Resequence VOB without re-authoring

[bluetoonboy1]

I have a DVD of a relatives wedding, which was extraced from some old 8mm footage. It comprises a single menu VOB and a single VOB with the main footage. I need to split the main VOB into two halves, and swap and re-join so that the first halve follows the second half, when the DVD is played back. I need to do this without re-authoring the DVD, as I don't have the original source.

I've taken a look at VobBlanker, and it looks like it is doable, but it would appear I need to extract the 9 cells (which make up the title) to separate files, then replace in the appropriate order. I would then need to use PGCEdit (or similar) to modify the cell transitions flags from "non-sequenced", to make them seamless once more.

Is there a simpler method to acheive what I want?

Thanks for any help!

[hech54]

Is there a simpler method to acheive what I want?

Yes...re-author it.

[bluetoonboy1]

Thanks for your reply. As I said in the original post, I don't want to re-author as I don't have original source - I tried it and got a noticeable drop in quality.

[hech54]

Thanks for your reply. As I said in the original post, I don't want to re-author as I don't have original source - I tried it and got a noticeable drop in quality.

Then you did not do it correctly. MPEG2 editing and re-authoring can easily be done without re-encoding.....authoring requires no encoding whatsoever.

[bluetoonboy1]

I used Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0 (which was pre-installed on my PC) - but I can see this is the wrong tool for the job, as it sees the VOB as a source file, which needs to be authored to make a DVD. Which software do you recommend (free, of course!) which will allow me to malipulate the VOB, without loss of quality and maintaing the DVD structure?

[hech54]

and maintaing the DVD structure?

That's not gonna happen.
VOB2MPEG to get the DVD back to one, large MPEG file, cut/edit with something like MPEGVCR(or one of the free knock-offs available), then re-author with one of the many(some FREE) authoring programs available over in the TOOLS section.

[nic2k4]

If you have Nero on your PC, check if NeroVisionExpress is included; the Nero suite is often supplied with optical writer drives.

- First, you need to copy your source DVD to your hard drive, best way is with DVD Decrypter, but Explorer works too (you'll need to remove the read only attribute). NVE will read your original DVD movie and let you cut it in half (although not in a frame accurate way) and add a transition between the two.

- In NVE initial screen choose make DVD Video, then Add Video Files and pick the file you copies to the hard drive (probably VTS_01_1.VOB, not VTS_01_0.VOB that's the menu). Once the file is imported, double click it to edit. Two modes are available, storyline and timeline (use the tabs above the timeline to switch). Cutting is done by changing the start and end position sliders in the preview window (click on the time display and use your mouse wheel to fine tune; go slowly). When you insert a clip onto the timeline, always double click it to set the volume to 100%. It's easier to insert clips and transitions in storyline mode; double click effects to adjust settings.

- Then, you would just output to a different folder with no menu; NVE does not re-encode when the video is already in the correct format (Ultra Buffer appears while copying).

- Next, you need to replace the original video with the edited one. Use VOBblanker, open your original movie in the input folder and create a new folder for the output. In the top pane you'll see your original DVD titleset, select the one that you need to replace (more than likely VTS_01_*.VOB). In the bottom pane are the PGC's for that VOB (more than likely 1 entry), select the entry that corresponds to the one you want to replace and click the Replace button. Browse to the edited video folder, choose the VTS_01_0.IFO and click Process.

- Before you burn a disc, you can preview the result off the hard drive with VLC, MPC or PowerDVD (also supplied with optical drives).

[bluetoonboy1]

Thanks for your response. I don't have Nero installed, so I used VOBblanker for the whole process. I needed to split one of the cells, so I used the split feature and re-processed. This gave me one extra cell in the VOB of the output directory. I Opened the new vob in VOBblanker, and used ExtAll Mult, to extract a vob for each cell in the source vob, and output these to a new directory. I then opened Cell view (within PGCs pane), and for each cell in turn, I replaced the existing cell with the appropriate cell vob, using Replace. I chose a new output directory, and re-processed, giving me my finished DVD.

[tinker]

It looks like you are done with the project, but it could have been done easier way. First split Title VOB into two cells, than use Pre command to start at cell2 and cell command on cell2 to link cell1(first half of the title), than second cell command for cell1 to go to post command section at the end. All using VobBlanker and PgcEdit.