MPEG2/ VOB

[drummerduck]

can anyone pls explain quick what the difference between the two files are?

mainly what a .vob file is and when i would use it rather than an MPEG2.

Am i right in believeing from what i have read that as long as i burn my dvd's with mpeg2 most will play if not all on most standalone dvd players?

many thanks....

Duck


Never buy a midget with learning difficulties........... its not big and its not cleaver.

[Vejita-sama]

Please read the 'what is' sections to the left on VCD, SCD, and DVDR. Here's an outline of how it all works.

I'm sure that you are familar with different formats to view pictures on your PC, eg. gif, jpg, tiff, etc. Gif was one of the first. Gifs are pretty big. So to make sending pictures easier a more compressed codec was produced, JPEG.

In the digital video world there are a lot of codecs out there. With the more popular ones being MEPG1, MPEG2, and MPEG4 (aka DivX, xvid).

MPEG1 was an early codec for digital video (see VCD). It has some limitations.

MPEG2 has more 'features' (selectable subtitles, multiple angles, multiple audio tracks, etc).

MPEG4 is for PC only (DivX, xvid, asf, etc).

Now MPEGs (1, 2 or 4) are made by taking seperate 'elementary streams' (ie. video, audio, subtitles, etc) and combining them all together. This is known as multiplexing (aka muxing). You can also take the MPEG and de-multiplex (aka de-mux) it to generate the seperate streams that make it up.

Once I have the MPEG I need to author it. Authoring is the process that produces the necessary files/format for the digital media to work on a standalone player. I can author a VCD, SVCD, CVD, or DVD (see what is for the different file formats).

VOB files are multiplex MPEG2 files for DVDs. Here's out you normally make a DVD:

1) Get source video (dvd rip, divx, capture of home movie, etc)
2) Edit video/audio as necessary/desired
3) Encode the elementary streams (m2v - video, mp2/ac3/pcm - audio)
4) Author the DVD (add chapters, menus, define the buttons etc).

Authoring will take your MPEG2 and generate a VIDEO_TS folder containing all the IFO files and VOB files need to allow your DVD player to read/play the disc.