Authoring DVD from VOB clips

[dilshan]

I have always wished that there was a dvd authoring program which
allowed you to directly import vobs. I have tried Ulead MovieFactory 2
and Power Director Pro without success (although both programs claim
they support vobs). Ulead Movie Factory 2 supports .ac3 files (which
does not however mean it supports vobs because if you import a vob you get the error "file format mismatch"). Power Director Pro allow
you to import vobs only if you just want to add special effects to video clips. However, if you are interested in authoring a dvd with menus etc. you need to open "Disc Wizard", and surprise surprise this "Disc Wizard" does not allow you to import vobs. I haven't tried other
dvd authoring programs like Neo Dvd or Dvd Lab which both supposed
to support vobs so I can't comment on them. Nevertheless, the trick
I describe below allow you to import the "content of vobs" directly
to Ulead Movie Factory 2 or Power Director Pro as mpegs and I guarantee it works.

* First demux your vobs into .m2v and .ac3 files using VobEdit,
Vobrator or why not good old TMPGEnc.
* Then Remux .m2v and .ac3 files using TMPGEnc. It rewrites the
header and saves the new file as a .mpg. Now you have a .mpg
file with original audio and video which can be imported to
both Ulead Movie Factory 2 and Power Director Pro. Don't worry
if you don't hear audio when previewed with either authoring
program. You will see that audio stream is there if you compile
and burn the movie to a dvd disc.
* A note of caution: it won't work if you just rename vobs to mpgs
and import to above authoring programs.
* Now, of course many of us would like to keep our vobs as they
are. I think there are ways to stop both above authoring programs
from re-encoding original vobs when they compile the project.
Below links MIGHT help you in this regard:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=168066

http://www.gocyberlink.com/english/cs/support/1st.jsp

[Tommyknocker]

Question: Is this better than the Nero process of dropping all the VOBs in the VIDEO_TS folder and hitting Write CD and selecting Write?

[kas187]

ok i have 2 questions,

1st) once the vob is dumuxed and remuxed, would the original ac3 be changed or would that stay intact

2nd) would there not be an issue of video and audio synchronisation...

kas187

[dilshan]

Let's first answer Mr.Tommyknocker. I don't know if you ask this
question through sheer ignorance or if you have completely misunderstood the purpose of my post. As you know Dvd burning and Dvd authoring are two different aspects of dvd making process and while
I am talking about dvd autoring you talk about dvd burning.

Now to Mr. kas 187. Answer to your first question, yes both video and audio remains exactly the same as original. You can see the file
size of original vob and the new mpg more or less the same. Your
second question is a bit tricky because it all depends on how good
your original vobs are. Actually I myself had problems with video/audio synchronisation because my original vobs were not that good (refer to
my previous post):

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=167942)

However, if your vobs are not damaged I am pretty sure there will be
no video/audio synchronisation problems. It is after all about splitting and joining the same movie clip without any manipulation.
It is recommended though to use TMPGEnc for both demux and remux
purposes.

[Scheif]

Maybe I am the only person crazy enough to try this, but it worked for me. I just renamed my .vob files to .mpg, and DVD Workshop accepted them without question.

Disclaimer. This may not work for all VOBs, but it worked for the Dolby Digital trailers I downloaded.

[WaferJ]

I've used TMPGEnc DVD Author to put multiple videos (short exercise dvd's) onto one DVD. Just ripped with DVD Decrypter, transcoded with DVD2ONE, loaded up the .vobs into TMPGEnc DVD Author, made a simple menu. Then it spits out .ifo's and .vobs ready to burn...
I highly reccomend this program - very easy to use, it does all the hard work for you. I tried IFO Edit, but could never figure it out - even with all the tutorials out there.

[andkiich]

DVD-Lab works just fine with VOB files. It can even de-mux them into their elementary streams if you want it to.

It's just as easy as working with any other file. Well worth checking out.

[dilshan]

Mr. Scheif, it's one thing that you fool DVD Workshop to believe that you are importing a .mpg while you actually importing a .vob. The question is if it works if you go on and compile the project. I don't have DVD Workshop so I can't test this. It is amazing if a program like DVD Workshop doesn't check the structure of a file which it allows to import.
I once tried to fool Ulead Movie Factory 2 to accept a .vob file by changing the extention to .mpg but the program just froze, so I gave up.

Mr. WaferJ, can you tell me which version of TMPGEnc DVD Author you use which accept .vob files. Sometime back I tried TMPGEnc DVD Author but at that time it refused to accept .vob files.

[dcsos]

DVD ARCHITECT and
DVD LAB
accept and compile VOB's into a new project

so unless you are mated to the software you're using for some reason.

