Lagging/bad quality after using DVDR + CCE

Hi all.

I've been using DVD Shrink for a while and recently switched to using Nero Recode, which I believe does a much better job. I've also recently learned of DVD Rebuilder + CCE which, in many cases, does an outstanding job given the time it takes. I have, however, come across some problems.

First, I am using DVD-Rebuilder 1.10.7 and CCE SP Trail 2.70. I have also tried using CCE SP2 1.00 and get the same results. I have changed the TargetSectors to output a 4300MB file, about 4.2 GB.

The problem is that with some movies the quality is severely lacking. I just finished processing Winged Migration and several parts of the movie shows distinct lagging/skipping. I stopped watching after 5 minutes because it was so annoying.

I get the same results whether I do 2 passes, 4 passes or 6 and regardless of which version of CCE I use. Is this merely a compression thing?
It may help to know that I always follow the same procedure: 1) Rip with DVD Fab Decrypter; 2) Run through vobblanker, removing warnings and any extras I don't want; and 3) Run the VIDEO_TS folder (now just what I want) through DVD-rebuilder, removing additional languages/subtitles before processing. Some movies come out incredible, others show severe skipping. What's odd is that I can run the same video files through Nero Recode and it comes out fine.

Can someone explain this to me?
Thanks.

 

I'm not an expert on DVD-RB Pro, but am familiar with DVDFAB Decrypter, VobBlanker, Nero Recode and DVD Shrink. Have you tried to completely "uninstall" them both, then "reinstall" both back on to see if that'll solve the problem? Out of curiosity, was there any errors at all while it's (DVD-RB Pro + CCE) encoding? What kind of media and speed (how fast) did you used to burned? Is your DVD burner's firmware up-to-date? Keep in mind that it's wise to use top notch media like genuine Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim and Maxell (Made In Japan, by Hitachi Corp.) and don't burn at max speed.

To be honest with you, I've been using these 3 top media over hundreds and hundreds (thousand of them) and I've never encountered any playback issues (skipping, freezing/pausing) whatsoever. In addition, I've been using DVD-RB Pro + CCE SP 2.70 since December 2005 and I've never experienced any odd issues at all.

 

Yeah, I usually use Nero 7 to burn at 4x (the slowest speed). Right now I'm using Ridata (not the best, I know) DVD+Rs, although I could use some Verbatim DVD-Rs I have. DVD-Rebuilder shows no errors. Like I said, some movies come out great, like The Life of David Gale, which I just watched tonight, and some come out skipping, like Winged Migration or discs of Six Feet Under.

I've never had a problem with DVD Shrink or Nero Recode. I only mentioned those because I've learned that I have to run Six Feet Under through Nero Recode so it'll come out in great condition. If I run it through DVD-Rebuilder, it comes out skipping. I'm truly at a loss as to what the distinction is.... I'm not sure if anyone can answer it, I just thought I'd like to know a bit more about this.

I'm currently trying Winged Migration with CCE SP 2.7, so we'll see how that comes out (I previously used SP2 1.0).

drdeutsch

 

Hi mate, you say you changed the target sectors what exactly did you put in and where did you place it in your ini file?

Change your media use Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim.

Are you booktyping your discs?

Never do more than 3 passes as you will see no difference in the outcome.

What other options / settings have you selected in rebuilder?

What program are you using to burn?

I have been using Rebuilder Pro for some time with CCE and Procoder 2 and have never encounterd any problems.

 

There really is no need to change the target sectors as the default comes out to the correct size. The fault may lie in all the editing, have you tried just outputting movie only or full disk with Rebuilder and seeing if you have the same problems?

 

I agree with Arniebear. Editing out stuff could be the problem.

Tho DVDRemake is a good program sometimes it can make problems with some DVD's editing out stuff. Same as AnyDVD when using the option to (Remove annoying adverts and trailers).

I would suggest unchecking the 1Click option in DVD-RB Mode and try to edit stuff out in DVD-RB without running it threw DVDRemake. Or do what Arniebear has suggested and try to do a full backup of the DVD without editing anything out and see if the problem is still there.

I have had problems before with some DVD's after running it threw DVDRemake. I then will use DVD-RB to edit out stuff I do not want and it uasly corrects the problem.

