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monstermoviefanchicknj:
I have been trying to figure out how to re-author my Highlander DVD for the past day now, and I can't figure it out.  I did save the "unofficial Rifftrax DVD guide", but whoever wrote that jumps around in the directions so much I get confused.  I tried using DVDFab, but I don't know how to use it.  How do I sync up the Rifftrax with the movie? 

I really have no idea what I'm doing here.  Is there a more complete guide for those of us who aren't AV geeks?

Compound:
Okay, let's see if I can walk you through it here.

You're going to need 7 programs -
1) one to rip the audio and video files from the DVD,
2) another to correct the time delay that sometimes appears,
3) the third to convert the AC audio to wav to edit,
4) an audio editor,
5) another audio program to turn the wav back into an AC file,
6) a program to mash the Audio and video back together
7) A program to turn that mashed together stuff back into a watchable DVD.

A brief caveat. Please use these instructions only with discs you already own and use them only for your own personal use. These instructions should not be inferred to promote or encourage piracy.

Also note, these steps are for a Windows machine. If you're a Mac type, someone else will need to help you.

1) Step 1 Ripping
There are a few different programs you can use, but I'll move away from the one you already have- DVDFab. Why? Well, when you rip it via that fashion, you get a lovely banner for them on the copy. Instead, grab a copy of Rejig as it will cut down on the total number of programs used. Open up rejig and you'll see 6 options - "DVD backup" ,"IFO Mode", "DVD author" and three other not-important ones. Choose "IFO Mode" and then select "Open Disc." On the left you'll see a number of things marked "VTS." Those are the files on the DVD. Generally, Rejig will autodetect the correct file (usually the longest) and have that highlighted. In Highlander's case, that's a 1 hour 57 minute file that's in the topmost slot when I tested it out. You'll see a middle column. Ignore that. On the far right, you'll see a column marked "streams" with video, audio and subtitles listed. Make sure that the video and audio are check marked. (I missed that step on the walkthrough I did for this writeup.) Now under video options (Bottom left) click "Demux video." Then choose an output directory (Bottom center) Then click "Process." Your video and audio will be extracted to two different files for easy editing.

Now, if  Rejig doesn't meet your needs, you can use DVD Decrypter instead. It's no longer being updated but you can still find it on the web. When you open that up, go to the top bar and select "Mode" and then "IFO." You'll see a different interface pop up. On the left, the most important is "destination"- where your output files are heading. On the right, you'll see two tabs- one marked "input", one marked "Stream processing." Click on the "stream". You'll see a much shorter list of options, with check boxes next to each. In Highlander's case, there are 5 on my disc- a video, two audios (one normal, one marked director's commentary) and two subtitles. Unclick the commentary and both subtitles. Then click on the audio and video names (not the check boxes) underneath towards the bottom you'll see options marked "direct stream" ,"demux" and "raw". Set them all to "demux." Your files will get garbled otherwise.

Now, very important step. On the top bar, go to "tools" , then "settings." A bunch of tabbed boxes will appear, look for the "IFO" box.  In there, look for the drop down box marked "File splitting" and set it to "none." This will turn the audio and video into one long file each, rather than splitting it up every few megs. Now, click on the icon at the bottom that shows "decrypt." Wait.

(Why not DVDFab? Well, it's good at getting discs copied but not in getting to the files that we need to work with.)

Advanced step- if you run into a disc that you can't extract using DVDdecrypter or Rejig, then you can use DVDFab to make a copy of that disc and then rip it using the above programs.


2) Delay Cut stage
Some DVDs have audio delays in them. Search for a program called DelayCut. DC is fairly simple. Just open up the audio file created in step one and then click process. A second file will then be created called "audiofile_125msfixed" or something similar. Use that file (the one with fixed at the end) for the next step.

3) Converting AC to Wav (Skippable)
Okay, the DVD's audio file is in a format called AC. You'll generally want to change it to work with it in the editing process. However, you can skip it as Audacity can read AC files. There may be a loss in audio quality. Or there might not. I'm not enough of an audiophile to tell.


4) Audio Editing
Here we'll be using Audacity (as seen in Paranormal Activity!).

Open it up. First step is to bring the Rifftrax MP3 into Audacity, either by "Open file" or just using windows explorer to drag it into the program. (Why the Rifftrax first? Well, two reasons. One, you can then start working on it while the previous steps are going on and two, by using the Rifftrax as a base, Audacity will use its info when filling stuff out when you export it.) You can ignore most of the settings in Audacity until you're more proficient in using it, but there are 3 must know buttons. Look at this image.



