encoder Information List
; Created by DVD Rebuilder

If needed ill post more after the batch is done with v0.81 which im currently doing right now.

[Chelu]

ok i finished the batch with v0.81 pro and a little different this time. I didnt get a runtime error but the 2nd project was still unsucessful. Heres the log for the end of the HC project and the entire CCE project.


Done.
[15:29:23] PREPARE/ENCODE/REBUILD completed in 292 min.

[15:29:24] One Click encoding activated...
-----------------
[15:29:27] Phase I, PREPARATION started.
- CCE SP 2.70.1.5 encoder selected.
- HC encoder selected
- VTS_01: 3,001,050 sectors.
-- ANGLE and/or INTERLEAVING is present.
-- Scanning and writing .D2V file
-- Processed 164,702 frames.
-- Building .AVS and .ECL files
- VTS_02: 79,379 sectors.
-- Scanning and writing .D2V file
-- Processed 9,221 frames.
-- Building .AVS and .ECL files
- VTS_11: 49,872 sectors.
-- Scanning and writing .D2V file
-- Processed 3,664 frames.
-- Building .AVS and .ECL files
- Reduction Level for DVD-5: 76.0%
- Overall Bitrate : 3,823Kbs
- Space for Video : 3,456,496KB
- HIGH/LOW/TYPICAL Bitrates: 5,546/118/3,823 Kbs
[15:34:03] Phase I, PREPARATION completed in 5 minutes.
[15:34:03] Phase II ENCODING started
- Creating M2V for VTS_01 segment 0
-- Encoding resulted in no .M2V, retrying.
- Creating M2V for VTS_01 segment 0
-- Encoding resulted in no .M2V, retrying.
- Creating M2V for VTS_01 segment 0
-- ERROR: Encoder failed to create .M2V. Aborted.
Aborted.
Batch Job #1 finished in 00292 minutes.
- HIGH/LOW/TYPICAL Bitrates: 5,546/118/3,823 Kbs

Batch Job #2 finished in 00005 minutes.
- HIGH/LOW/TYPICAL Bitrates: 5,546/118/3,823 Kbs

[Chelu]

I played around some more and I found a few more problems in v.81 PRO with project files.

*HC mode selected -> CCE mode project = both CCE and HC modes selected
HC mode selected -> Rejig mode project = only Rejig selected
HC mode selected -> Quenc mode project = only Quenc selected
HC mode selected -> 100% mode project = only No Compression selected

*100% mode selected -> CCE mode project = both CCE and 100% modes selected
100% mode selected -> HC mode project = only HC selected
100% mode selected -> Quenc mode project = only Quenc selected
100% mode selected -> Rejig mode project = only Rejig selected

*Movie and Menu only selected -> Project w/out Blank Extras selected = Movie and Menu only STILL selected

*Movie, Menu, and Slideshow Extras selected -> Project w/out Slideshow Extras selected = Movie, Menu, and Slideshow Extras STILL selected

* These cause problems in batch processing especially since the 2nd project will take the settings of the project prior either by crashing DVD-RB with the conflicting modes or by unwantingly removing extras or converting extras to a slideshow.

Hope this helps in any way.

Shoot.

[jdobbs]

*HC mode selected -> CCE mode project = both CCE and HC modes selected I tried this several times and can't repeat it.*100% mode selected -> CCE mode project = both CCE and 100% modes selectedI tried this one too, and can't repeat it.*Movie and Menu only selected -> Project w/out Blank Extras selected = Movie and Menu only STILL selected Yep, I can fix this. It is a false indicator. Although it is checked, the movie would not be incorrectly encoded as Movie and Menu Only. Same with Movie and Slideshow.

[Chelu]

I reinstalled dvd-rb in another folder and tried to recreate the problem. With this fresh RB install I had HC mode selected then I loaded the CCE project file that was producing both HC and CCE selected. I was able to get them both selected even with the fresh dvd-rb. So to double check i chose CCE mode and saved a new project cce.rbd (but overwriting the old one, stupid mistake) and used that new CCE project to test. I selected HC then loaded the new project file, and as you said jdobbs, everything is as should be. Also did the same with NO Compression mode. I even tried the new project file in the first DVD-RB setup path and again there were no problems. I guess there was something i did prior to saving the problem project that caused all that crap. Now im desperate to try and fine where and how i screwed it up. Sorry about the false alarm and for wasting your time.

