VobBlanker 2.0.0.2 released

[jsoto]

Although the GUI is almost the same, there is a big change in the internal engine, to honor the VOB layout sequence, so be careful using this release, some bugs can be inside...

Changelog v2.0.0.1:

Change: VB now honors VID/CID sequence in VOB layout (original or reordered)
Added: Ability to reorder a VOB following the VID/CID sequence. Also ability to fill the sequence "holes" (if exist) with blank cells. Useful to re-process a VobBlanker 1.X backup and recover the VOB layout.
Added: Possibility to change to blank instead to delete the unreferenced cells (unreferenced material already present or created by VobBlanker)
Added: Font color management in Log window: Warnings are in Orange and Errors in Red
Added: Motion2Still: Checkbox to select between 1 sec or 0 sec of still time in blanked cells
Added: Refresh the status area of main dialog when loading the DVD.
Added: Menu initial and final size in main dialog
Added: Two new options: Backup in VIDEO_TS folder and Multiple backups
Added: Quit confirmation MessageBox.
Change: Global sizes now are three: Initial, Final and To be Processed
Change: Some defaults modified: Next and Prev PGCN pointers defaulted to TRUE. Clear audio/subs when blanking defaulted to FALSE.
BugFix: Was exploring audios out of the VOBs if the file was too short instead of quiting when loading the DVD.
BugFix: Reusing a PGC in a LU when the reused PGC was also processed (i.e: motion2still) did not work
BugFix: Some size calculations were not correct if Process menu or process title were unchecked.


VobBlanker Navigation links
Versions <= 1.5 discussion thread:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73145
Versions = 1.6 discussion thread:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=86437

Links to 2.0 announcement posts
VobBlanker 2.0.0.1 (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=634004#post634004)
VobBlanker 2.0.0.2 (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=651459#post651459)

jsoto

[blutach]

Thanks jsoto :)

In the next update, are you going to make VobBlanker able to open the files by dragging the parent folder to the VobBlanker window?

For example:

PARENT
|
-----VIDEO_TS
|
-------DVD files

Regards and many many thanks

[sweetness]

:thanks:
remember posting this over a year ago?
Originally posted by jsoto

- I'm almost a newbie in VC++ programming, so I'm slow, may be not in solving bugs, but in including new features.
- Although I've some basic knowledge in DVD structures and tables, I'm very far to be an expert, so I can do something unintentionally wrong. That means, please test carefully your backups before burning them. Don't flame me if you produce a coaster.

WOW, what can change in a year. for the good and the bad.
just feeling a little blue (no pun intended blutach ;) )

[jeanl]

Originally posted by sweetness
:thanks:
remember posting this over a year ago?

WOW, what can change in a year. for the good and the bad.
just feeling a little blue (no pun intended blutach ;) )
sweetness, that's a great post!!! WOW is right!
jeanl

[blutach]

Certainly no need for jsoto to have ever made apologies. His work has always been exemplary, and I find it amazing that he still refuses a donation.

C'mon jsoto - reconsider and let us show you how we all feel about your marvellous work!

Regards

[jsoto]

Hi all,

Thanks to all for your comments.

I had some experience in "standard C", mainly in embedded SW, because I used it in my professional life. But I was a newbie in C++ and Visual C++. I've now some experience, but there are a lot of areas where I'm completely lost, mainly in Visual C.

About donations, well (at least at the moment) I'm not going to change my mind. Your comments and your support are more than enough for me. I prefer them than your money :)

@blutach
In the next update, are you going to make VobBlanker able to open the files by dragging the parent folder to the VobBlanker window? Sorry, I had it in mind, but I forgot it completely in this build, so , yes, I'll do it.
BTW, do you like the new log? The default is blue...

[r0lZ]

Great work, jsoto!

BTW, PgcEdit 0.5.2 (to be released soon) is able to rocognize the VB's multiple backups, located in VIDEO_TS or in the parent folder, and to exclude them from the DVD size computation, and from the ISO image, when burning the DVD.
In the meantime, I've also added the PgcEdit's Incremental Backup feature.

