How to save VOB files so that DVDStyler doesn't have to re-encode them.

[dvdman06]

Hello everybody, newbie to the forums here.

I am an avid electronics fan, and have many recordings from television and VHS transfers that I have been slowly burning to DVD as time permits. Some of the files are saved on DVD+RW discs, others are on my hard drive as VOB rips from DVD Decrypter. All originated from a Panasonic DMR-ES35V. In the past, I would edit the VOBs in MPEG-VCR, save as MPEG2 since no encoding was necessary, and then author a DVD using Roxio.

Well, Roxio's just terrible, which is why I want to find another authoring program. I am trying out DVDStyler, which so far seems to be a good program. However, I am running into the same problem that I had with Roxio: DVDStyler forces re-encoding on all my video files. When I try to select the "Don't re-encode/transcode" box, DVDDtyler greys it out on my files, even on edited VOBs from MPEG-VCR. It will, however, let me do so on raw, unedited VOBs

I did some research and found out that my MPEG2s must not be within spec, which is why it is forcing the encoding. I am baffled, however, because I am following this guide (http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video/edit-dvd-recorder.htm) which indicates that when I save a .VOB file from MPEG-VCR, it should be exactly the same as what I ripped, which always comes straight from a DVD.

I am not sure where to go from here. I need to edit my file (who wants commercials in their shows?), but if I edit the VOBs, even when I re-save them as such, DVDStyler will not let me skip re-encoding. Has anyone else here run into the same issue, and if so, what can I do? Am I messing something up when I save the edited MPEG2 streams?

Thanks in advance!

[hech54]

I am not sure where to go from here. I need to edit my file (who wants commercials in their shows?), but if I edit the VOBs, even when I re-save them as such,

Once you edit a "VOB" from a complete VIDEO_TS folder.....it cannot be saved as a VOB and put back in the VIDEO_TS folder.

[usually_quiet]

Hello everybody, newbie to the forums here.

I am an avid electronics fan, and have many recordings from television and VHS transfers that I have been slowly burning to DVD as time permits. Some of the files are saved on DVD+RW discs, others are on my hard drive as VOB rips from DVD Decrypter. All originated from a Panasonic DMR-ES35V. In the past, I would edit the VOBs in MPEG-VCR, save as MPEG2 since no encoding was necessary, and then author a DVD using Roxio.

Well, Roxio's just terrible, which is why I want to find another authoring program. I am trying out DVDStyler, which so far seems to be a good program. However, I am running into the same problem that I had with Roxio: DVDStyler forces re-encoding on all my video files. When I try to select the "Don't re-encode/transcode" box, DVDDtyler greys it out on my files, even on edited VOBs from MPEG-VCR. It will, however, let me do so on raw, unedited VOBs

I did some research and found out that my MPEG2s must not be within spec, which is why it is forcing the encoding. I am baffled, however, because I am following this guide (http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video/edit-dvd-recorder.htm) which indicates that when I save a .VOB file from MPEG-VCR, it should be exactly the same as what I ripped, which always comes straight from a DVD.

I am not sure where to go from here. I need to edit my file (who wants commercials in their shows?), but if I edit the VOBs, even when I re-save them as such, DVDStyler will not let me skip re-encoding. Has anyone else here run into the same issue, and if so, what can I do? Am I messing something up when I save the edited MPEG2 streams?

Thanks in advance!

I had a similar problem using AVStoDVD with recordings from my Panasonic DMR-ES10. AVStoDVD always insisted on re-encoding to 720x480, although the recorder's native 704x480 resolution is a legal for NTSC DVD. Mr C, the author of AVStoDVD figured out what the problem was (the display aspect ratio for the video was specified as 1.304 not 1.333) then told I could fix the it by not indexing the file on import, and changing the aspect ratio to 1.333 using Title->Edit Source Title Info->Video Display Aspect Ratio.

I don't know if DVDStyler will allow you to do the same kind of thing with whatever setting it is that causes DVDStyler to re-encode. If not, perhaps AVStoDVD will.

[dvdman06]

I think I may be able to change the aspect ratio (I'll check when I get home), but what exactly do you mean by "not indexing"?

[fvisagie]

Assuming your edited VOBs are within DVD specs, another way of preventing re-encoding is to author your DVDs with something like GUI for dvdauthor: take your edited VOB/MPEG-2, split it into simple (demultiplexed/separated) video and audio files, input to GUI for dvdauthor and author.

That's in fact the authoring process I use with newly rendered MPEG-2 movies. I use Avidemux for demultiplexing.

Getting to work with GUI for dvdauthor isn't the easiest thing, so hopefully there are simpler tools where you can apply the same principle. At least now you know of this option .

[usually_quiet]

I think I may be able to change the aspect ratio (I'll check when I get home), but what exactly do you mean by "not indexing"?

AVStoDVD recommends that you allow it to index your video files when you add them to your source titles list for authoring. Just click "No" in answer to the indexing question to import a file without indexing it.