Cutting VOB files

[DELTAsnake]

Hi, I have some DVDs of a TV show I want to put on my Zune. I have the VOB files on my hard drive, and Handbreak can convert them, but with one problem. All the episodes on the disk are in one big VOB file and Handbreak only converts the first episode.

So I need to cut up the VOB file so theres one VOB for each episode. What program can I use to cut the VOB? (I would prefer freeware or opensource program)

[hech54]

Just re-rip the disc(s) and take the episodes separately.

[jman98]

Your options for Macs are rather limited. That's why even though I work as a Unix system administrator I use Windows at home - that's where the tools are. You could rather easily do this with VideoReDo or MPEGVCR on a Windows box, but neither is free. Both are try before you buy though.

My opinion on freeware editors (a few exist for Windows) is that you get what you pay for and if they don't work exactly as you want, that's just how it is. I don't know if any free video editors even exist for Mac, but I wouldn't expect much from any that might exist.

If Handbrake will allow you to do so, it might be possible to re-rip the DVDs in IFO mode and sometimes you can rip individual episodes this way. However, I have seen DVDs where this was not possible because of the way the DVD was made and what you ripped had to be edited to extract the episodes.

[DELTAsnake]

Your options for Macs are rather limited. That's why even though I work as a Unix system administrator I use Windows at home - that's where the tools are. You could rather easily do this with VideoReDo or MPEGVCR on a Windows box, but neither is free. Both are try before you buy though.

My opinion on freeware editors (a few exist for Windows) is that you get what you pay for and if they don't work exactly as you want, that's just how it is. I don't know if any free video editors even exist for Mac, but I wouldn't expect much from any that might exist.

If Handbrake will allow you to do so, it might be possible to re-rip the DVDs in IFO mode and sometimes you can rip individual episodes this way. However, I have seen DVDs where this was not possible because of the way the DVD was made and what you ripped had to be edited to extract the episodes.

Ok, since I am only going to do this once I guess trialware will do. I don't see anything in Handbreak that says IFO mode, so I guess editing the VOB is my only option.

jman98, what made you think I'm on a Mac? I'm on Windows.

[navi310]

Have you tried DVD Shrink ??

[poisondeathray]

mpg2cut2 is freeware that works on VOB's.

[bluehz]

By far my most used video utiliity on a Mac is MPEGStreamclip - free and endless uses.

http://www.squared5.com/

It will definitely cut your vob for you.

[DELTAsnake]

Have you tried DVD Shrink ??

Thank you, that pulled the episodes out all in seperate VOB files, that saves me alot of hassle, thank you.

[navi310]

No problem 8)

[PuzZLeR]

Another good idea is to convert these VOBs to .mpg files first - always better for edits and manageability. Reorganize and make the disc *you* want instead.

TMPGEnc MPEG Editor (not free) does this, but before converting it will give you the option to make cuts where you want them. Then you can take these .mpg files and re-create another VIDEO_TS folder quickly, and losslessly, out of them with TMPGEnc Author and input that into HandBrake.

I too use HandBrake and love it, and do this all the time to create a "DvD" of my own design to input into it.

BTW - If you have NeroVision with your OEM software on your PC it too will also import all the VOBs to .mpg files as well for you.

[mavericko]

Hi Folks,
Is there not a simple tool, that can cut a VOB from DVD into a smaller vob from frame X to frame Y ?

Basically these are the steps I want to do
1> Put DVD into drive
2> Load tool
3> Choose DVD drive or VOB file in video_ts
4> Select frame begin & frame end
5> Click 'process'
6> Get a proper chopped VOB file piece, that has all the VOB headers & stuff in them.

Is there a tool like that for the windows platform ??

[PuzZLeR]

I would love to know this myself. To my understanding, every VOB manipulation tool, at least internally, converts the VOB to .mpg anyway before any cuts, or other edits, etc.

VOBs are tricky beasts since they come with segmentation in some cases, which cause problems. If you don't convert/remux them to .mpg first you may get an erroneous file.

The closest thing to your post's description is TMPGEnc MPEG Editor when you use the Source Wizard.

[manono]

Is there not a simple tool, that can cut a VOB from DVD into a smaller vob from frame X to frame Y ?

I use MPEG2Cut (free). You cut on keyframes (roughly half a second apart), and it keeps the VOB format. No reencoding done. But the VOB will have to have been decrypted first (if CSS protected) and put on the hard drive.

There are tools that can cut on frames, but will have to reencode the part between the I-Frames. The Womble products and VideoReDo come to mind, and are commercial products.

[PuzZLeR]

There's a reason why you can't just rename .vob to .mpg. You have to convert (or rather remux) between the containers because some VOB files contain segmentation.

If this segmentation exists, and you work with this VOB directly, you will get a file that will have problems navigating. You will only know this when it happens - and it's frustrating.

[navi310]

Hi Folks,
Is there not a simple tool, that can cut a VOB from DVD into a smaller vob from frame X to frame Y ?

Basically these are the steps I want to do
1> Put DVD into drive
2> Load tool
3> Choose DVD drive or VOB file in video_ts
4> Select frame begin & frame end
5> Click 'process'
6> Get a proper chopped VOB file piece, that has all the VOB headers & stuff in them.