[EDIT:] The new version will be 0.5.2, not 0.5.3.

[blutach]

Originally posted by jsoto
@blutach
BTW, do you like the new log? The default is blue... And I wouldn't want to change the default at all!

I also very much like the multiple VobBlanker_backup files in whatever place you want them option. Thank you for implementing that. Will let you know how it goes for me after I try it out a few times on several different projects (and fill up my hard drive, no doubt!).

Oh yes! The DVD loads in a flash now, too! Fabulous.

And the VCIDs in order I'm sure is a good change.

Thanks again.

Regards

[dirio49]

great job josto
love the program

[AxelF]

It seems to me that VobBlanker does not save changes made under "More Settings". When I quit VobBlanker and start it again the default settings are back. I haven't saved settings to registry (or atleast I don't recall doing so) as I have few older versions of VobBlanker (in separate folders) in use too.

Edit: Typo

[jsoto]

Yes, if you want different values at the start up than the default ones, settings have to be saved to the Registry.

VobBlanker versions use the same set of Registry values. If you want to have different set of values, change one of the names of the executables, i.e.: VobBlanker_old.exe

jsoto

[AxelF]

@jsoto

OK - Thanks for the info and tip.

[jsoto]

For the record:
VobBlanker stores the settings under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\jsoto's tools\VobBlanker

If the exe name changes (VobBlanker_old), the folder name changes too
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\jsoto's tools\VobBlanker_old

You can delete the whole "jsoto's tools" tree, but the folders will be created again in the program startup. Keys are stored only if you do it from VobBlanker main menu.

jsoto

[frank]

I cannot enable the still button on cell list of a Titleset PGC.

There are a lot of episode DVDs where the intros and credits cells are repeated, and need too much of place.
Converting that to stills would be very usefull.

[jsoto]

Why do you want a still in this case? Do the cells have BOV? If not, you can blank or replace them.

If they have BOV, well, VobBlanker does not scan for BOV in Titles..., in fact I'm doing nothing with BOV.

jsoto

[jeanl]

jsoto, I think frank would like to be able to still credits and intros, not menus. I can see the reason, if credits take a lot of time...
That's something that vobblanker or menushrink can't do at this time... Would it be hard to add that to vobblanker on a cell-by-cell basis? Since there's no menu, you wouldn't have to deal with buttons, highlights etc. Just do the i-frame selection, keep the audio or not, and you're done...

jeanl

[jsoto]

Still'ing in a cell basis without BOV is feasible in VB and seems easy, but I like the challenges :) , so I prefer to consider also the case of BOV...

But, currently I'm in lazy mode :) , just waiting for bug reports in VB 2.0

jsoto

[DMagic1]

I replaced a cell in a menu but the playback time stays the same as the original cell. The cell I replacing with has a longer play time.

[dirio49]

I use the program a lot
i was wonder if you could put on option, to shutdown the computer when done processing. Because i would like to let it process and go to sleep.
thanks.
PS Love the new log.

[jeanl]

Originally posted by dirio49
I use the program a lot
i was wonder if you could put on option, to shutdown the computer when done processing. Because i would like to let it process and go to sleep.
thanks.
wow! How long does vobblanker take to process a DVD on your system!!!!! Can't be that long, can it?!
Here's a suggestion: use the power options (in XP) to shutdown your PC after 1 hour!
jeanl

[Sir Didymus]

Noticing that the function of replacing PGC cells is now driven by a suitable IFO file. Just want to report:

1. It seems to me it is a much more "correct" way of performing the function, and it is a significant improvement respect to the previous releases (no mention of this in the changelog and in the help file...) :confused:

2. It works perfectly, on what I see...

3. It is still possible to replace the single cells of a PGC, based on VOB files, selecting one by one the component cells...

4. It isn't possible any longer to replace a whole set (or a subset) of cells starting from a given VOB... Personally, up to now, I have no need of such a feature...

