A way to add filters to VOB files?

[pbush77]

I've been searching the forums, and I cannot find a clear answer to this question. I have VOB files ripped from my dvd, and would like to apply simple filters (noise reduction, change brightness and contrast, etc.) before re-authoring them with a menu.

Is there any realistic way to do this? I have tried everything that I've found. MPEG video wizard is good for editing, but won't let me change things like the contrast or add filters. TMPGEnc Plus won't let me do anything like this because the VOB file already contains the audio. I tried using IFO mode on DVD decrypter to demux the video and audio, and then tried to make an Mpeg2 file with TMPGEnc Plus (adding my filters), but that failed miserably - the video froze after one second while the sound kept playing. Most of the programs I've found are great for conversion from everything EXCEPT vob files to something I can apply filters to, or are good at editing parts out (or adding them in). I just need to apply these simple filters, though, and it's proving VERY difficult.

On a sidenote, I probably need a re-size option as well, because the vob files only seem to be correct when played with an accompanying IFO file. Does anybody know anything about that? The files themselves are 352x480 (useless for a tv, for instance), but play fine with the IFO file - so I assume the IFO files tell the player to play them at a different aspect ratio. A simple method to resize the actual vob file would also be appreciated.

Surely I cannot be the only one who wants to take old dvd files and clean them up before re-burning them? The video I have is old cartoons, and if I use noise reduction and change the contrast and brightness from avi files, the result is extremely impressive. I suppose I could convert to avi from the vob files, and then from avi to mpeg2 (applying the filters at that point), but that would take a ridiculously long amount of time.

Any ideas? Are there any programs that will allow me to do all these simple things? Or is my dvd to avi/avi to mpeg2/mpeg2 to vob idea the only real option? If it is, are there any possible banana skins I should watch out for when trying all this conversion?

[duhmez]

just because the vobfile does no play properly does no mean it's bunk, it may be player limitation. best way take the video you filter with tmpgenc, and author it as a dvd, and test play it on an rw. if it works, then you are good to go.

[GangstaMo]

What Format of Audio in the VOB ...

MP2,LPCM, etc

[pbush77]

Sorry if I confused people before. The resizing issue is the least of my concerns. I didn't actually try playing those files in a standalone without an IFO file. I just ripped and played them without those files, and on the computer they always played in that aspect ratio. I used avicodec to look at the files, and all the VOB ones were set at 352x480. They played fine with the IFO files ripped into the same directory, so I therefore assume that the IFO files are setting the aspect ratio. I just wondered if I could resize the VOB files easily.

My main concern is obviously how to add filters, like noise reduction, easily to VOB files.

GangstaMo, the audio is showing as AC3 2-channel. Any ideas?

[GangstaMo]

I was hoping the audio was either MP2 or LPCM,then u can import the
VOBs directly in vegas video which hav lots of filters..

Another option,is to use NVE,it will accept VOBs with AC3,but the filters
are limited..

Another option,using NVE,is to import the VOBs,then select option
change the Audio settings,then save the VoBs in another folder,u will then
be able to import them directly in VegasVideo..

Hope this Helps..

[Faithful Follower]

Use VOBEdit to demux the VOB file, then feed the m2v file thru TmpgEnc.
After TmpgEnc is done, use IFOEdit to re-author.

[pbush77]

What is the deal with everybody excluding AC3 sound???

Anyway, I've just discovered that my VOB files are pretty warped. The IFO files must have also included the timeline or something, because they all read as only about 1 minute long, when in fact they are 20. This 'magical minute' still somehow contains all the video, but it's not easy to edit.

[duhmez]

What is the deal with everybody excluding AC3 sound???

Anyway, I've just discovered that my VOB files are pretty warped. The IFO files must have also included the timeline or something, because they all read as only about 1 minute long, when in fact they are 20. This 'magical minute' still somehow contains all the video, but it's not easy to edit.

Because to have a compliant NTSC dvd, audio at 0x80 must be pcm or ac3, mpeg audio not officialy compliant.

