What kind of questions would you like to see in the upcoming Newbies FAQ?

[SAFE_Dives]

I would like to see some guides to what causes error messages that you can get with the various apps (preferably those realistically available to newbies) especially IFOEdit and similar apps.

On the same subject an explanation of what the IFOEdit log is actually telling us would be v. useful - no criticism of Derrow here, he's done a great job of putting together an app that we can freely use and gives good results - I bet there's a lot of us who couldn't do the same - me included.

Guides that are aimed at the home movie nut would also be good (we're not all trying to backup our DVDs to DVD, SVCD, etc).

[Valky]

well at least for me it was some time ago very hard to find short answers how to put permanent subtiles on movie..where to get filters and how to adjust those subtitles little bit lower than they usually appear by default.
Also stretching audio could be sometimes very painful operation and have been asked many times.

One more thing...I am not sure if this is newbie issue anymore, but adding deleted scenes back to original movie has been also asked many times.

[killingspree]

Originally posted by SAFE_Dives
I would like to see some guides to what causes error messages that you can get with the various apps (preferably those realistically available to newbies) especially IFOEdit and similar apps.

this would be a huge workload, and if done, it should rather be in the appropriate forums and not in a noob FAQ. so the ifoedit error messages would go into the ifoedit FAQ for example. otherwise the noob FAq would also get incredibly large!

On the same subject an explanation of what the IFOEdit log is actually telling us would be v. useful

again, this would rather belong into the ifoedit FAQ.

Guides that are aimed at the home movie nut would also be good (we're not all trying to backup our DVDs to DVD, SVCD, etc).

of course, but again this does not belong into a newbie FAQ. perhaps a link to the guide, but not more! If you want to make a suggestion about a new guide or additions to an existing one you should better refer to the Forum/ Site Suggestions Forum.

originally posted by Valky
well at least for me it was some time ago very hard to find short answers how to put permanent subtiles on movie..where to get filters and how to adjust those subtitles little bit lower than they usually appear by default.

doesn't a guide for this exist? anyway again this FAQ should in my eyes not tell newbies how to accomplish very specific tasks but rather guide them through the jungle of knownledge around here.

Also stretching audio could be sometimes very painful operation and have been asked many times.

again, a specific task, for an example of questions that should come into this FAQ see Jolards great contribution.

adding deleted scenes back to original movie has been also asked many times

the technical task is not as hard as it may seem if you know how to use vdub(mod) and avisynth, the real difficulty in this step is to find the right spot where those scenes might have belonged!

anyway,
thanks for your input guys it will somehow be incorporated with the final FAQ.
steVe

[SAFE_Dives]

Sorry for getting it all wrong, but I was responding to the original question aimed at us newbies by aleksander ...

"If you think that something is missing in other FAQs, that something has to be explained in more understandable way - now you've got a place to post your thoughts, remarks, etc. "

The things I brought up are "missing in other FAQs" (not just on Doom9, either).

Asking for help from newbies, then effectively knocking them back and responding in such a negative manner is IMHO not at all helpful, or encouraging!!!

[killingspree]

sorry i didn't want to offend you. somehow I read over this line (or forgot it somehow) - my bad
your input is very much appreciated.

I apologize.
steVe

[warrensomebody]

I'm an ultra-newbie here and have been slogging my way through lots of info trying to answer the following question:

What is the best way to capture TV shows to play on a stand-alone DVD player?

• video capture process
  [o] should I capture to mpg or avi (time vs quality)
  [o] what tools (hardware/software) is recommended
• encoding process
  [o] do I want VCD, SVCD, DVD? What will play on my player?
  Is there a simple way to find out? What's the most common
  if I want to give the disk to my friends to play?
  [o] what formats are recommended, quality vs encoding time vs
  compatibility tradeoffs (audio and video)
  [o] what format works for my region? NTSC, PAL, other? How many
  lines?
• burning process
  [o] what hardware/software is recommended?
  [o] what's most likely to work vs most likely to make toast?
• once I've got the basics working, what can I do to
  [o] improve quality
  [o] reduce time to create
  [o] automate the process

I'd be happy to work with you to write this up (once I figure it out myself). I'm just at the stage of playing around with different encodings, with mixed results.

Warren

P.S. Does anybody offer a dvd with chapters in different formats so that you can just pop it in your player and see what works, what looks best, etc.?

