Program to rename VOBs to MPG?

[terrypin]

Anyone know of a simple program that can take a VIDEO_TS folder as input and deliver as output a folder containing copies of all the VOBs renamed with MPG extension please? I find I'm doing this a fair bit. It gets tedious going through a 20-30 chapter video renaming and dragging a copy elsewhere.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[guns1inger]

Why not demux them properly, instead of just renaming them. VOBs contain more than just an mpeg video strea and audio. Renaming them to mpeg does not create an mpeg file, it just creates a renamed VOB. You may get unpredictable behaviour doing this.

If you must persist, try somewhere like snapfiles.com to find a file renamer.

[terrypin]

Thanks, but you've lost me with that 'demux' Could you briefly explain what you mean, or point me to an explanation a novice could understand please. In particular, how would I demux them?

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[mwkurt]

How about VOB2MPG. Chrissyboy did a great job of making this tool. It's free too!
Mark

[Lester Burnham]

Thanks, but you've lost me with that 'demux' Could you briefly explain what you mean, or point me to an explanation a novice could understand please. In particular, how would I demux them?

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

I think demux can be misleading in this respect - what you really want is something that parses the IFO to create a consistent, valid mpeg file. As somebody else has suggested - vob2mpg (or DVDdecrypter from the original disk, in IFO mode).

At the end of the day, VOB files are just mpeg files, really, they are just indexed, referenced, and played, using the "index" information that's in the IFO file(s).

[lordsmurf]

DVD Decrypter in IFO mode.

[gerfus]

I like using VideoReDo, it is easy but has a bit of depth to it if you want.

[Lester Burnham]

I like using VideoReDo, it is easy but has a bit of depth to it if you want.

I'm also a VideoReDo user, but this isn't the only approach or safe method for doing what the OP asked.

Always use something that parses the IFO file(s) to create an mpeg file - it's the safest, most valid approach. Then you can have a consistent, linear mpeg file that you can edit or do what you like with.

[terrypin]

Thanks all, lots to pursue there. I'll experiment along those lines. Already have DVD Decrypter, but never used it in 'IFO Mode'.

Just downloaded VOB2MPG, but I see it asks me to also install
'.NET Framework version 2.0.50727', so I think I'll pass on that one for now.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[jameshgross]

TMPEGENC DVD Author will convert VOB files to MPEG.

[terrypin]

DVD Decrypter in IFO mode.

Thanks. I have DVD Decrypter. Could you give me a pointer as to how I would use it to achieve what I described please? IOW, starting from the VIDEO_TS folder on my HD, created by my authoring program, to get a set of MPG files, one for each VOB/IFO/BUP set?

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[terrypin]

TMPEGENC DVD Author will convert VOB files to MPEG.

Thanks. I registered TMPEGENC DVD Author a few weeks ago in a fit of enthusiasm, but set it aside after initially finding it hard going. On re-starting it just now, prompted by your post, I still find it daunting! I'm slowly working through the Help, but would love to see a few actual worked examples of projects. Anyone able to point me to a few please?

On that specific solution you've suggested, could you point me in the right direction to do it please?

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[terrypin]

I think demux can be misleading in this respect - what you really want is something that parses the IFO to create a consistent, valid mpeg file. As somebody else has suggested - vob2mpg (or DVDdecrypter from the original disk, in IFO mode).

At the end of the day, VOB files are just mpeg files, really, they are just indexed, referenced, and played, using the "index" information that's in the IFO file(s).

Thanks, appreciate your help. I'm probably making heavy weather of this, but I confess I'm getting pretty confused here. Maybe if I summarise what I'm trying to achieve you could advise the best way to proceed please?

The reason I wanted to turn a set of 24 BUP/IFO/VOB files (74 files in total, includin the 'top' BUP/IFO pair) into 24 MPGs was so that I could work on them in Movie Maker 2. As mentioned, it seems MM will happily import each VOB, providing it is changed to an MPG extension.

How would I do that in DVDDecrypter, using the HD video_ts folder as source please?

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[Lester Burnham]

I think demux can be misleading in this respect - what you really want is something that parses the IFO to create a consistent, valid mpeg file. As somebody else has suggested - vob2mpg (or DVDdecrypter from the original disk, in IFO mode).

At the end of the day, VOB files are just mpeg files, really, they are just indexed, referenced, and played, using the "index" information that's in the IFO file(s).

Thanks, appreciate your help. I'm probably making heavy weather of this, but I confess I'm getting pretty confused here. Maybe if I summarise what I'm trying to achieve you could advise the best way to proceed please?

