What’s Needed:
VLC Media Player
Fairmount
DVD2OneX
HandBrake
Steps:
1. Install VLC, DTOX, Handbrake and Fairmount (there is no need to install DVDRemaster that comes with the package)
2. I personally, set Fairmount to open when a DVD is inserted. One of the cool things about this is if the DVD doesn’t have CSS then the DVD will mount as normal. To do this, all you need to do is go to System Preferences, then CDs & DVDs and choose Fairmount like so:
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3289/dvdopenxb1.png)
If you choose not to do this, that’s fine, just open Fairmount and then insert the DVD.
3. You should see something like Cream Cheese being spread across a Bagel.
![Image](http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9092/fmstaringal1.png)
Once Fairmount completes, you should see a window similar to this:
![Image](http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6296/fmmountwz5.png)
This shows you that Fairmount has mounted the DVD.
4. Now open up DTOX and click on the middle button (Movie Only);
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/1420/dtoxmainzr6.png)
5. Then, when asked, click on the Fairmount mounted volume in the Finder drop-down and click choose:
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2576/dtoxfmvolumeoc9.png)
Now DTOX will attempt to read the Fairmount volume as if it was an real DVD. This can take some time. Once complete, DTOX will show the “DVD” contents where you can choose the Title, Audio, SubTitles and Cells:
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3046/dtoxtitlebe4.png)
Note: If you go into the preferences menu of DTOX, you can pre-select your requirements (i.e. AC3 audio, English Subtitles, etc.) These will be remembered and automatically used for future reads.
Note 2: Be sure to click on "Settings" and change the DTOX settings for "Double layer output (DVD-RW(DL))", to avoid compression.
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5346/dtoxforcedsubod9.png)
6. Once you choose you Title (typically the first longest), Audio and SubTitle that you prefer, then click on Cells and check for any Zero(0) Duration and/or Size:
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3042/dtoxnormalcellrc3.png)
As you see above, this particular movie doesn’t have any Zero cells. But, as you see in the pic below, some movies do. In this case all you have to do is uncheck the cells in questions:
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4347/dtoxzerocellwd5.png)
7. Once you have cleaned-up all Zero cells, just click on the Green Button at the bottom right-hand corner.
A drop-down will show up asking about Output Type. Just be sure to choose File Set:
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2116/dtoxfilesetrv2.png)
Then DTOX will ask you where you want to save the File Set folder:
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2026/dtoxsaveub0.png)
Once you click on Choose, you should see a Progress Bar indicating DTOX is now processing your Movie Title:
![Image](http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7849/dtoxprogressme5.png)
8. Once complete, all you have to do is feed HandBrake the newly encoded folder and encode as normal.
fin...
How To: Combine
*Warning…Solution may be too advanced for the casual user. Please refrain from asking “How Do I” questions about 3rd party software on this forum. They have their own respective forums that can facilitate those questions.
Since eddyg added the “No Audio” fix (Thanks), now one should have no problem merging those movies that span 2 DVDs (i.e Pearl Harbor (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition)).
That said, previously you would have had to run both DVDs through HB and combine the encoded files with 3rd party software like Quicktime (and wait a year to finish)…all Post-encode. If you were encoding using CQ or CRF, its possible that you would end up with 2 different files with different bit rates, along with other issues.
This will be a Mac base solution as that is what I work with.
Software needed:
- Fairmount (or ripper of choice)
DVD2OneX
HandBrake 0.9.0 and above
DVD Used:
The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition) -NTSC
Solution:
- 1. Use the procedure above to create (2)two Movie Only (file set) folders.
3. Make sure to pick the appropriate Title, Audio Track, etc.
4. In most cases, you may want to delete the last cell of the 1st DVD and the first cell of the 2nd DVD (if respective cells are like 2 – 5secs). This is normally a black screen or such.
5. Once the 2 Movie Only folders are created by dtox, you can (if need be) delete the original folders.
6. Now you want to open the first folder with dtox using the middle button again.
7. Then, click on the double plus button (++), and pick the second folder.
8. Hit the Green button and you should now have 1(one) folder with the combined 1st and 2nd DVD.
9. At this point (if need be) you can delete the previous (separate DVD) folders.
10. Now take the newly created folder and run it through HandBrake with you favorite settings!
In my case, I use a 65% CRF for all 3 Platinum Series Special Extended Edition DVDs of LOTRs and love the quality I gotten. All of my files came in under 4GB except the 3rd set (Return of the king). It was 4.01GB, but still worked perfect with my AppleTV.
Happy Encoding!
~FB