Converting DVD-VR (DVD-RAM) with Multiple Tracks

[alexs77]

Hello.

Quite some time ago, I made the mistake and bought a Panasonic VDR-D220 cam corder, which records to DVD-RAM. When I connect the cam via USB to my Intel MacBook Pro, I'm shown a DVD_RTAV folder and in it, there's this:

	-rwxrwxrwx  1 alex  staff       17961 11 Mai  2009 VR_MANGR.BUP
	-rwxrwxrwx  1 alex  staff       17961 11 Mai  2009 VR_MANGR.IFO	
	-rwxrwxrwx  1 alex  staff  1396416512 11 Mai  2009 VR_MOVIE.VRO

On this particular DVD, there are 9 "tracks" / recordings (I can provide these files with test recordings, if requested). And now I'm looking for an EASY way to convert this to something, a computer actually understands (ie. MP4, AVI, YouTube, …).

I would like a tool, which automatically detects these 9 tracks and then creates files accordingly. Ideally, this should be a Mac tool - but if only Windows or Linux tools are available, then that's also fine, thanks to Virtual Machines like VirtualBox. Oh, and if the tool would be available for free, then this be quite a boost, of course *G*

Does anyone have an idea / tool which allows to convert this VR_MOVIE.VRO with 9 tracks to something useable?

I tried using MPEG Streamclip, but when pointed to VR_MOVIE.VRO, it only finds 1 (the 1st) recording. Handbrake finds a 36 minute track - 36" is the complete length on the Mini-DVD-RAM, but it only shows 1 track.

Thanks a lot,
Alexander

[Semaphoric]

Use one of Pegasys' apps ( http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/index.html ). On many of them there's an option to copy the -RAM to your hard disc, to speed your performance.

The individual shows are split into files withe the file extension ".dvddata", but they are in fact .mpeg files, and can be renamed filename..mpg.

Their MPEG Editor 3 even claims to be able to write back to a .VRO file

[alexs77]

Oh, darn, I totally forgot to update this thread…

In the meantime, I found the command line tool dvd-vr from pixelbeat (it had been mentioned on Wikipedia, that's how I found it). It does exactly what I want - if given VR_MANGR.IFO and VR_MOVIE.VRO files, it extracts the tracks / recordings and creates VOB files out of it; eg.:

MacBook-Pro:dvd-vr-0.9.3 alex$ ls -la /Users/alex/Movies/Videokamera/DVD_RTAV/
total 5454832
drwxrwxrwx  15 alex  staff         510 26 Dez 10:21 .
drwxr-xr-x   4 alex  staff         136 10 Dez 16:52 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 alex  staff        6148  7 Dez 20:52 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff           0  5 Dez 20:39 .com.apple.timemachine.supported
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff   596039680 23 Mär  2009 2009-03-23_08:12:05.vob
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff   428828672 12 Apr  2009 2009-04-12_09:50:38.vob
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff    76615680  9 Mai  2009 2009-05-09_12:33:52.vob
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff    96671744  9 Mai  2009 2009-05-09_12:43:51.vob
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff    61177856  9 Mai  2009 2009-05-09_12:46:57.vob
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff    45004800  9 Mai  2009 2009-05-09_12:50:52.vob
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff    35371008  9 Mai  2009 2009-05-09_12:58:39.vob
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff    25581568  9 Mai  2009 2009-05-09_13:24:43.vob
-rw-r--r--   1 alex  staff    31125504  9 Mai  2009 2009-05-09_14:07:46.vob
-rwxrwxrwx   1 alex  staff       17961 11 Mai  2009 VR_MANGR.IFO
-rwxrwxrwx   1 alex  staff  1396416512 11 Mai  2009 VR_MOVIE.VRO
MacBook-Pro:dvd-vr-0.9.3 alex$ file /Users/alex/Movies/Videokamera/DVD_RTAV/2009-03-23_08\:12\:05.vob 
/Users/alex/Movies/Videokamera/DVD_RTAV/2009-03-23_08:12:05.vob: MPEG sequence, v2, program multiplex

These vob files can then (more or less…) easily be post-processed.

dvd-vr is THE tool to use, IMO. It's free and just works.

On my S3 share, you can find a Universal Binary for OSX and also the modified Makefile.

I'm attaching a compiled version of dvd-vr-0.9.3 for OS X (it's a universal binary).

Enjoy