How do I make an edited compilation of several different commercial DVDs?

[WileE]

I’m new to video editing. For the past couple of weeks I’ve read posts to this forum and a couple of other forums to gain some insight on how I might make my own compilations of sports highlights taken from several different commercially produced DVD’s. Once the various scenes are edited, compiled, and burned to DVD, I want it to be playable on standard DVD players, not just on a PC. I hope to get advice from this forum on how to make these compilations along with the best software products to use. I should also add that it appears that I will need a software product that provides the ability to set rather precise beginning and end points at the frame level. I would also like to insert transitions between scenes where appropriate.

Through this forum I learned that VOB files are not usable for editing and these files must be converted to another format for editing. If that is so, is there compression applied when the files are converted? I would hope not because I want to maintain the highest quality possible. What is the best file format to use for lossless compression? To keep quality, I plan to make these compilations be no more than 4.4 gb. each so they will fit on a DVD5.

To provide an example for discussion, I used VLC Media Player to open and view a source DVD. I was able to see that the main content consists of 5 VOB files of 1gb each and a 6th file of slightly less than 1gb. There are also 5 ISO files, and several more VOB files of various sizes that are “bonus” content. There are highlights of 5 games on this DVD and each game spans parts of 2 adjacent VOB files; that is to say each game begins on one VOB file then continues on to the next VOB file. Each of the games has about 50 or more highlights and for the purpose of this discussion, I’ll call each highlight a “scene”.

Here is a hypothetical example of what I would like to do. In the first game I want to shorten scene 1, then add a transition from scene 1 to scene 3, deleting scene 2 entirely. Scene 3 from the original will also be shortened, transitioning to scene 6, deleting scenes 4 and 5. And so on, selecting random scenes to keep, but shorten, and deleting others. Say scene 11 is at the end of VOB 1 and continues on to VOB 2. It appears that the VOB files have to be merged somehow to be able to edit that scene.

And then how would I add edited scenes from other DVD’s to complete a compilation ready to be burned to DVD?

Does anyone know how to do the editing described above? Any recommendations on the best software(s) to use for this purpose?

[guns1inger]

You have a couple of options, depending on what tools and expertise you have or are willing to buy, and what sort of finish you want to get.

If you can live without the transitions, you can do most of this in DVD Shrink. You can use the Author mode to trim scenes and add a list of scenes together. Where Shrink lack finesse is that all the scenes will be different titles, so no transitions and a brief pause in between, and no menus. But it is free and pretty simple.

If you want transitions and more editing control, then I would suggest you buy a copy of Womble Mpeg Video Wizard DVD. It is a dedicated mpeg editor, and while it does not have all the bells and whistles of Premiere or Vegas, it is competent, and it will not re-encode your footage except where you have changed it (transitions/titles etc). It is also good value for the price. It can then output an authored DVD, with simple menus if you want, ready for burning.

[WileE]

Thanks for the info guns1inger! As for my editing expertise, I only have done a few compilations in the days of the VCR (cuts only, no transitions) but I have no experience with editing DVD's. For DVD editing I do want transitions and a good quality finish, so DVD Shrink is not the right product for my purpose. I'm willing to pay a few bucks (cap it at $100) for software that will produce what I want. I have seen other forum members refer to Womble Mpeg Video Wizard DVD as a good editing tool. Adobe Premier (Elements or Pro?) could be a choice as well although I've read where some users have had problems with it. If any of my source DVD's have copy protection, and I'm sure they do, the protection will have to be removed, I assume during ripping to the HD. Can you recommend a good app to remove the copy protection and convert the VOB's while ripping? During the next few days I'll research the tools you have recommended so far. Thanks again.

[manono]

I'll second Womble's MPEG Video Wizard DVD as being able to do most, if not all, that you want.

Any decrypter will remove copy protection. As long as this isn't a newish movie with newer copy protection, DVD Decrypter will do the job. If a newer movie, then DVDFab HD Decrypter. Since you said this is sports stuff, DVD Decrypter should work fine. I have no idea what you mean by 'convert the VOBs'. The decrypters put the DVD onto the hard drive in the original IFO, BUP, VOB DVD format minus the protection.

[WileE]

Thank you for your input Manono, especially for the 2 decrypter recommendations. What I meant by "convert the VOBs" is that I read in some threads in different areas of videohelp forums that the VOBs need to be combined into one VOB then converted to another format (mpeg, avi, etc.) before editing. I just did a quick look at a MPEG Video Wizard DVD Tutorial and saw this software can perform edits on a VOB file. When I have more time in the next few days I'll read more. Thanks again.

