[dteirney]

technically; the stacking code checks for dir/VIDEO_TS.ifo and dir/VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.ifo and stacks these down to one entry named dir.

dteirney, that is NOT a dvd. a dvd ALWAYS includes VIDEO_TS.ifo - that's what makes it a dvd and not a bunch of .vob files.

Correct, not a complete DVD. Poor naming on my part for the folder. It's just the copy of the chapter that contains the actual movie - didn't see the need for anything else at the time.

For anyone else that may want to just copy the movie chapter off a DVD, here is the file layout that I ended up with. The chapter .IFO file isn't needed and neither is the .BUP file, and neither is the VIDEO_TS folder.

Code:

dvds
`-- The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
    |-- VTS_02_1.VOB
    |-- VTS_02_2.VOB
    `-- VTS_02_3.VOB

Add the following to advancedsettings.xml. This will stack the VTS_02_n.VOB files into a single file so there is only one entry for the entire chapter in the Library. Note that this is a different regexp to the one on the Movie Stacking in Advanced Settings.xml wiki page. It will not handle any ignore characters (which is fine for all my files because I don't have any extra rubbish in the filenames).

Code:

<moviestacking action="append">
<regexp>(.*?)[ ._-]*([0-9])()(\.[^.]+)$</regexp>
</moviestacking>

Set the scraper to use the foldername for lookups.

[dteirney]

Or a regular expression that isn't nearly as likely to play whack a mole with sequels like "Weekend at Bernies 2".

Code:

(.*?)[ ]*[._-]+[ ]*([0-9])()(\.[^.]+)$

[t2ffn]

I need some help with this too please.

I have

Fresh Prince of Bel Air
- Fresh Prince of Bel Air Season 1 (DVD 1)
-- VIDEO_TS
|-- VTS_02_0.BUP
|-- VTS_02_0.IFO
|-- VTS_02_1.VOB
|-- VTS_02_2.VOB
`-- VTS_02_3.VOB
- Fresh Prince of Bel Air Season 1 (DVD 2)
-- VIDEO_TS
|-- VTS_02_0.BUP
|-- VTS_02_0.IFO
|-- VTS_02_1.VOB
|-- VTS_02_2.VOB
`-- VTS_02_3.VOB

Etc etc, as there are 4 seasons, each with 5 dvds per season, and 5(ish) episodes per dvd. My question is how do I best arrange and name all of these so that the scrapers and xbmc can see and display them?

Will I be able to see episode names or just have to start the dvd each time to choose?

Thanks for any advice.

[dteirney]

I need some help with this too please.

I have

Fresh Prince of Bel Air
- Fresh Prince of Bel Air Season 1 (DVD 1)
-- VIDEO_TS
|-- VTS_02_0.BUP
|-- VTS_02_0.IFO
|-- VTS_02_1.VOB
|-- VTS_02_2.VOB
`-- VTS_02_3.VOB
- Fresh Prince of Bel Air Season 1 (DVD 2)
-- VIDEO_TS
|-- VTS_02_0.BUP
|-- VTS_02_0.IFO
|-- VTS_02_1.VOB
|-- VTS_02_2.VOB
`-- VTS_02_3.VOB

Etc etc, as there are 4 seasons, each with 5 dvds per season, and 5(ish) episodes per dvd. My question is how do I best arrange and name all of these so that the scrapers and xbmc can see and display them?

Will I be able to see episode names or just have to start the dvd each time to choose?

Thanks for any advice.

You haven't copied all of the DVD over assuming that is the actual layout you are using listed above and not a copy and paste from my post. There must be the VIDEO_TS.ifo file at the top level. If you aren't copying the entire DVD over then you'll have to do something like I did earlier in the thread.

The folder should be named so that the appropriate season and episode numbers are in it, e.g. Fresh Prince of Bel Air s01e01e02e03e04. If you have copied across the entire DVD then you will have to navigate to the episode from the DVD menus.