[Chelu]

@jdobbs

I think i found what was causing the error on my end. I edited the 'Mode' value in my cce.rbd to "Mode=6" and it reproduced the exact problem i was getting. I also tried using values of 7, 8, 9,& 10 and it was the same for each one. I dont know exactly how i got RB to give me a value of 6 (or whatever it could have been) but that seems to be what was doing it after all.

[jdobbs]

Ok... I just fixed that. In checking this out I found several other problems in the .RBD load routine that I fixed also. The fixes will be in v0.82. I'd made some assumptions that weren't necessarily true.

[AxelF]

@jdobbs

OK - Great. Can't wait to be able to test V 0.82 Batch features.

[raddygast]

So just to clarify, what exactly is broken?

If I have 2 or 3 movies/projects that don't require different settings in RB, but I've tweaked them up with RBOpt, can I run batches successfully?

It seems that these probs only exist when you have different menu selections (or options) from within RB. For example, if you have a project with VBR Passes set to 3, and then another one to 4, will it actually use those separate settings?

Just want to ask about functionality before I do a batch-mode encode of five films! I'm not alternating between encoders, though.

One last clarification. Steal Space from extras appears to be an option that is relevant only BEFORE prepare. Once the prepare is done, should it matter what the steal space from extras is set to? Because all that does is lower the bitrate on certain titlesets/vobs. And if you go in RBOpt you could probably manually set them lower like that, anyway.

[raddygast]

Please correct me if I'm wrong. What I've been able to figure out is that project files (.rbd) really only set up options for the prepare phase. Once a prepare phase is completed, there are only two things that can alter the outcome of an encode:

1) Using the new video segment editor (blanking/slideshowing etc.)
2) Using RBOpt

Both these things further alter the RB Working directory. But if you make changes after that to VBR passes or steal space or anything else, even encoder, it seems to me that either you won't be able to hit encode, or the encode button will just use the prepared (and possibly tweaked) settings from the working directory.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that once prepared, the project file becomes irrelevant, right? Except in batch mode (if you select SKIP prepare) which would still require loading of project files in sequence (how else would it know which working and source directories to use, etc.)

I'm hoping I understand things right.

[jdobbs]

@roddygast

If I have 2 or 3 movies/projects that don't require different settings in RB, but I've tweaked them up with RBOpt, can I run batches successfully? You're overreacting. You can run batch files fine. If you are setting one of these:

-- Half/Half
-- Encoder Minimized
-- Remove DTS

Once the settings are turned on in a batch session, they aren't turned off.

If you use one of the "Movie Only" settings they will work fine -- but while processing the checkmark may be incorrectly shown (or not shown). But they function correctly.

or if you manually set the "Mode=" to a value higher than 5... (you would have to do that purposely -- DVD-RB won't do it) it is unpredictable what will happen.

Both these things further alter the RB Working directory. But if you make changes after that to VBR passes or steal space or anything else, even encoder, it seems to me that either you won't be able to hit encode, or the encode button will just use the prepared (and possibly tweaked) settings from the working directory. These programs/routines modify only parameters that were set during prepare -- but that doesn't imply that everything in a project file only relates to prepare.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that once prepared, the project file becomes irrelevant, right? Nothing could be further from the truth. If you run a PREPARE, then load another project before completing the first one... it will surely fail.

[raddygast]

Yeah, maybe I didn't explain myself correctly, and surely I was overreacting.

If you for example select steal space from extras, and it says Steal Space is turned on, space savings = 10% or whatever, during Prepare. After the Prepare, what if I turn off steal space from extras? It would seem to me that all the parameters are already set in the RB-Work directory config files, so when you hit encode, it would still be stealing space from extras, even though you've unchecked that option. But if you run the prepare AGAIN, then that time it would re-prepare without stealing space. Correct?

[wmansir]

That is right. Any changes made within DVD-RB require the prepare step to be run in order to take effect, with the exception of the new Movie Segment Editor. At least with CCE and ProCoder, since their encoding settings are all pre-defined in files during the prepare step. I'm not sure about some QuEnc or HC options.