Needing helpwith renaming files once copied/ripped from fitness dvds

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DawnB88
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2024 7:53 pm

Needing helpwith renaming files once copied/ripped from fitness dvds

Post by DawnB88 »

I have a fitness DVD I just ripped/copied and now I have (15) files all with random text like "A14_t07.mkv" and so on. I don't know the actual names of the video files. Is there a way to get help with having the program automatically pull the file names from the DVD.

I would like to keep using this program for ripping all of my DVDs. I have already done a movie and the name was also incorrect but I know the name of the movie and there was only 1 movie file. So it was a easy fix all I needed to do was rename the file and add (1995) to the end of the movie since that is the year the movie came out. But as of right now my PC has (15) files with random text file file title for the fitness DVD. I would like to know how to fix this for the DVDs.

I plan to use this for my Movies, TV Shows, and Fitness DVDs. So the Movies will not be much of a issue since there mostly just going to be (1) main file. But when it comes to ripping the TV shows I would need to open each video file to find out what each episode is. I would rather fix this issue now if possible. That way its fixed for Movies, TV Shows and the fitness DVDs.

Plus dose anyone have any tips or ideas on how to store multiple files. For each DVD. I plan to try and keep the "Special Features" for some DVDs but not all of them. Plus I plan to try and make a main folder for each DVD. Example fitness DVD called "ABC123 (2000)" is inside a folder called "ABC123 (2000)" and inside the folder is a video called "ABC123 (2000).mkv" and then if there are special features I would have a folder called "Special Features". But for fitness videos there are more then (1) video but you get the idea. Movies have mostly 1 file and TV Shows will have multiple based on "Episode Count" per disc. And Fitness DVDs are different once again.

So naming will be a bit hard and sorting them based on folders will also be a bit hard. I normally use "Media Companion" for getting metadata for the "Movies" and then I use it also for "Renaming TV Show Episodes".

But I need to have the files correctly named before I can scan them for metadata.

I hope someone can help me figure out the naming issues I'm having. Thank you!
dcoke22
Posts: 3097
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2020 11:25 pm

Re: Needing helpwith renaming files once copied/ripped from fitness dvds

Post by dcoke22 »

You can change the name of the files that will be produced in MakeMKV prior to ripping them.

Changing names with Expert mode enabled

Unfortunately, MakeMKV can't know what the titles of the various things on a disc are since that information isn't really encoded on the disc for MakeMKV to access.

As for the other stuff, what playback system are you using?
Woodstock
Posts: 10331
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: Needing helpwith renaming files once copied/ripped from fitness dvds

Post by Woodstock »

Also, some player software looks as the header of the file to determine the name of the file, rather than the file name itself. I have a script I use for mkvpropedit.exe (part of mkvtoolnix) that changes the "title" attribute to be the file name, without the extension, to fix that.
DawnB88
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2024 7:53 pm

Re: Needing helpwith renaming files once copied/ripped from fitness dvds

Post by DawnB88 »

Me and my cousin was going to join a GYM membership on the 3rd of this month but the price was much higher then advertised online. So it was a no go for us. So we left the GYM and walked about 2 and a half blocks to the Library and took a little look around inside and I seen there was (2) carts full of DVDs for $1.00 each. I found several good DVDs but I didn't have much on me for cash. So I only bought (4) I think at the time and then later that day I bought some more from the local Goodwill for $1.99 each. And then the next day me and my (2) cousins went back to the Library and I bought a few more. So now I want to back up the DVDs since my brother will be borrowing them from time to time I think. And since he lives next door to me I want to make sure to back up all the DVDs. So I decided to also back up the "Fitness/Exercise" DVDs.

I used to use a different program back in (2009) and around that time since I didn't really know how to back up DVDs. And then I just started watching things online.

But now with DVDs being so cheap at different places it is making more sense to just buy some cheap DVDs and back them up and then store the DVDs on a hard drive and keep the DVDs on a shelf.

So what I want to do is back up the "Fitness/Exercise" DVDs the best way that I can and to try and rename them the best way that I can.

So the first step is to take a look at the "Change names with Expert mode" link.

The images don't show the same as in the "Change names with Export mode".

Okay so I managed to add the "Properties" by going to the "Wrench Icon" and clicked "General" and then checking "Export Mode". And now I have it.

