Help with 'compilations'

[DeadSerious]

What's the best way to make a compilation DVD?

Here's the background:

I teach film courses, and the school finally got a "SMART" classroom, with DVD player, projector, etc. What I'd like to do is compile various scenes from my DVDs onto a DVD-R, so as not to have to constantly be changing DVDs, searching, etc. during class.

I've tried using DVDshrink's re-authoring function (and the start/end function) to put the clips together, save them to a hard drive and then burn them.

1: used reauthoring to create each individual clip and move it to hard drive (in its own folder).

2: used reauthoring to then move each clip into a 'final' compilation (again in a new folder).

3: burned with NERO


When I tried to play it, it worked for a while, but then skipped a bunch of clips, jumping to the end. If I use the PREVIOUS button, I can go back, but occasionally, it freezes at the beginning of one of the titles. Could that be a problem (that the DVD is composed of numerous TITLES instead of CHAPTERS)? Just in case it was a bad burn, I tried it a second time, with the same result.

It seems there's got to be a better/simpler/more reliable way to do this. Also, I think I would want to create multiple chapters rather than titles, yes? I welcome any suggestions.

[Reiss]

usually these sort of problems, jumping/skipping etc are due to incompatibilities with DVD player & the media you are burning to.

if your standalone DVD player is more than a couple of years old, it probably wont play DVD-/+R media.

I tried TDK & Maxell DVD+R media, maxell didnt play on anything other than PC DVD player & the TDK played on some but not others.

Highly recommended in this forum is Ritek DVD media.
you can get them here pretty cheap - http://www.meritline.com/ritekdvdrdvdrw.html

havent tried them myself yet, but will be on my next purchase.

let me know how it goes.

[DeadSerious]

Thanks, Reiss, but the player definitely plays DVD-/+R. I've done home movies that play fine. This new DVD even causes problems playing back on the burner itself, which is why initially I thought it was a bad burn.

I'm pretty sure it must have something to do with the way I'm putting the DVD together. (Although I'm new to all this, so what do I know?) Is there a limit to the number of titles on a DVD, or number of chapters in a title?

I should also point out for clarification that when I say it skipped and jumped, I mean it skipped over a number of titles. The clips that did actually play, played smoothly. For example, say I've got titles A, B, C, D, and E. I'm playing A, press NEXT, and it jumps to E. While E is playing, I can press PREVIOUS, and it will move to the beginnings of D, C, and B, but then it freezes on B, and I have to turn it off and back on.

Regardless of the cause, I'm still thinking there's probably a better way to do this than I did. Anybody have any ideas?

[setarip]

After using DVD Shrink to re-author the multiple TITLES, load them into "TMPGEnc DVD Author" (different than "TMPGEnc") as "separate tracks" - and EASILY create a menu or menus and, if you wish, chapters...

[DeadSerious]

Thanks, Setarip. You seem to be the sage around here, and I'm glad you weighed in on this. I'm d/loading the program now, and I'll give it a shot. I did manage another way in the meantime, basically manually renaming/renumbering the various title VOBs, joining them with vobedit to make one title, creating new IFO files and restructuring the whole thing with IFOedit. That seems to have worked, but seemed overly long and complicated--and no menu. I'm hoping your suggestion will be just what I'm looking for. I'll post results here if anyone's interested.

Thanks again!

[DeadSerious]

One last thought. TMPGEnc DVD Author seems to require an NTFS drive, which mine isn't. Am I right in thinking since none of my various clips is going to be longer than 4gig and in fact the DVD itself will be barely that long, that I'll be okay with FAT32?

[DeadSerious]

Okay, I tried using TMPGEnc DVD Author, which seems like EXACTLY what I'm looking for. One major problem--It doesn't seem to recognize the audio in any of the clips. It gives a choice of the available audio tracks when selecting the source, but no matter which one I choose, the next screen tells me under clip properties "no audio available." I know the audio is there, as the clips will play fine on a software DVD player. Am I missing a step between DVDshrink and TMPGEnc DVD Author?

