The "convert a single VOB file to a DVD" project!! :)

[djdust]

Hi

I've got an hour long music video that I've recorded using my standalone DVD recorder. Using DVD Decrypter, I ripped the file from the disc and created a single VOB file. I then demuxed this file into its component M2V and AC3 files. Because the sound levels were very quiet (it's an old video) I converted the AC3 file to a WAV file, remastered the sound then remuxed the new WAV file and the M2V file back together to create a shiny new VOB file. This file has no accompanying IFO file or anything like that but I now want to get this converted to a DVD so I can play it back on a normal DVD player...

At this point, I'm not fussed about creating menus or chapter points or anything like that (I'll worry about these later) - for now, I just want to get it simply working - yet, I can't find a simple solution to do this! I would have thought that there would be a program that you simply pull the file into, create optional chapter points, then burn off to disc. Darned if I can find it though!

Can anyone help?

Cheers

Daz

[noemi7]

You can use Muxman for demuxed files

[djdust]

The files aren't demuxed anymore as I stated. Doesn't Muxman just put the M2V and WAV files back together and create a new VOB file? That's what I've done already! Now, I want to put that VOB file onto DVD thus the entire point of this post... Unless I'm missing something really obvious..?

[hech54]

All you need to do is author it. Whether you want chapter points or not....you need to put it back into regular DVD format.
TDA would be my first choice.

[t0nee1]

FAVC. DVDFlick, ConvertXtoDVD......see HOW TO<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

[djdust]

ok, I'll have a look at those - thanks a lot. Before posting this, I've had a go with ULead VideoStudio already and got absolutely nowhere - it simply won't accept VOB files at all - unless, you do do a "DVD Import" option but that's looking for a full DVD structure with a "VIDEO_TS" directory and IFO file etc. so it just comes up with an error....

[aedipuss]

instead of naming it a vob, use the proper file extension of .mpg if all you did was mux an m2v and wav. you may be able to import it into ulead that way.

[Michael33]

djdust,

Listen to noemi7, take your WAV and M2V files and mux them with Muxman. Muxman will not only mux the files it will author them, creating folders ready to be burned onto a DVD. It's super simple and fast.

Any other way would be wasting your time, for no better results.

Mike

[djdust]

Hi Mike

I shall give that a go - if it works I shall feel like a bit of an idiot!!

[djdust]

Ah, another problem has occurred now - I'm getting this error when attempting to remux the M2V and WAV files....

Video decoder buffer underflowed 8 times.
Check c:\muxman.log for details.
Resulting DVD will probably not play smoothly.'

..and it's creating an IFO file that's empty. Any suggestions..?

[aedipuss]

make sure your audio is standard pcm wav. or better yet encode to ac3. the total bitrate of your dvd may be too high with wav audio.

[djdust]

It's definitely a standard PCM WAV file as far as I can tell. I'm really reluctant to compress it into an AC3 file as I want the sound quality to be lossless on this. Can anyone suggest anything else or am I stuck with a useless WAV file..?

[aedipuss]

it started as ac3 so you haven't made the sound lossless by converting to wav and you won't notice any difference if you convert it back to a decent bitrate ac3 384kbps is about as high as any soundtrack needs in 2 channel.

[djdust]

Actually, I HAVE replaced the soundtrack with a brand new lossless version which has overwritten the old version so I'm still keen to keep it as a WAV... Any ideas as to why it won't remux?

While we're on the subject though, what do people reckon is the best software to encode to AC3? I've got Sound Forge but it'll only let me create 192kbps AC3 files and, if I really have to go the AC3 route, I want as high a quality as possible...

[guns1inger]

Sound Forge will let you create your own templates, so you can set the bitrate to whatever you need. Click on the Custom button to change the template or create new ones. 256 kbps is about as high as you need for stereo.

[djdust]

Is there a guide to doing that as I can't see it in Sound Forge..?

[guns1inger]

It's called the manual, or the help files.

[djdust]

Well. thanks for the sarky answer. I DID look though the help files and found nothing. Nevermind, I'll look again tomorrow. I'm also So Very Tired.