If you are just copying across the .VOB files like I mentioned earlier in the thread you could do something like the following (assuming there is one chapter on the DVD for each episode)
Fresh Prince of Bel Air s01e01
|-- VTS_01_1.VOB
|-- VTS_01_2.VOB
`-- VTS_01_3.VOB
Fresh Prince of Bel Air s01e02
|-- VTS_02_1.VOB
|-- VTS_02_2.VOB
`-- VTS_02_3.VOB

All really depends how much time you want to spend pulling apart the DVD structure.

I have some TV shows in my library where I just made an ISO of the DVDs and made sure they were named appropriately:
Fresh Prince of Bel Air s01e01e02e03e04.iso
Fresh Prince of Bel Air s01e05e06e07e08.iso

Same could be done by copying the ENTIRE contents of the DVD into folders with the season and episode numbers in the name of the folder.

[t2ffn]

Thanks for the explanation

I have decided I do not like DVD folders inside XBMC, well, for multi-episodes anyway!

I want to rip my many series of 24 from DVD, but want to have each episode individually, so I can go to them directly from XBMC, so how best to do this?

Is there a way to rip each episode individually as X264 or MKV? As they're only DVD quality, I want them at their optimum quality rip.

With my existing dvd rips, can I re-mount them on a virtual drive and re-rip them like this also? (rather than burning them to dvds then re-ripping them)

There just seems to be too much trouble using multi-episode dvds through xbmc for the more beginner user, and a few (understandable) drawbacks with epiosde navigation.

Thanks

[aphillippe]

I want to rip my many series of 24 from DVD, but want to have each episode individually, so I can go to them directly from XBMC, so how best to do this?

Is there a way to rip each episode individually as X264 or MKV? As they're only DVD quality, I want them at their optimum quality rip.
Thanks

I've used DDTool to rip individual episodes to a single .vob file per episode. For example, for the West Wing (which I just ripped all 7 seasons of), you end up with The West Wing.S01E01.vob, The West Wing.S01E02.vob. This is just a demux, so no loss in quality, audio streams or subtitles. The vob files are scanned and played fine in pretty much anything that will play DVDs (obv including xbmc).

You need to use PCGDemux to check the structure of the DVD, then tell DDTool where the episodes start, how many episodes there are on that disc, and the first episode number on that disc. It will then rip out the right number of episodes, with filenaming done automatically.

It's not pretty and takes i bit of getting used to (particularly the dvd structure part), but it's definately the easiest/quickest way I've found to rip TV DVDs.

The only pain in the process is that each episode gets put in its own folder. A quick search for *.vob in the parent folder and you can move them to another folder easy enough though.

DVDFab also offers similar features, with a nice GUI, but it's not quite as convienient (i.e. you have to rip one episode at a time, not the whole disc).

Hope that helps.

[t2ffn]

Ok, downloaded all the bits, will give it a try.

Are there any settings in DDTool I should make sure I set before ripping?

Thanks

Having a go with it now... hmmm, many options...

[t2ffn]

Ok, after reading the Help and having a bit of a play, it works, but in the folder I have an audio file, video file and the Vob file. Shouldn't it delete the audio and video files after making the vob file?

no big deal as i can delete myself, but just wondered.

Thanks, seems like a good bit of software

[aphillippe]

Yeah, it leaves those hanging around. I guess if you want to mess around with muxing to other formats, they're there for you. I just delete the folders once I've moved the vobs out.

Glad it's working out for you. The only real trouble I had is if the structure of the DVD is a bit weird and you've got episodes in different places. There can be some manual tidying up afterwards. But it's sooo much quicker when you're doing multiple seasons (as I said earlier, I've just finished doing 42 discs of The West Wing).

[t2ffn]

Ok, its been working well, but now got a problem...

I've ripped a futurama dvd, and it hasnt joined the audio and video properly, some of the episodes are a few seconds, some a few minutes, but the actual audio and video separate files are fine.

I've ripped the dvd twice to make sure I followed the right steps, same problem

[aphillippe]

I never had that problem. Have you tried using another mixer on the files?