[maa]

Tip:
Its more reliable to cut in shrinks re-author "Start - End" dialog using exact chapter numbers rather than the sliders.
AC3 (Dolby soundtrack) can easilly get broken otherwise.

[DeadSerious]

Thanks, maa. I tried re-doing the cuts as you suggested. Still no dice. This is really frustrating. I've tried following the instructions everyone has provided to the letter with absolutely no luck. It's still not recognizing the audio (in TMPGEnc DVD) and while TMPGEnc seems to be able to de-multiplex, it just won't accept the audio stream when I try to recombine them.

Still looking for suggestions, though.

[maa]

If each clip plays ok on its own and multiclips made with shrink play fine on the compter, then the stutter between titles is due to the speed or reading capability of your standalone player.

Dvd-Lab puts "clips" in "movie" windows which end up as seperate PGCs (program chains) of a single title set.
It also has the best menu making around - try the demo!

Another thread that may help (read further down about joining VOBs):
Using DVDShrink as a Cutter

cheers

[ormonde]

"MPGEnc seems to be able to de-multiplex, it just won't accept the audio stream when I try to recombine them."

Try to use VirtualDubMod–a free program to extract your audio stream. Then go back to TMPGEnc and "Multiplex" the video and audio together. Use the guide at the link listed below for reference. NOTE: use "VOB" instead of "AVI" as your video source.

http://afterdawn.com/guides/archive/extract_ac3_from_avi.cfm

[DeadSerious]

Thanks, guys. It's not necessarily a stutter between titles, as it is actually skipping over a number of titles. i.e. it goes from title 10 to title 15, say.

Ormonde--I tried using VirtualDubMod. I have absolutely no trouble extracting the streams. But no matter what method or program I use, when I go back to TMPGEnc, it won't recognize the audio stream.

damn frustrating, I'm tellin' ya.

[ormonde]

"But no matter what method or program I use, when I go back to TMPGEnc, it won't recognize the audio stream."

Describe, exactly in detail, what you are doing in TMPGEnc to multiplex the video and audio streams.

[DeadSerious]

Okay, I've used simple and the regular. I'll state the regular way first.

open TMPGEnc, then file, and MPEG tools
select demultiplex tab, then select 'all files' (so i can list the VOB) and select my VOB file.

Then the stream information comes up--one video, with appropriate info; four audio streams (but no info listed for them); a private stream_2; and a padding_stream. Only the video and four audio streams are selected. (and I've tried playing around with selecting one or the other of the four audio streams)

I double click on the video stream and save it.

I double click on the audio stream, but instead of giving me a "save as type" choice it just says all files. the name suggested is "VTS_01_1." with no extension. I add the .ac3 extension myself and hit save.

Then I select multiplex tab, MPEG-1 system(automatic) is selected. I click on add, and add the video stream. No problem. The video stream is listed. But...when I select add again, choose the .ac3 file I just made and click open? Nothing shows up on the file list under the video info. But no error message either.

That's the sticking point. I've tried demuxing with other programs, but the same thing happens when I go back to TMPEGEnc to multiplex the files. I'm wondering if maybe I'm missing a codec or using the wrong one or something, because the problem seems to be in either:

a) extracting the audio stream, but the problem occurs no matter what program I use. or

b) TMPEGEnc doesn't work with .ac3 files, which wouldn't seem to be the case, since many people here seem to have had success with it. or

c) something else I haven't thought of yet

[maa]

Why are you battling with problems you don't need ? - demuxing shouldn't be necessary for your compilation !!
The files were Muxed correctly in the first place, you just need to cut them up.

DVDShrinks output is excellent - so why mess with it
(Or if its not your problem is right there - don't continue on to another app.)

Slow down, and analyzse what you're doing carefully.
Extract ONE song with the chapter selection method in DVDShrink- Re-Author. Back it up to HD, test it with PowerDVD and if OK, burn to DVD-RW - TEST that on the computer and then on the standalone player.
If thats ok do a couple more tracks and repeat the procedure.
You need to find exactly where the files get corrupted or which player / media is causing the problem.

With that solved and the knowledge that you have perfect seperate files - start thinking about authoring software for the menus.

Write your conclusions in the next post here.

cheers

maa