Correcting actual playback time of .vob files

[sooojaded]

Most of the time when you directly play a .vob file in DVD, it shows the playback duration, which is not the actual duration of the video. E.g. I use VLC media player, and it says the video is 15 mins but actually it is 20 mins long. I have a video file which is supposedly 1hr and 40 mins but the player displays it as 45 mins long.

I have tried to demux and remux the whole video using Ifoedit, and the error given was "Too many frame drops" after half of the video is done. So I tried to get around it by demuxing and remuxing each video sector by sector. E.g demux and remux VTS_01_1.vob, then for VTS_01_2.vob. It worked for the first 3 sectors, but not so for the next 2 sectors. E.g. When I play VTS_01_5.vob, which should be 18 mins long, VLC displays it as 13 hours. After remuxing VTS_01_4.vob with IFOedit, I got some error in german language (I think). I have tried other tools like ReJig, but the audio was not in sync.

Bottom line: I'd like to correct the actual duration of the vob file.

[guns1inger]

Why are you playing VOBs anyway ? VOBs are containers designed to be used as part of a DVD structure. That includes the IFO files and the other VOBs associated with that titleset (at a minimum). There are many far better containers for playing standalone videos.

[sooojaded]

I keep them as VOBs because I prefer them to be lossless. Another issue of using other containers is that the audio goes out of sync. I have tried using AVI container, that is what happens (though the duration is correct). Mind suggesting any containers that are lossless and gives the correct duration? Thanks.

[manono]

If you're so worried about the length showing correctly, then play the DVD and not the individual VOB files. What difference does it make anyway that the player doesn't show the correct length as long as the video plays correctly?

Another issue of using other containers is that the audio goes out of sync.

Most likely because you're not doing the conversion correctly.

Mind suggesting any containers that are lossless and gives the correct duration?

Lagarith AVI, for one. But you won't want that because it'll be much larger in size than the original VOB files.

[AlanHK]

I keep them as VOBs because I prefer them to be lossless.

Convert the VOBs to MPEG -- this is a lossless transformation, and the MPEG should be much more player-compatible than VOBs, which are meant to be part of a DVD fileset, not stand-alone files.

There are many tools for doing this, eg VOB2MPG, many DVD backup tools.
Some tools will give you an M2V (video) and AC3 (audio) file, which you can mux to an MPEG.