How to use my home DVD back as a source again?

[dvdwiz]

I already have a DVD authoring software (Pinnacle Studio). I burned my personnal home DVD from a DV camcorder for archival purposes. But this software does not support VOB files as source. I am searching for an inexpensive software that could help me convert my personnal DVD back to an .MPG or .AVI file without quality loss so I could use it as a source in my authoring software back again. I am looking for a fast one click solution that would produce a single 5GB file containing both video and audio streams from my DVD disk. I don't want something that would re-encode my video, resulting in quality loss (like DivX or such). I don't want something that would produce 2 separate files that I have to sync back together (like some demux programs). I seem to be the only one in the world to have that need, as I am talking about personnal (non-commercial, unprotected, region-free) DVD. My authoring software only accepts .MPG or .AVI files as input, so how can I restore my DVDs back to this format, simply and quickly?

Any help appreciated, thanks!

[ZippyP.]

Womble mpeg video wizard, it's the only tool I know that accepts vob's and outputs mpegs with no re-encoding of the video.

Vobedit will demux a vob into individual streams that any authoring program that's worth it's salt should accept. If your authoring program only accepts multiplexed mpegs then it's time to find another one. Demultiplex/multiplex should not cause any sync loss.

[donpedro]

Check Smartripper, I believe that I used it to get MPEG files from VOB files (standalone DVD recordings). Maybe DVDDecrypter can do it too. Of cource not re-encodig is involved.

[dvdwiz]

Thanks for the mpeg video wizard link. It really did exactly what I asked for and produced a single .MPEG file from my DVD (pretty fast). But for a reson I don't undersand, Studio 8 has some problem with it (black screen and no sound). I will file a support request with Pinnacle on this topic.

Womble mpeg video wizard, it's the only tool I know that accepts vob's and outputs mpegs with no re-encoding of the video.

About the demux topic, I don't know what to do with .M2V files. Studio 8 does not support them. I like Studio 8 because I am able to edit, author and generate my custom DVD titles for a 1 hour video in less than 20 minutes. Then I press "Burn DVD" and few hours later, it is ready. Kids love it. I realize now that input formats is a limitation. What authoring program would you suggest as a Studio replacement?

Vobedit will demux a vob into individual streams that any authoring program that's worth it's salt should accept. If your authoring program only accepts multiplexed mpegs then it's time to find another one. Demultiplex/multiplex should not cause any sync loss.

[dvdwiz]

I tried Smartripper but it looks that this tool is only to unprotect commercial DVD as it outputs another VOB file. Maybe I did not figure out how to change output to .MPEG. Same thing for DVDDecrypter.

But I will surely take some time to read your topic on Studio 8 very soon...

Check Smartripper, I believe that I used it to get MPEG files from VOB files (standalone DVD recordings). Maybe DVDDecrypter can do it too. Of cource not re-encodig is involved.

[donpedro]

DVDDecrypter, IFO Mode, Stream Processing, Snable Stream Processing, Click on Video and Audio stream separately and select Demux option.

Not sure if that is what you are looking for... I believe that same can be done with Smart ripper. In my test I have got separate m2v file (mpeg2 video) and ac3 file (AC3 sound from standalone DVD Recorder).

BTW: Did you try to rename VOB file to mpg ?