The problem
If you rip this set and name files by MakeMKV's title number (t00, t01, ...), most episodes end up with the wrong episode number and title. On most discs, MakeMKV's title list runs roughly in reverse of broadcast order, usually with one or two episodes (often the 4th, and on some 13-episode discs also the 7th) moved to the end. The exact pattern varied from disc to disc, so don't rely on it. The disc print and the usual episode lists are fine. It is the title order that misleads you. I checked the episodes by duration matching and then by watching them (Season 1 also against an older DVD rip). All 139 were matched by duration, and all 139 were confirmed by watching scenes. For the last four on disc 12 the clues were: S05E22 the letter signed "Eternally yours", S05E23 the drum major's hat and Jeannie knitting, S05E24 the stormed-in night at the Nelson house, and S05E25 the opening order to find a card shark (then the poker games). E23, E24 and E25 run within about a third of a second of each other (roughly 1460 seconds), so on that disc the swapped pair (E23/E24) cannot be told apart by duration alone, which is why the content check mattered.
What works instead
1. Use the playlist number (the "Source file name" shown in MakeMKV's title info, e.g. 00007.mpls), not the title number. Sorted by playlist number, the episodes are in broadcast order for 133 of 139. The only exceptions are three swapped neighbouring pairs:
- Disc 2: 00010.mpls is S01E19 and 00011.mpls is S01E18
- Disc 11: 00008.mpls is S05E07 and 00009.mpls is S05E06
- Disc 12: 00012.mpls is S05E24 and 00013.mpls is S05E23
3. Confirm by duration: each single-episode playlist's duration, to the millisecond, identifies its episode. This was the authoritative check, and it caught two cases where Play All order alone would have misled.
4. A disc's volume title (visible in the ripped file's metadata, e.g. "I DREAM OF JEANNIE DISC 10") tells you which episodes belong on which disc. The splits are not always even: Season 4 is 12 episodes on disc 9 and 14 on disc 10, not 13/13.
Disc layout
Season 1 (black and white): discs 1-3, 10 episodes each (disc 2 also has the 1985 reunion movie, 00013.mpls). Season 2: discs 4-6 with 10, 10 and 11 episodes. Season 3: discs 7-8, 13 each. Season 4: disc 9 has 12, disc 10 has 14. Season 5: discs 11-12, 13 each.
Two defects on the discs themselves (for the brand new set I purchased, and may or may not be present in your exact set)
- Disc 7, S03E07 "Everybody's a Movie Star" (00009.mpls): on my disc this title would not read cleanly on the drives I tried. In one earlier attempt the recovered file silently contained a duplicate of another episode (byte-identical size and duration), so check that no two files on a disc have the same size and duration. I got the episode by playing the disc in a standalone Blu-ray TV player and recording its HDMI output with a ClonerAlliance capture box. That captured the entire episode except about 8 seconds from one scene about 16 minutes in.
- Disc 12, S05E21 "Help, Help! A Shark" (00010.mpls): a loud buzz drowns the dialogue from about 5:25 to 6:57. It is on both audio tracks, identical across two separate rips, and also from a standalone Blu-ray TV player, so it is in the pressing and is not a ripping problem. Noise reduction could not recover the dialogue, so I fixed it by grabbing the audio of that stretch from Tubi's stream and splicing it into the rip over the buzzy section, with short crossfades and the loudness matched to the rest of the episode. The video is untouched.
Season 1 is the original black and white. Seasons 1 and 2 are flagged progressive in the container but the video is 1080i (top field first) from telecined film, so deinterlace or decomb them when you encode. Seasons 3-5 are truly progressive 29.97. The English "stereo" DTS tracks are dual mono (left minus right is silence), so they can be downmixed to mono with no loss.
Full map (disc, playlist, episode, title). Playlists not listed on a disc were menus, trailers and similar short extras.