So, for the moment... thanks a lot, Jsoto!!!

SD

[frank]

Originally posted by jeanl:
I think frank would like to be able to still credits and intros, not menus. I can see the reason, if credits take a lot of time... Exactly :)

Example:
Episode DVDs "Married with children" (Al Bundy).
DVD PAL, DAR 4:3, about 4 Mbit/s bitrate, interlaced. That's a very low bitrate in this case. Shrinking to DVD-5 (71 %) results in a big quality loss with blockiness in motion.
But every of the 10 episodes has (nearby) the same intro of 1 min and credits of 30 s. Makes 15 min to cut out from 205 min!
Thats why I want to convert this cells to title stills because every episode should have their own title picture.

[CoNS]

Thanks a lot for the new v2.0... Good job as always :)

A couple of (minor?) requests: :D

The stripping function:

Could you implement support for stripping subtitle streams, too?

When a stream is stripped (only audio ATM), it's replaced with a blank/empty stream. Could you give the user the option (confirmation window?) to disable the stripped streams so that they won't show up in most standalone players when cycling through streams on the remote? (I'm not talking about a full remapping/reordering of streams, like DVDShrink's "Logical remapping" option, even though that would be very nice to have, too! - I'm "just" asking for an automatic correction of which streams are set/enabled and which are disabled, like you can set it manually in the PGC editor window in PgcEdit)

The Replace PGC function

ATM VobBlanker only corrects the audio stream numbers, right? Could you correct the subtitle stream numbers, too?

Could you implement an option/confirmation window which asks the user if VobBlanker should copy the susbtitle colours from the replacement PGC into the original DVD structure.

(I'm asking these last two things because the very nice replace PGC function in VobBlanker is used by many users when adding extra/custom subtitles to DVDs. As you ofcourse know, VobBlanker can then copy the newly muxed PGC back into the old DVD structure so that you keep the menus, extras etc.)

And finally clarification of mock strip in IfoEdit vs. VobBlanker processing:

I saw somewhere mentioned that processing with VobBlanker rebuilds the various tables from scratch and thus has the same effect as a mock strip in IfoEdit. Right? So, just to be sure that I get it: If I have a messed up disc, instead of doing a mock strip in IfoEdit, I can process the whole DVD in VobBlanker (process all titles and menus, and keep everything) and it will do the same?

[zacoz]

Originally posted by blutach
...I find it amazing that he still refuses a donation.
C'mon jsoto - reconsider and let us show you how we all feel about your marvellous work!
@blutach: Yeah, you tell him blutach.

@jsoto: Great program. What else can I say, but, thanks.

[jsoto]

Hi all,

Firstly, a bug report :angry:
Replacing PGCs fails in 2.0.0.1 if replacing PGC has more cells than the original, and the cell duration has to be extended. Even worse, not always an error will be outputted in the log. So be careful if you see a warning about extending the last cell duration.

@DMagic1I replaced a cell in a menu but the playback time stays the same as the original cell. The cell I replacing with has a longer play time. I'll look into it.

@dirio49... put on option, to shutdown the computer when done processing.
PS Love the new log.Really needed?, and thanks.

@Sir Didymus1. It seems to me it is a much more "correct" way of performing the function, and it is a significant improvement respect to the previous releases (no mention of this in the changelog and in the help file...) Sorry, I didn't mention it... Now, I need to know the starting and ending sectors of each cell because the new processing way (cell by cell). So I was obligued to use the IFO or to scan the replacing VOB previously (time consuming). But the code is still exploring the VOB to compare the audio/video attributes. I prefered to keep it as it is, and do not trust the IFOs in this point.
4. It isn't possible any longer to replace a whole set (or a subset) of cells starting from a given VOB... In the case you need it, you can create IFOs with IFOEdit

@CoNS
Could you implement support for stripping subtitle streams, too?
Well, may be in a future....
Could you give the user the option (confirmation window?) to disable the stripped streams so that they won't show up in most standalone players when cycling through streams on the remote? I was going to do it, but I found problems in some settop if the streams are non-consequtive, so finally , I decided to do nothing. In anycase, you can do it easily with pgcEdit, it takes very few time.

