.vob to mpg no video_ts folder

[klein]

hi
several years ago my wife gave me a dcr-dvd505 handycam as a gift, well i'm just now getting around to doing something with the video i have taken. well i started reading and came across a few threads in other fourms that said you could just rename the .vob to .mpg and that would be fine so that is what i did . and the .mpg played in xp and linux fine the problem came when i tried to use either devde or tovid to make a DVD and those programs are giving me errors, investigating the errors i have found one person that says if you rip the audio from the mpg then use devede then it works , i haven't the slightest idea how to rip audio from an mpg. now that i have explained how i got to this point and have screwed up! i have 6 .mpg files that are really .vob and i would like to burn them to dvd with a menu is this possible or is my wife going to kill me ? i wish i had found you guys last week !

[filmboss80]

Many people may say it suffices just to name the .vob to .mpg, but there is much more data inside a vob than meets the eye, and you should demux the video properly to get the elements. Use either VOB2MPG (for getting the .mpg) or use PcgDemux to separately pull out the video stream (.m2v) and the audio stream (likely either ac3 or wav), so that you can start working with these elements to author. In the Tools section of this site is a number of DVD authoring options, where you can take your elements and author them with menus, chapters, etc.

[usually_quiet]

I don't use Linux, so I'm not familiar with the video tools available for it. However, to "rip" the audio you need a demultiplexer. (It will split the audio and video into separate files)

If you are willing to use Windows XP, there are far more authoring tools to choose from, both pay and free. I suggest downloading the trial version of TDA, and using that to author your .VOB video files to DVD. If you want to continue using it after the trial period, you'll have to pay up, but it is a good program to get started with, and one of the most reasonably priced options in this category. There are free Windows tools for authoring too, but they will require more work on your part to use. For Windows there is also ImgBurn (free) to burn your DVDs, which is the preferred burning software among members of VideoHelp.

As far as media goes, Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden DVD discs are the most reliable single layer DVD media, and Verbatim makes the only reliable dual-layer media.

[qpskfec]

Pick an authoring program that accepts a vob renamed to mpg. Ulead DVD Movie Factory will work just fine in XP.

Demuxing the audio is a waste of time if you don't need to edit the audio.

[klein]

hi
i have used VOB2MPG to convert 6 .vob to .mpg and then i played each file in win media player now a couple of the .mpg files stop, or stall some places the files have to be nudged with the progression bar at the bottom of win media player and some pick it back up and plays fine, in a couple of instances it is where i stopped or pause the handycam .

i have down loaded VOB2MPG and ifoedit0971 what do i need to do next to get rid of the areas i'm having trouble with or to fix them ?

i use linux on a daily basis (ubuntu and puppy) and i prefer it for most things, i do have xp pro and i use it when i have to, i just feel that uncle bill is pushing us to buy more and spend more on hardware I don't need . i looked into ulead and at the time my computer didn't meat the requirements

thank you all in advance for your help it is really appreciated!

ps. my sister inlaw has a camera like mine, she has about 25 4.7g dvd's with 1.4g on each. so when i figure this out i'm going to explain it to her.

[usually_quiet]

I'm not sure how you are planning to use IFOEdit, but I don't think it will do what you asked for originally. It could be used to create a menu-less DVD containing one program, but you would have to demultiplex the audio and video first to use it for that.

It is possible you will need to edit out some sections that are causing trouble.

VideoReDo, MPEG Video Wizard, and TMPGEnc MPEG Editor are pay editors that are not too expensive, and offer free trials. Some even offer a more fully-featured version that includes authoring. Some of these editors even allow you to add some simple transitions between scenes, and none are expensive as editing/authoring software goes.

If you need a free editor, I recommend Cuttermaran. It won't allow you to add transitions but can make frame-accurate cuts with minimal re-encoding. Like IFOEdit, it also requires demultiplexed audo and video.

[tomlee59]

It may be possible to fix your streams using MPEG Streamclip. Just activate the "fix timecode breaks" feature, and let 'er rip. That might stop the stuttering/pauses/crashes at specific points in the clip.

Streamclip has been ported to several OSes, including Linux, so you should be able to find a version to your liking.

[klein]

Hi
first i would like to thank all of you for your help, as you may know i use ubuntu but also use xp but prefer linux any way i used devede to author cd's and when this problem arised, i contacted the author of devede and after he sent me a script to run that generated a output when i ran devede i e-mailed the out put file to him this is his response :


That explains everything:

VOB files aren't valid MPEG files for DVD, because they have extra chunks.

But you can convert them without recompressing just using:

mencoder file.vob -o file.mpg -oac copy -ovc copy -of mpeg -mpegopts
format=dvd:tsaf


after running this on each of my vob files from my sony handycam devede worked imperfectly

[tomlee59]

As filmboss80 pointed out, vob files are not simple files -- they contain video, audio, subtitles (and perhaps more than one audio and subtitle track). However, many tools are able to parse vob files and operate properly with them. It depends on how the software was written. That's why, for example, a software player like VLC can play from a vob file directly and get it right. And in fact, VLC can even transcode from the vob, although its transcoding engine is a bit buggy.

That's why it's worth a try to change the extension to .mpg. There's no guarantee of success, but it often works. And if it doesn't, you find out right away, so it's a no-cost hack.

The "proper" way was outlined earlier, too: Demux the vob to separate it into all of its elements. Reassemble those that you want, in the way that you want.

There are many, many ways to accomplish the overall goal. I'm glad that you found a way that works for you. As you've found, command-line tools are very powerful, but that power is only available to those who know the magic strings.