No playback of VOB files in WMP11 (yes i have the codecs)

[raffie]

Weird thing. WMP11 won't play VOB files, blank screen, it kinda doesn't seem to even find the file, here's what happens:

I load a .mpg or .avi or .mkv file:
- WMP says 'playing Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop'
- In properties =>file tab; it says 'Location: I:\music videos D1\Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop.mpg'

I load a .vob file:
- WMP says 'Playing I'
- In properties =>file tab; it says 'Location: wmpdvd://I?contentdir=I:\music videos D1'

I have Mpeg2 decoders installed, I tried using ffdshow's codec, with and without the 'DVD decoding' option. No change whatsoever.
(Oh, and please don't say ' just use blahplayer-x or blehplayer-y'. I want to be able to playback and make playlists for all possible videofiles and I want it in WMP11.)

[poisondeathray]

I don't think WMP supports vob playback (I think you have to play the whole dvd structure , not a fragmented vob structure)

Use another player , or convert it to .mpg (you can try vob2mpg)

[raffie]

I don't think WMP supports vob playback (I think you have to play the whole dvd structure , not a fragmented vob structure)

I'm sure there's gotta be some kind of workaround though, I mean, what are we, a bunch of n00bs?

Use another player

lol

convert it to .mpg (you can try vob2mpg)

mpg doesn't support uncompressed audio

[poisondeathray]

mpg doesn't support uncompressed audio

What is the source of your vob? It doesn't support uncompressed audio either, unless you mean PCM?

You can try Demultiplex the vob (e.g. DGIndex), use mkvmergegui and put the mpeg2 video, and "x" audio into mkv . Enter the DAR information in the format specific options tab. I tested it and it works in WMP11.

Cheers

[Placio74]

What's used MPEG splitter?

Check used GSpot.
Proposed Codec Solutions and Tests > MS A/V > 1

[raffie]

Some info by GSPOT:

CONT_BASETYPE MPEG (.MPG/.MPEG/.VOB)
CONT_BYTES_MISSING
CONT_INTERLEAVE_ALIGN
CONT_INTERLEAVE_PRELOAD
CONT_INTERLEAVE_TIME
CONT_SUBTYPE
CONT_TOTAL_BITRATE 10080
VIDEO_BITRATE 5000
VIDEO_CODEC_NAME MPEG-2
VIDEO_CODEC_STATUS Codec(s) are Installed
VIDEO_CODEC_TYPE MPEG2
VIDEO_DAR 1.333
VIDEO_DURATION 3:22.204
VIDEO_FIELDS_PER_SEC 59.940
VIDEO_FRAME_COUNT 6060
VIDEO_FRAMES_PER_SEC 29.970
VIDEO_MPEG2 MPEG-2
AUDIO_CODEC DVD_LPCM_AUDIO
AUDIO_CODEC_STATUS Codec(s) are Installed
AUDIO_MPEG_STREAM_ID 0xbd
AUDIO_MPEG_SUBSTREAM_ID 0xa0
AUDIO_SAMPLE_RATE

I'm not entirely sure what splitter is used, I have Haali installed but I'm not sure it's applied when using VOB files.

[poisondeathray]

You can render the file in graphstudio to identify the current splitter

[raffie]

mpg2splt.ax MPEG-2 Demultiplexer, I guess that came with Vista?

[NoBuddy]

I´m watching VOBs directly in WMP 11, no problem.
First check with DecCheck.exe (available for free from Microsoft) if your used MPEG2 decoder is compatible with WMP 11. And if it´s set to preferred decoder.
Than don´t allow WMP to automatically download missing codecs.
Don´t let WMP search for missing codecs.
If this doesn´t help, then you can still make some changes in the registry.

But first rename VOB to MPG and try, just to see what happens...

[raffie]

If this doesn´t help, then you can still make some changes in the registry.

But first rename VOB to MPG and try, just to see what happens...

Works fine!
I have already been tinkering about in the registry, to no avail unfortunately Thought I'd use the same info used for MPG files, copy that and use it for VOB files. No-go. (set everything back as it was) If you'd know what to do, it would be much appreciated.

[raffie]

So, if I rename the VOB's to MPG they play fine. Conclusion, something is making WMP wanna play a DVD when opening a VOB file. Any way to make a VOB file as is? I'm thinking it could be done in the registry...

[kasius]

So, if I rename the VOB's to MPG they play fine. Conclusion, something is making WMP wanna play a DVD when opening a VOB file. Any way to make a VOB file as is? I'm thinking it could be done in the registry...

