Problems editing .VOB files

[Jose_A_Duran]

I have a Magnavox VHS-DVD Recorder-player which I use to record off the air shows. I record 3 one-hour episodes of my favorite series on one DVD-RW and this setting gives me a good resolution on playback. I've been recording an 8 episode series and I would like to convert them into two 2 1/2 hour movies after I get rid of the commercials and the start of each show "Previously on......." for my personal use.

I copied one DVD to a directory on my HD and got the following distribution of files:

DVD RW Drive (F DVD Video Recording

desktop.ini

\VIDEO_RM
VIDEO_RM.BUO Windows Media Player 32 KB
VIDEO_RM.DAT DAT File 1,024 KB
VIDEO_RM.IFO VLC Media File (.ifo) 32 KB
\VIDEO_TS
VIDEO_TS.BUP Windows Media Player 12 KB
VIDEO_TS.IFO VLC Media File (.ifo) 12 KB
VIDEO_TS.VOB VOB File 112 KB
VTS_01_0.BUP Windows Media Player 108 KB
VTS_01_0.IFO VLC Media File (.ifo) 108 KB
VTS_01_1.VOB VOB File 1,048,544 KB
VTS_01_2.VOB VOB File 1,048,544 KB
VTS_01_3.VOB VOB File 1,048,544 KB
VTS_01_4.VOB VOB File 954,432 KB

The first thing that I wonder is why, if there are 3 episodes, I can see four VOB Files?
It looks like Episode 1 covers VTS_01_1.VOB and the first 7 minutes of VTS_01_2.VOB, then Episode 2 is part of VTS_01_2.VOB and part of VTS_01_3.VOB and finally Episode 3 is part of VTS_01_3.VOB and VTS_01_4.VOB

I used Sony Vegas to create the first episode as a .AVI file by combining VTS_01_1.VOB and the first 7 minutes of VTS_01_2.VOB

When I open VTS_01_2.VOB and cut the first 7 minutes to work with the rest of that file and part of VTS_01_3.VOB I get no audio, the audio part dissapears after cutting the first 7 minutes. It looks like there is a problem right where the part from episode 1 ends. The same thing happens with VTS_01_3.VOB

I've used DVD Shrink 3.2, Video ReDo, DVD Decrypter, RipIt4Me and other rippers.

If I use Sony Vegas there's no audio on any of these files, if I use VLC or WMP I can watch the entire episodes just by clicking on these files but, I am unable to edit them and get rid of the commercials.

Is there any other program that I can use to do what I explained at the beginning? what am I doing wrong? Does anyone know why this happens?

[Baldrick]

You shouldn't open/import separate vobs like that. Doesn't vegas have a import dvd function where you choose the dvd folder?

Or try use vob2mpg to get a mpg for each track/title.

[Jose_A_Duran]

Thanks Baldrick, I'll try vob2mpg and then edit these files. Sony Vegas does have the import option but it doesn't work either. I tried to join the four .VOB files and didn't work either. Let me use vob2mpg and I'll let you know if it works for me. Thanks again.

[PuzZLeR]

The first thing that I wonder is why, if there are 3 episodes, I can see four VOB Files?
It looks like Episode 1 covers VTS_01_1.VOB and the first 7 minutes of VTS_01_2.VOB, then Episode 2 is part of VTS_01_2.VOB and part of VTS_01_3.VOB and finally Episode 3 is part of VTS_01_3.VOB and VTS_01_4.VOB

It all depends how you, or your player, authored the disc. You can have the EPs as separate titles or as one lone movie. Regardless, whatever you do, VOB files have a maximum of 1GB. None of us can really tell for sure which EP is what in that structure.

But guessing for the moment, I'd say they were authored as one long movie, and title, but the VOBs have broken off where they reach 1 GB and you're correct in your assessment.

I used Sony Vegas to create the first episode as a .AVI file by combining VTS_01_1.VOB and the first 7 minutes of VTS_01_2.VOB

When I open VTS_01_2.VOB and cut the first 7 minutes to work with the rest of that file and part of VTS_01_3.VOB I get no audio, the audio part dissapears after cutting the first 7 minutes. It looks like there is a problem right where the part from episode 1 ends. The same thing happens with VTS_01_3.VOB

Your problem is simple - VOB files were never meant for stand-alone playback or even editing. They run in a DvD structure, with their auxiliary files IFO and BUP otherwise they'd be "lost". They also, in many cases, have segmentation, which causes weird results when played back in non-DvD mode (such as file mode) and will cause chaos on editors.

Mercifully there is a solution - you have to convert them from VOB to MPG files, and the process is lossless in quality.

You can't just rename the extension, you have to remux them from one container to another. I'm sure several here will have good ideas, but I will mention one.

I use NeroVision.
Load DvD in tray -> Fire up NeroVision -> Make DvD... -> DvD-Video -> Import Disc -> select drive -> select the title(s) that show -> when done there should be equivalent MPG files in your Import directory that you can then work with, such as with Vegas.

This will remove the tricky behavior associated with VOB files. The resulting MPG files will play and edit smoothly.

As an aside, since you're working with MPEG in your editor, you should consider a dedicated MPEG editor such as VideoReDo or Womble, which will cut/join without losing quality to the rest of the movie. And a good MPEG encoder, such as HC Encoder or CCE if you want to shrink it afterwards. Vegas is better suited for acquisition sources, not MPEG-2. You will not get the best results with Vegas and MPEG-2.

[Jose_A_Duran]

PuzZLeR

Thank you very much for the "lesson". I really don't know anything about video or audio, in fact, it's the first time that I try to edit video and that's because of this 8 episode series that I want to keep as a movie.

Yesterday I tried Vegas "File -> Import -> DVD Camcorder Disc" and it created VTS_01 (01).mpg, VTS_01 (02).mpg and VTS_01 (03).mpg, there is no VTS_01 (04).mpg file.

I'll play a little with these files and let you know what happened. I already downloaded VOB2MPG32200.Zip as per Baldrick's advice and, if this doesn't work I'll try that.

Thank you both, I'll keep you posted on my project.

[Baldrick]

If you have 3 titles/tracks you will get 3 mpg files. It's NOT one vob file/track.

[Jose_A_Duran]

I used Vegas "File -> Import -> DVD Camcorder Disk" and created the first three .mpg files and, as Baldrick said, they were one episode each, they weren't combined, the program read each episode from whatever .VOB file it was on and separated them automatically.

I loaded each one of them separately and got rid of the commercials saving each one as a Vegas Project (.veg). Then I loaded file 1.veg, then added file 2 and 3 on a big project and finally rendered it as a .AVI file. Now I have a .AVI movie of the first three episodes and working on episodes 4 to 6.

Thank you all very much for your help.

[PuzZLeR]

Glad to hear you're on your way.

Your files were read as "titles", not what you have as VOBs. In fact, I gave up a long time ago trying to decipher what's on a DvD by just looking at the VOBs and its file structure - they can be very complex and have many combos for the same playback routine a DvD can have. It's not consistent or a hard rule how they look as files.

Again, it's all in the way they're authored, and information in the IFO/BUP files too, so looking directly at the list of files isn't enough to determine what's been done.