US DVD Presentation (vob dvd) - will it run in Germany?

[Pmbster]

Hello. Asking here in newbie because 1) I am a newbie (oooohh.....) and 2) I don't see another place to ask my question.

My mother died back in April. My sister took a bunch of photos to a friend of hers who scanned them and created a nifty video presentation that we showed at our mother's service. We asked for some copies of this, which she had on a DVD. After a time she gave us copies, and now I made copies of mine which I wish to send to my mother's relatives in Germany (from here in the U.S.).

Whereupon it struck me that these DVDs may not run properly in Germany. There is the issue of PAL/NTSC, for one, and not knowing what is actually on this DVD in the first place for another.

This is the structure of the DVD:

MY_GREAT_DVD (Not sure if she realized she could change this line...)

AUDIO_TS
(empty folder)

VIDEO_TS
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.IFO
VIDEO_TS.VOB
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_0.VOB
VTS_01_1.VOB

Last file = 897,304 KB - this is the actual video. I believe amongst the others are something like an autorun file and what else I do not know.

These discs will autorun in my computer (if I turn on autorun...) and will also work in a regular DVD player, though there I think they come up with an opening screen and you then have to click on the heading that comes up (In Loving Memory of (our mother)) for it to run.

If I see it with that first heading, it has an "iMovie" logo on it, and I assume that's what she used to create the presentation, which is basically a slide show of pictures of our mother with some nice transitions and playing a couple of her favorite songs ("Edelweiss") while it runs. Takes about 16 minutes. I am aware that the disc only barely made it into DVD territory at 900mb, but that's what she made and that's what I got.

If I send copies of this to relatives in Germany, will they run? On *either* computer or their DVD players?

Or do I need to do some sort of conversion, or send them the file(s) and let them convert and make more copies for themselves?

This is my question.
These are my questions.
Just the fax, ma'am.

(That was my Die Hard joke.)

Any help would be appreciated - thank you!

Pmbster

Edit: Don't know what she used (does iMovie imply Mac or is it available for PCs as well?), I used a PC to make the copies, not a MAC.

Edit 2 (entirely - okay, mostly - different question): Is there a way to extract the individual photo scans from this vob video? (I haven't asked my sister to ask her friend, it seems unlikely to me that she still has the scans on her computer, and possibly they were only generated in making the presentation anyway and automatically dumped thereafter - I do not know. Tried a screen cap of the first picture and that did work...)

"Just the photos, ma'am."

[FulciLives]

Instal MediaInfo which is a free program and open up one of the IFO files or both and see what it says.
It will tell you if it is PAL or NTSC as well as other useful information such as if it is 4:3 or 16x9 and the frame rate etc.

[hech54]

European players and televisions(as long as they are under 10-15 years old)will play home-made NTSC DVDs.

[Baldrick]

It will play on computers. If the the computer dvd reader supports your dvdr media then but most does.

And most european dvd players/tv supports both NTSC and PAL so it will probably also work fine. But some dvd players do no support dvdr media at all so it could be a problem.

You can open the last .vob or dvd .ifo with mediainfo and check if it's pal or ntsc.


edit: Too slow...

[Pmbster]

I certainly hope somebody will respond and y'all not leave me hanging here for weeks. It's not like I have all n-

Oh.

That was quick, gang! Thanks for the responses!

I seriously doubt that the video will be in PAL, but will verify. Sounds like it "should" work anyway - guess I'll just have to send them and see.

I'll try that mediainfo and see what I get. I dislike adware, but this sounds like that "somethingCandy" system that suggests additional software upon installing and then leaves one alone, eh?

Again, I doubt it's PAL video, pals.

Anyway, looks like I'm good to go! Thank you - mighty quick on the draw there, y'all!

[FulciLives]

If you intend to rush us and/or not listen to our suggestions then don't bother posting back.

[Pmbster]

Okay, FulciLives.

If you will take note, I just bothered to post back. That is because my comment above was what we here in America like to call "a joke". But wait - you appear to be here in America... you couldn't tell from the way I played it that I was kidding? (One more edit: If you need this joke explained to you, it is based on the fact that I got three separate responses to my query within 10 minutes of posting it in the middle of the night on one of the biggest holiday weekends in the land. "Mighty quick on the draw," as I said in my post.)

Sorry.
I was kidding.

Edit: I also noted that the general consensus was that the DVD in question would most likely work, and that I could use mediainfo to find out if it was PAL or NTSC (which I felt was not particularly important as the likelihood of it being in PAL is extremely low - it was created here in the US for an audience here in the US - I don't see PAL entering the picture until we decided we would send copies to Germany.) So I didn't ignore anybody's advice, either.

Okay?

[FulciLives]

You questioned installing MediaInfo in fear of it doing some imaginary harm of some sort to your computer when in fact it is one of the most basic of all video tools that we all use and two of us (one of which is the Admin of the site) recommended you try.