Code: Select all
Disc Playlist Episode Title
---- -------- ------- -----
1 00003.mpls S01E01 The Lady in the Bottle
1 00004.mpls S01E02 My Hero
1 00005.mpls S01E03 Guess What Happened on the Way to the Moon
1 00006.mpls S01E04 Jeannie and the Marriage Caper
1 00007.mpls S01E05 G.I. Jeannie
1 00008.mpls S01E06 The Yacht Murder Case
1 00009.mpls S01E07 Anybody Here Seen Jeannie
1 00010.mpls S01E08 The Americanization of Jeannie
1 00011.mpls S01E09 The Moving Finger
1 00012.mpls S01E10 Djinn and Water
2 00003.mpls S01E11 Whatever Became of Baby Custer
2 00004.mpls S01E12 Where'd You Go-Go
2 00005.mpls S01E13 Russian Roulette
2 00006.mpls S01E14 What House Across the Street
2 00007.mpls S01E15 Too Many Tonys
2 00008.mpls S01E16 Get Me to Mecca on Time
2 00009.mpls S01E17 The Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World
2 00010.mpls S01E19 Never Try to Outsmart a Jeannie
2 00011.mpls S01E18 Is There an Extra Genie in the House
2 00012.mpls S01E20 My Master, the Doctor
3 00003.mpls S01E21 Jeannie and the Kidnap Caper
3 00004.mpls S01E22 How Lucky Can You Get
3 00005.mpls S01E23 Watch the Birdie
3 00006.mpls S01E24 The Permanent House Guest
3 00007.mpls S01E25 Bigger Than a Bread Box and Better Than a Genie
3 00008.mpls S01E26 My Master, the Great Rembrandt
3 00009.mpls S01E27 My Master, the Thief
3 00010.mpls S01E28 This Is Murder
3 00011.mpls S01E29 My Master, the Magician
3 00012.mpls S01E30 I'll Never Forget What's Her Name
4 00003.mpls S02E01 Happy Anniversary
4 00004.mpls S02E02 Always on Sunday
4 00005.mpls S02E03 My Master, the Rich Tycoon
4 00006.mpls S02E04 My Master, the Rainmaker
4 00007.mpls S02E05 My Wild Eyed Master
4 00008.mpls S02E06 What's New, Poodle Dog
4 00009.mpls S02E07 The Fastest Gun in the East
4 00010.mpls S02E08 How to Be a Genie in 10 Easy Lessons
4 00011.mpls S02E09 Who Needs a Green Eyed Jeannie
4 00012.mpls S02E10 The Girl Who Never Had a Birthday Part 1
5 00003.mpls S02E11 The Girl Who Never Had a Birthday Part 2
5 00004.mpls S02E12 How Do You Beat Superman
5 00005.mpls S02E13 My Master, the Great Caruso
5 00006.mpls S02E14 The Greatest Lover in the World
5 00007.mpls S02E15 Jeannie Breaks the Bank
5 00008.mpls S02E16 My Master, the Author
5 00009.mpls S02E17 The Greatest Invention in the World
5 00010.mpls S02E18 My Master, the Spy
5 00011.mpls S02E19 You Can't Arrest Me... I Don't Have a Driver's License
5 00012.mpls S02E20 One of Our Bottles is Missing
6 00003.mpls S02E21 My Poor Master, the Civilian
6 00004.mpls S02E22 There Goes the Best Genie I Ever Had
6 00005.mpls S02E23 The Greatest Entertainer in the World
6 00006.mpls S02E24 My Incredible Shrinking Master
6 00007.mpls S02E25 My Master, the Pirate
6 00008.mpls S02E26 A Secretary is Not a Toy
6 00009.mpls S02E27 There Goes the Bride
6 00010.mpls S02E28 My Master, Napoleon's Buddy
6 00011.mpls S02E29 The Birds and Bees Bit
6 00012.mpls S02E30 My Master, the Swinging Bachelor
6 00013.mpls S02E31 The Mod Party
7 00003.mpls S03E01 Fly Me to the Moon
7 00004.mpls S03E02 Jeannie or the Tiger
7 00005.mpls S03E03 The Greatest Con Artist in the World
7 00006.mpls S03E04 My Turned-On Master
7 00007.mpls S03E05 My Master, the Weakling
7 00008.mpls S03E06 Jeannie, the Hip Hippie
7 00009.mpls S03E07 Everybody's a Movie Star
7 00010.mpls S03E08 Who Are You Calling a Jeannie
7 00011.mpls S03E09 Meet My Master's Mother
7 00012.mpls S03E10 Here Comes Bootsie Nightingale
7 00013.mpls S03E11 Tony's Wife
7 00014.mpls S03E12 Jeannie and the Great Bank Robbery
7 00015.mpls S03E13 My Son, the Genie
8 00003.mpls S03E14 Jeannie Goes to Honolulu
8 00004.mpls S03E15 The Battle of Waikiki
8 00005.mpls S03E16 Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie Part 1
8 00006.mpls S03E17 Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie Part 2
8 00007.mpls S03E18 Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie Part 3
8 00008.mpls S03E19 Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie Part 4
8 00009.mpls S03E20 Please, Don't Feed the Astronauts
8 00010.mpls S03E21 My Master, the Ghost Breaker
8 00011.mpls S03E22 Divorce, Genie Style
8 00012.mpls S03E23 My Double-Crossing Master
8 00013.mpls S03E24 Have You Ever Had a Jeannie Hate You
8 00014.mpls S03E25 Operation First Couple on the Moon
8 00015.mpls S03E26 Haven't I Seen Me Someplace Before
9 00003.mpls S04E01 U-F-OHH! Jeannie
9 00004.mpls S04E02 Jeannie and the Wild Pipchicks
9 00005.mpls S04E03 Tomorrow is Not Another Day
9 00006.mpls S04E04 Abdullah
