backup of damaged DVD (truncated VOB)

[ricorico94]

Hi,

One of my DVD was scratched. Fortunately, it's only at the end of the movie that scratch appears.
I used DVD Decrypter in file mode to dump the DVD to my disk. All files went well except the latest VOB file that I stopped before end (it was running for ever..). If I view this bad VOB (by for instance modifying extension into .mpg), my windows media reads it well (until it stops where I quit ripping, of course).
But DVDShrink refuses opening the disk with error message "can't open vts_01_5.vob". I tried with DVDFab, but it fails as well (at the end of shrinkage, this time, unlike DVDShrink).

I tried to us videoredo to fix the VOB file. But same problem.

What should I do to re-use these files ? (I'd prefer keeping the whole DVD structure with menus, etc, even though I lose the last minutes of the main movie).

Thanks a lot for your help!

Ricorico94

[oldandinthe way]

Did you tell DVDFabDecrypter to ignore the error? Usually works for me.

RipIt4Me will also ignore errors.

Running forever may not be forever, if the damage is many sectors it takes a while. You can change the number of retries in DVD Decrypter and reduce the time it takes. Expect it could be hours.

[TooLFooL]

use fixVTS!

[ricorico94]

Hi,

Well, I did not wait hours indeed.. I stopped after 2h..

I tried to use fixVTS, but apparently, the only thing it did was it removed completely my corrupted VTS_01_5.vob from folder.
Should I run fixVTS before running videoredo on the bad VOB ?

Thanks,
Rico

[Alex_ander]

I believe the problem is that .ifo files still describe your VOB (video length, block sizes etc.) as it was before truncation and any application or device trying to access the file using this information will show error message. Then the only way to avoid re-authoring is to update the information in .ifo files (both for this VOB and for video manager .ifo's). Maybe something like IFOUpdate could help but I didn't use that utility. I'd try to do it using DVDRemakePro, it will show (or will not) the problems in red letters but won't refuse to work 'until you corrrect this'. There's an edit command 'hide blocks after this'. I'd try to apply it to the last shown (the software displays everything visually) block of the incomplete VOB. This would hopefully cut out the last remaining damaged chapter and update all .ifos at exporting the projet or exporting just modified files (files you can write over the old ones).
DVDRemakePro is IMO the best existing DVD editor and it isn't 'blind' as its free alternatives.

[TooLFooL]

try it before using videoredo. if i'm not mistaken, using fixVTS will try to adjust the ifo's to match your vob files

[VegasBud]

ricorico94,

You should take a look at this post by jeanl (the author of FixVTS) about the best way to fix a problem like yours. It fixed the problem in that thread, and you can't do better than advice straight from jeanl.

[VegasBud]

DVDRemakePro is IMO the best existing DVD editor and it isn't 'blind' as its free alternatives.

I bought that program, but I never use it anymore. After my purchase, I learned how to use PgcEdit ("free alternative"), which is, in my opinion, the superior program, and haven't had a use for remake ever since.

[ricorico94]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your help.. though I still did not succeed. here is what I tried..

1) using DVDRemake Pro 3.5, I went to the end of my movie (I remind the corruption is at the end, as I stopped DVD decrypter before ending ripping). I moved back a few pictures to avoid problems, and I right clicked to select "to hide after this". Then I export the DVD, and opened DVDShrink to check it, but DVDShrink still opens with error on video-ts.
2) I also tried to go to the same point, "splitting" the cells and even deleting the last ones, but after export, same error in dvdsrink.

The other weird thing, is that when I test the dvd in dvdremake pro, I don't have errors.

3) I tried IFOedit (thanks for the link!!). This time, DVDShrink starts scanning but then sends to me an error in a VTS_01_06, which does not exist though! (it does not in my orignal DVD, it does not either in the folder on which I ran IFOedit).

I also tried exporting the DVD from dvdremake pro, then running FixVTS. But then, though DVDShrink accepted scanning it, the very beginning of the movie was not there anymore, and its vob file was designed by DVDShrink as another VTS..

What is weird also, is tht I can't just find any tutorial on how to remove the credits at the end of a movie without re-authoring everything.. I had though that such a thing would have been popular to save some space.. no way to find it.. If you know..

I'm getting crazy with this.. it shoudl not be so difficult.
If you have some more ideas or details on how to do it..

[ricorico94]

an update..
I indeed performed the 3) with IFOedit based on this post from Jeanl (thanks Jeanl and thanks again Vegasbud for the link):

I think all you need a what's called a "mock strip" in IFOEdit, to readjust a few pointers in the VOB file. This takes about 1mn, so if I were you that's what I'd try first. Usually, when shrink complains about a DVD, a mock strip fixes that.
Here's the procedure. Make sure you keep a copy of the original VOB and IFO, just in case!

Open the IFO corresponding to the VOB in question in IFO edit, then click on VOB Extra.
Options

[ ] Strip Streams'
[ ] Strip VobID's
[X] Correct Vob-Unit (Navigation Pack) pointers in VOB-files
[X] Correct original IFO files

VOB EXPERT Options

[X] Remove P-Uops
[X] Remove Macrovision
[X] Adjust Vob-Unit pointers.
[X] Adjust Audio/Subp point.

Also, uncheck
[ ] Auto-copy Menu Files to destination
Click OK, and when it's done click "save". It will overwrite the IFO, say Yes.

jeanl

But one thing I had not done was pushing on the button "save" in IFOedit..
Now, DVDShrink accepts opening it, and I'm currently trying to compress it.. let's see..


However, if someone can explain to me why it was not working using DVD Remake Pro, that could help me another time or help some other people..

[VegasBud]

...if someone can explain to me why it was not working using DVD Remake Pro, that could help me another time or help some other people...

Sometimes it's necessary to explore why something doesn't work, if that's all there is, but if something else did work, it would be a more productive use of your time/energy to explore why the successful method did work. Assuming jeanl's method works, if you were to explore "mock strip", you would better understand why it would succeed. As a start, here's an interesting discussion of the topic.

If you want to remove the credits at the end of the movie, VobBlanker works very well for something like that, where part of the credits you want to remove might be in a cell you want to keep (the end of the movie). Here's a general guide to blanking with VobBlanker, and here's one that explains blanking parts of cells, too.