DVD Burning Problems?

[Bluesky22]

To cut down on the # of repetitive threads in Technobabble we are creating a few master threads in the archive to merge them.


I've had some troubles copying this DVD that has a VIDEO_TS folder and a VIDEO_RM folder. I'm using Nero to burn, and I simply put the VIDEO_RM folder onto the DVD along with the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders, however it didn't work on my player. Any suggestions/help on this one?

[katnapz]

Hi Bluesky! How ya doin?
I did some quick looking around after you mentioned this type of folder the other day and the best I can tell you so far is it's a folder created when a DVD is made on a Philips standalone burner. Something about it possibly being some sort of RAM structure.
The few answers I've seen on it for copying that DVD then is to either just copy the VIDEO_TS folder over to your HD and burn, or use some long complicated method that I'm still trying to figure out (since I don't have a DVD with this RM folder on it ), to burn both/convert both the TS and RM folders.

I've read a couple notes from people saying that when they just copied the TS folder over and only burned it that the DVD played fine....but then again, I didn't find too much info so you may want to wait until someone who's successfully done this comes along.

Good luck and I'll be keeping an eye on what answers come up...good info to know!

[Bluesky22]

I think I sent you the wrong DVD, it's probably corrupted or won't work. I'll have to send you a replacement as soon as I figure this out.

[Bluesky22]

Alright, I think I've figured it out. Downloaded a program that just copies DVD's and burns them. Hopefully this will work. Sorry for the bad DVD katnapz. Could you email me your address again so I can get you one that works?

[katnapz]

I have a downloaded DVD (Video_ts folder) that's been on my HD for awhile that I've finally gotten around to burning off onto DVDR.
...burned with Nero...no problems...popped in my standalone and the disc won't play...
Knowing how Nero tends to throw fits with some files, I then tried burning with DVD Shrink, which usually fixes (or doesn't mess with stuff)...burned fine, throw it in my player...nothing...

So then just to see what happens, I open the folder with TMPGEnc DVD Author...import the folder, roll through the menus and at the end get the message:

The combined bitrate of the video and audio of the clip "Title 1".....is exceeding the upper limit for a standard DVD

The current bitrate is video: 9800bps, audio 192kbps, combined 9992kbps
THe combined video and audio bitrate can be no more than 9.848Mbps (9848kkbps)

I back up some and check the values of the VOB:

MPEG-2, 720X576 25 fps PAL 9800kbps
Dolby Digital (AC-3) 48000 Hz Stereo, 192 kbps

Now, since this DVD already has a nice menu all set up and is something of a "package" I'd really like to not have to rip this apart...but I'd really like to make it "compliant." Any ideas for a simple fix? I'm wondering if I pull the VOB into TMPCEnc and do some re-encoding if it'll screw up things.

I'm actually surprised that Nero never complained as it usually whines about any problem.

Any thoughts?

...and yes, I know I could go and buy an Apex (don't need to as I have a computer hooked to my TV and can just play the VOB file directly), but if there's a standard out there I'd like to try and stay within it. Once you start to not follow those rules, then what are you going to do if you want to play that nice show over at a friends house?...guess buy them an Apex as cheap as they are.

In all seriousness, why do people tend to think that way about non-compliant DVD's (big deal, just buy a different player)? Isn't that like saying we don't care someone ripped a CD with Nero instead of EAC...as long as you can't hear any pops it must be good!

Thanks for the inputs-

[feralicious]

Plus how are you going to trade it? But wait, Apex plays vob files? I didn't know that. But I like burning DVDs with menus anyway.

Which DVD is it? In case I have it sitting on my drive waiting for me to burn coasters.

What are standard DVD specs?

[U2Lynne]

I recommend Apex players to people who are thinking about converting from PAL to NTSC (or vice versa) just so they can play it on their standalone. That has nothing to do with the DVD being non-compliant.

As for your problem, I've never seen that. I'll see if someone else comes in and says something about this.

[RainDawg]

Jumping in a little late on this one....been a few days since I've really been around. But I want to respond.

First, I would do the re-encode to make it compliant to the standard. Though in 99% of cases it is not recommended to re-encode anything, this is a situation where it would be appropriate to bring the disc into spec. I would use DVDShrink for the job, which will allow you to select "optimal" compression to make the thing just barely fit onto a single DVDR...it should only compress it just a little bit. Be sure to use the same video system as the input stream.....

Which brings me to the second point....no one is saying to buy a DVD player to play out-of-spec discs, and your analogy thus fails. Lynne and I both recommend these players because they reliably will read both NTSC and PAL STANDARD discs, whereas many other players will not. As an added advantage, they will accept some non-standard video files, but trading these is still not good practice, and we're not meaning to condone it.

But you should get one of these just so that you can get stuff across international borders without having to re-encode, as the standards used in different countries are not always comptible with our hardware.

[Cruzweb]

Originally Posted by U2Lynne

I recommend Apex players to people who are thinking about converting from PAL to NTSC (or vice versa) just so they can play it on their standalone. That has nothing to do with the DVD being non-compliant.

