Music Video DVD -> iPod w/Video guide

2006-02-10 05:02:47

[span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%']Summary[/span]

The iPod 5G (5th generation, or "iPod with Video") has the ability to play back video, but Apple provides no easy way to rip DVDs, and the default "convert video to iPod" option in iTunes makes files with lots of video bandwidth, but only 128 kbit/s audio. It also resamples everything to 44.1 kHz, which is silly since the DVDs are 48kHz, and most PCs resample to 48 kHz on playback as well. For music DVDs, it would be ideal to encode audio at the maximum of 160 kbit/s, 48 kHz.

iTunes 6.0.2 in particular seems to be really picky about what it will transfer to the iPod. Even Quicktime 7.0.4 can't seem to make custom H.264 videos compatible with the new iPod. The following procedure works around this problem by encoding the video and audio separately, then using QuickTime to mux the final result.

NOTE: This procedure DOES require QuickTime Pro with the MPEG-2 audio pack (neither are free). Suggestions on how to avoid this are welcome.



[span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%']Video Conversion:[/span]

1) Rip the DVD with DVD Decrypter in IFO mode, with stream processing enabled, to extract MPEG-2 video (.M2V) and .AC3 (or .WAV) audio files. Try to use the first stereo track (usually 0x80), but if LPCM is also available use it instead. Downmixining from a 6-channel source is also possible, but less ideal. I recommend turning on "split by chapter" for most music video discs so that each video gets a separate file. Some experimentation is usually needed, as every DVD is a little different.

2) Delete the .IFO file, and any generated log files, in the destination directory.

3) QuickTime can't read these long file names, and probably neither can you. Rename the .M2V files in XX.M2V format (01.M2V, 02.M2V etc). Save the audio files for later - don't rename them just yet!.

4) iTunes can't read .M2V videos, so we need to put them in QuickTime containers first. Open each MPEG-2 video in QuickTime and save as a self-contained movie. You will need to purchase both QuickTime Pro and the MPEG-2 codec pack to do this step.

5) Delete the .M2V files.

7) Convert the QuickTime movies to iPod format using iTunes. This will take at least several hours.

Back up your MPEG-2 QuickTime movies someplace if desired (so you can reencode at a later date without re-ripping the DVD). Remove them from your iTunes library as well if necessary.

9) Put the new MPEG-4 AVC videos in your working directory, and remove them from your iTunes library since they are just intermediates.



[span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%']Audio Conversion:[/span]

1) Rename the audio files if you want, but do not remove the "DELAY - xxms" component as that will be used later.

*Steps 2 and 3 are for AC3 audio sources only:

2) AC3, or "Dolby Digital" is compressed audio, and needs to be converted to Microsoft Wave format before iTunes will be able to play it. Run "azid.exe -F wav24 -s stereo -g -3db <file_name.AC3> <file_name.WAV>" on each track.

3) Delete the .AC3 files.

4) The audio tracks by default are not synchronized with the video. Run delaycut.exe -auto <file_name.WAV> (on each track). This program works well, but doesn't give any console feedback at all. I'd recommend opening the task manager and waiting for the delaycut.exe processes to all exit before continuing.

5) Delete all the _log.txt files, and the unadjusted Wave files (those not ending in _fixed).

6) Volume will vary between discs, so normalization is recommended. DC offsets will also be fixed as a nice side-effect. Run "wavegain.exe -a -y *.wav". Be sure to record the gain adjustment in a text file, and subtract 3 dB if coming from an AC3 source, since we already cut the gain by 3 dB to avoid clipping during the decoding stage.).

7) If you saved the MPEG-2 QuickTime movies and would like to save the audio as well, use iTunes to convert the Wave files to Apple Lossless format first, to save around 40% disk space. You can use these Apple Lossless files in the next steps instead of the Wave files, so go ahead and delete them.

Convert either the Wave or Apple Lossless files to AAC format using iTunes. Make sure to set the stereo bitrate to 160 kbit/s (any higher won't work), sample rate and channels to "auto", and variable bit-rate must be disabled.

9) Back up and delete your Apple Lossless files, or just delete the Wave files if you're skipping the backup steps.

10) Put the MPEG-4 AAC files in your working directory, and remove them from your iTunes library since they are just intermediates.



[span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%']Multiplexing:[/span]

1) Open (in two separate QuickTime players) an MPEG-4 video file and its matching audio file. "Select All" and "Copy" from the audio player, then "Add To Movie" in the video player. Export it to MPEG-4 video, with the video and audio options set to "Pass-through". Save using the file extension ".m4v". The default ".mp4" is technically correct, but iTunes uses the ".m4v" extension.

2) Copy the finished .m4v files to your iTunes library and tag them.

3) To test for iPod compatibility, choose "Convert selection to iPod". If you get a dialog box telling you that the file is already in the correct format, then your video will transfer and play on the iPod perfectly!