You just need to demux the audio for ARCHITECT , as it'll see any VOB as the VIDEO fine

[Specialist]

Ulead Movie Factory 2 supports .ac3 files (which
does not however mean it supports vobs because if you import a vob you get the error "file format mismatch."

Dilshan,

Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 can accept MPEGs with AC-3 audio.

And it can be used to 'pass them through' to a DVD disc without re-encoding.

But it does not support the *editing* of AC-3 MPEGs.

One has to buy a more expensive Ulead editing/authoring application to support the *editing* of such files.

But one can simply click the IMPORT DVD button in Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 and then browse to the location of...

a. VIDEO_TS folder recorded on DVD-R/DVD-RW media

...or...

b. DVD_RTAV folder recorded on DVD-RAM media

...and then import the RAW MPEG from the .VRO and .VOB files in these folders.

This is a nice feature that allows one to re-capture MPEGs already burned to disc and then recycle them for use in future productions.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[FT Shark]

What version of TMPGEnc are you using to remux the .ac3. My version doens't accept ac3. If I try with the *.* option if gives me an error.

[dilshan]

I am using 2.58.44.152 which I can tell you is a pretty old version.
Your problem most probably not related to the version of TMPGEnc
(I hope you have TMPGEnc Plus which supports MPEG-2). Any TMPGEnc
version which supports MPEG-2 should be able to perform an elementary
operation like demux/remux, me think. Any how this is the way I do it:

File --> MPEG Tools --> Simple Multiplex

Type --> MPEG-2 Program (VBR)

Video input --> supported formats are .m1v,.m2v,.mpv,.vbs,.mpg etc.

Audio input --> supported formats are .mp1, .mp2, .mp3,.mpa,.ac3 etc.


If you don't see .ac3 as one of supported Audio inputs I guess you are
using a TMPGEnc version which only supports MPEG-1 (the trial version
supports MPEG-2 only for 30 days).

[Scheif]

Mr. Scheif, it's one thing that you fool DVD Workshop to believe that you are importing a .mpg while you actually importing a .vob. The question is if it works if you go on and compile the project. I don't have DVD Workshop so I can't test this. It is amazing if a program like DVD Workshop doesn't check the structure of a file which it allows to import.

Mr. dilshan, yes, I burned the project and enjoyed watching it on my stand-alone player.

[dilshan]

Mr. dilshan, yes, I burned the project and enjoyed watching it on my stand-alone player.

Good for you, sir. I suppose you allowed DVD Workshop to re-encode your vobs. This beg the question if just renaming vobs to mpgs would work generally or if you just had been lucky this time. My guess is that
it works generally as long as your vobs are not damaged. Since it
worked for you in DVD Workshop I find it hard to understand why it
didn't work for me in Ulead Movie Factory. I'll have a go at it once more and see if I am luckier this time.

[kas187]

i actually had a go myself, i demuxed the vob and remuxed and tried to add the video to ulead mf2 but no joy, it said something like, i have and ac3 sudio file which ulead mf2 doesn't support. I didnt give it another go so i just gave up, lol.

kas

[Scheif]

Good for you, sir. I suppose you allowed DVD Workshop to re-encode your vobs.

Negative. I checked the "Do not convert compliant file" box, and DVDWS did no re-encoding.

This beg the question if just renaming vobs to mpgs would work generally or if you just had been lucky this time.

Exactly. I have no idea. Hence my disclaimer (see above).

[dilshan]

i actually had a go myself, i demuxed the vob and remuxed and tried to add the video to ulead mf2 but no joy, it said something like, i have and ac3 sudio file which ulead mf2 doesn't support. I didnt give it another go so i just gave up, lol.
kas

I also remember seeing something like this some time ago but I can't
re-create the situation. If Movie Factory 2 import the file despite
warning then you should be able to proceed ignoring the warning.
Actually you shouldn't be getting such a warning in the first place
if all settings are correct since you are now importing a mpg file with
a valid header.

Maybe I am the only person crazy enough to try this, but it worked for me. I just renamed my .vob files to .mpg, and DVD Workshop accepted them without question.

Disclaimer. This may not work for all VOBs, but it worked for the Dolby Digital trailers I downloaded.

Once before I tried to import vobs to Movie Factory 2 by simply changing
extention .vob to .mpg but it didn't work. Now I know the reason. I had
about 25 movie clips and I tried to import them all at once but MF2 just
froze. However, if you import one by one instead of all of them at once
then it works. My conclusion is just you can import vobs to MF2 and
Power Director Pro by just changing .vob extention to .mpg. Wierd one
might think but that is the bitter truth. Bravo Mr. Scheif.