Is there a tool like that for the windows platform ??

That would be DVD Shrink!!!

[mavericko]

I've never used DVDShrink before, but would DVDShrink do lossless conversion ?

[guns1inger]

Shrink will allow you to cut your VOBs and output new VOBs without quality loss - so long as the results are under 4.38 GB in size or you set compression to No Compression. Shrink does not convert video. It is a DVD transcoder with limited (but handy) re-authoring capabilities.

Open your DVD folder in DVD Shrink, then click Re-Author. Drag the title you want to cut across from the righthand side to the lefthand pane. Right-click on the title and select Choose Start and End Points.

Note : DVD Shrink will only cut on I frames. It can not re-encode cut GOPs, so it won't cut them.

The program you really want is VideoRedo, which will cut anywhere you want, can re-encode and sections between I frames as required, and will output VOBs.

The biggest differences between the Shrink method and VideoRedo is

a) Price - Shrink is free, VideoRedo is not
b) Accuracy - Shrink only cuts on I frames, VideoRedo will cut anywhere
c) Multiple audio tracks and subtitles - Shrink will preserve them, VideoRedo will not

[olyteddy]

Set Compression to 100% and it's losless.

[mavericko]

Thanks folks,
I tried it & it seems to work good
It is nice that DVDShrink can preserve subtitles!

Only rant that I have is, it would have been cool, if we could also play the movie within the 'Set Start/End Frames' menu.

[Seeker47]

Shrink will allow you to cut your VOBs and output new VOBs without quality loss - so long as the results are under 4.38 GB in size or you set compression to No Compression. Shrink does not convert video. It is a DVD transcoder with limited (but handy) re-authoring capabilities.
. . .
Note : DVD Shrink will only cut on I frames. It can not re-encode cut GOPs, so it won't cut them.

I use Shrink as my go-to solution for clip extraction. Set to 'No Compression', there does not seem to be any quality loss, and it is hard to imagine that any other form of "video editing" could ever get any easier than this for the relative novice. But what if you want to discard most of a particular VOB, just keeping a few sections of it -- perhaps still together as a discrete entity ? One that plays nicely, from start to finish, without having to demux, remux, remix -- any of that jazz ? (I do this routinely and easily with recorded-to-HDD content on my standalone DVDR. I know that it is never going to be quite that easy on the computer . . . .) I recall a DVD-Shrink guide for extracting and stringing together a bunch of clips, and I'm going to re-read it, but that is not exactly the same situation as I've outlined above. (Questions re what to do about menus and the compilation's authoring I can leave for another day and another thread.)

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is to narrow down the best options for a "next-escalation" tool, up from Shrink, whether it be freeware or payware. A lot of the program names are familiar to me from reading VH for the last couple years: TMPGenc, VideoRedo, DVDRemake, and so forth. I would like to hear the pros & cons -- as you were starting to outline them -- with an emphasis on quality of results, features, and how accessible the program is, recognizing that the combination of these is always going to involve tradeoffs.. (MPEG2CUT2 is free, but some time ago I skimmed the docs, and had the quick impression that it was going to be complicated, and maybe more trouble than it's worth. I got a similar feeling from Cuttermaran. Are any of the others going to be much easier to learn and use, even if they are not free ?)

The program you really want is VideoRedo, which will cut anywhere you want, can re-encode and sections between I frames as required, and will output VOBs.

The biggest differences between the Shrink method and VideoRedo is

a) Price - Shrink is free, VideoRedo is not
b) Accuracy - Shrink only cuts on I frames, VideoRedo will cut anywhere
c) Multiple audio tracks and subtitles - Shrink will preserve them, VideoRedo will not

I've used NeroVision on several occasions, and it is pretty accessible. But, around these parts, it seems to be held in rather low regard . . . and it does re-encode, does seem to involve quality loss. How compliant it is for general playability is also suspect. (OTOH, it puts the menu-ing and final output right at your fingertips.)

It was already sounding to me like VideoRedo might be the program I was looking for (and maybe more accessible than TME ?). Multiple audio tracks -- probably don't need them. Cutting on I-Frames -- usually not that much of a compromise for me. Subtitles would be an infrequent issue. If Redo re-encodes, and this involves some quality loss, that would be a negative.

[EDIT: I would also like to use program(s) that avoid sound-sync problems. Having the option to work directly on VOB files is something I would regard as a Plus.]

[usually_quiet]

VideoRedo does not re-encode more than a few frames around the cuts if the video is DVD compliant, and even then it only re-encodes if necessary. Womble's editors are about the same in terms of re-encoding. It's been so long since I tried Wombles's editiors that I can't remember what they do with multiple audio tracks and subtitles.

If you need multiple audio files, the the latest version (1.69a) of the freeware program Cuttermaran can handle those, although not subtitles. It requires that you download .NET framework 1.1 and demultiplex your sources, but it re-encodes to about the same degree that VideoRedo does for frame-accurate cuts. If you use Cuttermaran in regular (non-encoding) mode, no re-encoding is performed, although it restricts the start of cuts to I-frames, and the end of cuts to either I- or P-frames in that case.