Multiple Copies of VOB files when copying dvds

[sativa36]

I have been copying all my movies to my hard drive lately to setup an "on demand" type setup with my dvd library from my pc.

When I look in the Video_ts folder after copying a dvd there are usually lots of small files for menus and whatnot and several .VOB files all the same size. Almost always 1048574 KB in size. These large files each seem to play the exact same content when viewed in windows media player.

Are they all necessary to keep for proper playback? do they contain similar info thats necessary or are they somehow redundant? I actually tried it out by deleting 2 of the 3 similar vobs in my Mad Max folder and then burned it to a dvd. it played fine. but i dont want to sit here for hours deleting all this shit without testing and then find out ive ruined some movies that dont work similarly.

so.... can anyone tell me why there are multiple copies of the "same" vob when i burn a dvd to my hard disk please??

i use 1Click DVD Copy with DVD Decrypter / DVD43 depending on whether or not I have problems with one decrypter over the other...

thanks a lot.

[aedipuss]

it's typical dvd structure. vobs are usually 1gb in size, numbered consecutively, and then the ifos and bups a a few kb.

all are required.

[sativa36]

thanks for the info.

the copy of mad max i burned with just the first vob of 3 played fine with proper sound and no choppy video or anything - why is that if all are required? im just trying to save hard drive space thats all..

ive put only about 170 movies on so far and have used up 750 gb already. with 250 more to go you can see why id like to save space rather than buy 2 more drives to accommodate my "plan"...

on a side note - i plan on getting the SlingCatcher by Slingmedia to accomplish the pc to tv transfer. what do you think of this item? would you recommend another device / video card and cable to provide what i need? obviously i would like to attain the highest possible video transfer. the card i have has a dvi out and is capable of HD video display - i just dont want to have to run a dvi cable and a rca audio cable from my pc to my home theater and have no remote to control it all...

thanks.

[guns1inger]

If you want to simplify things, use DVDFab Decrypter to grab just the main title, or re-author with DVD Shrink after ripping. Don't compress the files, just extract the main movie and whatever audio you want. Once you have done this, you can use VOB2MPG to extract a single mpeg file that you can use for your playback. No need to keep the VOBs.

Or you can convert the movie to H264 and get the same quality for around a third the file size.

[MysticE]

If you want to simplify things, use DVDFab Decrypter to grab just the main title, or re-author with DVD Shrink after ripping. Don't compress the files, just extract the main movie and whatever audio you want. Once you have done this, you can use VOB2MPG to extract a single mpeg file that you can use for your playback. No need to keep the VOBs.

Or you can convert the movie to H264 and get the same quality for around a third the file size.

on a side note - i plan on getting the SlingCatcher by Slingmedia to accomplish the pc to tv transfer. what do you think of this item?

I have been looking at this (which takes a different approach) and on paper sounds great. Many of the comments are also positive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136325&Tpk=wd%20media%20player