ATM VobBlanker only corrects the audio stream numbers, right? Could you correct the subtitle stream numbers, too?
Could you implement an option/confirmation window which asks the user if VobBlanker should copy the susbtitle colours from the replacement PGC into the original DVD structure.
Now, because I'm using the IFO of the replacing PGC, it can be done, but it is not in my priority list.
And finally clarification of mock strip in IfoEdit vs. VobBlanker processing:
Differences:
- VobBlanker does not support ILV or multiangle. IFOEdit does.
- VobBlanker does not adjust some VOB internal pointers from scratch (first, second and third reference are examples). AFAIK, IFOEdit does. VobBlanker uses the previous info and substracts the number of deleted packs
- ADT and ADMAP tables are rebuilt from scratch in both cases.
- VobBlanker (ATM) only does "mock strip" in titles.

VobBlanker expects a good input material. Its internal "mock strip engine" is activated in a cell by cell basis only if it is needed: When stripping pgcs--> in all cells, when cutting pgcs --> in the edge cells, but not in all the other cases (keep, blank..). To activate a "full mock strip" in a PGC you can strip the PGC keeping all the streams ( a true mock strip :) )

jsoto

[dirio49]

Originally posted by jsoto
... put on option, to shutdown the computer when done processing.

@dirio49Really needed?, and thanks.
jsoto
I think it is, since for example I could leave the computer on the go the beach. and not worry about the computer.
Thanks

[jeanl]

go to the beach????! I object! :D
jeanl

[jsoto]

A new bug detected:
TMAPTI calculation is wrong in some VOB layouts (multi-PGC VOBs with shared cells)

jsoto

EDIT: Not so new. It was already present in VobBlanker 1.X...
Fails if you are replacing the pgcs.

[CoNS]

Thanks for elaborating regarding the mock strip thingy. Much clearer now :)Originally posted by jsoto
Now, because I'm using the IFO of the replacing PGC, it can be done, but it is not in my priority list.But it's in your todo list then?! :D

[sweetness]

@dirio49
try something like autoclose (http://www.geocities.com/pbornet/autoclose.htm), it will shutdown your pc at a certain hour or CPU usage.
or try searching the net for other shut down programs that you would like. i think that's the easiest way.

[jsoto]

Originally posted by CoNS
:)But it's in your todo list then?! :D Yes, but, honestly, there are many things before.
jsoto

[blutach]

Originally posted by frank
Exactly :)

Example:
Episode DVDs "Married with children" (Al Bundy).
DVD PAL, DAR 4:3, about 4 Mbit/s bitrate, interlaced. That's a very low bitrate in this case. Shrinking to DVD-5 (71 %) results in a big quality loss with blockiness in motion.
But every of the 10 episodes has (nearby) the same intro of 1 min and credits of 30 s. Makes 15 min to cut out from 205 min!
Thats why I want to convert this cells to title stills because every episode should have their own title picture. Here's (http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48866) a way to still the credits without audio. It would work equally well on an intro to an episode.

Regards

[Sir Didymus]

Now, I need to know the starting and ending sectors of each cell because the new processing way (cell by cell). So I was obligued to use the IFO or to scan the replacing VOB previously (time consuming). But the code is still exploring the VOB to compare the audio/video attributes. I prefered to keep it as it is, and do not trust the IFOs in this point.


Thanks for the clarification...


Replacing PGCs fails in 2.0.0.1 if replacing PGC has more cells than the original, and the cell duration has to be extended.


By the way it seems to me some glitch is present in the pgc replace function also in case the nr. of cells is the same, and no warning is generated... Not totally sure about, so... I will do some more testing on the subject before reporting the situation... [...and next time I will double check with VobEdit before stating immediately "it works perfectly..."...]...