[guns1inger]

Which version of Sound Forge are you using ?

The current version (9) doesn't seem to have the custom option that previous versions had. You are indeed fixed to the templates available.

Because previous versions of SF didn't support multi-channel audio I am in the habit of doing a lot of this via Vegas itself, which gives you full freedom over the settings, so long as you have purchased either the AC3 plugin license, or DVD Architect.

[djdust]

It's the very latest version so that's probably why - I'll look into the alternatives you suggested - thanks

I'm still in the dark as to why a PCM WAV file would cause these "buffer underruns" when getting remuxed. Can some explain, bearing in mind I'm not a technical wizard..?

I also tried an experiment which seemed to work. Remember the remux (with Muxman) failed with an error message? Well, it still created the main VOB files (split up into separate 1gb files) but created a null IFO file. I got rid of the duff file and ran IFOEdit on the new files - this created IFO (and BUP) files without any problem and I ended up with a DVD structure. I burnt this to disc and, lo and behold, the resulting DVD played flawlessly on my DVD player!! My cynical side says this is too good to be true though. Is there a chance this could still not work on certain DVD players due to its "flawed" WAV file embedded within..?

[guns1inger]

There is a chance that it is sitting close to or peaking at (or slightly above) the maximum total bitrate for DVD compliance, which can cause problems on a lot of players. Try using Bitrate Viewer to see what the peaks are like. If they get into the high 9000's then you may be pushing your luck

[noemi7]

WAV can be converted to AC3 by freeware dBpowerAMP or BeSweet (check for BeSweetGUI).

Muxman always fails if the total audio and video bitrate exceeds DVD specification.

I'd check the recorder if it may capture audio in LPCM. Some recorders has such option in highest quality mode. The output should then be larger than DVD5 but it's because lossless LPCM file is usually 3 times bigger than AC3 448 kbps. It's a way better to master LPCM than make repeated conversion AC3 > LPCM > AC3 where each step degrades quality. Also, when audio is captured in LPCM format, recorder lowers video bitrate to sensible level - possibly around 6000 - 7500 kbps. You won't get any better video from a VHS source recording it at 80000 or 90000 kbps. There will be only ballooned bits

Bitrate of AC3 audio from a standalone recorder usually is not higher than 256 kbps, due too high video bitrate. When you record in LPCM, you may convert audio to AC3 448 kbps, still keeping DVD5 and not going over allowed combined DVD bitrate.

[djdust]

Alas, my recorder doesn't record in PCM - the highest it can record in is AC3 384kbps.. To get over this I actually recorded the video directly into Sound Forge via my sound card and created the replacement WAV from that. I'm still unsure how it is that the file causes problems... Is there a resource of how all this stuff works? (I'm keen to learn as much as I can..

[manono]

I'm still in the dark as to why a PCM WAV file would cause these "buffer underruns" when getting remuxed. Can some explain, bearing in mind I'm not a technical wizard..?

Because the video bitrate (at max, if VBR), plus the audio bitrate, plus the muxing overhead (I'm assuming no subtitles) totalled over 10080 kbps. I haven't read the whole thread and, frankly, I'm surprised it's gone on as long as it has, but if somewhere along the line you converted the AC3 to a much higher bitrate WAV audio, that could easily explain the failed muxes. You'll have to either reencode the WAV audio back to a lower bitrate AC3 file, or reencode the video at a lower bitrate (and a lower max bitrate if VBR).

To get over this I actually recorded the video directly into Sound Forge via my sound card and created the replacement WAV from that.

And your reason for doing that was...? Is there any reason you can't just use the original AC3 audio when authoring with Muxman? After all, it's not as if converting it to WAV audio makes it better quality.

[djdust]

To get over this I actually recorded the video directly into Sound Forge via my sound card and created the replacement WAV from that.

And your reason for doing that was...? Is there any reason you can't just use the original AC3 audio when authoring with Muxman? After all, it's not as if converting it to WAV audio makes it better quality.

Well, it makes it better quality to me. I don't want to use an AC3 file , convert it to a WAV, do all the remastering work then re-encode back to an AC3 again. I'd rather work with a lossless source to start with and keep it lossless if possible...

