DVD Movie (vob files) works on Computer DVD, Not on Home DVD

[planetp]

I need your help to resolved this problem.

I finally got the all the necessary VOB files of the Original Star Wars Trilogy so I can play the movie on a DVD. My old VHS tapes were getting very old, and I was so worried, the original edition would be lost forever, since only the Special Edition is all that is available anymore.

Anyway, I finally got all the VOB files (see below) and burned them to DVD. It works PERFECTLY on my computer. My PowerDVD player comes right up and plays the orignal Star Wars movie flawlessly with menus and all. However, when I went to play it on my home DVD player (GO Video - DVD4400), it starts to load up as if it's going to accept it, but it never does. Instead the player says 'Stop' on the screen almost immediately, having never shown anything at all.

Why is this happening? Why is the computer DVD player able to recognize and play it just like any other movie perfectly, but my home DVD player can't play it at all?

Here is the exact list of all the files:

VIDEO_TS.BUP (8kb)
VIDEO_TS.IFO (8kb)
VTS_01_0 (86kb) (VOB File)
VTS_01_0.BUP (80kb)
VTS_01_0.IFO (80kb)
VTS_01_1 (1,048,244kb) (VOB File )
VTS_01_2 (1,048,308kb) (VOB File )
VTS_01_3 (1,048,286kb) (VOB File )
VTS_01_4 (1,048,460kb) (VOB File )
VTS_01_5 (189,174KB) (VOB File )
VTS_02_0.BUP (12kb)
VTS_02_0.IFO (12kb)
VTS_02_1 (45,828kb) (VOB File)

I'm running Windows XP, with a 2.8Ghz Intel, and a Sony DRU500A DVD-RW/+RW player/burner. I burned these files onto a DVD-R disc.

[Faithful Follower]

Three things came to mind...

1. Have you author the DVD properly?

2. Did you put a label on the disc?

3. Try a different brand of DVDr ?

[planetp]

I didn't 'author' it, I simply copies all the listed files to the DVD. Normally, I have to use an authuring tool to convert mpeg files to something compatible with DVD - the end result is a file structure exactly as I have listed. The files I have should be the exact files necessary to play on a regular DVD player. My PowerDVD player on my computer plays it perfectly, menus and all. So I don't know what the difference is, and why it plays on one and not the other.

I'm not sure what other media to try. What else can you use other than DVD-R. I've been told that DVD+R is not ideal for recording movies on.

Not sure what you mean by label. Is this some special file that needs to be included? If you mean the name of the disc itself, I named it 'Star Wars'.

[Faithful Follower]

You should author the DVD, many players would be able to read it as a data disc. But lot of others don't. Maybe yours one of those won't read a data disc.

[/b]

[Grimey]

When you say you copied it to the disc, did you burn them as a data disc or what?
You can open TMPGEnc dvd author and choose 'write dvd folder to dvdr/rw'.
What Faithful Follower meany by labeling (i assume) is if you put a sticky label on the disc. sometimes these can cause the disc to be unbalanced which will result in glitchy play, or no play at all.

[planetp]

Ok. Do you have an authoring tool that could take these raw .vob files and make it work? What exactly is this authoring tool doing? Is it creating another file or files, or is it doing something to the disc itself, indpendent of the files that makes it work on a home DVD player?

[ZippyP.]

Author the files, don't just burn them to disk as-is.

TMPGEnc DVD Author will accept vob's, import dvd video.

[planetp]

Ok, so when you say import DVD video, are you saying import ALL the files I have listed above, or only the VOB files? And if so, which ones? Aren't some of files for the menus, while others are the main movie itself?

Here is why I am confused. My created DVD looks exactly like any other official DVD in my collection. It has the standard VIDEO_TS folder, and all the files listed above are in that folder. Same goes for all my official DVD's. What specifically is different about them than mine, and how exactly is this authoring tool changing it so it works better?

Also, I have just read up on TMPGEnc DVD Author. From the tutorial it appear to create all new menus. This is a bad idea, since the files I have already have the menus, start track and all. Like I said, this all plays perfectly on my DVD player as if it was a very slick professional DVD right out of the store, menus, sound options and all. So I don't understand why I would need to author it in some way in order to work on a standard DVD player. TMPGEnc DVD Author doesn't appear to do anything different, other than taking raw mpeg2 video and making it DVD compliant (i.e it creates a VIDEO_TS folder - which I already have).

[Faithful Follower]

Ok. Do you have an authoring tool that could take these raw .vob files and make it work? What exactly is this authoring tool doing? Is it creating another file or files, or is it doing something to the disc itself, indpendent of the files that makes it work on a home DVD player?


When you drag and drop the files, Nero will burn it as a data disc.
The reading order will be determined by the first number or letter of the name of each file.

When the files were authored by a DVD authoring tool, it is authored in universal dvd format. The DVD player will read the VIDEO_TS file first to get instructons to play the DVD properly.

In your case, the first play action should be VTS_02, it looks like a menu for the movie. But with data disc, the first file the player sees is the VTS_01 file. And I don't think VOB files can be read as data ...

The last time I burn a movie as data and was recognize by the DVD player was using MPEG files.

[Faithful Follower]

Here is why I am confused. My created DVD looks exactly like any other official DVD in my collection. It has the standard VIDEO_TS file, and all the files list above are in that folder. Same goes for all my official DVD's. What specifically is different about them than mine, and how exactly is this authoring tool changing it do it does?

How did you create the DVD?

[planetp]

Ok [faithful follower], so the authoring tool is important because of how it arranges the order of the files. Now that would make sense. Here is my question. I have two authroing tools, and both of them work with mpeg, avi's etc. They then take these computer video formats and convert them to the DVD format. They both don't appear to understand what to do with VOB files, so I'm confused exactly how to take my VIDEO_TS folder and use an authoring tool to get the files re-arranged as you say. I just poked around in the tutorial for the program mentioned above, and its the same deal - working with mpeg2 or avi's, etc.

Do you recommend a software program/tool that can take my VIDEO_TS file and re-arrange and then burn them correctly? Trialware or freeware preferably.

[Faithful Follower]

Try this first,


Use Nero's wizard and select DVD Video. Nero will create the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders, double click on the VIDEO_TS folder to expand it, then drag and drop all the files into this folder and burn. If Nero doesn't give you any error messages, hopefully this will solve the problem.
If Nero gives you an warning something like ' the dvd might not play properly ' Then you try the next step.

Download IFOEdit ( freeware ), after installed, click ' OPEN ' at the bottom left hand corner and navigate to your Star War files.

Double click ' VIDEO_TS.IFO ', the file name will appear on the upper pane of the window. Now look for the tab says ' Get VTS Sector ' on the bottom and click on it, if there are popup boxes, just click yes to all of them and when finished, click the ' SAVE ' button and yes to any popups. And exit.
Burn the files the same way I mentioned above.

Post again if either way works or not.

[planetp]

Ok, this didn't work. Nero will not burn DVD's as a trial version. I must fork over $70 to use all the features. All DVD buttons are 'faded, so they are unusable.

So we are back to square one. So is there any other trialware or freeware that I can use. I don't want to spend $70 for a program that may not solve my problem. That is really expensive.

[FOO]

The question is where did those files come from ?
I assume from a DVD that plays.
Are we fer shur we got all the files ?

there are freeware programs to make an ISO disk image of a DVD
you could try that and burn with whatever


how about Imgtool - makes ISO and burns