I also suggested it because you clearly said you had no real idea what format it is or anything.

It's like Video 101 and you had to be "cute" about it. I don't appreciate it.

But whatever.

[hech54]

What difference does MediaInfo make? As already clearly stated...knowing whether the video is NTSC or PAL makes absolutely no difference in this situation since "European players and televisions(as long as they are under 10-15 years old)will play home-made NTSC DVDs."....and since PAL is also obviously easily covered in European "PAL-Land"....WTF is the point of knowing the video format?
Stop being an ignorant jacka§§ and an embarrassment to my former hometown(Pittsburgh).

[Baldrick]

About medianfo adware http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en/Bundled . It just for the installation. Or use the portable version, https://www.videohelp.com/download/MediaInfo_GUI_0.7.59_Windows_i386_WithoutInstaller.7z .

[Pmbster]

Superfluous information is of no consequence EVEN when it is supplied "by the Admin of the site", but again, as I said in the first place, thank you. Meanwhile I have suddenly realized that there is apparently a "Video 100" class that some might try before going to "Video 101".

If you have some problem with a poster being "cute" then may I suggest you not respond to that person in the first place, as I was kidding around (ever so slightly, I realize) in my initial post anyway.

Apologies for you taking it the wrong way when I mentioned that I did not like adware (which you turned into " fear of it doing some imaginary harm of some sort to your computer"), but, hey, if you have some problem with people not following your advice to the letter when they do not need to, then you have some problem, period, I think.

I'm sorry you came here in a foul mood, and I don't feel like allowing you to put me in the same mood.

I thank those who offered up the information that my DVD was probably going to be fine shipped to Germany.

[hech54]

I thank those who offered up the information that my DVD was probably going to be fine shipped to Germany.

I'm an American now living in Germany. It will work(as long as these aren't your great-grandparents you are sending this to and they try to stick it in their VCR).
Then again....European VCRs play NTSC tapes as well....

[FulciLives]

What difference does MediaInfo make? As already clearly stated...knowing whether the video is NTSC or PAL makes absolutely no difference in this situation since "European players and televisions(as long as they are under 10-15 years old)will play home-made NTSC DVDs."....and since PAL is also obviously easily covered in European "PAL-Land"....WTF is the point of knowing the video format?
Stop being an ignorant jacka§§ and an embarrassment to my former hometown(Pittsburgh).

STFU hech

I was the first to respond and he didn't know what he had. I know it would most likely work anyway BUT it seems silly to NOT know what the hell you have. MediaInfo is the simplest and easiest way of finding out.

Holly hell man. **** YOU !!!

[jman98]

Pmbster - I've had discussions on this subject with my best friend, who is a barely literate computer user and anything but a techie. He's a great example of the "common man" if you will. One person's humor on the internet is another person's deadly serious statement. While I assumed your statement was a joke, I've found that it's usually just best to help people to get that you're being humorous by using or saying something like - (just kidding) - so it becomes obvious. And it did seem despite me getting your joke that you were sort of not paying attention to what you were being told. The odds are probably 95% that your DVD will be fine in Germany and if it was made in the USA then it is NTSC - period. You don't need to check.

I commend you for providing a lot of information in your post. Most newbies in your case would probably have posted something like this instead -
"Can I send a DVD to my relatives and have them play it?" and that would be all the information they would provide to us.

[Pmbster]

Thanks for the information, jman98.

I am aware of Poe's Law, and the difficulty some people have perceiving humor in type on the internet. I believe if you look just a tad more closely at FulciLives' post --

(allow me to quote it in its entirety for you: "If you intend to rush us and/or not listen to our suggestions then don't bother posting back.")

-- you might see that it is a slightly different point that (he?) took off from - he was not pleased in my lack of sincere genuflection in his direction after offering up a solution that does not answer my question. (Problem here is I am applying my own take to his words just as he applied his own take to mine.)

I do believe that taking pains to point out one is kidding around by inserting things like smileys - - may help but can also ruin the entire attitude a person is putting out - someone, such as myself, who kids around by nature should not be expected to point it out endlessly so as not to be misunderstood by every last person, but rather can assume that a) he will be understood by people who aren't locked up over some point or another and/or b) there will always be some who do *not* understand. In short, I do not believe including a smiley would have changed his response in the least, though I cannot in fact speak for him. But yes, sometimes a signifier that one is kidding when one is kidding can help some people - personally, I took the gist of my first sentence with the abrupt change of course --

"I certainly hope somebody will respond and y'all not leave me hanging here for weeks. It's not like I have all n-

Oh.

That was quick, gang! Thanks for the responses!"

-- as pretty clear evidence that I was kidding. A smiley might have helped under the circumstances. Would that I were perfect - though of course if we held everybody to that standard then my applying a smiley would not have been necessary in the first place, eh?

Meanwhile, I could play the same game and point out that he failed to include one like this: in his own post.

Doesn't matter in the end - those who want to get upset over little things will get up upset over little things, and this is something I personally like to try and slide away from, though not successfully at all times.