[Faithful Follower]

pbush77 says:

"I tried using IFO mode on DVD decrypter to demux the video and audio, and then tried to make an Mpeg2 file with TMPGEnc Plus (adding my filters), but that failed miserably - the video froze after one second while the sound kept playing.

The files themselves are 352x480"



Use the correct template on TMPGEnc Plus, and make sure apply the check on ' Do not change frame rate ' when re-encode.

[pbush77]

To not change the frame rate, are you talking about checking the box in the filter list about frame rate?

I am in the middle of trying that now. Quite frankly, I'm close to giving up. It seems almost impossible to do this unless you convert to avi first, but the hours involved that way are ridiculous. I have 100 twenty-minute shows to transfer to dvd - it would take all month.

[Faithful Follower]

pbush77

If your files are 352x480, then try to do this:

Demux the VOBs and use only the m2v files, open TMPGEncPlus and enable the wizard, on the first page, click on the DVD - NTSC Low Res. template. Then load your m2v file into the video source box. After that apply whatever filters you want and remember to check ' Do not frame rate conversion ' box. And leave the bit rates the same as original. Then encode.

Hope this will help

[pbush77]

Okay, that sounds interesting. I didn't think to do the source as VCD instead. Is there a reason for that? Will it look any worse when authored to DVD?

The next question is, what will happen to the sound? Obviously the m2v file doesn't contain any, so presumably the resulting output will be an mpeg2 file without sound. If it simply creates the file without sound, can I just add it as a separate file in DVD source creator? And will the resulting file (either the mpeg2 one or the authored VOB file) be any larger than if I encoded the mpeg2 by the regular methods (i.e. from an avi, or by including a sound file with the m2v one)?

I appreciate all your help!!!

[Faithful Follower]

First of all, 352x480 is within DVD spec, its called Half D1 DVD. It is half the bitrate of a full DVD, which is 720/704x480.

The template I ask you to use with TMPGEncPlus is just that.

Now, since your audio part of the file is AC3 stream which was ripped from an DVD vob file, so you don't need to do anything to it. Just mux it with the m2v file after re-encoding. ( Make sure you save the file in .m2v extension when you encode, or TMPGEncPlus will not work. Because you only encoding an m2v file. Do not save it in .mpg file!)

Thirdly, if you set the bitrate the same as the original, the resulting file will stayed the same size.

Once you're done re-muxing, you will have a .mpg file. Play it with WINDVD or PowerDVD to see if everythings fine. If so, you can then do the same to the rest of the VOB files.

Now, when you have all the .MPG files done, just author them with any DVD author softwares and burn.

Try it and see if this works.

[pbush77]

Well, very good. Thanks! I got it to work (I think), with these steps:

1) Ripped the VOB file from the dvd with dvd decrypter
2) Demuxed the file into m2v and AC3 with VOBedit
3) Converted AC3 to WAV file with AC3tool
4) Used m2v file and WAV file in TMPGEnc Plus to apply filters - this came out as another m2v and WAV file
5) Used filtered produced m2v file to multiplex in TMPEnc Plus with the original AC3 file (from step 2) to finish with mpeg2 file

Now, first of all, I didn't know anything previously about the multiplexing options in TMPGEnc - nor could I find anything clear about it on this site. Are there any good guides to that feature? I would like to know the difference between simple multiplexing (which I used) and regular multiplexing. Is there anything I can do to improve the process?

Second, step 3 almost seems to be redundant, but TMPGEnc Plus won't accept AC3 files as the audio.

a) If I don't enter ANY audio stream for applying the filters to the m2v file, is it possible for me to make TMPGEnc NOT produce a WAV file? Is there some way that it will it let me do that and still apply the filters correctly, etc.?
b) If so, will the filtering process be any quicker (not having to work with audio at all)?
c) Will the quality and size of the produced (filtered) m2v file be the same as if I did it along with audio (considering it is producing separate m2v and wav files anyway)? (This seems to be an obvious "yes" answer, but maybe there are some quirks I don't know about)

One last question. If the format is already half dvd (352x480), is there any benefit to me performing a resize while re-encoding? What happens if I try to play this half dvd format in a standalone dvd player? (does it automatically resize it?) If so, is the quality better or worse than if I resize it with TMPGEnc? Actually, TMPGEnc wants to make it 320x240 by default anyway. Is this okay?