The reason I wanted to turn a set of 24 BUP/IFO/VOB files (74 files in total, includin the 'top' BUP/IFO pair) into 24 MPGs was so that I could work on them in Movie Maker 2. As mentioned, it seems MM will happily import each VOB, providing it is changed to an MPG extension.

How would I do that in DVDDecrypter, using the HD video_ts folder as source please?

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

Are all these files on DVD media? Or on your hard drive?

I'm not sure, but I believe that DVDdecrypter won't particularly parse (/decypt) DVD files that are on hard drive - you may be able to emulate something with, say, daemon tools, but more realistically I think you'll need vob2mpg if they are data on your har drive.

If they are on DVD media, just make sure DVDdecrypter is in IFO mode, then point it at your DVD disk, and extract each PGC as you want - and make sure that it doesn't split the output files.

[jameshgross]

Terrypin, To use TMPGenc DVD Author to convert to mpg to the following.

Open TMPGenc DVD Author
Click on "Source Setup"
Click on "Add DVD Video"
Browse to the VIDEO_TS folder that has the VOB files.
Click OK
If there are multiple titles select the title to convert.
Click next
Browse to the location to save the mpg file to.
Click OK
After the conversion is complete you may rename the file.

[Supreme2k]

For future reference, if you really only need to copy and rename file, do it this way:
1. open notepad
2. type in the following line
copy *.vob *.mpg
3. Save As... and type in "renamer.bat" (with the quotes) and save it in the folder with the files that you want to rename. It can be any name you want, not just renamer, but it does have to have the .bat extension.
4. Double-click on the new bat file and presto! - you're done.

[terrypin]

Many thanks - I'll try that tonight.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[terrypin]

Thanks Supreme2k. I thought it could maybe be done with a batch file, but it's been years since I last wrote one. Neat!

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[terrypin]

Are all these files on DVD media? Or on your hard drive?

The latter. ("How would I do that in DVDDecrypter, using the HD video_ts folder as source please?")

That's why I was puzzled by the 'DVD Decrypter in IFO mode' recommendation from lordsmurf and yourself. Spent a fair while scouring the program's menus but couldn't find it

Hope to try the simple batch file and TMPGEnc DVD Author methods later today. I should then hopefully be able to drag those MPGs into Movie Maker for editing.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[terrypin]

Thanks Supreme2k. I thought it could maybe be done with a batch file, but it's been years since I last wrote one. Neat!

Worked perfectly, thanks a bunch! I've placed Renamer.bat into a convenient folder and will simply drag it into the target folder when needed. And remove it afterwards, and move the MPGs to their destination folder.

I suppose an enhancement would be to generalise it. Or, better still, turn it into a standard EXE that it could be run in the usual way, browsing for target and destination folders. But as I guess this is not a very common activity, your neat BAT does the job a treat

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[terrypin]

Many thanks - I'll try that tonight.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

James: I followed those steps, applying them to the 1st of the 24 Titles in my DVD folder. On the final step you describe an MPG was indeed created in the destination folder I'd chosen. And it plays fine, thank you!

But could you clarify what I do next please? Presumably I have to repeat that procedure for the other 23 Titles? If so, how do I proceed from the screen that is currently displayed please:


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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[LloydAZ]

I suppose an enhancement would be to generalise it. Or, better still, turn it into a standard EXE that it could be run in the usual way, browsing for target and destination folders. But as I guess this is not a very common activity, your neat BAT does the job a treat

There are several file rename utilities on www.nonags.com.

One that I've used and like very much is called D-FileMU, and it's freeware. Here's a link to their website:

http://www.dimbu.com/programs4free/d-filemu/

[terrypin]

Thanks. My favoured renamer is Bulk Rename Utility at
http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk

But I don't want to rename the VOBs; I want to copy them with new extension MPG to a different folder. That little batch file from Supreme2k does it nicely.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[terrypin]

Many thanks - I'll try that tonight.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

James: I followed those steps, applying them to the 1st of the 24 Titles in my DVD folder. On the final step you describe an MPG was indeed created in the destination folder I'd chosen. And it plays fine, thank you!

But could you clarify what I do next please? Presumably I have to repeat that procedure for the other 23 Titles? If so, how do I proceed from the screen that is currently displayed please:


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Terry, West Sussex, UK

Anyone else able to help me progress with this then please? Can't find anything on the subject in the various guides I've found so far.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[jimmalenko]

VOB2MPG is truly the best tool to do this IMHO.