Cheers, and keep up with your powerful set of applications.
Your work is highly appreciated.
SD

[blutach]

This would need to be implemented, if at all, as an option. People who retain menus will not want this unless they like to reprogram menus (easy to do with PgcEdit). It can have particularly nasty effects in the "forced" stream (which may not be labeled as forced at all).

As jsoto points out, for those who want to, it is very easy to renumber streams in PgcEdit.

Also, some standalones don't like disabled streams in the middle of a set of streams.

So, I ask that this be adopted, if at all, carefully.

Regards

[dirio49]

Originally posted by sweetness
@dirio49
try something like autoclose (http://www.geocities.com/pbornet/autoclose.htm), it will shutdown your pc at a certain hour or CPU usage.
or try searching the net for other shut down programs that you would like. i think that's the easiest way.
Yes, I tried it but you will have to guess how long it would take.
In addition you can only use it in administrative mode. a regular user cannot do that.
Thanks
T

[AxelF]

Minor problem / bug with VobBlanker.

When you open VobBlanker, it opens as a "window". Now if you minimize VobBlanker to taskbar, and then restore it back the GUI looses those three buttons in the bottom of the GUI - Abort, Process!!, Quit.

Similar thing happens if you Maximize the VobBlanker GUI.

I have Win2K SP4.

[jsoto]

I have another report (with an image) about "disappearing" buttons, but other ones, specifically Preview ones.

I'm absolutely confused. I do not experience this kind of effects, neither in XP nor in Win2k.

Anyone can help?. I do not know what to do...

jsoto

[arsmori]

Originally posted by jsoto
I have another report (with an image) about "disappearing" buttons, but other ones, specifically Preview ones.Yeah, I got that too with menu PGCs, but not the abort process quit buttons.
The preview option stay in the right-click menu and is functional though.
WinXP, old NVidia Detonator v2.08 driver and DirectX v9.0c (not sure it matter).

[CoNS]

Originally posted by jsoto (about mock strips in IfoEdit and VobBlanker respectively)
Differences:
- VobBlanker does not support ILV or multiangle. IFOEdit does.
- VobBlanker does not adjust some VOB internal pointers from scratch (first, second and third reference are examples). AFAIK, IFOEdit does. VobBlanker uses the previous info and substracts the number of deleted packs
- ADT and ADMAP tables are rebuilt from scratch in both cases.
- VobBlanker (ATM) only does "mock strip" in titles.

VobBlanker expects a good input material. Its internal "mock strip engine" is activated in a cell by cell basis only if it is needed: When stripping pgcs--> in all cells, when cutting pgcs --> in the edge cells, but not in all the other cases (keep, blank..). To activate a "full mock strip" in a PGC you can strip the PGC keeping all the streams ( a true mock strip :) )I have a number of older backups, which I've edited (or butchered!) in a non-compliant way, typically by demuxing the main movie, compressing the video and/or adding custom subs, muxing the main movie and simply copying the new .vob files back into the original dvd structure in windows explorer!! Without any rebuilding of tables, nav packs etc...!! (Of course when editing discs now, I use VobBlanker's replace PGC function for the last part)

When I load them old butchered backups in pgcedit, I usually get an error like this when auto-scanning the titles for BOV: Image (http://home25.inet.tele.dk/dvdkat/pgcedit1.png)

Suggestion for r0lZ: This error is very common when a disc has been "butchered". However, the error keeps coming in the same BOV scan, which makes PgcEdit "hang". Perhaps you could abort the BOV scan of the specific VTST (or the whole disc?) when the error occurs? Or give the user the option to do so?

A question for you all: I guess that a mock strip in IfoEdit or processing the title in VobBlanker will probably fix it (and maybe IfoUpdate?)...? But what is the easiest/fastest/least harddisk space consuming way of correcting the error?

[jeanl]

A mock strip in ifoedit will do the job. It's fast (nearly instantaneous for menus, maybe not for movies) and uses no space (I usually do it "in place" because it's much faster)...
jeanl

[CoNS]

Thx, jeanl. I got it to work now with an IfoEdit mock strip "in place" as you suggested. I followed 2COOL's guide How to Do a Mock Strip using IfoEdit (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84097) combined with jsoto's tip in the same thread, and it worked!