You do not need to do anything in the registry, .vob files will play in WMP11. When you have the VIDEO_TS folder open just make sure that the .ifo files are also set to open with WMP.

I had the problem after installing Mediainfo, it changed the Default program to open the .ifo from WMP to Mediainfo.

If you want to play a .vob the problem is that alot of the DVD software splits the .vob chapters into 1Gb chunks, thus ending up with only a portion of the chapter in each .vob. I think in DVDShrink and IMGBurn you can change in the options to prevent the chapters from being split into 1Gb chunks. I am not sure if any other DVD sofware allows this, I have not been converting for quite some time so I am a little rusty.

[MastricX]

I've got this same thing, renaming vob to mpg works fine and plays with ffdshow, but when i open the vob WMP notices it as a DVD file and it errors. If it could just open as a mpg file I'd be set.

[raffie]

So, if I rename the VOB's to MPG they play fine. Conclusion, something is making WMP wanna play a DVD when opening a VOB file. Any way to make a VOB file as is? I'm thinking it could be done in the registry...

You do not need to do anything in the registry, .vob files will play in WMP11. When you have the VIDEO_TS folder open just make sure that the .ifo files are also set to open with WMP.

I had the problem after installing Mediainfo, it changed the Default program to open the .ifo from WMP to Mediainfo.

If you want to play a .vob the problem is that alot of the DVD software splits the .vob chapters into 1Gb chunks, thus ending up with only a portion of the chapter in each .vob. I think in DVDShrink and IMGBurn you can change in the options to prevent the chapters from being split into 1Gb chunks. I am not sure if any other DVD sofware allows this, I have not been converting for quite some time so I am a little rusty.

I'm not talking about full DVD structures, just standalone VOB files.

[jagabo]

When you select a VOB file WMP appears to enter its DVD playing mode and requires a full VOB/IFO set. And it starts playing the first VOB of the set, not the selected VOB. It doesn't seem to use any DirectShow installed VOB/MPG file reader/splitter. Aside from renaming the file I couldn't find any way around this. Another worthless WMP "feature".

[Amerzone]

Apologies in advance if I hijack the thread; I have a similar question: is it possible to play mkv files in WMP11? I have Vista SP1, ffdshow, Haali Media Splitter and mkv play fine in MPC, but I was wondering if there's some way to make also WMP understand mkv files.

[jagabo]

Apologies in advance if I hijack the thread; I have a similar question: is it possible to play mkv files in WMP11? I have Vista SP1, ffdshow, Haali Media Splitter and mkv play fine in MPC, but I was wondering if there's some way to make also WMP understand mkv files.

It sounds like you already have everything necessary to open MKV files in WMP. You need an MKV file splitter (Haali) so WMP knows how to open and read MKV files, and whatever codecs are necessary to decode the audio and video (ffdshow). I have no problem playing MKV with WMP 11 and 6.4. What's not working?

[Amerzone]

Thanks for your reply. I'm @ the office right now, so I may be wrong, but when I try to open an mkv with WMP, I get an error message that "this file type is not supported" (or something similar). It doesn't try to download any codecs, or whatever, it only complains that this file type is not supported. As I said, in MPC the mkv files play perfectly (and ffdshow A/V decoder and Haali splitter icons appear at the systray). I have NOT installed any codec pack (I hate them...)

[jagabo]

Amerzone, are you running a 64 bit version of Windows?

I get the Haali and ffdshow icons in the Tray when playing MKV with WMP. Try updating Haali?

[Amerzone]

No, I'm running Vista SP1 Ultimate x86. As soon as I get home, I'll check what the exact error message says, as well as the version of Haali that I'm using and I'll post here again.

Edit: Sorry for misleading you, the WMP 11 DOES play mkv files without a problem. My bad...

[raffie]

When you select a VOB file WMP appears to enter its DVD playing mode and requires a full VOB/IFO set. And it starts playing the first VOB of the set, not the selected VOB. It doesn't seem to use any DirectShow installed VOB/MPG file reader/splitter. Aside from renaming the file I couldn't find any way around this. Another worthless WMP "feature".

Yes this is exactly the problem.
Now, renaming extentions is no way aaf going about things. It would mean I'd have to remux every VOB I have (and will get) to MPG, and I'm not gonna do that, that would be the hard/stupid/long way around when there's certainly an easy solution out there...[/video]

[jagabo]

You could just add .MPG to the end of the VOB file name. That way WMP would play it and you know it is really a VOB.