problems with VOB to MPG conversion

[Created78]

I have a non-encrypted homemade DVD (video footage from my wedding) which I’d like to convert to a format playable on my computer. I’d prefer not to re-encode the video, since I don’t want to lose any quality, and I’ve heard that it is possible to put the original MPEG video from the .vob files into an .mpg container. I’ve tried two different programs for converting vob files to mpg files (MPEG Streamclip and VOB2MPG), and I’ve also tried simply changing the vob file extension to mpg. All three of these attempts resulted in an mpg file that does play on my computer. However, there is a noticeable loss of video quality compared to playing the actual DVD (using Windows Media Player), and parts of the video become blurred and distorted briefly, as though I were watching TV with a bad satellite connection. At first I thought there was a problem with the vob files, but when I burn them back onto a DVD the video plays perfectly. Any ideas what might be causing the problem, and what to do about it? By the way, the original video is interlaced; could that have anything to do with it? Thanks for your help.

[Kerry56]

Have you tried playing the mpeg file in any other media player? See if it is a problem in the file or in playback through WMP.

VLC or Media Player Classic HomeCinema are a couple of other choices for playback.

[minidv2dvd]

well it's sure not vob2mpg or streamclip. all they do is remove the mpg2 from the vob structure. there is no change at all to the video. i'd look for a problem with your mpeg-2 codec possibly. or something hogging your cpu during playback.

[Created78]

Thanks very much for the suggestions. I tried playing the vob files directly on VLC, and the video freezes occasionally for a few seconds, then resumes playing later in the clip (like a skipping DVD). The original DVD does have a few scratches, so perhaps the vob file itself is corrupted. (But if that's the case, why does it play perfectly on WMP when I burn it onto a fresh DVD? Does WMP have some kind of error correction feature?) I've been monitoring my CPU and RAM, and neither of those comes anywhere close to maximum levels during playback. I don't know how to determine whether my MPEG-2 codec has a problem, so I'd be grateful if you could explain how to check that.

[minidv2dvd]

you could use gspot and load the mpg and then down at the bottom follow the proposed gspot vid codec solution and see what is used as a decoder. click 1 and a decoder should be listed in the data to the right. click 2 and 3 and see if it plays.

[minidv2dvd]

also try ripping from the copy and see if the mpeg from that plays better.

[Created78]

I'll give those ideas a try. Thanks a million for your help.