But if you just can't bring yourself to do it the easiest way, TMPGEnc DVD Author will be fine.


<start rant>

I would never just rename VOB files to MPG files, as my experiences doing that have not resulted in suitable output.
1. If there's an audio delay specified in the IFO, then your MPEG will be out of synch.
2. If all titles are authored in the same VTS, then your MPEG will be all titles rolled into one MPEG file.
3. If you have more than one VOB, then you may need to join the MPEG files. This can then make point 1 worse.

<end rant>


Now, back to TDA:

All you need to do from there is click the Add DVD-Video button and repeat the process you did for the first title for all subsequent titles. It doesn't matter what track you import the titles into, since we're only concerned with outputting an MPEG for each title and not actually reauthoring at this stage.




As for different source and destination directories, you could do it using two batch files if you wanted to go that way; you only need to change the paths in one file on an ongoing basis.

File 1 (Call it renamer.bat - you never need to edit this file again) :

copy %1\*.vob %2\*.mpg

Explained:

%1 refers to the first argument passed to the batch file from the command line.
%2 refers to the second argument passed to the batch file from the command line.

File 2 (Call it whatever you want; this is the file you will edit) :

call d:\renamer.bat d:\dvd\VIDEO_TS d:\dvd\MPEGs

Explained:

1. d:\renamer.bat - The path to your renamer.bat file.
2. d:\dvd\VIDEO_TS - The path to your source directory.
3. d:\dvd\MPEGs - The path to your destination directory.

All you need to change is the items in points 2 & 3.

In my example, the end result would be copying d:\dvd\VIDEO_TS\*.vob to d:\dvd\MPEGs\*.mpg.

[terrypin]

Thanks jimmalenko, appreciate the fast reply.

My hesitation about VOB2MPG is its requirement to also install NET Framework. I recall doing that a year or so ago for another purpose. Although I can't remember the details, it caused some problems/conflicts. And anyway it does sort of seem OTT to install such resource-hungry and complex stuff just to use a simple utility!

I'll continue along the lines you suggest with TDA. Thanks a bunch for breaking my mental log jam on that

Broadening the discussion, one of the problems I have is that this program, MemoriesOnTV 2, in which I've invested so much time over a year or so, uses terminology that seems at odds with most other software. I've only realised this recently, as I read more about DVD authoring, much of which seems a black art to me!

The project under discussion was created in MoTV as a single 'Album', called Erdington, containing 24 'Tracks'.



The video_ts folder made by MoTV (which I save on my HD, so that I can burn it with other more reliable methods than MoTV's own burner) looks like this:
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.IFO
VIDEO_TS.VOB
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_02_0.BUP
VTS_02_0.IFO
VTS_02_1.VOB
etc, up to set 24.

The actual DVD shows an initial top menu consisting of a background image with a single small image as a button, and plays the whole DVD. Each of the 'tracks', which seem to be called 'chapters' (or possibly 'titles'?) elsewhere, is a couple of minutes, with individual soundtracks. Whatever they are called, these 24 sections are not individually accessible on my DVD player (although PowerDVD|Go To can access them on my PC).

The silent, black gap between each is about 2 secs. That is acceptable (some may say desirable), but I'd like to see how it looks if reduced a bit. That's why I thought of simply importing the VOBs (as MPGs) into MovieMaker, where I can then edit it. And, as a bonus, if I mute the soundtrack in MM I should then be able to change the music by adding it again (or with variations) into MM's separate background audio track.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[guns1inger]

They are seperate titles, hence the pause. You can see this by the naming convention used VTS (Video TitleSet) _ {number of title}_ {number of file of type} eg:

VTS_01_0.VOB - first VOB in Video TitleSet 01
VTS_01_1.VOB - second etc.

The simplest solution would be to create a new menu. TDA can do this easily by importing your existing titlesets. Other software can also do it, but may prefer to have the titles demuxed first.

I have not used MoTV for a long time, but I suspect it has a setting to add all the titles to a menu.

[terrypin]

Many thanks guns1inger. I've been putting it off, but I now really do need to get stuck into learning how to use TDA properly!

I'm pretty sure there's no MoTV option for getting a button on the menus for each of the 24 'tracks' (titles).

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[terrypin]

Many thanks guns1inger. I've been putting it off, but I now really do need to get stuck into learning how to use TDA properly!

I'm pretty sure there's no MoTV option for getting a button on the menus for each of the 24 'tracks' (titles).

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Terry, West Sussex, UK