A basic guide to customizing and re-encoding a DVD9 with DVD-Rebuilder and HC Encoder
Update May 04, 2006: HC 0.18 has been released. It features an improved encoding engine with better visual metrics. Upgrade recommended, see below for link to homepage
Update May 06, 2006: Avisynth 2.56 is recommended now, please upgrade from 2.55 if you haven’t already.
A basic guide to customizing and re-encoding a DVD9 with DVD-Rebuilder and HC Encoder
Work-in-progress, post a comment if anything is unclear. This tutorial was made by our very own kumi.
You need this guide if: You have a DVD9 disc (i.e. greater than 4.38GB) that you want to re-encode to DVD5 size with the best possible video qualiity. You also want an easy and quick way to blank and remove extras and audio tracks on a case-by-case basis.
Solution: Use DVD Rebuilder as a front-end to the excellent freeware HC encoder, compressing the DVD9 to DVD5 size. Technically this guide will work with Rebuilder 1.07.1+, but I suggest you download the latest version below, there are several important bug fixes.
Tools used:
- DVD Decrypter
- Avisynth 2.56a
- HC encoder
- DVD Rebuilder 1.08.1 (ADC Torrent) (Alternative DVD Rebuilder 1.09.2 link on page 7 of this thread) (Alternative DVD Rebuilder 1.09.3 ed2k link on page 7 of this thread)
Table of Contents:
- (Step 1): Decrypt the DVD to your hard drive.
- (Step 2): Install AviSynth?, DVD Rebuilder and HC.
- (Step 3): Initial configuration of DVD Rebuilder.
- (Step 4): Deselect undesired audio tracks.
- (Step 5): Steal space from extras you want to keep. (NOT for episodic DVDs)
- (Step 6): Blank (remove) extras you don’t want to keep.
- (Step 7): Rebuild and test your new DVD.
Step 1: Decrypt the DVD to your hard drive:
- Install DVD Decrypter. Open the program and press the ‘F’ key to put it into File Mode.
- Insert your disc in your DVD tray/slot. Select the drive letter in DVD Decrypter:

- Select your destination folder:

- Press the big ‘Decrypt’ button to decrypt the disc to your hard drive.
Step 2: Install AviSynth, DVD Rebuilder and HC:
- Download and install AviSynth? from the link at the top of the guide. The default installation parameters work fine. If you have any version besides 2.56 installed already, UNINSTALL IT FIRST. 2.56 is the recommended version. Not 2.54, not 2.55.
- Download and install DVD Rebuilder from the torrent at the top of the guide. It is important to follow the instructions contained in the .nfo file to the letter. Install into a new directory if you have a previous version of DVD Rebuilder already installed.
- Download the latest HC from the link at the top of the guide. Extract the contents of the archive to the HC encoder subdirectory in the DVD Rebuilder program folder. If you’re upgrading, it’s safe to delete all of the files in the HC folder before extraction. You can skip this step if you’re using the Rebuilder 1.08.1 torrent linked above and the latest HC version is 0.17, since the Rebuilder installer already includes HC 0.17. Here’s what your folder might look like after extraction:

Step 3: Initial configuration of DVD Rebuilder:
- Now to point DVD Rebuilder to your new HC encoder. Open rebuilder.exe and go to Settings | Setup. Change the “Path to HC Encoder” to point to the new .exe file you extracted. There are probably two HC executables, you want the non-gui one. In my case, it’s HCenc_017.exe. If you’re using the 1.08.1 torrent linked above, and the latest HC version is 0.17, you can skip this step.
- While we’re in the Setup window, let’s uncheck the Remove all DTS Audio and Remove Dir’s Comments. Press the OK button to save your settings.
- Set the Mode to “HC”:

- Set “One Click Mode” off:

- Set “Full Backup” mode (important!):

- Optionally, set the program to output an .ISO file:

- Now in the Settings menu, set the HC mode to “Best”:

- Set DVDRB to encode menus that are greater than 50MB in size (optional but recommended).

- Now let’s open the Options tab:

- Set the Decoder iDCT to “32 Bit Simple MMX (XVID)”:

- Uncheck the ConvertToYUY?2() line. HC work in the native DVD colorspace. (Turn this back on if you need to use CCE.)

