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Author Topic: Combining DVDs  (Read 7364 times)

tonyappuk

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Combining DVDs
« on: April 06, 2008, 05:01:10 PM »

Afternoon All

My daughter is married to an American and likes to send videos of the grandchildren to her in-laws in the States. Her videocam uses those mini 8cm DVDs which you can play on a PC but not on all DVD players (into the TV). Last time I foolishly said I would combine three mini DVDs on a standard size one, it took me about a week and much hair pulling. On top of that the American in-laws were not totally chuffed to find that as the DVD was coded as PAL not NTSC they could only watch it on their PC.

So the info I'm after is, is there a program that will combine 3 mini DVDs on one big DVD and give me the option of recoding to NTSC on the way. I'm sure the convoluted journey I undertook last time with various flavours of Nero and assorted shareware bits and pieces can be done much more simply. The other small problem is the titles/menu. I would like to retain the camera titles which use the dates the videos were shot but I ended up last time rewriting all the titles. There must be an easier way. Oldfogy and Rizla, you seem to be involved in video editing, can you help please? Or can any of the other kind souls on this forum help a bemused father-in-law.
Tony
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dave.m

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2008, 05:23:32 PM »

Hi Tony,
DVD Flick will do the job, at least that is what it says on the tin.

Open Source freeware:
http://tinyurl.com/28xfad
dave

Just looked at the link I gave, it tells you all about the program but the download link from it is not working.
Get it from here:
http://www.dvdflick.net/download.php
after reading the writeup in my first link.
dave 
« Last Edit: April 06, 2008, 05:27:35 PM by dave.m »
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oldfogy

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2008, 07:17:49 PM »


That looks a pretty good download especially as it's a free one and nice and simple to use.
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dave.m

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2008, 07:32:20 PM »

I've had it on the PC  for quite a while but not used it yet, so cannot say how easy or good it is. But open source stuff is usually very good and easy to use.
I have not had the camera out for months but must give it a dusting off now that we live in the country.
dave
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tonyappuk

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2008, 09:36:30 PM »

Thanks Dave and Oldfogy. I have downloaded DVDflick but I have the same problem now as I had last time. If I were trying to make a DVD from mpegs or avis it would be straightforward but the source is in DVD format as well and dvdflick does not recognise that format as a source. I think I recall from the last time I did this that the individual vob files are mpegs but I would have thought that someone with a videocam producing minidvds would have made a program to join three minis to one "big". Have I got to deconstruct the source DVD into individual mpegs, and there are 7 or 8 on each dvd, before I can use dvdflick? Can you give me any further guidance please?
Tony
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dave.m

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2008, 09:51:39 PM »

Tony,
Sorry to be of no more help, but over on CA forums there is a guy called Moxy who is very good with video transformations.
I have PM ed him and ask if he will have a look at this thread and possibly join (if not already a member) and offer his expert advice.
If anyone else has any advice, then great but I should think he will be in touch.
dave
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guest

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2008, 10:27:41 PM »

http://www.videohelp.com/guides/category/how-to-convert-pal-to-ntsc-or-ntsc-to-pal-framerate-conversions-4;41#4;41

There aren't many easy ways of doing a PAL<->NTSC conversion if you want something that looks decent. I'd use DVDShrink for extracting the correct VOBs from your mini-DVDs then use the Re-author option to combine them into one DVD - either burn it or leave it as an ISO. You now have a PAL DVD with which you can try some of the guides listed in that link.

Edit - bit of an explanation about PAL/NTSC etc here : http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/introduction.html
« Last Edit: April 06, 2008, 10:30:04 PM by rizla »
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oldfogy

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2008, 10:33:10 PM »

Likewise sorry I can't be of much help also, except.

If you use something like "AutoGordianKnot.2.45.Setup"
http:\\www.autogk.me.uk

Then you could as you put it, de-construct the the existing DVD back into avi files, then do whatever you want to do.

AutoGK "as it's commonly known by" is also a free program.
What you do is just select the first vob, it will then automatically take care of the others for you.
I know it may be time consuming doing it this way, but if the end justifies the means etc ....

*************************************************************************

OK, I have just re-read your original post..............


1. is there a program that will combine 3 mini DVDs on one big DVD and give me the option of recoding to NTSC on the way.
I'm sure the convoluted journey I undertook last time with various flavours of Nero and assorted shareware bits and pieces can be done much more simply.

2. The other small problem is the titles/menu. I would like to retain the camera titles which use the dates the videos were shot but I ended up last time rewriting all the titles.

3. There must be an easier way.
1. Actually I think my first choice would be to use Nero, although I have to admit, I do like Nero and use it for quite a few movie making or doctoring projects, using Nero Re-code v6.

2. I don't think that even Nero would do that because Nero works on the actual movie, so you would have to re-create the menu's again.

