BTV2DVD Automated chapter cut and archive/burn to disk - from within ViewScape

[not_Shorty]

well, the fact is others have had the command not work for them either, and they shared how they solved it. The command works just fine for me. I think the switch at fault *may* be the --dvd_high_compatibility switch, but you'd have to go find their reports to make sure that's the one. I don't really remember if that is the one for sure, since I didn't have any problems with the command as a whole. If that is indeed the switch they removed to make it work for them then it's not really a concern anyways, because the only thing that switch does is make sure that at least 1GB of data in total is written to the disc. So if you had a 950MB DVD authored and ready to go, it would be padded to ensure it was 1GB just so that certain fussy players would still play the discs properly.

I wouldn't say I am enjoying it. It just bugs me when something's already been answered, and when that someone claims to have read the thread(s) that contains the answer and is still asking the question anyway, well, it's a little on the annoying side.

[Mike Cico]

Keith, I can run the _shorty utility to create a DVD, but the BTV2DVD.exe program I'm having trouble with.

It seems that the settings are all OK, but after closing the config window all the commands that generate the DVD layout exit pretty quickly without doing anything.

Is there a way to debug what's going on here?

Thanks,

Mike Cico

[Mike Cico]

Keith,

Thanks for the fast reply. It actually seems to work now (and is running now), but I think the primary difference is that I had the automatic chapter cutting enabled, but with no chapter XML file present (I didn't have SmartSkip enabled when I recorded the show). I have since created the SmartSkip file and restarted the job, and it's still going.

So, it looks like there's an edge case here, potentially, with automatic chapter editing being enabled with no SmartSkip XML file....most likely, that part bombs, and then the rest of the failures cascade from there. But, that's just a guess at the moment. When this job finishes, I can try to verify that.

With debugging enabled, you might want to have the CMD windows that get spawned be persistent (i.e., not go away when the process does)...the analogy of a

start cmd /k <cmd>

then the user can see what the issue is and dismiss it manually.

Thanks again,

Mike

[Shurato]

This looks like it would be a great plugin if I could get it to work.
I've read the instruction for Shorty's portion and the IGCutter and BTV2DVD, however when it runs no dvd is produced. I'm not sure if it becaue I have a Firewire DVD burner. I did turn on the Show Steps - debug option and it shows the creation of the .mp2 and .m2v files. It just doesn't create the dvd2burn.mpg file. I using a dvd+rw for testing. What other information would you need to help me trouble shoot the problem?

I have Nero 6.6.0.8 and I did comment out the line in the param_file.txt for the dvdvideo_cmpt (I read that several others running 6.x of nero also had to do this)

I noticed that the BTV2DVD calls a shrink program I do not have a shrink program in my BTV2DVD folder. Will any shrink program work?

UPDATE:- If I just use Shorty's BTV-archive-DVD-video.cmd (setting the web admin parameter instead of BTV2DVD.exe)I can get the burn to work. If I use BTV2DVD.exe it never runs the "mplex -f 8 -o dvd2burn.mpg video.m2v audio.mp2" command it just skips that part ( so fast I can't see if a error is being returned) I would like to be able to use the cut file and the wmv conversion portions of BTV2DVD.

Any help would be appreciated.

Shurato

[Shurato]

Keith thanks for the quick reply.
I have the answers to your questions and some new information.

BTV2DVD.exe and shorty's .cmd file are both in the following directory

E:\BTV2DVD (E:\ is a 160GB IDE HDD that I use for the BTV Temp files- ts0.buffer.dat,ts0header.dat, and ts0.index.dat. I also want to use this drive for the BTV2DVD conversion)

I have my dvd-temp set to E:\dvd-temp which has the generic_files directory and the video_TS.BUP and video_TS.IFO files

My BTV mpeg files are located in I:\MPEG2 and my BTV WMV files are located in J:\WMV (I have two 250GB Firewire Drives)

I have smart Chatpers turned on in BTV and I have all the .xml files associated with the shows I'm testing the BTV2DVD process on.

Now for the new part. If I turn off the Cut Chatpers option in BTV2DVD everything works just like shorty's .cmd file. It looks like the IGCutter and mplex portions are the ones having the problems with the files that are created.
I see a "showname"_cut.mpg get created and the .m2v and.mp2 files are generated but never get mux'd back together to created the dvd2burn.mpg

Also I see a burn2dvd.xml file but it only has the following information in it.
<dvdauthor>
<vmgm />
<titleset>
<titles>
<pgc>
<vob file="dvd2burn.mpg" />
</pgc>
</titles>
</titleset>
</dvdauthor>




Shurato

[Shurato]

Keith,
Yes I can play the .m2v amd the .mp2 files with Nero Showtime and Media Player Classic. The picture quality is excellent and the audio sounds perfect.

Yes, the cut file is being created in (for me) i:\mpeg2\"showname"_cut.mpg
I see IGCutter Processor go through 1/3,2/3,3/3 and then the _cut.mpg is there, the demux is using the _cut.mpg file to create the .m2v & .mp2 files. When the process launches the mplex.exe and it just skips right to the dvdauthor but since the burn2dvd.pmpg file is not being created the rest is errors.


Shurato

[Mike Cico]

Keith, where did you find the shrink program? I'd like to grab it to try using it a bit myself...

Thanks,

Mike

[Shurato]

Keith,

Thanks for the file I'm testing it right now. I will post resluts after a run with cut file enabled.

Shurato

UPDATE: Looks like the .m2v and is not in a format mplex likes. But this is only when the _cut.mpg file is used.


