General:
. Release size MUST be between 4.30-4.37 GB unless source is DVD5. If release cannot achieve the minimum size allowed a valid common sense explanation is required e.g Source was less than 4.30 GB after removing the fullscreen cut etc.
. Maximum size of the final image MUST be no larger than the maximum storage capacity of a standard DVD+R = 4,700,372,992 bytes.
. PAL after NTSC and NTSC after PAL is allowed.
. Widescreen releases are allowed after Fullscreen.
. Different regions do NOT dupe each other no matter if NTSC or PAL.
. DVDR releases MUST follow the DVD-Video standard. It's up to each group/ripper to know and obide by these, as releases that do not follow the standard decrease overall compatibility with players.
Video:
. Re-encoding:
. CCE version 2.67+ or higher MUST be used in all circumstances where re-encoding of the video stream is required.
. Automated programs that perform DVD9 > DVD5 rips are STRICTY FORBIDDEN, e.g. DVDXCopy, CloneDVD, DVDShrink etc.
. DVD-Rebuilder PRO 1.28+ is allowed if the following criteria is met:
- The one-click option cannot be used.
- CCE version(s) as mentioned above MUST be the encoder used.
- Qual Prec and VBR Bias MUST be adjusted accordingly.
- Max_Bitrate MUST be set according to the DVD-Video standards.
- Target_Sectors SHOULD be set to utilize as many sectors as possible.
- RB-Opt. or external program to add or modify the CCE settings based upon the encode is recommended.
. Minimum average bitrate allowed is 4000 kbit/s if any extras or dubbed audios are retained. The release may go as low as 3000 kbit/s if required as long as all extras and dubbed audio and commentary audio streams have been stripped.
. Releases that are re-encocded MUST apply the appropriate de-interlacing or IVTC methods if applicable to the source video stream.
. CCE Quality Settings:
- No CBR. Multipass MUST be enforced.
- The initial 1st pass that encodes the .vaf file or Qual Prec. control file is NOT considered within the multipass set.
- VBR Bias and Qual Prec. values SHOULD be set as:
VBR Bias - Recommended Value = 30
Qual Prec. - Recommended Value = 28
- The number of passes required for a movie is to be determined by the final avg. bitrate. as follows:
Under 4,000 kbit/s avg. = Min. 6 passes required.
Above 4,000 kbit/s avg. = Min. 5 passes required.
NOTE: The Parimeters of a CCE encode should be adjusted acccording to the source video stream. However it is not up to us as to what they should be and/or which filters should be used during the encoding of the source video stream. Enforcing this would also be extremley difficult as well so, we leave these to each groups specific decision as a high recommendation.
. If minimum bitrates cannot be achieved a valid explanation is required in the NFO file.
. Re-encoding TV-DVDR:
. TV-DVDR MUST follow all the above rules with the following exceptions:
- Minimum avg. bitrate for TV-DVDR is 2800 kbit/s.
- TV-DVDR does NOT need to be de-interlaced.
Audio:
. Dolby Digital is considered the standard audio format and is required in all releases that contain this audio format.
. DVDs that contain only PCM audio are allowed and MUST be noted in the NFO.
. Downsampling of any audio track is FORBIDDEN.
. If audio is stripped from a DVD9, the superior audio track(s) MUST be kept. e.g. If a DVD contained Dolby 2.0 and Dolby 5.1 audio, The Dolby 2.0 would be stripped in favor of Dolby 5.1. The only exception to this rule is DTS audio. If DTS and Dolby 5.1 are both present on the disc, the Dolby 5.1 MUST be kept. The inclusion of a DTS stream is left at ripper's discretion keeping in mind of the bitrate rules.
. For non-English movies, the movie's original language audio stream MUST be kept unless it is not contained in the retail. In the circumstances that a new dvd edition is re-issueed that contains the original language audio stream, a re-release of the movie is valid and MUST be noted in the NFO.
. For ALL English movies, the English audio stream MUST be kept.
. The inclusion of other audio streams will be based upon the ripper's discretion, whether they are foreign or commentary.
. If foreign audio track(s) are included in a re-encoded release, the release MUST include the MULTi tag in the directory.
. MULTi audio releases do NOT dupe each other if the newer release contains an audio language that does not exist yet.
. A retail release with the dubbed audio tracks removed does NOT dupe a MULTi release or release with dubs incuded unless the MULTi release has maintained untouched video with the dubbed audio tracks included.
. English dubbed titles without the orignal audio language track and no english subtitles MUST include the tag DUBBED in the directory.
Notes: DTS/DTS-ONLY/SUPERBiT/CRiTERiON/3D are issues that cannot be ignored. However, it is not up to us to decide whether they should be allowed or not. Rather, it's up to the SITES that will determine their own appropriate rules. However, those groups that wish to release these types of releases MUST name their directory clearly with the appropriate tags of DTS, DTS-ONLY, SUPERBiT CRiTERiON and 3D.
Source:
. Sources that contain both a widescreen and fullscreen cut MUST have the fullscreen cut removed.
. Releases of superior/remastered editions of previous released DVDs are ALLOWED as they improve upon the initial release. e.g. If a new mastered DVD contains a Dolby 5.1 stream compared to an inferior stream in the previous release, the re-release is considered valid.
. Mastered DVDs of: Director's Cut, Unrated, Extended Releases or any editions with additional scenes or material in the main feature are NOT considered dupes over existing mastered DVDs.
. The DVD to be ripped SHOULD also be the best available edition on the market.
. DVD9 sources that contain both a Theatrical and Extended/Unrated cut MUST have the Theatrical cut removed and ONLY the Extended or Unrated cut included if the video stream needs to be re-encoded.
Authoring:
. NO ONE CLICK APPS ARE TO BE USED! e.g. InstanCopy, DVDXCopy, DVDShrink etc. Anything else like Scenarist and Maestro and MUXMAN are acceptable.
. DVD-Rebuilder's reauthoring engine may be used if the rip was done with this program.
. References to removed audio/subtitle streams SHOULD be removed.
. The main menu of the source SHOULD be first played upon disc insertion as this cuts down on time to load the menu on standalones when content played previous to the menu has been stripped.
. Previews and other content played prior to the main menu that does not contain a link to them from the menu SHOULD be played post feature to avoid unplayable content from being included if a first play macro is run on the main menu or removed from the release at ripper's discretion.
. The release MUST NOT contain any illegal program chain commands.
. Unreferenced material MUST NOT be included in the final release.
. VTS Sectors MUST always be gotten.
Subtitles:
. Keep them ALL, including commentary streams. If certain subs present a problem, it is at the rippers discretion to retain. A valid common sense explanation MUST be included in the NFO as to why the subtitle stream(s) were removed.
. Releases aimed at English end-users MUST contain English subs for any foreign dialogues. In rare cases where no force flagging or forced stream(s) are included on the source, this MUST be mentioned in the NFO.
. Closed Captioning MUST be retained if present on the source disc.
. Custom subtitles can NOT be added to a retail release, rather the release SHOULD stem from a prior release if custom subs are added. The CUSTOM tag MUST be used and the source MUST be identified in the NFO file.
. MULTi subbed releases do NOT dupe each other if the new release contains a subtitle language that does not exist yet.
. Titles with hard-coded subtitles MUST be labeled with the SUBBED tag.
Menus:
. Menus MUST be included. On rare sources where the retail does not contain a menu, it MUST be mentioned in the NFO.
. The menu MUST be in English and NOT a foreign language, unless the release is aimed at non-English end-users.
. Foreign menus and/or language units (LU)'s SHOULD be removed if aimed at English end-users. If the menu consumes a considerable amount of space ie. Foreign menus utlize more than 100MB and the video stream requires re-encoding, they MUST be removed.
. Removing useless menu cells SHOULD always be done. If the useless cells are left in and the total size of the release is under 4.30 GB without them, they MUST be removed to achieve a higher bitrate or to provide more content in the release. Untouched Video is NOT a valid reason to include them.
. Removing useless buttons within the menu is required. If you remove something, you MUST disable or remove the button properly.
. NOP commands MUST never be implemented to remove a menu button.
. If all else is stripped and still cannot achieve a 3000 kbit/s avg. bitrate, ONLY then may the menu be re-encoded at a minimum of 4000 kibt/s avg.
Extras:
. Extras are an added value but are not needed. If Extras are to be retained, they SHOULD be those that pertain to the title being released. e.g. Deleted Scenes, Featurettes SHOULD be kept over a set of Previews and/or Coming Attractions etc.
. Previews do NOT need to be kept on a source where they are not accessible via menu link.
. If a ripper wishes to play previews or any content post feature where no link to the content has been provided it is left to the rippers discretion and ONLY if main feature has been untouched pertaining to the video stream.
. A release only containing the added previews will not be tolerated as a reason for a proper or re-release.
. If extras are re-encoded, a minimum of 2,500 kbit/s avg. and a minimum of 5 passes are required.
DVD Protections And Limitations:
. ALL forms of protection MUST be completley removed from a release, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, Macrovision, "CSS Encryption", "Bad Sector Insertion" e.g. ARccOS, DVDR-Movie PROTECT, FluxDVD etc.
"Content Alteration" e.g. Ripguard, Rimage etc.
. Blank/Empty/Never Accessed Cells MUST be removed. Untouched Video is NOT a valid reason to include them.
. FBI warnings and other junk material "use common sense" MUST be removed from the releases.
. All user limitations and restrictions MUST be removed. e.g. UOP's and parental mangement masks/schemes. Parental management is considered a user limitation and MUST be removed from the final release. All references to sprm(13) MUST be removed as well.
. Releases MUST be made region free and RCE (Region Code Enhancement) MUST be removed from the final release. ALL references to sprm(20) MUST be removed as well.
. ANY new and/or unmentioned copy protection that comes out MUST be completley removed.
Packaging:
. All releases MUST either use the .IMG or .ISO formats. Any Other formats are strictly FORBIDDEN.
. Releases MUST be broken up into rars of 50,000,000 bytes.
. Recovery Record MUST be used, maximum 2%.
. Compression method MUST be "store".
. Archive is recommended to be locked.
. SFVs and NFO files MUST be included.
. NFO SHOULD include the following:
. Group name.
. Title.
. Source region number.
. Video standard NTSC or PAL.
. Number of Passes and Bitrate used when re-encoding main movie.
. Number of Passes and Bitrate used when re-encoding extras.
. Audio streams, and subtitles included.
. What has been stripped, extras, menu, etc.
. IMDB, or similar link.
. Number of archive files.
Samples:
. Samples are required. Minimum size shall be 30MB, but no larger than 50MB.
. Samples MUST be put in a separate sub directory, labeled "Sample".
. VOB files MUST be cut and used as sample. You CANNOT rename a RAR file and use it as a sample. The sample MUST have a header.
. Samples MUST be from an actual packed VOB that contains the main feature. Separate encodes are FORBIDDEN.
Directory Naming:
. ALL appropriate directory tags MUST be used according to above standards.
. ALL releases are to include production year, except for current year and TV series.
. Directory name MUST include video standard (NTSC or PAL) except for first release of a title in regards to a retail release.
. Source region number MUST be included in the directory if the release is duping an existing standard e.g. Region 1 NTSC release after a region 3 NTSC release MUST include the R1 tag etc.
. Acceptable characters are as follows:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789.-_
. COMPLETE is for DVD5 only and when the dvd has NOT been modified other than protection and limitation removals.
. Releases are to be named as:
MOVIE.TITLE.YEAR.STANDARD.DVDR-GROUP
. Sub directories are to be labeled as DISC1, DISC2,
etc. CD1, CD2 and EXTRA dirs are NOT allowed.
Propers:
. Propers will be acceptable if any of the above standards are not followed in a release and/or if the previous release had technical flaws e.g. video glitches, audio errors, menu errors etc. however, if the release can be patched via a PPF patching system, a PROPER by another group or REPACK by initial group will NOT be tolerated.
. Releases that can be corrected with any other form of patches are allowed, however, if the release cannot be patched ONLY by a PPF patching system, a PROPER by another group or REPACK by initial group is valid.
. Just because a previous release was not COMPLETE does NOT give reason to PROPER/DUPE.
. A PROPER based on increased quality when the previous release was within the standards is considered qualitative and will NOT be tolerated.
. Propers based on previous releases having improper dir names, incomplete NFO's or bad samples will NOT be tolerated. DIRFIX, NFOFIX and SAMPLEFIX are to be used in these cases.
. The PROPER tag is not to be used by the same group when releasing a repack. The REPACK tag MUST be used.
Tagging:
. Intros and outros and any other forms of defacement of the feature is NOT tolerated.
. Group watermarks within the DVD are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.
. Volume Label MUST be EXACTLY like the original unless it contains a possible disc or area ID. Adding any tags to the Volume Label is NOT tolerated.