DVD Reauthor v1.4 software
description
I would like to make an introduction before
describing the program.
Until I
tried the DVD Reauthor myself I had doubts whether total DVD
recompilation is possible. I remember forum discussions of an
attempt to create some similar program – Rauthorist. It was supposed
that the Rauthorist recreates the structure of a disk completely and
creates a script for Scenarist. I was a beta tester of the
Reauthorist. The program used a heap of external utilities. The disk
was deconstructed into the elements it consists of (video + audio +
subtitles). As a result, there were a lot of mistakes and the
program did not work.
So, when I heard about the software, which can
do everything Reauthorist was supposed to, without using additional
utilities, I made a request to try it. I would like to mention one
thing – the program really creates a complete script file ready to
be imported into Scenarist, but it can not modify all non-standard
features, which DVD authoring programs have. So, 100% ready project
that can be immediately imported into Scenarist and compiled into a
disk can be made of a disk originally created in Scenarist.
Otherwise a user should be ready to correct the created project
manually. For example, there is a disk, which has several Titles in
one VTS with different audio streams. Surely it was rejected by
strict Scenarist and was not compiled (I find it right – you should
follow the standards).
User
Interface and Program Functions
After the
program is launched it looks like that:
For
experiments I took an original disk “Last Samurai” DVD9, copied via
DVDDecrypter in ISO format and attached as a virtual device (I used
Fantom CD, but there are many similar programs). The program also
can work with files on HDD copied via DVDDecrypter in “File Mode”.
So, we choose the source and set path to the folder with the file
VIDEO_TS.IFO.
When the
analysis is over we see the following – text string about
VIDEO_TS.IFO file processing and some information
messages.
Let’s look
at the options of the program:
-
get time from file
– video duration is extracted by scanning the video file
as Scenarist does it. This method is not quick but it is
correct.
-
get time from IFO
– video duration is extracted from IFO-file via Cell ID or
Vob ID duration. This method is quick but not always correct because
not all DVD authoring software write correct information about
duration into IFO files.
-
get start time from navigation
pack
– if it is not checked synchronization of
video and audio is calculated as a difference between video start
time and audio start time. If it is checked the calculation is the
difference between start navigation pack and audio start time in it.
The author of the program recommends using the second
method.
-
Processing for Titles
– subtitles processing.
-
Use RLE compression
– use the compression for subtitle
pictures.
On this page you’ll find options for Scenarist
software – version and automatic script loading after processing
completed.All the
options are set let’s push the start button. If the folder, I’m
going to locate the file to, is not empty the program suggests
emptying it.
I agree and
the process starts:
Some
interface features are similar to DVDDecrypter, similar elements and
log window. After the process was completed (I was waiting for 25
minutes) the Scenarist has started and script has been
loaded.
Navigation
commands are loading, etc.
Surely, I
was interested in capacity for work of all this. I went to output
window and pushed compilation button.
To my great
surprise I received completely working and correct disk – as
original. First example was successful. But next time I discovered
that not all disks decompiled correctly, but I think this is the
problem of non-standard features and Scenarist strictness in
scenario checking. That’s why sometimes correction is necessary,
often in disks created in Maestro software. The results of the
experiment are the following: simple disks are compiled and
decompiled easily, as well as disks originally created in Scenarist.
There are some difficulties with disks created in Maestro… For
example, one VTS has few files with different attributes of audio
tracks; this is not allowed in Scenarist (I think that’s right). I
decompile 15 disks using DVD Reauthor, 8 of them were immediately
recompiled successfully, 4 of them needed some correction, and only
3 needed total correction. As for me, the program is handy, but
there are some such freeware utilities ... Authors prepare release
of a program that allows decompiling DVD by one button pushing.
There is another remark regarding file names structure: it is very
difficult, it’d be useful if the file name can correspond to
position in Scenarist, for example, vts_01_titles_video_01.m2v
but not a 1020011003.m2v.
Everything mentioned is about the current version only (1.4). The
authors say next release of the DVD Reauthor will be completely
different from current
version.
December
23, 2004, Arty
Thanks
to videoediting.ru for this material
...
