HELP reauthoring DVDs on my PC made on standalone recorders

[smackyourfupa]

Ive went through 3 standalone DVD recorders. Iv'e been trying to reauthor alot of the discs Ive made on these recorders on my PC and am having way too much trouble. When I try and play one of the .VOB files on my PC I am having problems. Eg. When i try and play a .VOB that is 45 mins long, WMP or any other program I use to play the file will say the file is only 10 mins long. I've tried using Chopper XP to edit my .VOB files, and for some reason , when I try and edit, the output file never matches up to the points of cut off. I've also changed the extensions of the files to .mpg and tried editing with TMPG and have the same exact problem. I'm starting to think that DVDs recorded on standalone recorders are not compatible with computers. The types of recorders Ive used are RCA, Philips, and Cyberhome. Please help!

[racer-x]

I've done a few menus for a friend that used a dvd recorder, this is what I did:

Use DVDShrink to rip the title (change the settings to create 1 VOB instead of splitting to 1-gig chunks).

Use Rejig to demux vob to elemental streams (m2v & ac3).

Use Dvd-Lab (or whatever you have) to reauthor.

[TBoneit]

I also had some luck ripping with DVD Decrypter and then using TMPGenc to reauthor but for some reason it would only work reliable with RW disk not R that had been finalized.

[jeanl]

Yes, the key is to demux and remux your VOBs. That's because DVD recorders tend to cut them in small cells (mine was using 30s cells, so WMP would only play 30s of it, and reauthoring in nero was a complete nightmare because nero was cutting the VOB into 30s chapters!).

So demux and remux, and you'll be in business. YOu can demux with DVDDecrypter, and you can remux in your authoring tool usually...
Jeanl

[Epicurus8a]

jeanl is correct. DVD Decrypter is a great program. You can use it to easily rip your DVDs to your hard drive. If you select IFO mode/no file splitting you'll end up with one lage VOB. You can also use it to demux the VOB files on the disc to seperate audio and video streams. Authoring software should be able to handle the seperate streams. If yours doesn't (for some reason), use TMPGEnc ro mux them to a standard MPEG 2 file (use the MPEG Tools option). Then it's cakewalk to reauthor them.

If you want to do any editing (transitions and such) Womble MPEG VIDEO WIZARD is one of the few MPEG editors that works well. It's a bit expensive, but it has a 30 day free trial.

Decrypter and Wizard are great programs. You simple can't go wrong!!!!!!

[tekkieman]

You shouldn't need to rip it at all. Just drag the video_folder to the hard drive and let it copy. I use TDA to make the menus, since it accepts the vobs. I'm only really trimming start and end points, not any serious editing. These have all been done on +RW, and I never finalize (for RW you shouldn't need to).

[smackyourfupa]

thanks for all the help but how do I demux in DVD Decryptor?

[smackyourfupa]

OK i figured it out, nut Im sure Ill have some trouble remuxing ..I plan on using TMPG

[jeanl]

Refer to the numerous guides for DVD Decryptor... Look in the guide section on this site.
Jeanl

[jeanl]

You shouldn't need to rip it at all. Just drag the video_folder to the hard drive and let it copy. I use TDA to make the menus, since it accepts the vobs. I'm only really trimming start and end points, not any serious editing. These have all been done on +RW, and I never finalize (for RW you shouldn't need to).

Good point, normally you don't need to rip or demux... ALthough I've read many places that ripping with DVD Decrypter is faster than a windows copy (not so surprising). Also, the way the DVD recorder writes to a +/- RW is different than to a +/- R (I've read that from various users and it makes sense). The RW allows the recorder to fix things when recording is done, but the R format does not. That's why recorder records in small chunks on a R disc, and these small chunks can be problematic in nero for example (but maybe not in TMPGenc DVDAuthor...).
Jeanl