Adding menus/chapters to a DVD
 

I have a few DVDs that do not have any menus/chapters to them. You put them in, hit play, and it plays like a regular VCR video. I want to add menus to them. Would the easiest way to do that be to rip the entire DVD to my computer, and then bring that into DVD Workshop, and make the chapters there?

That's how I figured it would go, but I just wanted to make sure before I did it.

Also, if I want to restore the audio and/or remove the hiss from the video, would I take the ripped video, and then turn that audio into a .wav, bring it into Soundforge, restore it, and then turn the restored audio into an AC3, as I do normally?

Thanks!

Yes.

Any good authoring program works, and DVDWS2 is a good authoring program.

Yes.

I have two workflows:

#1
Open video file in Goldwave, save audio as wav.
Open wav in SoundForge 6, restore, save wav.
Convert wav to AC3 in TDA's audio encoder, in Ulead DVDWS, or via a freeware program like BeLight or Aften.

#2
Open video file in Sound Forge 9, restore audio, save as AC3.

The workflow used depends on the computer in use, which further determines installed software (SF6 vs SF9).

I just ripped a DVD to my computer, and it's file name ends in .VOB should I change the .VOB to something else before I import it into workshop? If so, what do I change it to?

Would I change it to something like, .MPV, or something else, or leave it as .VOB?

Thanks

It really depends on the source of the DVD.
If this is a homemade discs, sure, you can absolutely rename the .VOB file to .MPG.

Once a VOB file has been properly ripped via "IFO mode" (using the IFO instead of the file system, as the basis by which to extract the content), then it's a single file with audio, video, subtitles and navigation data.

Homemade discs have very rudimentary navigation data, and generally lack subtitles. What little nav data is contained within the VOB is easily ignored by MPEG editors or authoring software, and will be removed or overwritten as needed.

Retail / commercial DVDs tend to have far more complex data in a VOB, in addition to the basic audio and video. If you attempt to simply rename a .VOB file to .MPG, coming from that kind of source, you'll more likely end up with a mess. The files can easily confuse editors and authorware, with all the extra non-av content contained within. You must purify these kinds of VOB files, using the method explained in site guides.

See this: Video Guides > Edit > Extract Video from a Professional DVD

If you've already ripped with DVD with DVD Decrypter, the VOB Edit can properly demux the video segments. The VOB Edit portion of the guide refers only to extracing audio segments. Intelligently alter the instructions as needed.

MPV = MPEG video only
MPG = MPEG video + audio (usually MPEG Layer II, but it could also be AC3 or PCM/WAV)

It's a homemade DVD. Based on what you said, I'll rename it to .MPG, before bringing it into Workshop. Thanks a lot for the helpful instructions!