Thanks for all your help!

[Faithful Follower]

Glad you got it figured out.

Now to answer your questons:
Simple multiplex is when you only have one(1) audio stream, so all you need is input the video and audio then mux.
The other mux option is when you have more than one audio stream you want to mux into the m2v file, then you must use that option. You input the video stream and all the audio streams into the same field then mux. And I don't really understand what you mean by improving the process, there's no shortcut for muxing...

You're correct that step 3 is excessive, if you read my previous post carefully, I said you MUST save the file you wanted to encode to .m2v extension. Being that was m2v file anyway, so TMPGEnc will not look for an audio file in oder to produce an MPG file. It'll just encode the video portion = m2v file. Obviously the process should take less time.

All the answers for a~c are yes. Considering c- you are using the same bitrate as the original.

For the last question, as far as I know you don't and shouldn't have to re-encode the video to full DVD. The result will play just fine.

I have a curious question, why do you want to apply filters to an already DVD compliant video, isn't the quality good enough? I ask because more than often, re-encoding will degrade the video somewhat...

[Faithful Follower]

Sorry I forgot to answer your last part of the last question, no, don't use the 320x240 template. It actually is VCD standard. You wouldn't want to make your DVD into VCD.

[pbush77]

Very helpful, Faithful. Thanks.

Now, what I need to know is what I should do about the resolution. I choose the template for low resolution NTSC (352x480) because that's what the source file IS. In the settings, either from within the wizard or after I've completed it and am ready to encode, it says (under the video tab) "video stream setting" and "size" is at 352x240, with an aspect ratio of 4:3. So far, so good, I believe. However, clicking on the advanced tab of the settings (with all the filters), it says "video arrange method" Full Screen, with the pixels set to 320x240. This is what I referred to. By playing around, I've found it is possible for me to change that, and I wanted to know whether I should or not. I don't want to change it to Full Screen (Keep Aspect Ratio), because I don't really want the half dvd format aspect ratio to stay like that if I can help it (so that I can play it back normally within windows when I'm viewing for editing). What do you think?? I'm pretty sure I've got everything else worked out now - I even managed to work out how to only use video as the source (and no audio produced at all). I'm just a bit confused by this pixel setting in the advanced tab, which appears to conflict with the resolution settings in the video tab.

Meanwhile, to answer your question, the dvd's I am encoding are old cartoons from tv. They were transferred from VHS, and are okay quality, but certainly not the best. I've tested the filters based on some advice given in a guide on this site, and found that - because they are cartoons - ramping up the noise reduction, reducing the brightness/increasing the contrast, and using the quantize matrix to soften block noise, all noticeably increase the output quality. I realize that usually re-encoding just makes things worse, but in this case it seems to make a HUGE difference. Hence my desire to work out the simplest way to do this. Then I go through with DVD Source Creator and edit out commercial breaks, etc., and add good chapter stops and a menu. The end result is quite impressive, but it's a lot of hard work! Any ideas to speed up the process would be appreciated, along with any answers to my pixel settings questions.

[Faithful Follower]

Can you verify the source file? I found this little tool being very helpful in many ways, its called DVDPatcher, get it and load the source file ( the m2v file), on the right hand side of the GUI, it will tell you what format is the file, and can you post it then?

[pbush77]

Sorry, I don't quite understand what information you need me to supply. Won't AVIcodec allow me to see the file information? What should I tell you? Or does the DVD Patcher allow me to change the resolution without actually resizing it? I'm just a bit confused as to what I am doing with the program (DVD Patcher) here.

[Faithful Follower]

My bad...

I need to correct a step...Use the full DVD template instead thats the first selection under DVD in the wizard, it should just read NTSC.
Then go about the rest of your settings, set ' Full Screen (keep aspect ratio) '
When you go to the second to the last page of the wizard, thats the bitrate setting page, change the resolution from 720x480 to 352x480 using the drop down tab. And set the bitrate to whatever the original size is. That should do it.