Gemini's Start to Finish HD Conversion, Editing, & Authoring Guide

[Captain Khajiit]

I don't particularly need to do a separate, special stereo track for stereo play, as there's a certain amount of decent automatic downmixing capability built in to the decoder on most players. Is this accurate?

Yes.

 

[Gaith]

I know this is Gemini's guide, but he doesn't seem to have visited in several years, and DVD Fab has become basically unusable in its (not-)"free" version. Perhaps the OP should be edited to reflect the forum's current preference for MakeMKV?

 

[The Scribbling Man]

I still use DVD Fab. It's annoying, but it works.

 

[Gaith]

^ Did you pay for it? I subscribed to it for a year once, but, last time I checked, despite advertising to the contrary, it refused to rip any DVD whatsoever unless I bought a new subscription. Not Blu-ray, mind - DVD.

I wish it were free. I used the trial version to rip specific chapters of Blus, which would be far more convenient than ripping entire movies for montage purposes.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

^ Did you pay for it? I subscribed to it for a year once, but, last time I checked, despite advertising to the contrary, it refused to rip any DVD whatsoever unless I bought a new subscription. Not Blu-ray, mind - DVD.

I wish it were free. I used the trial version to rip specific chapters of Blus, which would be far more convenient than ripping entire movies for montage purposes.

As far as I can tell, if you use HD decrypter then it lets you use it for as long as you want. It has started limiting how many discs you can rip in a month, but I rarely rip more than one or two at a time anyway.

DVDs might be different. I ripped a DVD with it the other day without issue, but it might reject me after a certain number of uses or 30 days. I'll have to wait and see. AnyDVD is superior, but sadly that isn't free. I go back to the trial any chance I get though.

Also, for the record, this is still a great guide. I used to refer to it a lot when I started fanediting.

 

[Gaith]

And the struggle begins... 😛

4) EXTRACT ELEMENTARY VIDEO STREAM

Now use TSmuxer or the muxing tool with MeGUI. Extract (demux) out the elementary video stream from the transport stream. IT IS IMPORTANT to understand the difference between container/transport files such as M2TS & MKV and video & audio stream files such as avc & ac3. http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/Computer_movie_files. Here is another link with even more invaluable information on this critical topic of the differences between various formats. http://www.foolishpassion.org/vidding-tips/codecs.html

Alas, both of those links are now dead. Anyhow, I suppose that "Extract (demux)" means the circled option below...

This produced a 29 GB .vc1 file, which sounds right. Moving on...

5) CONVERT VIDEO FOR EDITING

MeGUI's primary function is as a H.264/avc video rendering app. (This is the format used for BD & AVCHD video but can also be used for more highly compressed computer formats. This format compresses video ~ 40% more efficiently than its DVD MPEG2 counterpart.) It has many great tools integrated into it, and is just about the sweetest free app ever.

Go to tools and use the indexing tool. Index your new video file with whatever indexer it recommends. You can also get these indexers as a standalone app if you prefer, but I had to donate some money to the developer for my version of DGindexNV (NOTE: The NV version is only useful if you have an Nvidia video card). MeGUI gives you access to these and many other tools for free. Best of all it auto-updates everything to the latest versions.

So, first off, every time I open up the program, it wants to update something called FFMS, which, sure, fine for once, but it does this every time:

I hit Update, something updates, and then... the same screen again, no change. And, when I X out, I then get this error message:

... which just brings me back to the FFMS loop. (BTW, should MeGUI be placed anywhere in particular? I just put it in a folder by itself.) Anyhow, I try to open the vc1 file, and all I get is this:

So... yeah. Am lost. Nor do I have the foggiest idea what the "DGindexNV" thing the OP discusses is.

 

[DigModiFicaTion]

Here's what I do with using tsMuxer: MakeMKV > then load MKV into tsMuxer and mux a m2ts video file > then demux the audio file I want > use one of many audio converting software to convert the audio into an aac 5.1 mix or individaul pcm/wav files.

My prefered and shorter method is: MakeMKV > avidemux (video output=copy, Audio output=aac lav [configure and set to highest or matching quality] you'll need to click audio on the menu at the top then select track and make sure to only select the track you want and ensure the aac lav setting is selected, output format=mp4 [click configure and make sure to set the optimization to "no optimization". Then push save.

 

[Gaith]

^ Thank you; I'll try to give that a whirl sometime this weekend!

 

[addiesin]

My prefered and shorter method is: MakeMKV > avidemux (video output=copy, Audio output=aac lav [configure and set to highest or matching quality] you'll need to click audio on the menu at the top then select track and make sure to only select the track you want and ensure the aac lav setting is selected, output format=mp4 [click configure and make sure to set the optimization to "no optimization". Then push save.

I've used the first method a lot. What are the video file sizes you could expect to end up with on this second method, your preferred?

 

[DigModiFicaTion]

It's basically a 1:1 since it's copying the video. It usually ends up slightly smaller only due to the fact that I select a sinlge audio track instead of multiple audio tracks.

 

[Gaith]

Following your instructions, and, sadness:

 

[Gaith]

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong here? Is there a different option I can use on tsMuxer that will allow avidemux to produce a video file?

 

[robulon]

I think the problem is caused by the original Blu-Ray using the VC-1 codec. Unlike H264, this codec is not one that Avidemux can output a direct copy of into a mp4 wrapper.

Unfortunately I've not personally had to deal with VC-1 media before so I've no idea what the best option is for dealing with it.

 

[Gaith]

Hm... it's a not a newer Blu-ray, even... 😶

 

[Necramonium]

Question regarding the authoring of a DVD, what program out there let's you make a complete main menu and chapters and does not force you to use stock templates? So far the only one that comes close is DVD Fab as it can author Blu-Ray discs as well.

 

[addiesin]

Question regarding the authoring of a DVD, what program out there let's you make a complete main menu and chapters and does not force you to use stock templates? So far the only one that comes close is DVD Fab as it can author Blu-Ray discs as well.

We were recommending some in this thread the other day.

Blu Ray Authoring at 23.976 fps or 24 fps, with chapters and menus - WHERE? HOW? it's getting harder

Hey all... Apols if this has been covered, but I had a look through and could not quite find what I was after. All the Progs I us force either 25fps, or 29.97 despite my files being rensered at 23.976 or 24 fps per the ripped project. Ive tried Roxio, POwer to, Blu ray Director, Blu Ray...

forums.fanedit.org

 

[Necramonium]

Thanks! Gonna look through the thread! Btw, one dvd ripper i use for some time, is WinX DVD Ripper Platinum, even though the latest version had a strange bug where the output resolution was lower or higher, but once i knew in what resolution it created the rip, i worked just fine. I like it the most, because it also has the option to trim a few seconds or minutes from your source so you don't have to rip the entire disc.