Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Aljrob

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 19, 2008
10
1
Hi all,

Background info: I have ripped about 80% of my DVD library to a combination of .iso (for movies) and .vob (for TV shows), which I serve up to my TV, iPhone etc using Plex. My priority was to have the fastest ripping workflow possible (whilst preserving original DVD quality) as I don't have a lot of free time. This generally works well for me. NB: Although I'd heard pretty good things about MakeMKV, lack of support for forced subtitles was a deal breaker for me, so I also wanted a ripping method that preserved most/all features of the original DVDs. Hence iso and vob.

I now have some questions that I am hoping some expert forumites might be able to answer:

  1. Is there a way to remove certain subtitle tracks from a .vob file? I rip each TV show episode to a single .vob file. It's sometimes taking me a while to cycle to the subtitle file I want. I'm hoping it's possible to delete/disable the subtitle streams I don't want, leaving just the (e.g.) English subtitle stream?
  2. Is there a way to remove certain audio tracks from a .vob file? See previous question. Not as important, but I have a small number of TV episodes where Plex insists (for reasons I can't fathom) on playing the directors commentary track rather than the main audio track by default
  3. Does anyone know of a way of extracting main movie title to .vob - ideally a single file - from a ripped .iso? I have already extracted all my movies to .iso with MTR, as it was the fastest workflow. Preserving original menu structure etc also appealed to me when I started the project, but now I'm not so sure it was the right choice.

I am prepared to pay (within reason!) for software that would accomplish any of the above tasks, so feel free to suggest commercial software.

In each case, massive bonus points are available if the software is scriptable/has batch queues/requires little or no manual input!

At a push I'd consider Win7 software (I have this in Bootcamp) but would rather stay in OS X if possible.

Thanks for reading - I really hope someone can help!
Aljrob
 
I'm a huge fan of the DVD Automator functions located HERE. It uses a combination of Fairmount, VLC, and Handbrake to do a completely scripted copying process. I think you could make a good solution for your preexisting .iso files by scripting an extractor to copy out the Video folders inside.

Basically, when you insert a DVD, it will prompt you for the title. Then it will automatically decrypt it and copy it to your hard drive. Then during the night, you select another Automator function from your Apple menu to Batch Encode. It automatically encodes the extracted DVDs (multiple in sequence with no intervention) as an iTunes/Apple TV compatible MKV file. It will also download metadata about the flick, a poster from the movie, and will autoencode Chapter titles from an online search as well.

It's a dream come true. I've done by entire DVD library (225 DVDs) with probably about an hour of actual human intervention.
 
I'm a huge fan of the DVD Automator functions located HERE. It uses a combination of Fairmount, VLC, and Handbrake to do a completely scripted copying process. I think you could make a good solution for your preexisting .iso files by scripting an extractor to copy out the Video folders inside.
Yeah, I've seen that and had wondered whether it might do the trick for main title extract. I may have a play around this weekend.

Anyone got any ideas regarding the .vob editing questions?
 
If I understand correctly, then couldn't you use DVDFab to extract only the title/audio/sub tracks that you want?
 
Possibly, I will investigate. But would prefer Mac software really.
 
I'm not really into your workflow bc I like all of my media in m4v but to each his own.

DVD2OneX can do what you want (paid app), rip to single VOB or ISO with only the desired soundtracks and subtitles. For many movies you can use dvd2OneX and fairmount, not needing the MacTheRipper step.
 
I think the quickest way to get what you want, a vob of a single feature with select audio and subtitles, is to simply go back to MTR and do a "main feature only" rip. Then you can re-rip the videos and just check the boxes next to the features you want.

That will be faster than a re-encode, but I think re-encoding to .m4v makes a more useful file. You could easily accomplish the same things you want with Handbrake, using an unsupervised batch encode that takes place while you sleep. You can set up about 8 hours of material to re-encode while you're asleep, with a relatively recent processor, which will take maybe 15 minutes to set-up, if you want to make a lot of custom selections for the audio and subtitles.
 
I'm not really into your workflow bc I like all of my media in m4v but to each his own.

DVD2OneX can do what you want (paid app), rip to single VOB or ISO with only the desired soundtracks and subtitles. For many movies you can use dvd2OneX and fairmount, not needing the MacTheRipper step.

DVD2OneX (Detox), is a great program, it will do all that you are looking to do. Will also help if you someday want to burn back to DVD.

The combo of MTR or RipIt and Detox will do work very well.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.