Adding short advert to existing DVD Folder??

[bgarthp]

I've got a problem:

I've got my DVD Folder that I made in Encore, it's all there, working fine, motion menu's, subtitles, multiple audio tracks, all good.

But now I want to add a short advert in before the main movie plays, there's no space worries, it's 3.7GB at the moment and the ad' is 40 seconds.

However, I deleted the encore project , and most of the avi files that I used to make it , (I know this was stupid, but I thought it was finished forever, and I needed space for new footage), Fortunately I have the Original source files, and my Premiere projects, so I can re-export everything, and make a whole new Encore project,

But, I am low on space, and time, so my question is:

Is there any way I can just re-author the DVD from the DVD-Folder, retaining all menu functions, the only difference being the advert is inserted before the main Movie?

Can I for instance find the VOB file that is the main movie (I still have that as an AVI), add the advert to the front, encode, and drop in to the folder using the original file name?

Or am I dreaming? :(

Hope someone can help, sorry this is so long.

[Marc Peters]

Whether this is technically possible, I couldn't say. However, it "should" be a matter of "simply" editing the info in the IFO/BUP files to describe the extra VOB file etc.

IFOedit would be your tool. Load the IFO files into that and you'll see a mind boggling array of code.

Probably easier to re-author a DVD from scratch!

[Marc Peters]

This might set you on the right path:

http://ifoedit.wh.fr0zen.com/guides.html

[bgarthp]

cheers Marc, I'll get stuck into IFOedit, I've got a couple of back-up plans, like using simple file joiner to join together all the VOBs into the original MPEG2 files and then re-creating the encore project.

Cheers for the guide link too. looks like it might involve a fair bit of trial and error.

[bgarthp]

OK, I had a good go at IFOedit, looks like a powerful tool, but I was lost, and couldn't find any guides to what I was trying to do, then...

I found PGCedit (free from http://www.videohelp.com/~r0lZ/pgcedit/index.html), and it saved the day.

I was cautious, backed everything up, then opened it up, only to find it automatically backed up my IFO's for me, and had a Macro in the main toolbar which did everything I needed to do, 3 clicks and it was done!

I did need to use muxman (free from here:http://www.mpucoder.com/Muxman/) to create .ifo, .bup and .vob files for my advert first, but that was easy too.

So if anyone else needs to mess about with their DVD structure and they don't have the Encore file, use PGCedit, it's brilliant.

[Marc Peters]

Nice find! Probably worth writing up in the guides section (http://www.videoforums.co.uk/guide.php). I'll add it to the list.