will i be able to use vobblanker?

[greygrandma]

i've been reading these forums about vobblanker and went in to have a look at the voblanker site and the directions on how to use it but don't understand any of the terms they use. is this program difficult to use as i am new to the world of computers and don't want to download something that is beyond my experience. is there a simpler version of the user guide or maybe a simpler program to take out the unwanted bits of movies like the swearing and some scenes?

[Taelon]

Hi greygrandma,

I don't know of any free software that has anywhere near the functionality of VobBlanker. But if you actually want to edit out portions of the audio stream, I'm afraid that even VobBlanker alone isn't going to do what you want.

The full process required to get the end result you want would be something like this:
Rip DVD with DVDDecrypter in File Mode
Open the VOB Files with PgcDemux to seperate the video and audio stream
Edit the video in VirtualDub or similar
Edit the audio in Goldwave or similar (inserting silence where needed)
Recombine in VirtualDub
Encode with TMPEGenc or similar
ReMux with Muxman
Replace the Video Title Set with the reauthored VTS in VobBlanker.

It would probably take days to accomplish reauthoring a single DVD with these free & loc-cost tools, and every step of the way is prone to pitfalls for new users. You may want to look into some commercial applications such as Ulead DVD Movie Factory or similar, and even those would probably be overwhelming to someone new to computers.

Other options would be to look into purchasing or renting professionally edited DVD's from http://www.cleanfilms.com/ or http://www.cleanflicks.com/ or similar outlets.

[greygrandma]

Thanks so much Taelon for going into so much detail for me. From what you are saying it sounds as though the audio part is the problem? Would taking out just the unwanted scenes be too difficult? I don't mind paying for a program even if it just takes out the unwanted scenes without too much difficulty. And thank you for the sites on the movies - I had no idea such movies even existed. Do you know if they are available to Australia? Thanks again for all your help - it is very much appreciated

[Taelon]

Thanks so much Taelon for going into so much detail for me.

You are of course, very welcome

From what you are saying it sounds as though the audio part is the problem? Would taking out just the unwanted scenes be too difficult?

I must confess, what you are talking about is way beyond anything I've personally done as far as reauthoring a DVD title. My understanding is the primary concern is maintaining sync between the audio and video. Removing a section of audio & video together is easily accomplished, (even with VobBlanker) the problem is if you want to edit the audio only (swear words) while retaining the video, you would need to insert silence or a beep of the exact same length to maintain synchronization.

I don't mind paying for a program even if it just takes out the unwanted scenes without too much difficulty.

My experience so far has been chiefly with free/cheap tools. I wouldn't be surprised if there are excellent commercial programs that can do what you propose, hopefully some of the real 'experts' here will jump in and offer suggestions.

And thank you for the sites on the movies - I had no idea such movies even existed. Do you know if they are available to Australia? Thanks again for all your help - it is very much appreciated

I'm not sure about Australian availability, I just found those sites with a quick Google search. I believe the first company that marketed 'clean' versions of modern movies was ClearPlay which is actually a software/hardware filter to play standard DVDs, but it filters out the objectionable content. I'm sorry to say that I have no idea if it's available in Australia. If ClearPlay is an option you're interested in you can ask them a question directly from a form on their support page.

Back to your original questions. I suggest you give VobBlanker a try, follow the guide here and see if it will suit your purposes. VobBlanker won't hurt anything, since when you save the project it will automatically make a backup of the original files.

If you run into problems using the software, myself and others here can help you work thru it.

[blutach]

If all you want to do is cut a few scenes, VobBlanker can do it all - no need for any other programs (except for perhaps DVD Shrink if the DVD is too long).

There will be no problems with audio sync at all. No need to remux or anything like that.

Use the guide that Taelon referred to here. It is a simple case of setting the start and end points and selecting "cut movie" OK a couple of times and "Process" from the main VobBlanker screen.

If you have more than 1 scene you want to cut, do this a number of times.

You might also want to consider DVD Remake Pro, which is very good at this sort of stuff. It is not free but is excellent.

Good luck.

Regards

[greygrandma]

Thanks again Taelon. I'm going to be brave and give vobblanker a try. I'll also have a dig through the video sites you gave me and see what information i can find. You've been so clear with your messages it's made it so easy for me to understand. I'll report back and let you know how I go. Thanks again for all your help

[Taelon]

You're welcome, glad I could help.
Best of Luck and let us know how it goes.

[greygrandma]

Hello again, I've now downloaded vobblanker and put in a dvd. Vobblanker screen is open and in the INPUT FOLDER i clicked browse and it bought up E:VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO. I then clicked browse on the OUTPUT FOLDER and selected E:\VIDEO_TS. I then went to title set and clicked on VTS_01*VOB. Then I clicked on PGCs then PREV\CUT. This took me to a new screen. I pressed play but all thats showing is a totaly black preveiw screen. I repeated this down to VTS_07*VOB but the black preveiw screen is all that came up each time. Can anyone tell me what i'm doing wrong as i thought i was following the instructions right, but it doesn't seem to do anything no matter what buttons i push or slide. Thank you

[blutach]

Totally black? All the way through (even if you move the slider)?

Are you sure you are on the movie's PGC? That will be the one with the duration of more than an hour.

I will ask jsoto - this could be due to non-installation of preview module or possibly directx.

Hang tight GGM - you're making huge leaps already.

Regards

[ZacOz]

@GreyGrandma

Can I please check if you have ripped (copied) the DVD from the disc to your harddrive with DVD Decrypter or similar, and are then opening the hard drive copy in VobBlanker ?

[blutach]

It seems that way Zac. Look at her input folder. But you could be right!!

Regards

[ZacOz]

Yeas, I tried opening the DVD disc directly from VobBlanker myself - first time it gave me a blank screen in preview, the second time it crashed. I guess it's easy to overlook that GGM may not have been aware of the necessity to rip to the hard disk.

[r0lZ]

The preview cannot operate on a CSS encrypted VOB. So, I guess that the DVD was not ripped.

[greygrandma]

Thank you for all your replies. You are quite right - I was not aware i needed to use the dvd decrypter first. I have the one i downloaded from cynthia's page dvdFab decrypter i assume this one would work as well as any? And if i could just ask another question. While i was reading all the messages last week i read something about these decrypters and remember something mentioned about decrypting in FILE mode? Should i do that or was that meant to be for a different task. Thank you again for all your help.

[greygrandma]

could some-one please tell me where the vobblanker files are stored. They appear to have been put in a zip folder somewhere and i can't find them. I need to uninstall the program and start again as only part of the program was installed. Thank you.