9 00007.mpls S04E05 Have You Heard the One About the Used Car Salesman
9 00008.mpls S04E06 Djinn-Djinn, Go Home
9 00009.mpls S04E07 The Strongest Man in the World
9 00010.mpls S04E08 Indispensable Jeannie
9 00011.mpls S04E09 Jeannie and the Top Secret Secret
9 00012.mpls S04E10 How To Marry an Astronaut
9 00013.mpls S04E11 Dr. Bellows Goes Sane
9 00014.mpls S04E12 Jeannie the Guru
10 00003.mpls S04E13 The Case of My Vanishing Master, Part 1
10 00004.mpls S04E14 The Case of My Vanishing Master, Part 2
10 00005.mpls S04E15 Ride 'Em Astronaut
10 00006.mpls S04E16 Invisible House for Sale
10 00007.mpls S04E17 Jeannie, the Governor's Wife
10 00008.mpls S04E18 Is There a Doctor in the House
10 00009.mpls S04E19 Biggest Star in Hollywood
10 00010.mpls S04E20 The Case of the Porcelain Puppy
10 00011.mpls S04E21 Jeannie for the Defense
10 00012.mpls S04E22 Nobody Loves a Fat Astronaut
10 00013.mpls S04E23 Around the Moon in 80 Blinks
10 00014.mpls S04E24 Jeannie-Go-Round
10 00015.mpls S04E25 Jeannie and the Secret Weapon
10 00017.mpls S04E26 Blackmail Order Bride
11 00003.mpls S05E01 Jeannie at the Piano
11 00004.mpls S05E02 Djinn Djinn, the Pied Piper
11 00005.mpls S05E03 Guess Who's Going to Be a Bride, Part 1
11 00006.mpls S05E04 Guess Who's Going to Be a Bride, Part 2
11 00007.mpls S05E05 Jeannie's Beauty Cream
11 00008.mpls S05E07 The Blood of a Jeannie
11 00009.mpls S05E06 Jeannie and the Bachelor Party
11 00010.mpls S05E08 See You in C-U-B-A
11 00011.mpls S05E09 Jeannie & the Mad Home Wrecker
11 00012.mpls S05E10 Uncle A-Go-Go
11 00013.mpls S05E11 The Wedding
11 00014.mpls S05E12 My Sister, the Homewrecker
11 00015.mpls S05E13 Jeannie, the Matchmaker
12 00003.mpls S05E14 Never Put a Genie on a Budget
12 00004.mpls S05E15 Please Don't Give My Jeannie No More Wine
12 00005.mpls S05E16 One of Our Hotels is Growing
12 00006.mpls S05E17 The Solid Gold Jeannie
12 00007.mpls S05E18 Mrs. Djinn Djinn
12 00008.mpls S05E19 Jeannie and the Curious Kid
12 00009.mpls S05E20 Jeannie, the Recording Secretary
12 00010.mpls S05E21 Help, Help! A Shark
12 00011.mpls S05E22 Eternally Yours, Jeannie
12 00012.mpls S05E24 Hurricane Jeannie
12 00013.mpls S05E23 An Astronaut in Sheep's Clothing
12 00014.mpls S05E25 One Jeannie Beats Four of a Kind
12 00015.mpls S05E26 The Chili King
2 00013.mpls Bonus I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later (1985 reunion movie)
The only extra I ripped was the 1985 reunion TV movie "I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later" (about 94 minutes, disc 2, 00013.mpls). It is encoded the same way as the colour seasons and sits in an "Other" folder next to the Season folders, which is the folder name Plex recognises for show extras. It only appeared under Extras after I ran Refresh Metadata on the show; a plain library scan did not show it.
Encoding (HandBrake, NVEnc H.264)
Each episode was encoded from the MakeMKV rip with HandBrakeCLI, using one preset for the black and white season and one for the colour seasons:
- Video: NVEnc H.264, single pass, average bitrate. Season 1 (black and white): 5000 kbps. Seasons 2-5 (colour): 6000 kbps. The finished files averaged about 5.05 Mbps for Season 1 and 6.03 to 6.07 Mbps for Seasons 2-5. The remaining video settings are the defaults (medium preset, profile and level auto, which gives Main profile).
- Frame rate: constant, same as source (29.97). I left detelecine off, so there is no inverse telecine.
- Crop: automatic, which removes the black pillarbox bars. The pictures come out about 1486x1080 for Season 1 and 1468x1080 for Seasons 3-5.
- Deinterlacing: HandBrake's decomb filter with default settings, which cleans up the interlaced frames in Seasons 1 and 2 and leaves progressive frames alone.
- Audio: AC3, mono, 128 kbps, since the DTS "stereo" tracks are dual mono.
- Output: .m4v (MP4 container), named SxxEyy Title.
This map is for the Mill Creek 12-disc release only. I have not seen the Imprint Television limited edition (a different 22-disc set), so I can't say how its discs are laid out. In other forums I have read comments from people who call this Mill Creek release disappointing and say the Imprint set is superior. I can't vouch for that either way, since I have not compared the two myself. If you own both sets and can confirm or refute those claims, please comment.
If you have a different edition of this show, the playlist numbers may differ, so match by duration before trusting the table. Corrections welcome.