 

Good advice from all. No need to change default target size or do more than 3 passes. If using +r media, booktype to dvd-rom. Although ritek ridata is good budget media, try some top quality verbatim or taiyo yuden media. I have had some playback issues as well when editing with dvdremake and the only way I was able to overcome the problems and still keep a functional menu was to rip with ripit4me. If you're using 8x media keep burn speed between 4x and 8x. If using 16x media keep burn speed to 8x.

 

Thanks for the advice. In no particular order, I'll address some issues:

Nero automatically sets the book type to "dvd-rom" when I choose "Burn DVD-Video Files," so no problem there.

I changed the target sectors to output a 4300MB file. I know the max size for a DVD is 4465, I believe. I've always done 4300 to stay away from the outermost part of the discs... several people on these forums and at doom9 recommend the same procedure.

I'll set DVD rebuilder at 3 passes, then, and I'll also start using better media. I had suspected that the discs were possibly part of the equation, but I'll burn a copy on a Verbatim disc to see how it comes out.

As for the editing, I use Vobblanker, not DVD Remaker, for three main reasons:
1) It edits out all the PUOs in every cell.
2) It allows me to get rid of the FBI warnings and that other crap
3. It allows me to get rid of extras I don't want. I like to keep outtakes/bloopers, but I get rid of any "Behind the Music" crap that I don't want anyway. So, I can be selective and reduce the compression levels all at once.

My DVD Burner is a Plextor PX-716SA, with updated firmware. It can burn at 16x, but I never burn at anything other than 4x, the slowest speed.

As for other options in Rebuilder, the only options I changed can be found here:
http://venus.walagata.com/w/drprozac/DVD_Rebuilder_AVS_MMX.gif
and here:
http://venus.walagata.com/w/drprozac/DVD_Rebuilder_QuEnc_settings.gif

I got these settings from thedvdclub.org, which is a DVD Torrent site. Is there a better guide to advanced options I should be using?

Also, I'll try disabling the 1-click mode in DVD-RB and editing stuff out to see if that makes a difference.
Thanks for the good advice!
drdeutsch

 

If the completed files on the HDD play fine in something like PowerDVD, then you've eliminated a structural problem with the files, and isolated things to some problem invloving either the burn or your standalone player.

Presuming nothing is wrong with the burn phase (media, fragged drive, etc.), it is possible there is a mismatch between the final encoded bit rate and your player...where your player does not have enough memory to keep up with the bit rate being input to it. Not all players are created equal, and so you might also try the DVD in a friends player to see if the same thing happens in the same places.

If you don't want to upgrade your player, then you need to lower the bit rate. CCE's variable bit rate (VBR) bias is set at a 25 default. I am thinking that if you raised it to something like 50 you would lower the final bit rate of the scenes causing problems. You will find this setting under the CCE SP advanced settings. (VBR_Bias controls how CCE distributes the bitrate. During the first CCE pass, the bitrate is distributed to achieve constant quality. The bias determines how much weight is given towards keeping that allocation. High values prevent high bitrate fluctuations in between GOPs, and low values give CCE more freedom to use bits in highly demanding areas.)

ADD ON:
1.You posted while I was writing this. I do not believe increasing the VBR passes will solve the problem...as the scene bit rate will likely have been set after the 1st pass.
2. I personally have never had editing cause a problem within a movie. My edits have caused problems that occurred at the start.
3. It sounds like you have a good approach to burning. I will offer that I had a burner that started going bad slowly, where some discs were good, and others weren't. I didn't have it that long, and so my first thought was that the problem was software related. Once I started using Nero's Verify option, I was able to isolate things to a bad burner...because the read laser on the drive worked fine.

 

Hi Doc409.

drdeutsch,

The size of a dvd5 is 4483 mb. The default target size for dvd-rb is aprox. 4430 which is perfect unless using piss poor quality media.

You can also set yor plextor to automatically booktype dvd+r media to dvd-rom with a setting in plextools.

With high quality 8x media (verbatim or ty), you shouldn't have any problems burning at 8x. You may actually find that the PIF's and PIE's are lower at 8x than at 4x.

