Can't convert VOB to mp4

[WanderingOak]

I am trying to convert .VOB files to .mp4 files so I can be edit them with iMovie, but so far, I have not been able to get ffmpegX to accomplish this. Whenever I try, I wind up with an empty file. Process information displays the following message:

FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Sat Apr 4 10:18:45 EDT 2009
Mac OSX universal build for ffmpegX
libavutil version: 49.0.0
libavcodec version: 51.9.0
libavformat version: 50.4.0
Input #0, mpeg, from '/Users/antony1/Movies/VIDEO_TS/test.VOB':
Duration: 00:00:55.1, start: 0.211411, bitrate: 139672 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 256 kb/s
Stream #0.1[0x1e0], 29.97 fps(r): Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 352x480, 4400 kb/s
Codec type mismatch for mapping #0.0 -> #0.0

Occasionally it says the following:

Could not find input stream #0.2

Any ideas?

[jpschuck]

This file presents first the audio track, then the video track. FFmpeg always expects the opposite. Check the "invert track mapping" options, under the "audio" tab.

[WanderingOak]

It works now, but only half the video was converted. The original video was 90 minutes long, but only the first 49 were converted. Is there a maximum video size that ffmpegX can handle?

[jpschuck]

This may be caused by an incorrect time code setting (e.g. if the present .vob file was made by assembling 2 other .vob files). MPEGStreamclip is able to fix that and can also do the .vob>.dv conversion (QuicktimeMPEG-2 component required for both operations) ; you can try Mpgtx as an alternative .

[WanderingOak]

I think I figured it out. The original was on a DVD, and ffmpegX will not read directly from that media. So, I copied the VOB file over to my hard drive, only to realize that I had left half of the video behind. MPEGStreamclip looks like it is able to do the job, without all of the hassles of ffmpegX.

Thank you for your help.

[Ai Haibara]

Is the source a commercial/retail DVD? If it is, you'll have to rip it before most of the converters will be able to do anything properly with the VOBs.

[WanderingOak]

No, it was originally recorded on VHS then copied to DVD.