I've got an APEX DVD player/VCR, and the thing works great.

As for your problem, did you check your download against MD5s or anything?

[katnapz]

Originally Posted by Cruzweb

I've got an APEX DVD player/VCR, and the thing works great.

As for your problem, did you check your download against MD5s or anything?

MD5?,...what's that?
Seriously, this was grabbed from EZT...with no MD5 supplied (no surprise), however I doubt there's a problem with the authenticity of the download itself, just that someone used "lazy" standards. If the file was messed up I don't think it would do much more than burp in any program.

Raindawg - you're right on my comparision,...my point is, how many times have you read a posting on a torrent site (EZT, STG) discussing:
"I can't get this to burn properly!! I get an error message!"
Answer: "Just use Nero, and if it tells you the disc is out of compliance just ignore the warning and burn it...works on my player."

My point is that there seems to be differences in these "standards", which I"m guessing are something akin to PAL vs NTSC (well, not really literal, but just saying that different world regions have different standards).
Interestingly, I just read an article in a magazine talking about the revised Nero 6.6 Ultra Edition: "Nero 6.6,....., now offers the option of setting the "book type" for certain kinds of media. Also known as "bit-setting," setting the book type to DVD-ROM may increase compatibility with certain set-top DVD players. Even if it doesn't work with your DVD player, this feature certainly doesn't hurt."

Now, does this mean that DVD's have "red book or orange book" style standards, or are they actually referring to a regional type code?

In any case,...once the weekend hits and I have a bit more time I think I'll be looking into what standards are on doom9 or videohelp..or somewhere else. I hadn't thought of re-encoding with DVD Shrink so thanks for that suggestion.


feralicious - sorry for babbling that may have confused you...as far as I know Apex players play DVD's like any other standalone. I was referring to WinDVD on my computer(s) that you can set to file mode and point it to the individual vobs.


U2Lynne - I wasn't pointing at you about the Apex player idea,...LOTS of people basically recommend them as the "tank that goes (plays) where others won't" It's a good idea as far as I'm concerned if you don't have a dedicated home theater computer.


Finally, sorry for the combined reply...I'm about like RainDawg with keeping busy and it seemed a bit stupid to do 4 or 5 replies one after another.

I thank you for your inputs!

[katnapz]

...shoot, knew I forgot something earlier...

Just to add on to my comments about differences in standards...

Maybe, just maybe, Nero telling you there is a problem means that it's much more sensitive than other programs. For all we know, Nero may be giving an error message as a warning in the same way that EAC gives an error message if it had one problem. I've had (at times in the past) problems with EAC ripping a silver CD and giving feedback that there was some problem at a certain spot.
So maybe Nero is the program to use for burning DVD's as it's much more exacting in the standards it upholds. That error message from DVD Shrink was the first I've ever gotten.

...don't know...brain fried for the night...

[feralicious]

I wouldn't use DVDshrink to reencode. It's not going to be pretty. Why not use tempgenctpgencmlsprioajgadlgkjdaslklgfn... why couldn't they give that a normal name???... or canopus or something that's more into keeping quality.

And what was the DVD? Don't keep me in suspense! I beg you!!!

[RainDawg]

Originally Posted by feralicious

I wouldn't use DVDshrink to reencode. It's not going to be pretty.

Why's that? It's the best way to shrink a DVD just enough and make it DVD compliant that I know of.

I do NOT condone re-encoding, but in the case where the disc is slightly out-of-spec like this, I think it's a good thing to do.

By the way, TMpgenc is a reasonable name I think. The name is T and it's an MPG ENCoder. OK, so it's not as nice as some others, but it's not totally unintelligible.

[ssamadhi97]

katnapz:

Try downloading dvd patcher and use it to patch the max bitrate stored in headers to 8.0MBit

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=154#comments

Doing this should be enough to be able to burn the dvd and watch it without any problems. maybe make a backup copy of the video_ts folder on your harddisk, patch and see what you can come up with. Let us know how it turns out.


And finally tell us whatcha got, ffs

[ssamadhi97]

Originally Posted by RainDawg

Why's that? It's the best way to shrink a DVD just enough and make it DVD compliant that I know of.

This kind of bitrate "peeling" is actually a bit more artifact-prone than re-encoding using a really good encoder - I'd guess DVD Rebuild with CCE would be the best way to do it if it can't be avoided.


Anyway, I'm pretty sure in this case re-encoding can be avoided by mere patching as described in my previous post. Hey, chances are that the video never peaks at 9.8MBit anyway -

MPEG-2, 720X576 25 fps PAL 9800kbps
Dolby Digital (AC-3) 48000 Hz Stereo, 192 kbps

That just screams "digital video broadcast". And these usually stay well below 8 MBit.

Originally Posted by RainDawg

By the way, TMpgenc is a reasonable name I think. The name is T and it's an MPG ENCoder. OK, so it's not as nice as some others, but it's not totally unintelligible.

Yep.. Tsunami MPG Enc(oder) actually