This response is related to the question of what title to rip when there are multiple titles on the same DVD. The answer may not apply to Blu-Ray DVDs since the number of titles on the media may be in the hundreds.
Lions Gate Entertainment has elected to store multiple episodes of the same content on a DVD as a method of stopping/thwarting folks that want to rip the content. The ‘bogus’ content cannot be easily identified – it is protected by anti-piracy measure called "playlist obfuscation", also called "screenpass protection". This idea of multiple playlists + obfuscation DRM was used to Lionsgate DVDs since mid-2013. Other content providers may use this method.
The .mkv file can be played by VLC for example without any apparent issues. However, most of us want to encode it for playback to a specific type of device that cannot render .mkv files fast enough – phones, tablets, TVs, etc. The usual program for this activity is encoding activity is HandBrake. The result is typically a file that is about 20% of the size of the .mkv file and the encoding has been done and it is ready for viewing.
If the ‘bogus’ content is encoded you will find that the resulting .mp4 item is time shifted.
The result is that you may see blank, fuzzy, wrong screens that do not match the audio track.
Typically, these occurrences are within the first four to seven minutes of the encoded track.
The method that I use is to use MakeMKV to enumerate the contents.
Then I select each of the individual .mkv files and have them encoded with HandBrake.
Now you have multiple files, only one of which will be useable and the others will be time shifted.
Select each of the files one at a time and start to play. Move forward to about the 15 minute mark and determine if the audio is synchronized and the display is not blank or fuzzy,
You will be able to determine which of the files is the correct one.
Process is a PITA and time consuming.
More reading below…
https://www.winxdvd.com/dvd-ripper/make ... e-disc.htm
https://www.winxdvd.com/dvd-ripper/hand ... te-dvd.htm
https://www.tweaking4all.com/video/rip- ... itles-fix/
MKV Developers Plea
I do not understand the underlying technology. However, somebody does since, VLC can play the content and thus understands how to identify the correct Title. It would be nice of MakeMKV would incorporate this same capability. I would certainly pay additional for this feature.