How to remove sections from an individual .vob file

[pjb515]

Hi everyone,

Been searching the internet and have learned a few things about editing, but not exactly what I'm looking for. I have a single .vob file sitting on my hard drive which consists of several unrelated clips of my family. First one is my sister and baby in the kitchen, next one is all of us at a barbecue, etc. My goal is to extract just the clip of the barbecue and make that into a separate dvd. I'm pretty sure I can make a dvd from the extracted clip, but I don't know how to extract just that clip. I've tried different .vob editors (Freeware downloaded from the internet) but none of them recognize that the .vob contains multiple clips; they all show the first clip of my sister, and the timelines or whatever they're called show that it's 12 seconds, seemingly ignoring that there's any other videos in the .vob. Seems like when I try to cut a piece from the video, I can only cut from that first twelve seconds.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

[Kerry56]

Have you tried the free trial of VideoRedo TV Suite? Try using the QuickStream Fix within it.

[pjb515]

Have you tried the free trial of VideoRedo TV Suite? Try using the QuickStream Fix within it.

Thanks. I may try that one; what I'm trying to find out is which program will definitely let me extract or cut the exact clip I want from a .vob file. That program looks like the rest so before downloading yet another program, I've posted here in the hopes of someone telling me the name of a program that they know from experience does what I'm trying to do.

[hech54]

As long as you are CERTAIN that one VOB file contains the footage that you need, there is tons of freeware that can cut it.....VOB files are just MPEG2 video in a different container(vob).
First freeware I would grab would be AviDemux.
Cut on key frames, use
COPY
COPY
MPEG-PS
as your output settings. Re-author to a new DVD (if absolutely necessary) and you are done. No quality loss.

[Kerry56]

VideoRedo TV Suite is a program designed to work with the mpeg2 found in vob files. It is a very easy to use editor for cutting out sections, and has the ability to make DVD-video for you. The QuickStream fix is extremely handy for mpeg2 that is slightly out of spec, so it may be the best bet for working with your vob file.

No one can guarantee that any program they recommend will absolutely work with your example, but this program fits your needs better than anything else I am aware of.

[hech54]

Mpg2Cut2 - also free and small.
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Mpg2Cut2

[manono]

If the end result is to be a DVD I'd use DGIndex for the job. Open the VOB, use the [ and] buttons to isolate the barbecue, and then go File->Save Project and Demux Video. Open the resulting M2V and the audio (WAV, AC3, whatever) in Muxman to make the DVD. If there's a delay in the audio (it'll say in the file name) take it into account after adding the audio into Muxman.

[pjb515]

Ok, I figured it out and am posting my findings for whoever may need the same thing in the future.

The .vob file contains a bunch of .ac3 files (These are the audio files) and .m2v files (These are the video). For each m2v, there is a corresponding ac3, and you can tell which one goes with which because of the file names; using files from my .vob as an example, I have a video file named vob080-e0.m2v, and the corresponding audio file is vob080-bd-80.ac3. Then there's another .m2v with its corresponding ac3, and so on for each "Pair".
My goal is to keep all of the footage from the barbecue and discard the rest. I used free program Vobrator to open the .vob file. It showed me each pair of audio/video files. It also let me demux (Extract) them into a separate folder, so now I can see see each individual clip, deleting the ones I don't need. That's what I wanted to do
Next step is to take the remaining files and create a new .vob file that I can use as part of a DVD to burn and distribute. Haven't figured that out yet so I might post again with a new question.

[nic2k4]

My preferred quick and dirty solution (no menu) would be use IFOedit to author a DVD, Manono's Muxman would do too. BTW, nice to see someone using the older tools.

[manono]

The .vob file contains a bunch of .ac3 files (These are the audio files) and .m2v files (These are the video).

A VOB might contain multiple audio files (but your doesn't as it's from your homemade movies) but it will have only a single M2V. If you got multiple M2Vs they're from making multiple cuts. Since you only wanted to cut out the barbecue you wasted time and effort, but maybe not much.

Next step is to take the remaining files and create a new .vob file that I can use as part of a DVD to burn and distribute.

I already explained one easy way to do it. Others have mentioned other easy methods. There's no need to try and reinvent the wheel.