So now here is the issue:
(1) Do I leave the "Advanced">"Options">"Output file name template" alone or do I change it to something different its currently like this "{NAME}{-:CMNT1}{-:DT}{title:+DFLT}{_t:N2} <Dose this get changed at all?
(2) On the left side I see "Type" and "Description" under type I see DVD disc. Description "Biggest Loser Cardio Max"

When I open the drop down arrow for the DVD I see:
"Title">6 chapter(s), 382.4 MB (C4) I then open the drop down and see Video Mpeg2 Audio DD Stereo English and Subtitle which I remove from the fitness DVDs
there are (7) that say "Title" and all of them have a different thing at the end.

title 6 chapter(s) has (C4)
title 4 chapter(s) has (C3)
title 2 Chapter(s) has (D1)
title 2 chapter(s) has (A7)
title 2 chapter(s) has (A8)
title 2 chapter(s) has (A9)
title 2 chapter(s) has (A10)

I know the main movie is called BIGGEST LOSER CARDIO MAX but the (7) files are all going to be named something different how do I find out what there names are so I can change them.

When I click on the title of the "DVD" on DVD disc I see on the right side the Name are is filled in with "BIGGEST LOSER CARDIO MAX" Info is source information. Type DVD disc name: BIGGEST LOSER CARDIO MAX

But when I click on the first file (C4) I see. Name area with drop down is blank and then info is:
Comment: C4
Source title ID: 02
Duration: 0:07:17
Chapter count: 6
Size: 382.4 MB
Segment Count: 1
Segment map:1-6
File Name: C4_t00.mkv

How do I know what to change it to: for each of the files. I don't want it to be C4_t00.mkv.

Is there a way to scan it and find out each file name with a different program and then just rename each file with MakeMKV and then copy it then. Or how do I do this. Since this is not a TV show there is not a episode list or anything like that I can run from.
dcoke22
Posts: 3097
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2020 11:25 pm

Re: Needing helpwith renaming files once copied/ripped from fitness dvds

Post by dcoke22 »

I find DVDs to be a bit of a pain in this regard. The simplest way I know how to do it is to essentially make poorly named .mkv files, watch them long enough to figure out what to name them, update the relevant fields in MakeMKV, then make new .mkv files.

The first thing I do is make a decrypted backup of the disc. Making a backup is pretty easy, it is just a different path through the program. Once MakeMKV is running and has read the disc, but before you click on the big disc icon, click on the yellow folder with the green arrow icon at the top. Make sure the decrypt checkbox is checked, pick a location, then let MakeMKV create the backup. This is going to copy the entire contents of the disc to local storage.

Once this is done, open the backup in MakeMKV. This will show you all the titles on the disc, all the titles you're trying to figure out how to name. Hit the MakeMKV button. This will produce .mkv files, all improperly named, of every titles that were checked (all of them by default). The difference is, however, it'll do it as fast as your storage allows, which will be a lot faster than reading from the optical disc.

Then, use a player like VLC or whatever your favorite player is to play the improperly named .mkv files. Figure out what they should be called. For fitness videos, you'll probably have to make up names. One might be a 'cooldown' segment. One might be a tutorial on how to properly do some stretching or whatever. As you figure out the names and which audio tracks to keep, update the corresponding fields in MakeMKV. Eventually, every title will either be named or unchecked. Delete all the improperly named .mkv files and then make new, properly named .mkv files with MakeMKV. It'll only take a short amount of time, since it can go as fast as your storage can go.

Good luck!

As a side note, I find the utility MediaInfo very handy for finding out a bunch of details about .mkv files.
pneumatic
Posts: 118
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2023 8:09 am

Re: Needing helpwith renaming files once copied/ripped from fitness dvds

Post by pneumatic »

A descriptive and meaningful name of each title is probably not stored anywhere on the disc.
The only solution I could speculate on is whether you could get a unique identifier of the disc and cross-reference that to an online database where other people have already manually entered all the title names. This is how it's done for games like eg. gametdb.com. The game browser software matches the disc ID to the website and scrapes all the metadata like game title, description, cover artwork etc. that volunteers have manually created.
Maybe there is already a site like that for DVDs. Wikipedia is my main source for episode naming of TV shows but for some obscure fitness DVDs I doubt anyone has bothered to upload it anywhere. You'll probably have to do it manually, browsing the disc menu and figuring out which title corresponds to which workout routine, if you want your files to have descriptive and meaningful names.
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