Get .vob dvd to youtube w/o quality loss

[kenmtb]

Hi-
I am trying to get a vob files from my sony handycam to youtube without loosing the picture quality. The files and their directory have been loaded onto my pc.

The problem is I need to edit the dvd files before uploading to youtube. I have tried all kinds of video editors but they require some a file format conversion which wrecks the quality

Is there an open source or cheap editor for dvds (vob files) that will maintain the quality? I would like to cut out some footage and add transitions if possible. Kind of like windows movie maker.

Thank you!
Ken

[Baldrick]

Youtube will reconvert your video anyway...so you will loose quality. Just be sure to export to highest possible quality in your editing app and you should'nt loose that much quality. Use vob2mpg and edit the mpg in windows movie maker or windows movie maker live and export to highest possible wmv bitrate or use avi-dv.

Or if you really don't want to reconvert while editing you can use mpg2cut2(free) or if you want transistions you can try the free trial of mpeg video wizard($$).

And if your source is interlaced be sure to deinterlace it.

[G)-(OST]

Check out my simple guide here

[kenmtb]

Thanks for the info Rick and Ghost.
The trouble Im having is, when I try to just play the dvd footage that I recorded, it looks bad (lots of horizontal lines). This happens before I get a chance to edit the clip. Windows movie viewers seem to be the only players that dont mess up the quality.

Im really new at this so I have to ask some more question. Rick, when you say to use vob2mpg is that a converter for the movie maker? If it is, will it maintain the quality? I seem to loose quality just from loading the clips into most software When WMM saves the clip in wmv format, the quality degrades further

I will try the mpg2cut2. Hopefully it will allow me to load the clip without loss before editing......I will also check the interlacing thing.

It is sad that the clips look so good on my tv but turn to lines of mush on my PC's software. This happens to the origional .vob clips not a saved/compressed version.

[manono]

Thanks for the info Rick and Ghost.
The trouble Im having is, when I try to just play the dvd footage that I recorded, it looks bad (lots of horizontal lines).

Your video is interlaced and will have to be deinterlaced as it's being reencoded. YouTube prefers you upload AVI (XviD or DivX video with MP3 audio) or MP4 (H.264 video with AAC audio). Either should be at a high resolution and bitrate so YouTube won't ruin it too much when they reencode it yet again. If the DVD is 4:3, then 640x480 is a good resolution.

One easy way is to load it into AutoGK, set the video codec as the included XviD, set the width to 640 in the Advanced Settings, and do a single-pass Target Quality encode at the default 75%. The result should look good and be suitable for uploading to YouTube. There are many other ways to do it though.

[minidv2dvd]

kenmtb - the lines are from playing an interlaced video on a progressive computer monitor without de-interlacing. fairly common problem. if you use a dvd player like powerdvd it will de-interlace automatically, or set whatever player you are using to do it.

vob2mpg is a tool to remove the mpeg-2 video from the vob wrapper. it doesn't do any re-encoding. if you set it to only extract the main movie and 1 audio track then the mpeg-2 it produces can be uploaded to youtube. or you can use the mpeg-2 in an editor. other than womble, most editors will cause a loss of quality encoding to mpeg-2. if you go with mpeg-4 after editing all editors are about equal.

[kenmtb]

Your guys are great-
Interlacing was the problem. I used VOB2MPG to create an mpg file. The file plays nicely and I can use many editors to modify it.

Thanks for the help!