The initial response to the first three responses to my own top post included this line: "I'll try that mediainfo and see what I get. I dislike adware, but this sounds like that "somethingCandy" system that suggests additional software upon installing and then leaves one alone, eh?" -- and somewhere in there FulciLives took offense to the effect that I had apparently rejected his dead-on advice, in spite of the fact that I said right there I was going to try it, disliked adware, but it looked like this type wasn't bad (somethingCandy, OpenCandy, not sure what that is).

Finding a way to take offense at this specific reply to being offered up a solution (that ultimately solves nothing with regard to the main question) is rather like successfully finding a needle in a haystack or perhaps winning the lottery, in my opinion.

But here I am milking the situation further rather than just dropping it.

I had noticed that a couple of people responding were from outside the US, Baldrick in Sweden and hech54, "Yank in Europe", and now you right in Germany. This is what I had hoped to find here and I am grateful for the help of any offering it one way or another.

In the meantime I had asked as a last footnote about extracting the photo files from the DVD, and MediaInfo certainly sounds like it could help me there if only in figuring out what I have (other than that it is not PAL video, which seems obvious to me without looking (bit of Video 101 there?) - I brought up PAL because I wanted to send the DVD to Germany, so having two people offer up MediaInfo with the specific point that I could determine whether it was PAL or NTSC - as each of them stated clearly - is... well, pointless. But I *can* use it to see what I've got and maybe figure out how to extract the photos therefrom. (Actually that problem may be moot as my sister told me a little while ago she was intending to bring all the photos she had to some outlet to digitize them all on cd for us.)

Apologies for starting fires, apologies for feeding fires (even as I continue to do so, heh heh), and thanks to all for helping me figure out that I should be okay in sending these U.S. made DVDs to Germany for the family of my deceased mother!

Pmbster

Edit: Oh, and apologies for lengthy posts -verbiage becomes me - (not sure that's what I meant there... )

[Pmbster]

This is just an update long after the fact if anyone wonders about the resolution of my "problems". We finally sent the DVDs just the way they were to Germany and sometime after that got back thanks from most family members - the DVDs worked just fine on their TVs and computers - one family member has not been heard from but I doubt she will have any problems either.

Thanks for the help from those who were interested in being helpful!

Pmbster

[Cornucopia]

In answer to your 2nd question: NO. Once someone converts photos -> slideshow (video) and then converts video -> DVD, it is NO LONGER any form of photo. You can always do a screen capture of single point(s) in time in the slideshow to re-create the images as photos, but you will still have lost the original resolution and quality (has to be resized down to 720x480 for NTSC, and has to be re-compressed into MPEG2 for DVD). The only way around this (and this is an easy one to do if one were to think about it ahead of time) would have been to place copies of the original photos (JPGs?) in a separate subfolder. So you would have seen a disc with folder contents like this:
ROOT: AUDIO_TS (empty), VIDEO_TS (holding the VOB files mentioned earlier), OTHER (the JPGs)

Since you clearly do not have that kind of disc structure, the person doing the conversion didn't have the tools/understanding/foresight to place the originals on the disc. Sorry charlie. Especially if those have already since been deleted.

BTW, we only "know" you from your text. There is no way to know that you are THAT kind of humorous person, without having already a large historical body of communication to fall back on, unless you craft your texts more clearly and/or obviously. And since this is an international forum, don't ever expect the majority to GET your humor, even if you have crafted it well. What did shine through from your posts was, unfortunately, your attitude. Not such a good start.

Scott

[Pmbster]

Thank you for the reply on my second question. (I had done a capture of the first photo and it was larger than in the presentation and included some border that did not show up in the presentation so I wondered if somehow intact scans of the pictures were contained in the video and being manipulated for the presentation.) I figured the friend of my sister's who had created it would not keep the actual scans, and she was busy with a pregnancy and my sister didn't want to press her on it.

It is not a requirement that people understand my humor or know me. To take *this* statement --

"I'll try that mediainfo and see what I get. I dislike adware, but this sounds like that "somethingCandy" system that suggests additional software upon installing and then leaves one alone, eh?

Again, I doubt it's PAL video, pals."

-- and wind up with *this* in response --

"You questioned installing MediaInfo in fear of it doing some imaginary harm of some sort to your computer when in fact it is one of the most basic of all video tools that we all use and two of us (one of which is the Admin of the site) recommended you try.

I also suggested it because you clearly said you had no real idea what format it is or anything.

It's like Video 101 and you had to be "cute" about it. I don't appreciate it.

But whatever." --

... would lead me to ask just where you think any "attitude" came from to begin with. On the other hand, that would mean getting into an ancient discussion that is of no consequence to anything... probably started this time by me in posting a conclusion to my originally presented problem. People fail to understand what others are saying regardless of whether or not there is humor involved or attempted. The situation devolved rather nicely and it's happily long gone.