[Jo Monkey]

Originally posted by dani82
i seen alot of newbies always asking the same question, but for some reason, they never seem to uses the search feature, since they've already been answered.

Here some questions that should be on the Newbies FAQ:


how do i burn an dvd with (s)vcd files?

how do i convert an dat -> mpeg?

how do i convert an rm -> divx or mpeg?

how do i extract the audio from an (s)vcd or dvd?

something about the hotmail banned?

i'm still wondering how do i extract an pcm audio from an dvd, correctly?

and probility the most asked newbie question: audio sync?

[Wilbert]

WinXP not letting you delete avi

I can't copy and paste it, so I just give the link:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/100406.php

[REMINATOR]

Originally posted by Jolard
- What is the file structure of a DVD? How should the files look in order to make sure it will work in my stand-alone player?

There should be two main directories on your DVD, AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS. AUDIO_TS is used for DVD Audio disks, and will most likely be empty on your final DVD. VIDEO_TS is where all your other files should go.

Inside VIDEO_TS you should see at least the following:
VIDEO_TS.IFO This is the Video Manager Information file. It is a master file.
VIDEO_TS.BUP Backup of the VIDEO_TS.IFO
VTS_01_0.IFO First Title Manager Information File. Contains details your DVD player needs to know in order to play correctly, e.g. chapter stops, language info etc.
VTS_01_0.BUP Backup of VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_0.VOB This is first video file of the first title. It is a container file that includes an MPEG2 video stream as well as audio and subtitle streams.
VTS_01_1.VOB This is the second video container file for the first Title.

This is the kind of example and explanation that I want to see. Well done Jolard. I think it's very important that newbie understand the DVD DNA structure before messing around the files.

As newbie and totally new into this DVD Ripping department, I am so lost in this DVD Ripping world from the DVD Structure (above) to terminology (ISO, Demux, Streaming, etc) to ripping process.

I had downloaded DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink and did manage to mess around with it. So far, I only ripped just a portion of the video and put into my HD. I am way behind in learning to rip a complete DVD or even editting its DVD structure and content, or editing the DVD video or audio.

So with that said, any link or help would be really appreciated it. Many thanks. I can't wait to read this new FAQ for newbies once it's complete.

[killingspree]

hi REMINATOR,

are you aware of the existance of these guides? Those documents got essentially everything covered you'll need to know in the beginning. After reading those you can start over with all the other guides that are more specific...

oh and the glossary might be of quite some interest for you too (you know all those terminologies )

hth
steVe
PS: DVDshrink is definitely a good point to get into this scene

[REMINATOR]

Many thanks, Killingspree! I'm going to read them now.

lol, actually I didn't know those terminologies. I happened to open DVDencryptor and just copy it off from the menu since I have no I idea what they are.

[echooff]

My biggest frustration was trying to figure out which guide to use. I think the biggest thing for you FAQ is links to guides. The questions newbies ask listed with a brief explanation and a appropriate guide link for detailed help.

[Pierre C]

After a few months converting DVD/Divx to SVCD/DVD, my biggest source of frustration has constantly been subtitles. Problems with video or audio have usually been worked around pretty quickly (if not gracefully ) but subs are an everlasting headache, particularly their positioning.
Thanks for asking us Aleksander,
/Pierre

[farmer dan]

Aleksander--

Thanks for posting this thread. It's a real eye opener, especially if you read the FAQ's--like the pie thread This is something that I wanted to do after I achieved some success in one of my projects and posted my "Lessons Learned."

I've spent a deal of time today reading everyone's posts and looking at any links that are provided. It seems to me that, over the history of this entire forum, this community has really evolved into a complex network. From reading the stuff that's two years old I get the picture that there were one or two " main topic areas" and at least one general area OR a few combinations of "topic area" and "advanced topic area" AND no newbie area. DDOG and his compadres were discussing how to engage the newbies and yet stay away from answering the "same ol' questions." Ergo, the Newbie Forum. Isn't everyone who posted in this thread having the same discussion?

The only thing that has changed is the complexity of the forum and the proliferation of the tools available. But coupled with that, I think, is a lack of "un-informed user" information. In my office, I won't help anyone who has not read "Help"--same as this forum--but for many of the tools, there is no "Help." This may generate a lot of the "newbie questions" as each new "newbie" tries an application for the first time. As a relative new-comer myself, I can say that my major task was in learning what different applications can and can't do.