[CoNS]

Is there a quick way to check if a mock strip is needed, without burning a coaster first? Sometimes the BOV scanner in PgcEdit complains like I've described above, but other times I can't tell if a mock strip is needed until I've burned the disc and played in my standalone...?

You may say that I could just do a mock strip in any case to be sure, but it takes forever with discs with many titlesets (like Shark Tale or Shrek 2, which I have recently backed up. They have 24 titlesets each!)

Another question: Does IfoUpdate also do a rebuilding of the various tables, update nav pointers etc., or does it do something completely different than a mock strip in IfoEdit?

[jsoto]

Many errors can be detected loading the DVD in dvdshrink. It checks all the ADMAP tables and also ADT ones.

IFOUpdate does not modify the VOBs. Is uses the two good authored IFOs, the original and the newly authored one (the one created by the muxer, like IFOedit or Muxman one) and mixes the information inside to allow you to do the substitution of the VOB.

jsoto

[Fabiano]

One request, if I may:

Processing only Menu

Having a DVD with multiangle and/or multi ILV cells will, by default, skip that titleset.
Processing that titleset anyway will most likely result in some playback problems.
However, most of the times, I don't need to process the movie part of the titleset, just the menus.
Is it possible to include this feature to only process the menus, skipping the process part of the movie in the respective titleset?


Great work and many thanks, jsoto! :thanks:

[r0lZ]

Just unselect the Process Titles checkbox.

[jsoto]

Originally posted by r0lZ
Just unselect the Process Titles checkbox.
Yep. Also check "Use input folder". If not, you'll have to copy the VOBs to the destination folder.
jsoto

[blutach]

Cutting a title. From start to partway through end of credits with keep movie selected. Message appears saying broken GOP.

I accept and continue.

Now what happens is part of cell 1 gets cut (as well as the final cell). See attached log - when mpucoder allows it :). Why is this? I wouod expect only the final cell to be cut.

Is it correct?

EDIT: Log emailed to you

Regards

[jsoto]

Originally posted by blutach
Cutting a title. From start to partway through end of credits with keep movie selected. Message appears saying broken GOP. When does the message pop up? marking the start or the end? You should keep the start as "start" and set only the end mark...
Now what happens is part of cell 1 gets cut (as well as the final cell). Why is this? I wouod expect only the final cell to be cut.
Mmm. Not sure I'm understanding your question..
If you are talking about the log lines:

VTS 01: Fixing VOB pointers in 2 Cells of 26
Fixing Cell # 2, VID=2 CID=1
Fixing Cell # 26, VID=3 CID=12

They are correct, although not optimized. It is in my TODO to detect if one of the edge cells is "complete" (not cut at all, as in your case, cell #1) and, in this cell, skip the pointer adjustments. Currently I'm marking both cells (initial and end) to be adjusted. Note that a pointer adjustment in a "complete" cell does nothing.

But if you are experiencing a real cut in cell #1, seems this is an error. In this case, please send me the project file (File-> save as..)

jsoto
BTW, I’m a little busy starting up (cables, etc) my new 42” plasma.... :)

[blutach]

Message appears on the end mark. Start is at start cell 1, LBA 0. This is why I was puzzled - as you can see, the log says

"Cutting Cell VID/CID: 02/01"

Every other cell is kept except 3/12 (which is the cell to be cut).

Also, as you can see, pointers are fixed in 2 cells. Again, I would have expected 2/1 to be left alone but I guess given it has been cut, the DSIs need adjusting.

Note: It plays OK!

Happy times with your new plasma system :)

Regards

[voo_doo99]

@jsoto

Could the "Quit Confirmation Message" [new in 2001] be bypassed after a "PROCESS" in VobBlanker?. The deed was done so there is no benefit for a confirmation here. Please, I do blanking all the time and the extra check is just so so bothersome :(
:thanks: