A Looooong story!

Hello Guys (and probably Gals), are you ready for an epic story? Then we will begin.
Back in the mists of time our hero had a simple quest, to back up his beloved collection of old VHS tapes to DVD for safekeeping. Being an IT technician of the first water our hero thought “this is a piece of cake”, wrong!
The first step on our hero’s quest was to buy off ebay a Dazzle DVC100 to turn his analogue footage to digital. What a pile of pants! Dropped frames everywhere. Now our hero didn’t believe it was his noble steed, being as it was a 1.7 Ghz ; Win XP Pro; ¾ Gb RAM; 120Gb separate hard drive for video capture (DMA enabled); high end graphics card with 120 Mb RAM. So the DVC was binned. Next came along a brand new ADS DVD Express capture device, this will do the job, wrong agai - same results!
So our hero did what hero’s do best – he gave up! Now he bought a Panasonic DMR E55 DVD recorder thinking “throw money at a problem and it goes away” right? Wrong yet again!!
After hooking up a VHS player to the recorder through the RCA sockets our hero now had perfect one hour long DVD-R’s (to give highest quality), however, being an annoying git our hero decided he wanted to create compilations with menus, now things got interesting!
Consulting the Oracle called In-ter-net he was redirected to the font of all knowledge and its honoured guardians “Afterdawn”. Here he gained the wisdom of ancient gods known as ScubaPete, Nephilim and Veblin amongst many. And even though he trawls the sacred pages (currently page 92, so about 920 posts later) of DVD-R for newbies he was still in the desolate lands.
Given the programs he had: DVD2one; DVD decrypter; DVD shrink 3.1; DVD X Maker; Moviestar 5; On DVD; Showbiz; Studio 9; Ulead Videostudio 6 AND 7 SE; Nero 6 with recode and video express2 (all legal – remember throw money at it?) and armed with the guides and walkthroughs from the land of Afterdawn our hero was on a winner right? Doesn’t he ever get fed up with being wrong?
Many combination later and following advice given to others our hero uses DVD Shrink to cut up the original unprotected footage to remove all gremlins, sprites and annoying adverts, this gives him a batch of VOBs and associated IFOs etc. These were going to be dragged into NVE to compile and then add a menu, problem is NVE refuses to acknowledge some of the VOB’s. I can (I mean our hero can) add VOBs 1, 3 & 4 of a 5 VOB sequence but not VOBs 2 and 5 (other programs just crash when adding VOB 2).
This is before he tries to add the next DVD or even start a menu!
Here’s our hero’s question(s). Does he
Re-do DVD Shrink in case he made a pigs ear of the editing;
Try VOBedit to combine his edited VOBs before he adds them to NVE;
Or do the hero thing and give up and be grateful for his huge stack of DVD-R’s?
Will the gods reply?

 

Altho I'm not in the company as such greats you mentioned, why didn't you just add your files directly into NVE(nerovision express)? You can edit there, as well as add chapters and create a menu. NVE is able to convert the files.

Also have you updated Nero with update packs 1,2 and 4,5? I omited 3-InCD, because it is a problem causer, not problem solver.

Here is a little quickie guide I wrote for NVE, follow this and use the manuel to assist and you should(I said should, not would, be OK.

I hope it helps.

Open NVE

Choose make DVD > DVD Video

click on add files on the right.

From the window browse to your files and add them one at a time, wait in between for NVE to do it's thing and when the file is finished add the next and so on til done.

If you wish to create chapters, click on each file one at a time and hit "create chapters" starting with the 1st then hit next and you can set your chapters manually, (which I do it's faster) or you can let NVE do it for you auto. There is a preview window, just slide the slider, note time on right and stop it, hit the set chapter button.

Go back a repeate this step for each file til done.

Note, you can also edit your files in the same manner(one at a time) by hitting "edit movie" then going back and repeating for each file.

Note-this could take another guide in itself for editing, I'm just giving you the basics. The manuel goes in depth, try it 1st, then holler back if you can't figure it out.

Now it's time to create a menu. hit next and here you set your layout,backgrounds,buttons, text, font, colors, etc.

A very neat feature here, you can import backgrounds, video clips, pictures, etc. to incorporate in your menu. There are 3 little cameras for this import feature. Just left click on each for it's specific function.

Hint- I like to go to movie sites and get video clips, backgrounds, posters, and photos for my custom menu. You will need to play around here til you get the hang of it, again the manuel is a great aid.

When finished, hit next and you will see a software remote control. Use this as you would one from your living room chair at home and play with your movie. Go to different chapters, FF, rev., pause, etc. If you wish to change something you can still go back, if all is to your liking then hit next.

Set you parameters for burning, ie.-your burner, your HD, record settings, it's in the box at the top right.

When all is ready hit burn, go away, leave the PC alone, NO MULTITASKING !

When you return play your masterpiece you created!
good luck....



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_X_X_X_X_X_[small] [bold]GO VOLS![/bold]..Dell Media4600, XP,Pentium 4 @2.80GHz/800Mz,512MB,280HDw/8MB,17" flat panel,AIO-A920,8xDVD-ROM,integrated 5.1 audio, HPdc4000,PlextorPX-708UF,LiteOn SO[/small]

 

A response from above!
Our humble hero salutes the mighty bigorange and thanks him for his time. Unfortunately our hero is currently in his alter-ego disguise and has to earn a crust but as soon as it's playtime he will off in pursuit of his grail with bigorange's missive firmly clenched in fist!

 

Oh great and mighty bigorange, our hero has had a quick play, I mean, has done thy bidding and hath brought forth the following demons.
When using NVE: If asked to add the original VOB it does so but from that 1 VOB creates 53 chapters! Now it was a small (but not insignificant) task to use NVE to edit those chapters, cropping the malevolent ads and hewing the despicable end credits etc. However, and there is ALWAYS a however, although on the next page there is the brilliant option to amalgamate the myriad titles into 1 our hero notes that on playback the picture puts in a small (but very noticable) black screen on entry into every chapter. Also the sound has become very random, either it plays on entry into a chapter, it doesn't play for the chapter or comes in half way through a chapter! (Must be time to throw some money at it!)
Verily it has been noted that the menu maker and remote work work as described and even our hero (with his eight thumbs and two fingers) couldn't make a sows ear from the use of them!
Oh great and mighty bigorange our hero would like to know what the fek he's doing wrong cos the omens don't look good for the continued good health of our heros mighty steed (it's going on a long journey through the square window).

 

[bold]Here he gained the wisdom of ancient gods known as ScubaPete, Nephilim and Veblin amongst many.[/bold]

neph, since you are one of the revered, if you feel like jumping in, please doeth, the water's fine, well maybe a little cold this time of year. lol

I must agree with neph- apeks, your posts are a source of amusement, unfortunately, I'm a slow reader. Takes a while to get back. heh heh

Noweth, on with the slaying of the dragon. I would advise to create your own chapters, no. 1. Auto does put in too many, plus it takes much longer. I would suggest putting one in every 7-10 minutes.

I would edit 1st, then create chapters. Also, put a chapter at the end of the 1st VOB and at the beginning of the 2nd VOB, end of the 2nd VOB and 1st of the 3rd VOB and so on and so on.....

when you combined all(or amalgamate as you dubbed it,lol)you're getting the spaces between files. Go back to adding them one at a time, edit all of each one at a time, then create chapters one at a time.

Then and only then go to your menu construction area.

BTW, did you get your update packs 1,2 4, and 5(5 is the software player, you don't really need it)

I hesitate to add this, but, if this method fails, you could always try DVDLab. I know I know, more money thrown at it, right? Wrong, sir hero, it has a 30 day trial. you can see if you like it's results better, if not, dump it!

DVDLab is a better program, but along with better comes more difficult to master(that doesn't mean really hard, just a little more difficult). If your DVD skills are anything like your storytelling skills you'll be telling me how to use it in no time!

I awaiteth your replyeth?

_X_X_X_X_X_[small] [bold]GO VOLS![/bold]..Dell Media4600, XP,Pentium 4 @2.80GHz/800Mz,512MB,280HDw/8MB,17" flat panel,AIO-A920,8xDVD-ROM,integrated 5.1 audio, HPdc4000,PlextorPX-708UF,LiteOn SO[/small]

 

Twas a bright but chilly morn when our hero tripped merrily out of his straw filled mattress (no, I mean it, really tripped - he got out the wrong side and went A*&e over t!t down the winding staircase) into the lower dungeons where his mighty steed was chained to the wall by a 13amp cable!
To his wonderment there was not one but two edicts from the gods awaiting him at the Oracles portal. One from the Lord God Nephilim himself (which was blatently egging our hapless hero on just to see him trip over his scabbard - I would say sword, but the tip of that had rusted off weeks earlier when opening a can of paint and he'd not got 'round to fixing it yet)!
And a screwed up note from the Mighty Bigorange thrown in the general direction of Our Hero with a "this is where you're going wrong dolt" demeanour writ large all over it!
After inwardly digesting the Mighty Bigoranges words of wisdom (told you he'd just got out of bed and breakfast was in short supply so ..)burp!
Our hero, quill poised high, wrote slowly, as the Mighty Bigorange reads slowly (I know,I know old joke)!
Is it possible to turn off Nero's auto chapter additions? When adding the original VOB it auto created the 53 chapters. What our hapless hero is aiming for is 3 titles on 1 DVD and a menu to fire them up (not too worried about having chapters at all at this stage). If our hero doesn't combine all the chapters (which will presumably stop the little black screens of doom) how will the menu pixies know which chapters to run for title 1, title 2 etc? And will this none combining stop the sound problem?
All updates installed (except In-CD) as directed - plus additional nero menu templates.
Our hero will also try DVDlab but (and this is a big BUTT) being a Bank holiday "she that must be obeyed" - (now there's a dragon to be slayed - but broken sword an'all you know ...)hath decreed our hapless hero will sally forth into the lands of the great unwashed and "do something", so Our Hero hopes the Gods understand his absence for a few days.
Heaving a mighty sigh Our Hero steps out of his steeds chamber, and with a whistful backward glance headed off in the direction of his horseless carriage.

 

When the hero returneth, BigO awaits his command to proclaim how one may create his/her own chapter points, and letteth(?) the menu go to each title withoust a problemo.

However he is befuddled by the sound troubles on the island of ire.

Neph, this sh** is contageous, he's got me doing it.

 

LOL. You've got to love this forum.

 

Ain'teth it thou truth! Letteth me hear thou sayest, OH yeah!

(I'm gonna have to work on my middle ages dialect before the "hero" returneth(?))

 

With a muted thump, Our Hero’s size 9 Dunlop welly wins the argument with the door to his palatial hovel, and shaking off the accumulated dust from interaction with ‘the Great Unwashed’ re-enters his sanctuary from the real world.
Casting a scathing backward glare at ‘she who must be obeyed’ for dragging him off to ‘do something’ he scuttles quickly into the lair of his mighty steed.
Fretting that the Mighty Gods of Afterdawn may have forsaken him he was pleased to note that there were small missives of encouragement from the Oracle, but was also worried that he had inadvertently started some kind of contagion. Not that he knew what the word meant but it conjured up images of big, brown rats washing their paws in his mead and sniggering!
…A day passeth …
Rubbing sleep from his eyes Our hero puts quill to paper and, tongue sticking from side of mouth and mighty brow furled in concentration, begins his findings.
Twas noted that the combining of what our eedjit hero thought were chapters were not what was calling forth the black square demons, these manifested even when they weren’t combined. Combining them DID, however, cause the sound aberrations.
Labouring with DVDlab conjured up it’s own imps. These being that there appeared to be a pitiful amount of editing available, restrictions being that you can only trim a clip and only from the front of the clip at that! There is (or appears to be ) no way to edit in the middle or the end of a clip. Trying a demo of Adobe Premiere Pro was no help as it didn’t appear to want to import VOB’s!
Using up his vast supply of swear words and inventing some more just for fun Our Hero went back to basics.
His problem appeared to be at the very root of his quest – his nice new DVD Recorder!
Although he had been very careful not to put in any chapter marks when recording his footage it appears that when finalising the DVD-R so it can be read on other machines the E55 helpfully puts in a chapter mark automatically every 5 minutes or so! AAARGH!
It would further appear that all software tried, so far, reads these chapter marks as new TITLES! So when importing these into NVE it thinks that every one of the four VOB’s contains 50 odd titles. Now you can only work with 99 titles so that was problem 1, on playback NVE is trying to play back 99 titles so that was why the black square demons were conjured forth, that was problem 2.
At this point, our once hirsute Hero, now only had the same amount of hair left as Homer (not he of the Illyiad, but Simpson).
But Our Hero [bold]has[/bold] triumphed in the face of adversity (note – didn’t Moses go up the Mount in his triumph? How did he get that old car up that slope?)
Our Hero’s recipe for a compilation:
1. Take a small program called MagicDVDripper, this will take the VOB’s, edit them and output them as an MPEG
2. Use TMPGenc to join the MPEGS (tried other programs but this one gives the smoothest seam)
3. Import the edited, joined MPEG into NVE as a single title
4. Repeat for other titles

Now there is obviously room for refinement but at least Our Hero’s Mighty Steed doesn’t (currently) have a date with Mr Square Window ..!
Does the Mighty Bigorange have any comments on Our Hero’s labours to date?

 

Oh dvd knowledge gods, may a lowly traveling ranger beg of your unyeilding knowledge, for I have a quandry!!If any amongst you have thy knowledge of how to back up Lord of the Rings return of the King(for it is too large for dvd shrink to compress down to 4.43 gigs) clone dvd failed to tame the demon as did dvd x copy(both express and regular versions!) and dvd decryptor simply laughs in merryment. saying the files are too great for my hdd space that I have allocated for my movies. I humbly beg your knowledge and guidance!!

 

jaildogg

you can use dvd shrink to get rid of audio and extras you dont want, then use dvd remake to further edit out warnings, previews, etc. to as small of a size as you can, then use dvd rebuilder/cce to encode and compress down to about 4.3 gigs. quality will be excellent. only dvd remake will cost you, though not much. check out the guides for dvd remake and dvd rebuilder.

richard

 

jaildog

I did that same movie with shrink while beta testing the new 3.2 about 20 times. So I know shrink can do it.

If decrypter says your HD space is too small, then that's your problem, shrink needs HD space also for it's temp folder. You may want to check into an extra HD, you can get them really cheap nowadays,(like 35-40.00)

jacota,

you forgot the price of CCE Basic which is 58.00 + remake(which you don't have to have) is 25.00, 40.00 for pro, totals 83.00 - 98.00 . RB/CCE is the best prog for quality there is but setup is not for the faint of heart.

Apeks,

forsooth and gadzooks! congradulations on a job well doneth! Thou has't slayed the dragon(or at least the dragonfly). That dastardly recorder has wrecketh havoc in thine world. Thank the Gods for MagicDVDRipper,(which BigO has never heareth of)and the hero's determination.

Now if Zeus would only taketh care of "she who must be obeyed".

 

Apeks3,
Maybe you cant COPY a movie, but I sure think YOU COULD WRITE ONE!! (Laugh)
I love this thread…SO..I will be selfish, and hope you never get your problem solved, just so I can keep reading it. (LAUGH)
Just kidding!! Good luck to you..and thanks for the fun posts!!

 

With praise from the Gods ringing in his ears, Our Hero smugly settles into the wood pile by the door, tankard firmly clenched in fist. Acknowledging the prophet Shooters warning that his quest may not truly be over but accepting that with continued aid from above (well, satellites are pretty damn high!) he will vanquish the netherdemons of the desolate lands.
Quaffing a large portion of the tankards sludgy contents Our Hero took a moment to reflect, and to cough up the bits of stocking from the back of his throat. Treading grapes is ok but he wasn’t sure that you were supposed to do the same to hops, and besides, woollen socks and toe cheese didn’t really add the right kind of body to his favourite tipple ”Old Scrutocks Fallover”.
Raising his drink high, Our Hero bade the Mighty Gods of Afterdawn well-met and hearty thanks for their aid and encouragement.
Basking in the rosy satisfaction of a job well done, Our Hero gags on a swallow of Old Scrutocks as the dulcet tones of the lovely ‘she who must be obeyed’ wafts into his hidey hole –
“Hey lard arse, come and help me fettle these chickens”
A hero’s work is never done …