ST-TNG Info For kjnick

Hi kjnick :

I'll respond here because the 'Green Room' is for dvdxcopy.

I take it you want to use TMPGEnc to make VideoCDs and not try to make dvd version(s) of them. This post is based on that premise.

I always rip the discs in the boxed set with Smartripper because it gives you full control over which chapters (episodes) you wish to rip. Most of the discs in the series have the shows recorded in separate groups of vobs, so in those cases, just rip the separate groupings into separate folders.

Occassionally, some discs have all four episodes crammed into one BIG set of vobs. That is no problem either! Simply rip the whole group (all chapters) into a separate folder. Later on you will be using TMPGEnc to define and encode *only* the episode you wish.

The idea, kjnick, is to use TMP to encode the episodes of your choice. Depending on how the Star Trek disc in question was laid out, you will either encode one whole episode per encode session, OR you will pull out your preferred episode from the block of four. I'll show you how to do that later. Right now, we want to rip your discs.

For example, this is how Star Trek - The Next Generation Boxed Set (Season 1) is laid out:

Disc 1 = Full Block - 3 Episodes (The first episode, "Encounter At Farpoint", is actually a double-episode), plus two other standard episodes.

Disc 2 through Disc 6 ALL have each 4 episodes recorded as separate sets of vobs. Rip each group into a *separate* folder! If you haven't got a lot of HDD space, you're going to have to rip and fully process (encode) each disc before moving on to the next.

Disc 7 = The final 2 episodes are separately recorded, plus the 4 "Mission Logs" ('extras' material, also recorded separately). That will mean 6 separate rips into 6 different folders.

Breakdown:

Disc 1 - Double Episode, + 2 standard Episodes, full block.

Disc 2 - 4 separate episodes.
Disc 3 - 4 separate episodes.
Disc 4 - 4 separate episodes.
Disc 5 - 4 separate episodes.
Disc 6 - 4 separate episodes.

Disc 7 - 2 separate episodes, plus 4 separate "Mission Log" segments.

In ALL cases, when ripping these discs, use "Smartripper's "Movie Mode" and enable "Stream Processing". This will allow you to choose only one audio track to be ripped along with your video. I always use just the 2-channel stereo soundtrack, because I neither want or have the ability to play back the 5.1 audio in it's native 6-channel format, and besides, we are making vcds for playback on *standard* television sets, not for home theater systems.

From here on in kjnick, it becomes a matter of following the a/D article here :

http://www.afterdawn.com/articles/archive/dvd2vcd_with_smart_dvd2avi_tmpgenc.cfm

This is an *excellent* article, and has been my "bible" for making standard white-book videocds for a couple of years now. It uses the crucial programs, SmartRipper, DVD2AVI, and TMPGEnc, along with the cd-burning software of your choice, to make vcds that I expect would rival the commercial ones. (I've never seen a retail videocd).

If you've never made vcds before, I suggest you stick to this article to the letter. It works! Later on, you can modify your methods a little, but right now, if you're new to this, stick to the article.

One thing I DO do though (not mentioned in article), is to *always* use TMPGEnc's "Source Range" option (found under the 'Advanced' tab) to encode ONLY the episode of your choice. In other words, I would NOT try to encode a full block of four episodes in one big clump, (and then split up later), rather, I use the Sourch-Range feature to directly specify the start and end points of each episode in the block of four. (This will only be necessary for Disc # 1). For the rest, you can simply encode the whole thing, as each episode is separate.

After a while, believe it or not, the entire (above) procedure becomes second-nature to you, and you do it hardly without even thinking. It just *looks* complicated in print - but I assure you, it is a piece of cake.

Just remember, each Star Trek episode IS separately code-able into a separate file for burning onto standard cdrs. (One episode per disc). And they should definately play back on the vast majority of modern dvd players. All 4 'Mission Logs' on the last disc, only take up 66 minutes in total, so all four of them will comfortably fit on a separate vcd as well.

Now that I've totally confused you, GOOD LUCK!

-- Klingy --

 

I've only made standard vcds out of them, Bandolero. (mpeg-1). I cannot say why (your vcds) wouldn't play back on your standalone - could be for a lot of different reasons.

Without first transcoding to lower bit-rate mpeg-2's (using tmpgenc or rempeg or whatever), NO, the whole first dvd of the set will NOT fit on a DVD5 single layer blank. None of the discs in the set will. The first disc alone is about 180 minutes'-worth. But you DO have the right idea, Bandolero - get the individual episodes DOWN in size (you might even want to split up the double-episode "Encounter At Farpoint" into two separate episodes (I did, for vcd use), but strictly speaking, that isn't necessary for authoring to a new dvd).

You'll find (or already *have* found), that transcoding to mpeg-2 takes *way* longer than transcoding to mpeg-1, but we just have to live with that.

Since I'm not familiar with ulead dvd movie factory's software (only ifoedit), you will have to author the mpeg-2s however ulead expects. With ifoedit - it wants the video and audio portions of the episode split up into their component parts - an m2v video part, and an .mpa audio part. (.mp2 audio, at 48kHz sampling). Don't worry - TMPG will, for example, transcode the original vobs for you into the correct format for you (choose the right template), and will also split the final transcoded file for you too. (.m2v and .mpa).

You'll then have to use ulead to author (from scratch) those two files. (Let's hope the a/v sync isn't *way off*! Mine usually is, but thankfully, not with ordinary vcds).

With ifoedit, it only supports the ONE episode! (Or just *one* movie). Damn. Multiple episodes (as in ST-TNG) are not possible *yet*, but I believe that function will eventually come. I hope ulead will allow you to create separate TITLES, because you'll need at least 3 titles to get the first disc on dvd; and 4 titles each for the rest except the last one - for disc # 7, you will need to author *six* titles if you don't want to miss anything! (2 episodes plus the four 'mission logs'). You could, if you wanted to, merge the 4 mission logs into one segment (it's easy to do; use tmpgenc), then you would only need to author 3 titles for the last disc instead.

WheW!

It's a LOT of work my friend, and there are absolutely no guarantees how you will finally make out! And it takes *mountains* of time and patience! Read the guides here in the a/D Guides Section. It might be easier in the end, to consider something like dvdxcopy to do all the really hard work for you, but of course, dvdxcopy will not allow you to get *any* of the full, two-layer ST-TNG discs onto a single blank, because it does not transcode anything to a lower bitrate. This you will have to do yourself.

Good Luck!

(See you in 2005!)

-- Klingy --