Merge Mode Quick Guide

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Using Merge Mode

Note: This is a condensed version of the full guide, which is part of the DVDFab Tutorial and can be found here.



Merge can be used to:

• Put a two-disc movie onto a single disc; say goodbye to “flipper” discs forever!
• Make a special disc with titles from many sources, like a cartoon carnival disc for the kids.
• Put two versions of the same title on one disc.
• Make a disc of just “Extras” and “Making Of..s”.
• Make your own “Night at the Movies” disc, with the movie, a cartoon and extras.
• Interleave material from different sources with chapter length control.

The First Step is to decide what sources to use for your project. Valid sources are DVD discs (but you must have an optical drive for each disc source), DVD folders and ISO files. The merge process runs faster if you copy the merge Sources to your HDD before starting, and all Sources must be continuously available until the merge process completes—you can’t pop a DVD out of a drive and put in another; if you do, the Merge entries from the disc you remove will be deleted from the Merge list.

Next, select DVD to DVD and click on Merge. The title selection screen will appear. This screen is used to select the title sources for your project. If you start with a DVD in the default optical drive it will appear as the first Source. If all your Sources are on HDD, use the folder or ISO icon to select the first one.

Select the titles you want to use from this Source and chose the audio and subpicture streams to include and set as defaults for playback. Sources can be added in any order since the next screen lets you re-arrange them in any order, but it’s easier to keep track of the Merge process if you’ll add the sources in the order you plan to use them. Add your next Source using the Source drop down (to select optical drives) or the Folder or ISO Source buttons.

When you have added all the Sources, click Next to see the list of titles to be merged. Use Preview to verify the playback order of the titles and included chapters, make any changes, select DVD5/9, select a target, and click Start to begin the merge. The text window will give you a running progress report much like the other modes.



Tips

• There are no menus on merged volumes.
• Think the merge through before you start. Don’t wind up ready to push Start and realize you need to copy another source to the HDD.
• Merge mode will not allow you to re-use or duplicate a title on the merge list using the drop down source selector. This can be accomplished if necessary by re-loading the Source using the folder or ISO Source buttons. You can re-use a Source using the drop down selector as long as you select a different title from the one already on the merge list.
• DVDFab makes the same default title selections in Merge that it does in Main Movie, so be sure to UNcheck that title if you don’t want it.
• You can go back and forth between the two screens as often as necessary.
• The Preview window is your friend like never before. Remember that it updates the Title and Chapter numbers just above the viewer window in real time while running and will be a tremendous help in setting chapter begin and end points if you need to do that.