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AgentAika: DVD Fanedit Tutorial

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agentaika

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To help organize all the information I've collected from boon23, ADigitalMan, and other members and threads about converting and encoding DVDs, I'm going to write a tutorial. I left spaces like this ---- for other program recommendations. If you know of any programs that can do what the programs listed below can do, let me know.

NOTE:
- This tutorial doesn't go into detail about working with 5.1 stereo and making menus.
- For a more detailed tutorial go here:
ADigitalMan's Guide to MPEG2/AC3 Editing
- When I get a chance I'm going to give Linux and freeware programs their own distinct color.

-----------------------

Programs I Used:
- DVD Decrypter - subtitle ripper
- PgcDemux - demuxer
- Subrip - subtitle ripper
- TMPGXpress - encoder
- Sony Vegas - video editor
- Debug Frameserver - frameserver
- muxman - DVD muxer
- Nero - DVD and CD burning program

-----------------------

Copy the DVD to your harddrive [rip the DVD]:
- Use DVD Decrypter (or DVDFab Decrypter, RipIt4Me, AnyDVD) to decode and copy the DVD to a project folder on your harddrive.

Create a single video and audio file from the DVD files [demux the video]:
- Create a .m2v video file and an .ac3 audio file from the .vob files using PgcDemux (or VOB2MPG, ----).

Uncompress the audio so it'll be easier to work with:
- Convert the .ac3 audio into a .wav file using TMPGXpress (or headac3he, audition).

Extract the subtitles file from the DVD files:
- Use Subrip (or ----, ----) to create a .srt subtitle file from the DVD's .vob files.

Prepare the .mpg for editing:
- Make a single .mpg file out of the .mv2 video file and .wav file using TMPGXpress (or ----, ----).
- Import the .mpg file into Sony Vegas (or Ulead Media Studio, Pinnacle).

Things to keep an eye on and hints:
- Make sure the frame rate and aspect ratio in your project file matches the .mpg.

Install a frameserver to preserve video quality:
- Install Debugmode Frameserver (or ----, ----).
- Select 'Debugmode Frameserver' as your file type when you render/export.

Create the final video and audio file:
- Once the frameserver has started it will create an .avi file.
- Load the .avi file created by the frameserver into TMPGXpress (or CCE, TMPGEnc).
- Before you render the entire video, render a small portion to test the quality.
- Render a .mpv video file and a .wav audio with the encoder.

Create the DVD files:
- Load the .mpv video and .wav audio into muxman (or ----, ----).
- Start muxman to create the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders and files for your DVD.

Burn the DVD:
- Test the video files with a media player or a DVD-RW.
- Burn the DVD files with Nero (or K3B, ----).
 
Uncompress the audio so it'll be easier to work with:
- Convert the .ac3 audio into a .wav file using TMPGXpress (or ----, ----).

You can also use headac3he and adobe audition.
 
boon23 said:
Uncompress the audio so it'll be easier to work with:
- Convert the .ac3 audio into a .wav file using TMPGXpress (or ----, ----).

You can also use headac3he and adobe audition.
Click to expand...
Awesomeness. Thank you.
 
OK, I am trying to use this method, but I am running into problems. Here's what I did...

1: Ripped to HDD using DVDFab

2: Ripped the vobs into m2v and ac3 files using PGCDemux. It gave me one m2v file for the main movie and a few ac3 files, each for the whole movie and their respective tracks (english 5.1, 2.0, french, etc)

3: Converted the m2v and ac3 into one mpg using TMPENC Xpress. I used the MPEG tools section, encoded it as MPEG-2 Program (VBR).

4: Tested the MPG with WMP, works fine. Audio is synced.

5: Plugged into Pinnacle. Won't play or preview. File is useless

6: Plugged into Adobe Premiere, program froze

7: Plugged into windows movie maker, program froze

8: Thought it was an audio problem. Couldn't figure out how exactly to convert the ac3 into a wav, so I used Multiplex in TMPG, plugged in the AC3 and no video file and named it as a .wav. It exported the file, and WMP plays it fine.

9: Used the wav I just made in place of the ac3 and repeated #3. The resulting mpg acts exactly the same as the first one. Plays with WMP, video editors refuse to accept it.

Where did I go wrong here?
 
actually Premiere and Pinnacle should accept a muxed mpg file (even with ac3). To Make this wav, just use HEADAC3HE, it is free. Mutiplex with tmpgxpress like this:
start program
--> MPEG tools...
--> MPEG-2 program (vbr)
--> insert your video (m2v) and your audio (wav)
start

this works for me with ULEAD MEDIA STUDIO PRO 7 & 8

I don't use Premiere or Pinnacle.
 
OK, got the program and I tried it. Same crap, gives me an mpg that is unusable.

So now I am trying something else. Pinnacle accept the m2v video file, and now that I have a usable wav thanks to headac3he I am going to attempt to make an mpg using Pinnacle. The sound seems to be synced up fine. We'll see if this works, but it'll take a while to encode. I guess I am pulling an all-nighter, haha.

Thank you for the tech help, it is much appreciated. :D
 
Pinnacle is designed for DV-AVI. I hope it will suit you well with an m2v. Make a 10 minutes encoding test to see if the picture stutters or if the overall quality is accepted. pinnacle is NOT a recommended tool for fanediting so far. WOMBLE VIDEO WIZARD is.
 
Yeah, it was stuttering and stuff pretty bad. Pinnacle does MPG, but it's just picky. I am going to try out womble, but more likely I will become frustrated with not knowing how to use it...
 
Womble is VERY user friendly. You are going to like it!
 
hey agentaika, i'm using the same programs as you, but i'm needing a little help. sadly enough i need help with the first 2 steps. do you use the exact same settings that ADigitalMan specificies for DVD Decrypter in his tutorial? If not, what settings do you use? i made a test run, and got the files, but then when i tried to demux it using both PgcDemux and then VOB2MPG, i didn't really get anything. it either simply gave me an error, or the one time it did run it only gave me audio. so i'm wondering if you have very different settings for how you rip the dvd?
thanks
 
Did you make sure to click on "Demux video" in the little options section of PGCDemux? It doesn't demux the video by default for some reason. I made that mistake the first time...
 
yeah, i did. but if it demuxes the video, why do we have to run it through a demuxer process afterwards?
 
To combine the video and audio, I think. I am a newbie myself.
 
i had been using a program called ImToo dvd ripper that a friend of mine had told me about. at the time it was the only one i knew about. the early rips that i got were ok. but the one advantage is that it rips them straight to audio and video files. in this case it ripped to divx avi (though there are other options). in addition to trying to follow ADigitalMan's (and agentaika's) tutorials, i've been messing around with it, and last night i got it to rip the video off in a file that was so close to dvd quality.... just barely a little too harsh of gradations in color in gradual color changes, mostly in background stuff, was the only problem i saw. but i'm going for DVD quality for my project so i'm still trying. i may try something else... because i didn't have the professional version of Divx, i couldn't raise the quality settings all the way... so i might buy it ($30) and try it again...

have any of you ever used that program? (ImToo DVD Ripper) just curious...

i'm not at home right now, but i'll try dvd decrypter and pgcdemux again tonight and see if i have any better luck.

oh, and agentaika... do you run it through the womble tool that gets rid of time code errors? you didn't mention it. just wondering.
 
no further demuxing needed (wouldn't work anyway, because demu(ltiple)xing means to seperate audio from video. The opposite is mu(litple)xing, which gives you an mpg file (video + audio). With this joined mpg, you can work pretty well with some editors.
 
lol i know what you mean, beckman. i thought i knew something about video... being an indie filmmaker (i've even done a few commerical projects).... and then i get in here and realize i'm a complete idiot compared to the guys in here. is interesting to learn though. i'm glad these guys are willing to take the time to put up tutorials... and answer questions for us newbies.
 
lewis886 said:
hey agentaika, i'm using the same programs as you, but i'm needing a little help. sadly enough i need help with the first 2 steps. do you use the exact same settings that ADigitalMan specificies for DVD Decrypter in his tutorial? If not, what settings do you use? i made a test run, and got the files, but then when i tried to demux it using both PgcDemux and then VOB2MPG, i didn't really get anything. it either simply gave me an error, or the one time it did run it only gave me audio. so i'm wondering if you have very different settings for how you rip the dvd?
thanks
Click to expand...
Sorry about the slow reply. I've been really busy on an independent film I've been asked to co-produce in Chicago.

But about your question. I usually use DVD Shrink to rip the DVD. I know that program is looked down upon on many forums, so I recommended DVD Decryptor instead.

For some odd reason PgcDemux only handles audio with the default settings. You have to tell it to include the video.

I'll give this thread a closer look later to answer any other questions you may have, or haven't been answered yet.
 
Oh, well that might have helped. lol oh well.
don't worry about my questions. i dropped those programs and went a completely different route and it's working very well for me. thank you, though.

what's the indie film you're producing (i'm an indie filmmaker).
 
I just ran into a snag. I used this process to edit 5 2-part SG-1 episodes, but when I converted Evolution and Fallen/Homecoming they are all out of sync (the mpg files I mean). How do I fix this?
 
what exactly did you do, beckmen?
 
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