Of course, there is another variable here too--What the individual actually wants to do. For example, one of my back-up criteria is the preservation of multi-channel sound. I can use DVD Shrink only as an editor. But I didn't know that until I played my movie back in only stereo.

So what's your point, farmerdan? Well, maybe the purpose of a FAQ section of this forum would be to Guide and not to Teach. My idea is that if I tell someone how to do something, they don't learn how to do it. But if I help them do it, they learn a lot. Many of the guides we ask newbies to read are just step-by-step with not a lot of "understanding"--but they are good and necessary.

Here is a possible format for the the "Newbie FAQ's"

• 1. Basic info and philosophy--markrb threadand the pie thread.
  
  2. A few--define a few--basic questions. The one's that Jolard wrote are really good and maybe totally sufficient.
  3. This is a tough one. A list of the most popular non-commercial applications: DVD Shrink, IFO Edit, DVD Decrypter to name a few. Along with that list a glossary or definition of terms and functions. For example, ISO Mode, PuOP, image. And, what does "Play DVD" in IFO Edit do and how does that relate to PowerDVD and WinDVD.
  4. A linked list of Basic guides and what they are used for.

As DDOG or someone in his day said--There are a lot of people looking for one button quick solutions to backing up DVD's. We know that this is really not possible. I think that once we get someone involved in manipulating the software the informed questions will come. The trick is getting them past the, "I received an error that says 'Hit any key to continue.' I can't find a key marked 'any,'" questions. And, at the same time, treat them with courtesy, dignity and respect.

[Wilbert]

Codecs missing in XP:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24305

[ArdenDag]

Just popping in, I haven't been on this forum in many months...

What's going on with this FAQ? Me and Manono were doing a start on this a whiiiiile back, and I think I still have the initial copies on my computer...

Was wondering if anyone was still putting a foot forth in compiling this information? I may make a return and start working on this again

Oh btw, hello all

[killingspree]

hi ArdenDag
well actually ammck55, oddysseus and myself should be working on the FAQ. unfortunately I myself got by far not enough time to compile such a piece of work and afaik ammck55 and oddysseus got more or less the same problem.
manono was so kind and gave us a copy of the work you've done already. it is sitting on my hd along with a bit of work i've done myself quite a while ago and waiting for the right time when I once more have time enough to do such a task.

this will take another 5 months though, as i am in the military atm and have little to no spare time - which is largely consumed by RL problems anyway and barely leaves time for the everyday mod work that has to be done around here!

anyway, if you feel that you can further contribute to this project we would of course be very greatful and I would give you as much as help as possible. so if you do have anything specific in mind, feel free to contact me by PM (or email) anytime!

kr
steVe

[ArdenDag]

Well, I've spoken with ammck, and I'm willing to help work on this, but not if the process will have to be routed through every one who has their hands on the project before a preliminary FAQ is posted. I know this project is one of those things that has to be done right, but there is no reason that it can't be done, especially before your 5 months of military time is up, just because it needs your approval and your critiques, I think all that can be settled in pieces after an initial version is up, I mean it's been almost a year now since the project started, and this topic has been here for that long with still only a few replies (albeit some very good ones).

I think it's only right to get that first copy up, and get feedback from *everyone* who visits this forum, about how well it's working, and how better to reword it, or what to add to make it better.

Sometimes it takes a newbie's perspective, since many of us can't step back to see what they see, sometimes words we use don't translate well into someone's eyes who has not had much experience in the field as others have.

I think it best to post something, a forward, a quick FAQ, then get feedback, and rework and rework the FAQ until it sounds better to the point where it is worthy of being here.

[Asmodeus]

It will be nice to se a proper RealVideo9 encode guide, with all problems included in encoding with this format, eg. best (or) fast (or) easy (or) all of this encoding engine/program, use of 2-pass (or 1-pass) encoding, EHQ use, and so one, and so one ...
RealThanx.

Poor english team member =)

[slickomatic]

I would like to see more instructions on how to get rid of unwanted content. DVD-Dycrypter is great and so is DVD-Shrink, both are really easy to use but I would like to know how to get rid of the excess content from a DVD and just get the menus and movie. I'm not big on having the "special features" from my originals, just the movie at high quality. DVD-Shrink is somewhat flexible in manipulating content but instead of getting rid of content it only changes it to still pictures and you have to stip off the audio to get a good size movie above 65% compression. I am trying to learn about infoedit but it has not clicked yet. Is there a good or easy way to do this?

Thanks,

Josh