DVDFab (UI/General) Allow directory structure options

[rma]

Love DVDFab.
Have been a paid-up user for 4 months or more, now.

I'm using Fab to extract my DVDs onto the hard drive and then use handbrake to encode them for use on my Popcorn Hour media player.

This works absolutely fine but I could really do with some control/options on the directory structure created by Fab.

Take my current example - I'm extrating the episodes from my ER box set. I create a data directory for "ER - Season 01" with 25 sub directories beneath it "ER - s01e01", "ER - s01e02" etc.

When I rip episode 1 into the directory I have created for it, I end up with an extra directory level that I really could do with not having...

"ER - Season 01" / "ER - s01e01" / "ER_SEASON_1_DISC_1A" / "VIDEO_TS"

What would make my (encoding) life a lot simpler would be to have this directory structure...

"ER - Season 01" / "ER - s01e01" / "VIDEO_TS"

ie. an option in Fab to *not* create that extra directory based on the DVD name.

My reason for wanting this option is that I can then use the option in Handbrake to automatically name my output file.

With the current directory structure created by Fab, my default Handbrake filename is "ER_SEASON_1_DISC_1A.MKV".

With my preferred/optional directory structre, the default Handbrake filename would be "ER - s01e01.mkv", which is the filename I want.

Such a simple option would save me a lot of extra typing and make my rip/encoding a lot more efficient.

I hope you might consider providing such an option.

[Complication]

Instead of creating the "ER - s01e01" beforehand, choose the "ER - Season 01" as the output folder in DVDFab and modify the volume name to your liking just before you click start.

[rma]

Yup, could do that, but it's a lot easier for me to run a .bat file to create all 24 episode directories in one go and then just manually select them in Fab.

I don't want/need the volume name directory level - an option to disable it would be ideal.

What I'm doing at the moment is, once ripped, I move the AUDIO/VIDEO directories up one level and delete the volume directory.

Both of the above options achieve my desired end goal but an option to just never create a volume directory would be even easier, still.

[fengtao]

Hi rma,

There is an option in "Settings -> General" window: "Create files in subfolders of output directory", you can uncheck it.

Current version will still create VOLUME_NAME sub folder, new version will remove it, please wait for next version.

Thank you very much for the suggestion.

Best Regards,
Fengtao

[rma]

Current version will still create VOLUME_NAME sub folder, new version will remove it, please wait for next version.

Great! Thanks

[rma]

There is an option in "Settings -> General" window: "Create files in subfolders of output directory", you can uncheck it.

Current version will still create VOLUME_NAME sub folder, new version will remove it, please wait for next version.

Just tried with v7.0.3.0 and it's not working as I was hoping it would work

For example, my first rip was Planet 51.
I am extracting the Main Movie, only.

I created a "P:\DATA\Planet 51" directory for the rip.
Ideally I would like the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS directories to be immediately below that, ie. "P:\DATA\Planet 51\AUDIO_TS" and "P:\DATA\Planet 51\VIDEO_TS" as that is the most convenient layout for passing to Handbrake for encoding.

If I rip with the 'Create files in subfolders of output directory' UNTICKED then I get "P:\DATA\Planet 51\PLANET51\AUDIO_TS" and "P:\DATA\Planet 51\PLANET51\VIDEO_TS", where "PLANET51" is the Volume Label.

If I rip with the 'Create files in subfolders of output directory' TICKED then I get "P:\DATA\Planet 51\MainMovie\PLANET51\AUDIO_TS" and "P:\DATA\Planet 51\MainMovie\PLANET51\VIDEO_TS".

Is this working as intended?

[Complication]

If I rip with the 'Create files in subfolders of output directory' UNTICKED then I get "P:\DATA\Planet 51\PLANET51\AUDIO_TS" and "P:\DATA\Planet 51\PLANET51\VIDEO_TS", where "PLANET51" is the Volume Label.

Don't pre-create the "Planet 51" directory. Set the destination folder as "P:\DATA\". Just before you click start on the rip change the title box from "PLANET51" to "Planet 51". This will give you what you want.

[rma]

Don't pre-create the "Planet 51" directory. Set the destination folder as "P:\DATA\". Just before you click start on the rip change the title box from "PLANET51" to "Planet 51". This will give you what you want.

Nope, it won't... well, it would, but it's not a viable solution... I want a directory called "Planet 51" not "PLANET51", so that, when I feed it into Handbrake, it picks up the directory name and uses that for the output file, resulting in the nicely named "Planet 51.mkv" rather than "PLANET51.mkv". It's really not a big deal for when I just rip a handful of movies. I either just manually move the AUDIO and VIDEO directories up one level or rename the output file from Handbrake.

The reason I've raised the issue is that I'm currently encoding my vast DVD collection and it becomes a bit of a PITA when ripping the various box sets of TV series I have... ER had 330 episodes over 15 series, MASH had 252 episodes over 11 series, 24 has 168 episodes (so far). I've sorted those out, manually, and it really made a long job so much more tedious!

I still have 3rd Rock (6 series of 22+ episodes each), Friends (236 episodes), Frasier (264 episodes) and various Star Treks etc to go.

I could rename the Volume in Fab for each rip but, again, it makes the job so much more tedious when I can have a simple .bat file create my desired directories so easily!

Just having an option NOT to create a VOLUME_NAME directory would make my life a lot easier.

[Complication]

Nope, it won't... well, it would, but it's not a viable solution... I want a directory called "Planet 51" not "PLANET51" ...

Please read my post carefully. I know what you are trying to achieve and do something similar myself.

• Don't create the destination folder manually (i.e. "P:\DATA\Planet 51"), let DVDFab do it.
• Choose the parent directory (P:\DATA\) as the destination folder in DVDFab.
• Manually CHANGE the default "PLANET51" title name to "Planet 51" just before you click start. DVDFab will then create a folder named "Planet 51" when it rips with VIDEO_TS as a subdirectory.

DVDFab has said they will have more options later. I am trying to give you an easy change to your procedures that will give you what you want now.

[rma]

I did read your response... it's the same suggestion you made in your first response in this thread, for which I am grateful.

However, whilst that suggestion will achieve the desired end result, your suggestion doesn't scale well when ripping a TV series of 200+ episodes - it's more efficient for me to create my episode directories via a .bat file and then move the fab data directories up a level.

DVDFab did say on 12/3 that...

Current version will still create VOLUME_NAME sub folder, new version will remove it, please wait for next version.

there have been several v7 betas since then, which I haven't tried, but when I saw 7.0.3.0 was out, I thought I'd check out the option and hence my update here, as it doesn't do what I was hoping it would do.

[Complication]

You might also consider a batch file that looks for subdirectories not named VIDEO_TS at the 3rd level, moves the contents down a level, and then removes the directory. There are other places on this forum where similar batch files have been created.

One can always hope that a DVDFab feature comes about quickly, but I've learned not to hold my breath. I look forward to being pleasantly surprised however.