Try ripping with ripit4me and running it through FixVTS if problems persist. It seems to clean up the folder better imo (make sure you check remove useles menu cells). I also had some playback problems when using vobblanker to edit (dvdremake as well) prior to using ripit4me to rip. Ripit4me solved all my issues.

 

@Mort

I am so glad RI4M worked for you, it really is a good program

 

Pete,

It is a good ripping/cleaning utility but as stated in my PM, for some reason I still have to reboot between rips or prior to burning after ripit4me is used. I haven't figured that out yet but rebooting is no big deal. It's got to be a software conflict somewhere.

 

Hey everyone,

This time I set the DVD-Rebuilder options back to default settings and ripped the DVD with RipIt4Me/DVD Decrypter/Fix VTS instead and it came out perfectly! Thanks! I guess I'll be using this from now on instead of Vobblanker.

One small problem, however, and this is a minor annoyance - RipIt4Me/FixVTS didn't get rid of all the PUOs, nor did it get rid of the FBI warnings. I did manage to delete some things in DVD-RB after preparing the files, but some of that stuff still managed to make it through.

Any other way to edit that stuff out? Like I said, it's not a huge deal because the DVD came out perfectly, but it'd still be nice to get rid of those annoyances.

Thanks for your help, everyone! I really appreciate it!
drdeutsch

 

You can still use vobblanker to remove unwanted junk. Rip with ripit4me, run it through vobblanker to remove unwanted stuff, then run it through rb/cce.

 

(Hi Mort. 'Was on a VHS-to-DVD project that brought me through this neck of the woods. 'Hope you've been doing OK.)

drdeutsch...VOB Blanker is good. However, I would have to say that one of the finest VOB editors around is DVD Remake and Remake Pro. Remake will let you select exactly which extras you want to delete... including which extras, trailers, etc. (If you can get the file size down to 5 GB, you can run things through a quick transcoder like Shrink and get the same quality that you get with RB.) With Remake you can also split, join, etc. DVDs.

Remake Pro does this and a lot more that one needs to do when creating custom DVDs. I personally like the custom viewer that allows frame by frame editing. This is a must when converting home videos to DVD. You can get info on these at dimadsoft.com. http://www.dimadsoft.com/dvdremake/index.php?PHPSESSID=53774ecc91f31b67e62bbf47e277d513

 

I have to agree with Doc409 in regards to dvdremake. I do realize however there are those that would rather use the freeware utilities such as vobblanker even though they are not as user friendly IMO.

 

Mort...I should have mentioned that Remake was not freeware. I would advise anyone to try freeware first and see if that meets their needs. BTW, this thread was the first time I heard of FixVTS and RipIt4Me. I'm going to try them.

drdeutsch...glad you got things working, and that you let us know what happened. FWIW, you can also do some editing in Shrink, and take those modified files and run them through RB-CCE.

 

Okay, here's an update on the situation: I've ripped the disk with RipIt4Me and then processed it with DVD-RB. I was also able to eliminate some of the extras and unwanted stuff with the "Preview/Edit" Pane in DVD-RB. This resulted in a dvd of perfect quality.

However, I wasn't quite satisfied because there were still some FBI warnings and other unwanted screens. The suggestion was to go ahead and run it through VobBlanker or DVD Remake. I've tried both and neither works.

Once again, when I run it through vobblanker, I get skipping in the exact same location. There must be some combination of VobBlanker + DVD-RB on this disc that just makes it screw up. The skipping is always in the exact same location, so I don't know.

Anyway, I then tried to run it through DVD-Remaker Pro. This was fairly easy to do and all seemed well. AFter running it through DRM Pro, I load it back up in DVD-RB and set it to backup. However, just before the "Prepare" phase is finished, DVD-RB closes with an error that says "DVD Rebuilder experienced an error getting MPEG buffer."

This happens everytime. So, I don't now if there is a solution to this. I guess I'm just going to have to live with the FBI Warnings and other stuff.

 

I'm not positive if this will work, but after you run the files through DVDRemake Pro, run the files through FixVTS, just updated to 1.5, and then through DVD-RB.

 

So, the exact process would be RipIt4Me (DVD Decrypter > FixVTS) > DVD Remake > FixVTS > DVD Rebuilder?

I'll give that a shot and see if it makes a difference.