[manono]

Oh, I see, you made it louder. Muxman is absolutely DVD compliant and won't complete the mux if anything is out of spec. Maybe it's just at one place and you might get a slight pause or stutter at that place. IFOEdit's authoring function will warn you, but unless it gets too many buffer underflows it'll complete the mux. You might try that. Here's a guide:

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/ifoedit-dvdauthor.htm

Scroll down a little more than halfway to get to the authoring part.

I'd rather work with a lossless source to start with and keep it lossless if possible...

I think it's been mentioned already that your AC3 source isn't lossless to begin with.

[djdust]

I'd rather work with a lossless source to start with and keep it lossless if possible...

I think it's been mentioned already that your AC3 source isn't lossless to begin with.

Yes it is. I'm not using the original AC3 as a source anymore - I re-recorded the video directly into my computer and created a brand new PCM WAV file which I then "remastered"...

Muxman is absolutely DVD compliant and won't complete the mux if anything is out of spec. Maybe it's just at one place and you might get a slight pause or stutter at that place. IFOEdit's authoring function will warn you, but unless it gets too many buffer underflows it'll complete the mux.

As I wrote up above, I actually took a shot in the dark and used IFOEdit on the VOB files that Muxman created and it worked a treat! No error messages, warnings, no buffer underflows - and I played the resulting DVD back and it was absolutely flawless - no skips, pauses, stutters or anything...

However, I'm conscious of the fact that although it may work in MY DVD player it may not work in others.. Is there a reason why Muxman would choke on it but IFOEdit wouldn't at least flag up a warning..?

[manono]

Is there a reason why Muxman would choke on it but IFOEdit wouldn't at least flag up a warning..?

Because you authored the VOBs. I'm talking about authoring as you did using Muxman with elementary streams - the M2V and the WAV audio. Did you look at the guide to which I linked? It's different than what you did. I have seen cases where Muxman had buffer underflows and IFOEdit didn't, but when in doubt as to which was correct about it, I'd put my money on Muxman. But there have been a few occasions where I didn't feel like encoding again and went with the IFOEdit mux, even though it warned about buffer underflows and I usually spotted stutters at one or more places when watching the movie. Since Muxman showed 8 buffer underflows, my guess is that you'll get them with IFOEdit as well. But it should complete the mux.

Yes it is. I'm not using the original AC3 as a source anymore - I re-recorded the video directly into my computer and created a brand new PCM WAV file which I then "remastered"...

Are you claiming it was broadcast as PCM WAV audio? If it was anything but that, then you don't have an uncompressed quality audio file, no matter that you converted it to PCM WAV when capping it.

[djdust]

Is there a reason why Muxman would choke on it but IFOEdit wouldn't at least flag up a warning..?

Because you authored the VOBs. I'm talking about authoring as you did using Muxman with elementary streams - the M2V and the WAV audio. Did you look at the guide to which I linked? It's different than what you did.

Sorry, what I meant I did was I fed in the Muxman-generated VOB files into IFOEdit and generated new IFO (and BUP) files which resulted in a DVD that worked fine on my DVD player.

I'll have a go at re-authoring properly using IFOEdit and see what happens. Stay tuned.

I'm not using the original AC3 as a source anymore - I re-recorded the video directly into my computer and created a brand new PCM WAV file which I then "remastered"...

Are you claiming it was broadcast as PCM WAV audio? If it was anything but that, then you don't have an uncompressed quality audio file, no matter that you converted it to PCM WAV when capping it.

No, I'm claiming I used the original promotional video that I got directly from the record company that has a stereo soundtrack and is broadcast quality...

[djdust]

There is a chance that it is sitting close to or peaking at (or slightly above) the maximum total bitrate for DVD compliance, which can cause problems on a lot of players. Try using Bitrate Viewer to see what the peaks are like. If they get into the high 9000's then you may be pushing your luck

ok, I ran the VOB file through Bitrate viewer and it hit a peak of 9504. I'm getting a bit swayed by the argument to convert the WAV to AC3 now..

Question though... how is it that professional DVDs can be in PCM Stereo and not have this problem when being created?