[pjb515]

I tried muxman to recombine the ac3 and m2v files back into a single .vob, and it did it but there's a sound delay. In muxman I noticed a little box called delay that I can input a number into. It goes up to 300 so I tried a couple times with different numbers and even went to 300 but still have a delay, about a half to a full second (Audio is behind video). Any ideas or is there another recommended program to recombine the audio and video into one?

[manono]

...I tried a couple times with different numbers and even went to 300 but still have a delay, about a half to a full second (Audio is behind video).

If the audio lags behind the video it's a negative delay. Did you try inputting a '-300', or whatever it is. You don't just guess. You figure it out and then add in the delay. Or, even better, figure out the amount of the delay and then remove it entirely using DelayCut.

...or is there another recommended program to recombine the audio and video into one?

There's no better pure authoring program than the freeware Muxman. Any other authoring program will also wind up with the audio out of synch by the same amount. By the way, what delay was shown in the name of the audio file demuxed by DGIndex? Or did you not cut the file using DGIndex? As I mentioned earlier, an AC3 file demuxed using DGIndex shows the amount of the delay in the name of the file. I don't know about other programs.

[pjb515]

I just tried dgindex, it extracted the audio and shows a delay of -424 ms. Muxman only lets me put in -300. I can try yet another program (Delaycut), but I'd like to know why there would be a delay if the original file is in synch?

[manono]

There's almost always a delay when demuxing at any place other than the beginning of each cell. Muxman only allows up to +/- 300ms because properly authored DVDs don't have delays greater than that. So, you'll need DelayCut. Below is a picture of how to do it. When adding the 'fixed' AC3 to Muxman, you won't have to add any delay at all (assuming the -424 is correct and you also extracted the M2V at the same time and are using it when remuxing).

[newpball]

So, you'll need DelayCut.

Hey that's a handy program. Thanks for bringing that out!

[pjb515]

I took a quick look at delaycut but I don't think that's gonna do it. I literally am going to have hundreds of extracted audio files from all of my vhs tapes and delaycut only does one file at a time as far as I can tell. I should mention that I'm doing the barbecue video first because that's got my entire extended family in it, but after that I have many more video tapes that I'll also be converting to dvd. I used vobrator to extract the video and audio from the original .vob. I can play the .vob and it's in synch, so I assume the culprit is vobrator. Is there a better program that won't create the delay?
Thanks to everyone for your help, I appreciate it much!

[nic2k4]

... I have many more video tapes that I'll also be converting to dvd.

Geez, you could have said that sooner. There must be some IFO and BUP files along with the VOB's, you could just cut the video with DVDshrink in re-author mode.

[manono]

Geez, you could have said that sooner. There must be some IFO and BUP files along with the VOB's, you could just cut the video with DVDshrink in re-author mode.

No kidding, yeah? Here I thought there was just one video needing a synch fix.

I can play the .vob and it's in synch, so I assume the culprit is vobrator. Is there a better program that won't create the delay?

No, VobRator isn't the 'culprit'. As I already said, cutting and demuxing pieces out of any VOB, the original or a joined one, will create delays. I don't use DVDShrink, but now I think nic2k4's suggestion is the way to go - do your cutting and reauthoring in DVDShrink. Or use DGIndex to demux. Most shouldn't have the delays greater than +/- 300ms and you should be able to remove the delay in Muxman.

Also, depending on how you're capturing the tapes, maybe you could cut them before ever making the DVDs. If the audio is WAV audio, synch won't be a issue at all.

[pjb515]

Sorry, but this is my first time attempting this. Before going down a whole new path with dvdshrink, I'd like to focus on the way I'm going if possible; dvdshrink sounds like it's going to convert, which means loss of quality and these 25-30 year-old vhs tapes are low quality enough. I like that vobrator just takes the stuff out without converting, just need to avoid the sound delay.

[manono]

... just need to avoid the sound delay.

For the third time, you cut and demux a VOB, you get a delay.

...dvdshrink sounds like it's going to convert...

Not in reauthor mode, it doesn't. Read the first part of this guide to learn how to cut a clip from a DVD and reauthor it for DVD without any reencoding being done:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/296328-How-to-cut-out-clips-from-DVDs-and-convert-t...-free-software