[manono]

Oh, I see. You want the thing as one big VOB. Then when using DVD Decrypter set up in the default File Mode, go Tools->Settings->File Mode->Options->File Splitting->None.

[PuzZLeR]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

I will "third" Womble - reading your posts, this is your best choice IMO when working with MPEG-2 (the format inside those VOB files in the DvD structure). Other editors will edit MPEG-2 as well, but they will likely re-encode the final output - this will be costly in time and quality.

Through this forum I learned that VOB files are not usable for editing and these files must be converted to another format for editing. If that is so, is there compression applied when the files are converted? I would hope not because I want to maintain the highest quality possible. What is the best file format to use for lossless compression? To keep quality, I plan to make these compilations be no more than 4.4 gb. each so they will fit on a DVD5.

All you have to do is convert these files to MPG and all quality will be retained and will be virtually the same size. No re-encoding, just remuxing - and my recommendation among those mentioned is NeroVision, which can import and convert for you losslessly.

Keep in mind, although VOBs contain MPEG-2 streams within, they may have segmentation and can cause problems when editing. They are meant to have a symbiotic relationship with their auxiliary files (IFO/BUP), so as stand-alone files many VOBs may actually be wortheless.

As well, just because they have MPEG-2 inside them, don't be tempted to just change the extension from .vob to .mpg. It's not that simple and won't solve any problems. You must remux them properly.

What I meant by "convert the VOBs" is that I read in some threads in different areas of videohelp forums that the VOBs need to be combined into one VOB then converted to another format (mpeg, avi, etc.) before editing.

To provide an example for discussion, I used VLC Media Player to open and view a source DVD. I was able to see that the main content consists of 5 VOB files of 1gb each and a 6th file of slightly less than 1gb. There are also 5 ISO files, and several more VOB files of various sizes that are “bonus” content. There are highlights of 5 games on this DVD and each game spans parts of 2 adjacent VOB files; that is to say each game begins on one VOB file then continues on to the next VOB file.

I read what you're saying but keep in mind the way the VOB files "look" in their arrangement has little to do with what's in them. They are directed by other files, menus, etc and could be arranged in weird and complex patterns at times.

You don't need one big combined VOB file. You need the respective titles, in MPG format, within the DvD to work with. The app I use, NeroVision, determines the different titles for me and outputs appropriate MPG equivalents with respect to each. I'm sure other apps do this just as well.

I personally wouldn't care how the VOBs look or even try to figure out any "pattern" - it's the titles they represent you should be interested in. Once you have them, you can organize, manage, pick and choose, cut, join, add transitions, etc.

[WileE]

I finally am able to jump back into this forum.

Puzzler -- Thank you, thank you for your detailed explanation of the contents of a VOB file and what must be done to edit them. Your thoughtful explanation gave me a lot of insight into this process. Thank you also for your recommendation for NeroVision. I went to the Nero web site and downloaded the pdf manual for NeroVision. I also went to the Womble site for Tutorials on the MPEG Video Wizard. I also took Manono's recommendation and downloaded both DVD Decrypter and DVDFab's Decrypter.

There are still some conflicts that I have in understanding this process. In their tutorial MPEG Video Wizard provides their recommendation to rip into a single VOB file. Although what you said about needing the respective titles to work with certainly makes sense, I see no facility in the tutorial to work from MPG files and/or titles. And in going through the Nero manual of the latest version (Nero Vision Xtra), I don't see where it will rip or convert from a DVD -- instructions are for capture from another device (e.g. camera or TV card). And there's the issue of overriding the copy protection. I used both DVD Decrypter and DVDFab's Decrypter to experiment with and both produce VOB's. With DVD Decrypter I used Manono's suggestion to use "None" for file splitting and this gave me a large VOB of the main part of the the DVD instead of several 1gb files.

So is there a way in the latest version of NeroVision to convert a DVD into the titles in MPG format as you suggest? Is NeroVision capable of overriding copy protection? If not, it appears that the DVD has to be decrypted first. Do you know how NeroVision would handle the resulting VOB's once decrypted? In advance, I appreciate your patience with a "newbie"!

[manono]

If for some reason you need to work with MPGs, try VOB2MPEG.