Convert non-sequential DVD chapters??? - Handbrake

[ftaok]

I'm looking for suggestion on a task that I have. My wife has a few workout DVDs that she wants me to convert to m4v so that she can use her iPad to watch them when we're on a cruise. Sounds easy enough. However, there's at least one of them that I sense potential issues.

All 3 of these DVDs have 2 chapters of fluff before the actual workout begins. No problem, I'll just start Handbrake on Chapter 3 and viola!

One DVD, however, has fluff chapters in the middle of the workout routine. Not cool for me.

I haven't found a way, in Handbrake, to rip specific chapters, with gaps in between the start and end chapters. For instance, I want a single file with chapters, 3,4,5, 7,8,10,12, and 13.

The easiest solution would be for Handbrake to have an option that allows me to do just that, but either it's not available, or I can't find it.

I suppose I could rip each chapter (or chucks of sequential chapters) as a separate file, but then what app would I use to combine the files into a single m4v?

Another possibility would be to rip the DVDs chapters individually and recombine only the chapters I want and then run that through Handbrake. Is that even possible?

Before anyone asks, I have checked all of the available titles on the DVD to see if they have a specific title that only has the workout chapters and not the fluff ... no such luck.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

ft

 

[salohcin]

I believe you are correct, Handbrake will not allow gaps between the start and end chapters.

You might look into MKVToolNix. It can combine two videos into one seamless video. The output will be in the MKV format so you'd either have to run it through Handbrake again or remux it with some other app (such as subler) to get it back into m4v. It's what I use to stitch back together extra long movies that come on two discs (Like LotR or Lawrence of Arabia). It should be able to do the same to your files after you split them up with Handbrake.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

That's right. But use MakeMKV first (on the DVDs). Then MKVTools to cut out unwanted chapters. Then, Toolnix to append later chapters to earlier chapters. THEN HB to render your m4v. This would keep quality as high as possible.

OR, you could convert the DVD to MP4 and use iMovie or FCPX to edit out the unwanted footage, then render a final version as m4v. This would cost you a generation loss of video quality but that might not matter for this particular purpose.

 

[ftaok]

Both sound like excellent options. I think it might be easier to deal with quality loss and use iMovie to cut out the footage I don't need.

 

[ftaok]

Just to update this thread with my results, in case anyone with the same issues stumble upon this.

I ended up ripping the dvd using handbrake. Ripped the whole thing using the aTV3 preset. It carried along the dvd chapters for me.

I then tried using mpegstreamclip to clip out the unwanted chapters but it proved difficult. It wouldn't let me trim/cut out the unwanted stuff. It wouldn't even let me save as a new file either.

Turns out that the file had an AC3 secondary track. I used subler to remove the AC3 track and left the AAC track intact. Then mpegstreamclip was happy and allowed me to cut to my hearts content.

All in all, it was pretty easy, after figuring out he AC3 issue.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.