Rifftrax audio file length == movie audio track

[ramzy.darwish]

Hi all,
I may be in the minority here, but I still prefer to watch movies the old fashioned way, i.e. on a TV/DVD Player.

I have been working diligently to sync up my DVDs with the Rifftrax files. It's not impossible, but somewhat tedious in that you need to do a little work if you want to get them synced up just right.

I think it may be better if a rifftrax came in two chunks: 1) the intro as a very small MP3 (not really necessary to be honest) and 2) The actual Rifftrax that is exactly equal in length to the soundtrack of the movie.

This is what I currently do:
- Rip the audio and video tracks for the main title from the disc with iSkysoft DVD Ripper into a wav file and a quicktime movie.
- Open the original soundtrack file and the rifftrax in Audacity
- Chop out the intro and edit the two streams until they sync up by adding and/or removing chunks off silence from the beginning of the tracks.
- Export this new combo as a WAV file
- Use Quicktime Pro to put the video and audio back together
- Use Audacity to edit the video so that it syncs up with the audio (this is the hardest part IMHO)
- Once everything is happy, I burn the movie to a DVD with Toast (I don't bother with menus and stuff)

Here is how I think it should work:
- Rip audio and video to separate tracks
- Open original audio and rifftrax in Audacity
- Now since they are both the same length, you should not need to edit anything, just export
- Join the original video and the new audio together
- Burn to DVD

The rifftrax could just have silence for the part of the opening that it doesn't 'apply' to.

Let me know if you see holes in this idea, or know how to make a formal request.

Thanks!

[torgosPizza]

the intro as a very small MP3 (not really necessary to be honest) and 2) The actual Rifftrax that is exactly equal in length to the soundtrack of the movie.

Please explain how the intro is unnecessary? For the majority of people who sync things up manually (and they are the majority), the intro is absolutely a requirement. Otherwise, how are they going to sync it up?

With your idea, if they were to try syncing with just the mp3 that is the same length - they would need to hit both buttons at the same time. Fair enough, but doesn't this seem more complicated than the "Pause now, wait for cue - and then unpause" system we currently have in place? The way I see it, it's easier -and more accurate - to have the mp3 ready to go and then just start the movie up.

Plus, splitting the files up into two? How would you deal with the pause between tracks (for the manual syncers)? Some mp3 players put a mandatory 2 second gap in them. Same with burning it to audio CD. Others leave no gap. Would there be a tone signaling the beginning of the track? What if your DVD player doesn't actually start the DVD when you play? (I have seen some DVD players that are not quite that responsive).

Granted, these issues probably wouldn't make a huge difference in the timing, but I still think it introduces a host of additional issues that really make the entire process much more difficult.

[Pak-Man]

The manual method takes practice (I use it every time) but after a while, you get into a groove. These days I usually only need to sync it up once, and often find I can press play at the start and sit back and enjoy the whole movie. Plus you learn to have a tolerance for just HOW out of sync you can let it get. Turns out if Disembaudio's half a second late or so, it doesn't really ruin the timing at all. It's not until the guys and the movie start stepping on each other's lines that you have to worry about it, and that's happening less and less. Either I'm getting better or they are. Probably both. :^)

That said, if I WAS the reauthoring type, I could see how it would be nice to have a reauthoring-version of the audio file, spaced out and ready to be merged with the DVD audio.

On the other hand, I can see how that would be a nightmare for Rifftrax customer service. :^)

[Bairman]

RiffTrax's business model is for the consumer to provide the DVD and they provide the commentary track.  It is then the consumer's responsibility to sync the two manually or use the RiffTrax Player.  Reathoring isn't part of that model.  It is a personal choice to deviate from the intended use of the product, so any additional effort required should be put forth by the consumer, not RiffTrax.

My opinion, of course.  YMMV.