The next thing we're going to look at is the mandatory section:

(Virtual) DVD Drive is the drive letter of your mounted ISO image. Then you can select a bitrate to be used for the extras contained on the DVD (do not go above 2000 or below 1500 for reasonable quality). Minimum MB to demux allows you to not process VTS sets that are below a certain size (in this case if there were a VTS set smaller than 200 MB you wouldn't bother processing it as the possible space gain would be outweighed by the invested time).

DIF4U will also give you a global overview of the disc, including available VTS sets, PGCs, their lengths, audio track IDs, number of subtitles, subtitle track IDs and aspect ratio.

By default all VTS sets including all associated PGCs will be checked. If a VTS set were smaller than the threshold we set above (200MB in our case) it would be unchecked and hence not be processed at all.

If a VTS has multiple PGCs it is always worth confirming what PGCs need processing or whether a VOBID demux is needed. Right click on a VTS will open that VTS in IfoEdit, which by default will show the PGC layout and which VOBIDs are used by each PGC. If you disagree with DIF4U then doublecheck! yourself, and then select/deselect the PGCs as needed or in the case of a VOBID demux being needed turn on Demux by Vob ID.

From this point on all our settings apply to the currently selected VTS set, so come back to this selection and select the next VTS set when you're done configuring. Below I'll illustrate my setup for the main movie VTS set (VTS 01).

As we were able to see in the previous screen shot, the main movie  contains 6 audio tracks, 0x80, 0x81, 0x82, 0x83, 0x84, and 0x85, those being 6ch English, 2ch English, 6ch Italian, 2ch Italian and two more 2ch English (the commentary tracks).

Because the title is fairly large and we need all space available only the English audio is kept.

Then let's also configure the subtitles:

Here I once again only keep those languages I actually understand. Subs won't take much space on the final product, so it doesn't matter if you decide to keep them all. The reauthoring slows down considerable though when importing and muxing subs.

Then we have the optional switches:

The upper line deals with Subtitles. If your current VTS has angles then ensure that Angles is selected. Raw Subs is always unselected, but Subs should always be selected and if you are an NTSC user and your movie has Closed Captions (this is also shown in the VTS window - denoted by CC in the VTS name) then Captions should be selected also. The lower line is there to inform DIF4U what the video type is for the current VTS - assuming you know it. It is easier to let DIF4U determine this so make sure that AutoDetect NTSC Video Type is selected (the lower line will be greyed out), for NTSC and PAL users. (For PAL users further investigation will be needed. This is covered later).

This is all you have to do for one VTS set. Now repeat this procedure for all other VTS sets present on the DVD. The last thing to configure is the number of passes for extras and the main movie:

The lower your bitrate, the more passes can be useful, but going beyond 5 is definitely overkill. I'd say 3 / 4 will suffice in most cases, and in some you can even go one lower, but this really depends on the source and your quality requirements.

If you're using NM4U, it will be automatically started and all paths will be filled in:

In addition, you'll see the available disc menus listed:

In our initial setup of NM4U we chose English as our default language. So when NM4U started up it preselected just the English version of the Menu.

While NM4U is processing, you can watch its progress in the Log:

NM4U will completely reauthor the menus so don't be concerned that some encoding and reauthoring is happening. This is all automated. If you are a VIP user and have selected to Preview and Strip unwanted Video/Buttons then go here for a detailed stripping guide.

If ReJig was selected as the encoder in DIF4U, Rejig will be started and all of the video streams encoded.

Once DIF4U has finished, you can manually start ScenAid.

Step 3: Encoding & Asset Processing with Scenaid

Once Scenaid has been launched, we need to select the directory that DIF4U has demuxed all of our assets into. Following selection of this directory, ScenAid will then scan and process our files, and create our Scenarist Script File (.scp).

If you had chosen to process your assets using Rejig in DIF4U, you can proceed directly to step 4.

If you had chosen Generate script after scan (one-click run) then the encoding would be automated so you can proceed directly to step 4.

Now that Scenaid has completed its' scan it will now present a detailed breakdown of each VTS. At this point we can decide if there are any VTSs that are wasted.

Click on each VTS# in turn and then select each PGC in turn.

Each will now show in the small preview window. If you decide that there is a VTS that isn't needed then unselect all the PGCs in that VTS. If there is a specific PGC that isn't wanted then deselect the PGC.

Removing any VTSs/PGCs will cause the MAIN Bitrate to increase and force Scenaid to create a dummy asset in its place.

This guide is intended to keep the structure of the disc intact, but, I have several discs where a VTS is just a black screen and is never used. Obviously there is no need to keep this so unselect it. Also I don't care for trailers of other movies so they are removed. Everything else is kept.

When finished if you feel the MAIN Bitrate is too low then alter the Extras Bitrate to a lower figure and the MAIN Bitrate will increase.

Pressing the 'Save' button in Scenaid will force Scenaid into generating our script file (.SCP if Scenarist is being used, .MXP if Muxman is being used). Scenaid will now open BatchCCEWS and load up all of the files to be encoded.

BatchCCEWS will show you a list of files to be encoded:

As you can see, the jobs have the following names: VTS__XY_AB, where XY is the VTS set number and AB is the PGC number. Behind the dot, I means interlaced and P means progressive. In case of Interlaced, there will also be either a -TFF or -BFF attached, representing the field order. Finally, you have the resolution of the source - either 4~3 for 4:3, and 16~9 for 16:9.

Right now, all jobs are marked with a white dot. Once you start encoding (by pressing the triangle button pointing to the right - the same as a play button on your DVD player), the file currently being encoded is marked in light blue, and files that have been encoded are marked in green.

You can use the buttons below the Jobs to remove (-) a job, or move them up and down using the triangles pointing up or down.

The omega button can be used to reset a job to pending status (useful if a job has failed and you've corrected the failure case) and the last button can be used to clear out the job list. While encoding, the stop button (a red square) allows you to abort the encoding process at any time.

If you are an NTSC user then you can start encoding immediately (If you set the option in Scenaid Start Encode on import, then this will be automatic.)

If you are a PAL user then you must now decide which video files are Interlaced and which are Progressive and adjust the settings in BatchCCEWS accordingly or if you just what a more detailed explanation of the settings then read this guide.

Step 4: Reauthoring

Following encoding, Scenaid will then close BatchCCEWS and either:

• If using Muxman everything is now automated and on completion of Muxman authoring, Scenaid will update and correct the IFO files. This takes about 30 minutes. All of the new Muxman files will then be amalgamated with the remaining original files and any new Menu files. Everything will be put together in the ../working dir/VIDEO_TS folder.
• If using Scenarist then follow Step 5: Putting it all back together which explains the remaining procedures.

Now it's best to check out if your disc works. To do that use a software DVD player like PowerDVD, and check everything is correct.

Step 6: Problems

A problem that sometime occurs is that the wrong audio track is playing. If this should be the case, open the corresponding IFO file in IfoEdit, go to the VTS_PGCITI section and select the appropriate PGC.

As you can see the audio stream status increases by increments of 256. If instead of the first stream the 2nd one is being played set Audio stream 1 status to 33024 (and Audio stream 2 status to 32768) and save the IFO again.

Now press Update IFO.

If you want to remove certain user prohibitions (as in not being able to change the audio track via the appropriate button on the remote while watching the movie), or strip out subtitle and audio channels that you have not included in the reauthored project. You can find all these steps here.

Once this has been done you're basically ready for burning. I suggest you follow the guide by making use of an image file.

Finished!

Thanks to Zeul for the latest update to this guide, and to Doom9, Influenza and Jel who contributed to the original guide that this is based upon.

This document was last updated on April 12, 2009