The red is volume control for each track. You'll need to fiddle with this fairly often. Blue is the "silence" button. Highlight part of the track and then click that button and the bit will be silenced. The green is zoom in and out on the audio timeline so that it's not just a mass of blue. 

First thing, play the Rifftrax and find Mike's "1,2,3. Pause" bit. Note the time. You'll want to silence everything prior to that. (Or just delete it. Whichever.) Now import the audio file created in step 2 or 3 into Audacity. You should have the riff in one row and the movie audio below it. Now, you'll need to synch them. Press play.

I delete the intro segment, so I listen  for Dis' first synch line and then I listen for that line to appear in the movie audio. At that point, I paste in an appropriate amount of silence so that Dis' line and the movie's line are at the same point. If I'm still off, I'll delete or add additional time. Please note- DO NOT ADD OR SUBTRACT TIME TO THE MOVIES' AUDIO, JUST THE RIFFTRAX ONE. Altering the movie's audio will be bad.  After a few tries at this, Dis and the movie  should be saying " When the few who remain will battle" at the same time. You may need to decrease the volume of the Riff and increase the movie's volume  to be able to hear it better. Just remember to change it back before the final step.

Now, once the first line is synched, you have two options. One, say "I'm done" and proceed or two- check the other synch lines and see if they in fact synch. For extra anal retentiveness, you can also silence Dis' lines so that only Mike & co and the movie are heard.

Now you're almost ready to merge the riff and movie audio. Before you do, listen to a few minutes of the film. Is the Riff too loud? Is the movie too quiet? You're not going to be able to alter the volume after you merge them, so adjust the volume now so that you hit a level that you're comfortable with.  (At this step you can also autoduck the sound levels, but that's far beyond the beginner stage.) Once you're happy with the sound, go to "File" on the top bar and look for "export."  Export the whole thing to a wav file. Note- DO NOT CLOSE THE PROGRAM. If things go wrong in later steps, you can come back and change things more easily if it is still running. (The save files tend to be ginormous as well.)

5) Convert the wav back to AC
Now, we convert the wav from step 4 back to AC format. The program FFMPeg seems to do a good job, but there are a number of audio conversion programs that should work.

Why are we doing this? because Wav files are very big and trying to use one in the next step will make the file too big to write to a DVD.

6) Mash the audio and video back together
Here we'll use the program Rejig again. Go to "DVD Author" mode. On the "video" line, add the video file created in step 1. On audio add the AC file created in step 5. Now, you can add subtitles and chapter stops and the like here, but we'll skip that. Choose an output folder and then click start.

6.5) Watch the result
After step 6 is done, you'll want to watch it to make sure that it synchs well. For this step, I use , a freeware video player. Open VLAN, and choose the "open folder" option and then open the output folder from the last step. Watch it for a few minutes. Are the character's lines in synch with their mouths? Can you hear everything? Skip ahead a half an hour. Everything still good?  If so, head to the next step. If not, well, you can go back (probably to step 4) and start correcting things without having had to burn it to disc.

7) Export to DVD
For this step, use a program called DVDShrink. Start by running the program and then click "reauthor" on the top right. On the right side, navigate to the folder where you saved the riff to in step 6. When you get there, you should see a file marked "DVDvideo." Drag that over to the left. Then click "reauthor" uptop. At this point, you can either save to to an ISO file and then just burn it using a regular DVD burning program or write it directly to a DVD. It won't be the most elaborate DVD ever. (No menus, or chapters or intros.) But it will get the job of "stick it in a DVD player and hit play" done.

Finally, the good news is that there's nothing especially tricky in the Highlander riff. If you can get the basics down on this one, you can successfully do about 90% of the Rifftrax out there.  Hopefully this will help you.

Smith Dr John Smith:
Wow!  This is the first guide I have ever understood.  I am downloading the programs now and am going to try my hand at reauthering for the first time in years.

Thanks a lot!

monstermoviefanchicknj:
Thank you!!!   ;D ;D  My main problem would be Audacity because I couldn't see the original movie audio so I had a hard time trying to sync it up.  I will definitely save this and will get started later today.
 :highfive:

Smith Dr John Smith:
Okay I seem to have run into a bit of a problem.  FFMPEG and VLAN don't seem to work with Windows 7 64 bit,does anyone here know of any programs that do the same jobs and do work with Windows 7 64 bit?

Thanks.

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