3. Unfortunately there is not what we would call any easy way.
Probably to me it seems easy using Nero because I use it quite a lot.

Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post.
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tonyappuk

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2008, 11:45:00 PM »

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply. Dave, I will await a posting from Moxey with interest. Rizla, the dvdflick program that Dave found purports to do the PAL to NTSC conversion so that may useful. Oldfogy, I'm sure there is a relatively quick (not quick but straightforward maybe?) way to do the job with the Nero Suite but if you don't do it frequently Nero doesn't seem very intuitive to me. I think I remember Nero asking me if I wanted PAL or NTSC and because my home DVD player for the TV accepts either, I chose PAL. It seems that's not true in the States. I did write some notes about  the whole procedure last time but my notes are not intuitive either! I'll wait for Moxey.
Tony
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oldfogy

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2008, 12:18:56 AM »

Tony
I appreciate and understand what you are saying, but just as a matter of interest you can re-select PAL or NTSC at any stage before starting the actual transcode.

If you have say a five minute clip then that would be ideal to play around with.

****************************************************

This was something I put together sometime ago just to explain how to "join" and burn a movie to DVD format.
So some of the items need not apply.

Hopefully it may be of use in the future:

Using Nero 6 to join and burn two or more movie files "avi, mpeg, DivX, Xvid" (any movie file) into one movie.

(Some parts listed below are just my own personal choices as I want chapters, but without a menu or having to create them manually)
Nero's default will create chapters every two minutes, which is not as bad as it may sound.

 From Nero StartSmart
1. Select "DVD", followed by "Make Your Own DVD-Video"
2. Select "Add Video Files"
3. Select the files you want to merge and burn and press "Open"

3. The files are now in view and highlighted, (if not highlighted press and hold Ctrl then select the movie files)
4. Select the MIDDLE icon on the bottom left hand side of the screen, a message will say "Merge Titles" when you hover the mouse over it, now press it, a warning message will follow saying,
"Merging titles means that a new title is created from the contents of the selected ones, which are then removed from the document. Do you want to continue?" Yes/No.
... (Make sure the files are listed top-to-bottom in order)

5. Select YES (your original files will still be intact when finished, it does not delete or remove them).

You will now see only one title with the original file name, except the time of the movie is now for all parts.
From here (a personal choice) is to select "More>>" and place a tick in "Create chapters automatically" (this will create chapters every 2 minutes).
Also at this point you can also select which format you want your movie in "PAL/NTSC".
Then press "Next"

6. Now at the top right hand corner select "Titles and chapter menus" and select "Do not create a menu"
Then press "Next"

After the preview press "Next"

7. You can now select where to save or burn the DVD vobs files.
(again a personal choice) I prefer to save to the HDD then burn later.
Then press "Write".

Now sit back and wait 2, 3, 4, 5 hours, depending on your PC and the size of the movie.

*************
There are a couple of points either missing or do not need being done from the above, that is.
1. In your case you need to re-select NTSC.
2. You do not have to merge the files into one long movie.
3. You will be selecting the first vob from each clip as your movie.

I hope this helps.
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tonyappuk

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2008, 01:00:41 AM »

Oldfogy
Thank you very much indeed. I will experiment and post back with hopefully news of my success. I'm sure it should be possible in a more flexible environment such as Linux to write a script that would do the whole thing for you but my expertise in Linux does not even extend to burning discs so that's a non starter. I do my backups with a batch file that works with the command line version of Nero but I think this process is beyond batch files.
Tony
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guest

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #11 on: April 07, 2008, 07:52:42 AM »

It is rather unusual these days for a DVD player to be incapable of playing both PAL and NTSC formats. Eg - I picked Curry's cheapest DVD player (£16.99)  from their website and checked the specs. It will play multi-region disks so obviously it can deal with PAL and NTSC.

I would be inclined to tell your American relatives to buy a player which didn't come out of the stone age ;)
« Last Edit: April 07, 2008, 12:13:47 PM by rizla »
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oldfogy

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2008, 12:23:04 PM »

Quote
It is rather unusual these days for a DVD player to be incapable of playing both PAL and NTSC formats
Not in Canada or the USA!
They don't like people having the choice, so those players are either very expensive or hard to get.

**********************
edit
Sorry but I forgot to mention that apparently that attitude is about to be changed sometime this year and multi regional players will be more widely available at decent prices.

(At least thats the SP from people living there)
« Last Edit: April 07, 2008, 02:04:16 PM by oldfogy »
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tonyappuk

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2008, 01:56:58 PM »

I was surprised too when they told me but they don't like to recognise PAL in the States in case it detracts from their marvellous Never The Same Colour
Tony
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UncleUB

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Re: Combining DVDs
« Reply #14 on: April 08, 2008, 06:43:22 AM »

You know the americans...........There is only one way,and thats our way.Everyone else must fall in line.Good luck with the video.
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