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  1. Have just salvaged 24 VOB files from a corrupted DVD-RW using Isobuster, and would like to reconstruct the disc.
    Each VOB file corresponds to a title: so would like to create a top menu with thumbnails for each one.

    I tried using DVD Styler; but it wanted to re-encode each VOB, which is a painfully slow process and potentially reduces picture quality.
    I wondered if DVD Shrink would be a better option, or perhaps some other freeware application?


    Isobuster also salvaged lots of other files from the original DVD-RW (which was unfinalised), and I had hoped I may be able to burn these to DVD together with the VOBs in a format my DVD Recorder could understand. That way I would get back my original thumbnails, and could avoid using DVD Styler.
    Unfortunately I couldn't get it to work; but perhaps someone can advise how this can be achieved?
    I burned the disc with UDF 1.02; but was unsure what directory structure would mimic a non-finalised DVD-RW?
    The DVD Recorder is a Panasonic DMREZ49VEB.
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  2. Member hech54's Avatar
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    24 VOB files from one homemade DVD? Beware that some recorders double up on the VOB files making it APPEAR that the title is on there twice.
    If the material came from one DVD, then it will fit on one DVD. No re-encoding necessary.
    You are probably better off starting from scratch and reverting the VOB files back to MPEG and loading them into authoring software.
    And as far as the thumbnails go, even menu items are technically VIDEO so the only way you are going to get your thumbs is to play the menu item in a player and take a screenshot, opening up a new can of worms you'll need to deal with.

    The moral of the story is to get away from those original VOB files. They are useless to you now. Revert them back to their original MPEG losslessly(personally I'd use AviDemux or MPEGVCR) and start over.
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  3. Thanks will try that.
    Isobuster has an option called "extract but filter only MPEG frames" that will losslessly remove the MPEGs from their VOB containers.

    Would you recommend any particular DVD authoring software? I'd prefer it to be freeware as I already paid quite a lot for Isobuster.

    There were 24 shorts clips I'd compiled on the original DVD. In fact there was still some free space, which is why I'd not finalised it.
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  4. Member hech54's Avatar
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    No need to re-run IsoBuster, just open each VOB in AviDemux, let it INDEX it, then use settings
    COPY
    COPY
    MPEG-PS
    Hit the SAVE(floppy disc) button, name it whatever you want(add .MPG at the end of that) and direct the MPEG file
    to wherever you want on your computer. Move on to the next one. DO NOT let AviDemux append or join the VOB files for you
    unless that is what you really want.

    As far as Authoring programs, I use a paid one ( TDA ) but I'd look in the settings of whatever program you are using to
    see to it that it does not re-encode the clip.
    Seeing that we are dealing with DVD Recorder material, your authoring software may be trying to re-encode the audio.
    Some of the older softwares (including mine) got hung up on AC3 audio. I had to buy a special plugin to allow TDA to pass-thru AC3 audio.
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  5. Member DB83's Avatar
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    For the authoring prog, try avstodvd. You may be able to import the vobs directly in to that. If they are fully dvd-compliant - and they should be - they will not be re-encoded. So no further loss of quality.

    If the prog does not accept the vobs, extract the mpeg files with vob2mpg.
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  6. Banned
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    Originally Posted by alexh110 View Post
    Thanks will try that.
    Isobuster has an option called "extract but filter only MPEG frames" that will losslessly remove the MPEGs from their VOB containers.

    Would you recommend any particular DVD authoring software? I'd prefer it to be freeware as I already paid quite a lot for Isobuster.

    There were 24 shorts clips I'd compiled on the original DVD. In fact there was still some free space, which is why I'd not finalised it.
    Just so you know, there's nothing special or magical about that feature in ISOBuster. The free Vob2MPG can do the same thing.

    Also in case you don't know, RW discs were never intended for long term storage at all. Even if you store them carefully after a few years they will become unreadable, even if finalized. If you need to keep something then it needs to go on a DVD+R or DVD-R disc.

    Kind of ironic that your attempts to be cheap and save the cost of one disc ended up costing you a lot more to rescue it, but if it makes you feel better we get posts like yours all the time. Sometimes we have people who have dozens or more of unfinalized DVDs they have to now rescue with ISOBuster because their DVD recorder is dead and they have to spend tons of time extracting the contents and then making new DVDs of discs they seemingly can't live without, although they couldn't be bothered to actually finalize the discs when their DVD recorder still worked.
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  7. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    There is something special about that feature, but it actually doesn't refer to VOB-> MPEG conversion. It refers to VCD & SVCD extraction*. Those formats' media are burned onto disc using CDROM XA Mode2, Form2 tracks, which use 2324bytes/sector (as opposed to Mode1 or Mode2,Form1 which uses 2048, and Audio tracks which use 2352).
    The problem arises when DUMB applications assume you can rip the whole track just like you would an AudioCD. What happens is that each sector is extracted with both payload and error-correction codes, etc. This is both wasteful of filesize and problematic because there are GAPs in the data stream when read by a player/editor app.
    Smart apps understand the sector sizing and can filter out the ecc and give you just the payload (the MPEG2 data), which will give you a slightly smaller and much cleaner, gapless stream. More compatible, more playable.
    AFAIK, only ISOBuster, VCDGear, and VCDEasy have explicitly offered that feature.

    But that's really a red herring, because you actually are wanting VOB->MPEG, which that feature doesn't address. You could use VOB2MPEG, or something similar.
    I second (third?) hech54's comment about reverting the VOBs back to "source MPEGs" and just re-authoring from scratch. That way, you KNOW your authored DVD is totally compliant and playable, even if it doesn't have as nice thumbnail pix, etc.

    Scott

    *I've had a number of conversations with the author of ISOBuster, so I know this to be true.
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  8. Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    Also in case you don't know, RW discs were never intended for long term storage at all. Even if you store them carefully after a few years they will become unreadable, even if finalized. If you need to keep something then it needs to go on a DVD+R or DVD-R disc.
    Only heard this recently.
    I have loads of old RW disc recordings: so am currently backing them up onto a 2TB hard-drive, in case they should fail.
    Currently the only one that has failed is this corrupted clips compilation, and that was on newly purchased stock. So the disc only lasted a few months. It was only a very small area of data that was corrupted, and none of the video content was affected.

    I have many DVDRW and DVD-RAM discs and cartridges that are over 15 years old, and none show any signs of failure: so I think the frailty of rewritable discs has been exaggerated. I've found TDK, Panasonic and Sony stock to be very durable; though I have had problems with ultra-cheap brands in the past.


    Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    Kind of ironic that your attempts to be cheap and save the cost of one disc ended up costing you a lot more to rescue it, but if it makes you feel better we get posts like yours all the time. Sometimes we have people who have dozens or more of unfinalized DVDs they have to now rescue with ISOBuster because their DVD recorder is dead and they have to spend tons of time extracting the contents and then making new DVDs of discs they seemingly can't live without, although they couldn't be bothered to actually finalize the discs when their DVD recorder still worked.
    It was not so much that I was being cheap, I simply wanted to fill the disc with clips rather than leaving 20 minutes of unused space on the end. This is a compilation I add to periodically over a period of months: it's not possible to compile the clips all at once.

    The vast majority of my DVD archive is on +RW, which can't be finalised anyway: so unfinalised discs are not really an issue for me.
    I like +RW because you can change the thumbnails and re-create the top menu at any time.
    As for other DVD types, I always finalise those once the discs are filled.
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