[dbassett]

I am able to get the DVD directory to show up in the library, but I can't get it to actually play. When I click the image for the movie the screen refreshes like it is trying to play, but then nothing happens. Any thoughts?

The .VOB file will play in VLC

Maybe someone can point me to the correct forum or answer the questions. I'll continue searching in the meantime. The xbmc.log file contains:

NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: C:\Users\...\DVD Backup\Night at the Museum 2\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO
WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
NOTICE: Creating InputStream
NOTICE: DVDPlayer: playing a dvd with menu's
NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
WARNING: WARNING: File is larger than 32bit stat can handle, file size will be reported as 0 bytes
WARNING: WARNING: File is larger than 32bit stat can handle, file size will be reported as 0 bytes
NOTICE: Opening audio stream: 0 source: 512
NOTICE: Opening Subtitle stream: 0 source: 512
NOTICE: Opening Subtitle stream: 1 source: 512
NOTICE: Opening Subtitle stream: 2 source: 512
WARNING: CDVDPlayer:rocess - Could not detect frame rate for: C:\Users\...\DVD Backup\Night at the Museum 2\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO. Using default of 25.000 fps for conversion of any commercial break frame markers to times.
ERROR: Error getting next block: Error reading NAV packet.

[t2ffn]

This thread is about dvd folders and files being ripped to the hard drive then played through XBMC, not about directly playing dvds.

You may be better off reposting in a new thread and/or searching for other DVD help posts.

Thanks

[steelman1991]

Thanks for the explanation

I have decided I do not like DVD folders inside XBMC, well, for multi-episodes anyway!

I want to rip my many series of 24 from DVD, but want to have each episode individually, so I can go to them directly from XBMC, so how best to do this?

Is there a way to rip each episode individually as X264 or MKV? As they're only DVD quality, I want them at their optimum quality rip.

With my existing dvd rips, can I re-mount them on a virtual drive and re-rip them like this also? (rather than burning them to dvds then re-ripping them)

There just seems to be too much trouble using multi-episode dvds through xbmc for the more beginner user, and a few (understandable) drawbacks with epiosde navigation.

Thanks

Have you tried DVDShrink - this will rip to individual episode/DVD Files - using the re-author feature and providing you set it up to rip to a target size of DVD9, you will get optimum quality rips (1:1). Using Multishrink also enables queuing of rips.

An alternative is MakeMKV which purely rips the DVD into an MKV container without any quality loss, again into individual episodes.

[jss42]

I am able to get the DVD directory to show up in the library, but I can't get it to actually play. When I click the image for the movie the screen refreshes like it is trying to play, but then nothing happens. Any thoughts?

The .VOB file will play in VLC

Maybe someone can point me to the correct forum or answer the questions. I'll continue searching in the meantime. The xbmc.log file contains:

NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: C:\Users\...\DVD Backup\Night at the Museum 2\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO
WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
NOTICE: Creating InputStream
NOTICE: DVDPlayer: playing a dvd with menu's
NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
WARNING: WARNING: File is larger than 32bit stat can handle, file size will be reported as 0 bytes
WARNING: WARNING: File is larger than 32bit stat can handle, file size will be reported as 0 bytes
NOTICE: Opening audio stream: 0 source: 512
NOTICE: Opening Subtitle stream: 0 source: 512
NOTICE: Opening Subtitle stream: 1 source: 512
NOTICE: Opening Subtitle stream: 2 source: 512
WARNING: CDVDPlayer:rocess - Could not detect frame rate for: C:\Users\...\DVD Backup\Night at the Museum 2\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO. Using default of 25.000 fps for conversion of any commercial break frame markers to times.
ERROR: Error getting next block: Error reading NAV packet.

I'm having the exact same issue, DVD's ripped with DVD Shrink. Works fine in file mode, just library mode. And xbmc is showing all the album art etc so I don't think it's an issue with the file structure... :confused2: