Earlier this week, I explained how you can join a multi-part Bluray movie like Fellowship of the Ring into a single file with DVD Catalyst.


There are multiple methods to accomplish this, so for the second Lord of the Rings movie, The Two Towers, I decided to use a different method.



The article for the first method can be found here:
How to : Merge Multi-part Movie DVDs and Bluray (Method 1) | Tools4Movies | DVD Catalyst 4

In there, I used a double-conversion process. I first converted the 2 parts, and after that, I ran the conversion again using the same settings to join the 2 parts.

In this article, I am doing the actual conversion only once, however it doesn't work as well as the first method. This method also doesn't work for DVDs, and it takes up a LOT of file-space (about 120GB (!!!!) for The Two Towers)


* With AnyDVD HD running, insert the first Bluray in your Bluray drive.

* Open My Computer, and use it to browse to the BDVM folder, and in there, the STREAM folder:



Look for the largest file in there, and copy it over to a folder on your computer:



This can take a while. After the copy is completed, rename the file to something easy, such as "THE_TWO_TOWERS_EXT P1" or something like that, and then do the same for the second disc of the movie, and rename that to "THE_TWO_TOWERS_EXT P2".



With the 2 files copied over, download a free program called tsMuxer:
tsMuxeR 1.10.6 - VideoHelp.com Downloads

It downloads to a zip-file. extract it to a folder, and put it in an easily accessible spot. It doesn't actually install, so I just copied the folder into the folder where I have my 2 video parts.



Go into the tsMuxer folder, and doubleclick the tsMuxerGUI file to start the program.



At the top right, click on "Add" and select your part 1 file:



Then tap on "Join" and select part 2



and tap on "Start Muxing"

This will take a while.

Once complete, you end up with a large (60GB) file that has both parts of the movie.





Now you can just drag the single video file onto DVD Catalyst 4:



and start a conversion using your desired settings:









Unfortunately, this method has some issues.

Of course by joining the 2 original source files into a single file without actual conversion and then converting the created file only once results in better quality, however, the process takes up a LOT of file-space. For the joining part alone, you end up using 120GB.
After the files are joined, you can of course delete the 2 individual parts, freeing up 60GB, but still.

Then, the biggest problem I encountered was that the merging process caused a small audio shift in the second part. By stitching the 2 parts together, the first portion played perfectly fine, but where it moved on past the point where the 2 files were stitched together, there was a second or so difference between lip movement and audible words. This was in the original merged (60GB) file, and of course this issue reproduced itself in the converted MP4 file as well. If the shift is throughout the entire movie, it is possible to make some adjustments, but because it only happened at the second half of the video, there is no way of actually correcting this.

So for now, method 1 would be the better choice.

Later this week, I will be posting a guide for a 3rd method, which hopefully will work better.