Music Video DVD -> iPod w/Video guide

Reply #1 – 2006-02-10 06:49:36

By using the same file name for the .m2v and .wav QuickTime will automatically combine video and audio:

DVD -> iPod
==========
Windows Tutorial: How to get DVD's onto your iPod (7.0.4)

This tutorial is intended for the serious hobbyist who already have a collection of home videos on DVD. The tutorial shows how to get home DVD's onto your iPod in professional quality (Note 1) by:
  - using H.264 and AAC, and
  - avoiding intermidiate transcoding steps

Software required (Note 2):
- DVD Decrypter (free)
- BeLight with VOB plugin (free)
- QuickTime Pro 7.0.4 ($30) with MPEG-2 plugin ($20)

Overview:
1 - DVD -> .m2v + .vob  Using DVD Decrypter (minutes)
2 - .vob -> .wav          Using BeLight (minutes)
3 - .m2v + .wav -> .m4v Using QuickTime (hours)


Step 1:
Insert DVD and launch DVD Decrypter

First time only:
Mode - IFO
Tools - Settings - IFO Mode - On Startup Enable Stream Processing + Options File Splitting None

DVD Decrypter will scan the DVD and automatically select the longest title in the Input tab.

Often there is more information on a DVD than you want on your iPod and DVD Decrypter allows you to select the video and audio streams you want to transfer. Furthermore it combines the information into one big .vob file, allowing QuickTime and BeLight to process this information directly.

Click on the Stream Processing tab and deselect the streams you don't want. (Note 3)

Select Demux

Set the destination to an empty folder you will be using for preparing the iPod movie.

Click DVD -> harddisk icon and wait for DVD Decrypter to complete

Exit DVD Decrypter

DVD Decrypter has now created an .m2v file containing the video with a long name like "VTS_07_1 - 0xE0 - Video - MPEG-2 - 720x576 (PAL) - 16~9 - Letterboxed.M2V" and an .vob file containing the audio with a name like "VTS_07_1.VOB".

Rename the .m2v file so it has the same file name, except extension, as the .vob file.


Step 2:
Launch BeLight

Select the .vob file as input

Click on the WAV/PCM tab and select 16 Bits Stereo Wave.

In case the audio stream is multi channel surround sound BeLight will down mix it to 2 channels. (Note 6)

Click Start and wait for BeLight to finish

Exit BeLight


Step 3:
Launch QuickTime

Open the .m2v file (Note 4)
Click Window - Movie Properties and check that both video and sound tracks has been identified

File - Export - Movie to iPod (320x240) (Note 5)

Set extension of the file name to .m4v

Click OK to start export

This will take a long time, typical 10 minutes for each 10 minutes on a 3 GHz Pentium IV machine.
Finalising:
Use QuickTime to boilerplate the movie.
Window - Show Movie Properties to add info like Title, Director and Producer
View - Set Poster to set frame as poster for movie (This will show up on the icon in iTunes)
You can even choose to add a still picture to the end of the movie and use that as poster.
Add the file to iTunes and it will show up under videos.


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Note 1:
Being on a Windows platform I have tried Videora iPod converter, PQ DVD Converter, Cucusoft, Nero and the tutorial based on DVDx and Xilisoft, but they all have one or more severe shortcomings, such as:
- Not being able to complete conversion of movie
- Movie only play in iTunes but not on iPod
- Audio being out of sync
- Bad aspect ratio
- Mediocre picture quality.
Amoungst the above programs only QuickTime deliver consistent reliable results over all of the various video types and DVD formats I have tested.

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Note 2:
DVD Decrypter can be obtained from a number of locations on the internet. Google for DVD Decrypter to obtain a suitable location for download.  In this tutorial the version of the software used was v3.5.4.0.

BeSweet can also be obtained from a number of locations on the internet. Google for BeSweet to obtain a suitable location for download. In this tutorial the following software was downloaded from http://dspguru.doom9.net/
- BeSweet v1.4
- BeLight
- VOBInput.dll v1.3 plugin

QuickTime 7.0.4 can be obtained from http://www.apple.com/quicktime/win.html
The MPEG-2 playback plugin is available here http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/

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Note 3:
If you are new to DVD's here's a short description of what you may find on a DVD.
When using Windows Explorer to examine the files on a DVD you will typically find at least the folders:
  AUDIO_TS
  VIDEO_TS

AUDIO_TS is normally empty but VIDEO_TS holds a number of files, all with extensions like:
  .IFO - Information file
  .BUP - Backup of information file
  .VOB - Video Object

A VOB contains streams of video, audio and subtitles. It may even optionally hold
- multiple video streams - known as angles,
- multiple audio tracks - different languages or formats (DTS/Dolby Digital/MPEG/PCM), and
- multiple subtitles - in different languages.

There can be several titles on a DVD, named VTS_01, VTS_02, VTS_03 etc.

Since a VOB can be quite large they are split into individual files each less than 1 GB in size. E.g. if VTS_01 is more than 3 GB it is split into files named:
  VTS_01_0.VOB
  VTS_01_1.VOB
  VTS_01_2.VOB
  VTS_01_3.VOB

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Note 4:
QuickTime can also read .vob files directly from the DVD, however the DVD drive will spin contantly during the export so in order to spare it it is better first to extract the DVD to the harddisk. Having the DVD moved to harddisk has additional advantages in that multiple VOB files are concatenated into one file.

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Note 5:
QuickTime will adjust the actual size of the movie to match the aspect ratio of the orignal.

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Note 6:
Set the delay value (The correct value can be found in the stream information file created by DVD Decrypter)
Due to a bug in Besweet this do not always work. May result in a corrupt wav file.
(Failed with Blade Runner 1918 ms)

Music Video DVD -> iPod w/Video guide

Reply #2 – 2006-02-11 21:56:12

That guide also works, but doesn't let you encode the audio at anything other than the default 128 kbit/s @ 44.1 kHz.