INFO: [???] mplex version 2.2.2 ($Date: 2003/05/13 20:27:15 $)
**ERROR: [???] File video.m2v unrecogniseable!
INFO: [???] File audio.mp2 looks like an MPEG Audio stream.
**ERROR: [???] Unrecogniseable file(s)... exiting.

I'll try a different version of IGCutter

[Shurato]

Ok I used IFOEdit to check the .m2v file and the following error is reported:

Synchronization Error on MPeg File!


Shurato

[Shurato]

yes I tried with another show from the series I have on my system and I received the same error. If I turn off the cut option it works flawlessly.

It looks like it's the format of the _cut.mpg file. I noticed that when I try to play that file it takes a long time before it starts. With either BTV playback or any other dvd decoder program (Nero showtime, etc..)

Thanks

Shurato

[Shurato]

Keith,

I ran several tests last night and the pauses are excellent for debug purposes.
Just to give you more information I am currently using a ATI AIW 9600XT. I am using the default BTV software encoder for the initial capture.

I will be installing two Hauppauge 250's replacing the ATI all together. (Waiting on package to arrive.)

Shurato

[stevehiner]

You guys are awesome.

Thanks for all your effort putting this together. I've wanted to be able to do this with BTV for a long time. It only took me a couple tries to get a decent disc out of this process - first couple times I didn't realize that it wouldn't shrink the video to fit.

Anyhow, I have a couple suggestions:
Keith: As you're working on all the chapter stuff it would be great if we had the option of putting in chapters at regular intervals. I'd like to be able to have it drop in a chapter mark (but not a menu entry) every 5 minutes or so. I often watch shows in small pieces (a result of having twin babies at home) and it would make it a lot easier to get back to where I stopped. I think smartskip end points as chapters would be great too. If it could do both that would be awesome.

With respect to multi-write discs: my DVD recorder lets me add multiple shows but I have to finalize the disk when I'm done with it. That may not be a normal disc finalize, it's quite possible that it builds a more compatible menu during the finalize. Maybe that's what you could do. Just a thought in case it helps with adding a killer feature.

(By the way, avoid the Lite-on LVW-5007 DVD recorder from Sears - it's a piece of junk. Part of the reason I love your program is because it might enable me to get rid of the thing.)

[stevehiner]

Originally Posted by Keith

Having it put time chapters is an easy one, I was going to default it to that if it did not find a chapter file but could put a preference checkbox to choose as I don't know how having both would fair, it may just be coming up with the logic to skip the timed chapters around the smartskip ones.

It could be as simple as making it so a timed chapter won't fall in the middle of a commercial break so a skip forward will always take you to the end of the break. Hmmmm... What to do after the break?
1) Restart the timing so the first chapter after the break is N minutes after the end of the commercial.
pro) Keeps the spacing so the user can move through the disc fast
con) Offsets the time so it's harder to find the place you want to stop - now instead of the time going 10, 15, 20 it will be 11:13, 16:13, 21:13 - kind of annoying if you are trying to get to a specific place on the disc fast
2) Maintain the timing through the commercial
pro) Keeps the chapters on the N minute breaks so it's quicker to count your way back to 45 minutes (or whatever)
con) Commercial-end chapter breaks throw off the count and in normal watching a skip forward command might not get to the end of the commercial if it hit a timed break - because the smartskip isn't perfect you wouldn't know if you're at the end of a commercial or at a timed break
3) Maintain timing through the whole video for timed breaks with the exception of never putting a timed break in the middle of a commercial break
pro) Keeps the timed chapters where you expect them
pro) When you hit a commercial a skip forward will always take you to the end of the smartskip which is where you want to be if you're watching
con) Might have odd chapter lengths where a commercial ends a few seconds before a timed break - could be delt with by having a tolerance of some sort - maybe a timed break is skipped if it's within 30 seconds of a commercial end

I'm typing as I think about the issue - seems to me that number 3 is the best all around solution. What do you think?

Originally Posted by Keith

Burning multiple files as a data disk is not the issue it is the menus for handling as a DVD. So, if you write multiple recordings to a disk they both show up in a root menu without you authoring? Is this only from your PC or from a home player as well?

My DVD recorder adds to the DVD menu each time you add a show. Not sure how they do it since I don't know the nitty-gritty of DVD menus. It's possible that the menu I see before finalizing the disc is built dynamically by the DVD recorder and it's only when you finalize that it builds a real menu. I guess I need to take an unfinalized disc to my PC and find out what's on it. Then again, I wouldn't recognize a partially complete menu even if it's there. In my experience the disc is unwatchable in anything but the DVD recorder until you finalize it, then it works in some other players.

[StevenR]

I have used the original version successfully, but descided to try the beta version today to try the multi-title support. When it runs it always gives my an error:

Chapter Cutting
Error Number: 9
Error Description: Subscript out of range
Make sure cutter program is in the App_Path

I have cutting disabled. I get the error even if I enable cutting, install IGCutter and add the installation path of it into the settings.
This happens with multi-title support enabled and disabled.
Is this a bug, or have I missed something?

[SBeisner]

I just downloaded the original (stable version) last night. I'm very new to it and to the whole Beyond TV program too. I'm having some problems though.This seems to be working only partly on my machine. I'm probably doing something wrong. Followed the instructions and installed in the order listed. When I go to my recorded content and select Copy to DVD, I answer the prompt to Archive and then I get an Error 76 app_path message box and nothing happens. I tried to run the BTV2DVD.exe file and accept the default settings and paths. I have Nero 6 installed and as near as I can tell, all the paths listed are correct. Any ideas? I'm very excited about this plug-in. It's a great idea and I'm shocked it's not yet a standard part or capability of Beyond TV. Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions.

Scott