- Set up the different matrices that help avoid blockiness and mosquito noise in the re-encoded video:

Safe values to use are: Main = Encoder Default Low = QuEnc? Lower Bitrate (QLB) Very Low = Very Low Bitrate Extras = QuEnc? Lower Bitrate (QLB)
- Set your Source, Destination, and Work Paths:

We’re done with the initial configuration. Now we can get into the nitty gritty!
Step 4: Deselect undesired audio tracks:
Ok, you’ve got your ripped disc loaded into DVD-Rebuilder. Now you should choose what audio streams to keep. If your DVD9 isn’t that big, or if you only have a few AC3 tracks, you might decide to skip this step. If you have a large DVD9, and/or you have one or more large DTS tracks, you might decide to follow this step.
- Load the DVD in your software media player of choice. I use Media Player Classic. Play the main feature (or episodes).
- Switch through the different audio tracks. If any of them are undesired, make a note of the title and audio track number (first, second, etc.)
- In the Input Setting tab of DVD Rebuilder, expand the title that contains your undesired audio track(s). Yes I know this is a DVD5, I didn’t have a DVD9 on hand to make these screenshots:

- Double-click any audio streams that you don’t desire. In this case, I removed the 2-channel main audio, because I have the same track in 5.1 surround. I also removed the 2-channel director’s comments, since they’re in Korean:

- For compatibility and usability purposes, it’s a good idea to remap the removed audio tracks to point to intact audio tracks. Double-click the Audio Track Remapping:

- In this case, I removed all but one track, so I set them all to play Aud_02, and click Save:

Step 5: Steal space from extras you want to keep.
WARNING: NOT FOR DVDs WITH EPISODES
The “Steal Space from Extras” settings in DVD Rebuilder allocates more bits to your main movie at the expense of the extras. How does DVD Rebuilder know which are the extras? Simple: everything but the largest Title Set is considered an extra. If you are working on an episodic DVD, with 1 episode per Title Set, DVD Rebuilder will consider the largest episode the “main feature”, and the rest will be treated as “extras”.
This is why, if you have a DVD with episodes, you MUST set Steal Space from Extras to 00%. Make sure it’s at 00%, and skip to the next step.
- In this case, my extras are in Title Set 03, and take up 628 MB:

- I don’t really care much for the quality of the extras (they’re just a “making-of” featurette), So I set Rebuilder to steal 50% of the bits and allocate them to the main movie. They’re gonna look real blocky, but I care more about the main movie:

Step 6: Remove extras you don't want to keep
We’ve stolen space from the extras we want to keep. But let’s say there’s an extra we don’t want at all. Rebuilder now has the ability to completely remove it from the final output.
- You must run a Prepare phase before you can blank any features in Rebuilder. Let’s do so now: click the Prepare icon, and wait for it to complete:

- You can see the status of the prepare phase in the
tab. When it’s done, switch over to the
tab. - Now you see a list of extra features, and a little preview window. Clicking each entry will automatically start a preview. Most of the time, an extra feature will span multiple CellIDs? (the “C” in the “V/C”), but span only one VOBID (the “V” in the “V/C”). In this screenshot, my extra is contained in one CellID?, inside one VOBID:

- Remembering that you extra(s) might span multiple CellIDs?, and that you might have to blank more than one entry to completely remove an extra feature, you can now blank (remove):

- Voila, your undesired extra(s) are now blanked, giving your main movie or episodes more room, and thus more quality. Click the
button.
Step 7: Rebuild and test your new DVD.
- You’re finally ready to re-encode your disc! Click the Rebuild button and let it do it’s magic. There’s no need to click Encode followed by Rebuild; the Rebuild button takes care of everything. After several hours (depending on the speed of your computer), your Destination folder will contain your finished .ISO (or VIDEO_TS folder, depending on your Step 3 settings.)

ALWAYS preview your output in at least a software media player! Switch audio tracks, fast forward and rewind, skip chapters (ahead and back, all the way to the end), test the menus, etc.! This is important, lest you accidentally upload a DVD that doesn’t work, somehow!