How do I join already-ripped VOB files into something that I can convert?

[CursedLemon]

So I've got some DVD rips and I'd like to make x264/x265 copies of them for storage and easy watching.

But it just occurred to me that I don't actually know how to do this!

What can I use to join the VOB files together (possibly into one single MPEG2 stream), cut them into individual episodes, and process/convert them?

[davexnet]

Do you have the whole DVD structure including the IFO and BUP files?
If yes, you can use vidcoder and feed it the IFO file, if not use something like vob2mpg

[jagabo]

If you don't have the IFO files you can use Mpg2Cut2 or DgIndex to open all the VOB files and save the whole file or specified segments.

[dfisher052]

Or you could convert the vob's to an mpeg with VOB2MPEG, and then convert them to either an mp4 or mkv with either Vidcoder or Format Factory. I do it all the time with excellent results.

[CursedLemon]

I believe I have the IFO files, I'll give that a whirl when I get home.

[CursedLemon]

Well I used Vidcoder to successfully convert the DVD folders to HEVC MKV files, but now I'm having a bit of trouble with using Avidemux to split the files into individual episodes. Avidemux will freeze up if I try to seek and it says it can't go to the next keyframe. All it will do is play the full video from the beginning.

[jagabo]

You should have cut the MPEG2 video before encoding to HEVC. All the MPEG 2 tools mentioned earlier would have worked. Since you have the IFO files VOB2MPG is the best choice.

[CursedLemon]

My aim was just to use Avidemux's super easy cropping and pass-through options for splitting the video, but it seems like seeking through HEVC is a bit shit, innit?

I'll do it the other way, that will probably work better.

[CursedLemon]

Hmm, seems VOB2MPG doesn't want to work on Windows 10, luckily I have a capable PC with Windows 7 on it and it seems to work fine there.

[hello_hello]

Vidcoder should have an option near the top to set start and end points for encoding (I haven't used it for a long time but Handbrake definitely does). You should be able to each encode by chapter or title or start and end times so you can encode them individually.

I use DVDShrink for cutting the DVD files before encoding.
Use It's Open File menu to select the folder full of ripped files. Click the re-author button. Drag a title for one episode from the right pane to the left. Make sure compression is disabled so DVDShrink won't try to shrink anything (I have the default output size set to something huge in preferences instead) and use the backup function. That'll give you a folder with ifo and vob files for one episode. There's also an option to tell DVDShrink not to split the vob files.

Of course you don't have to do them one at a time. You can drag multiple titles from the right pane to the left pane, and after using the backup function you'll have a folder where each episode is it's own set of ifo and vob files. You can even combine episodes from multiple DVDs into a single folder that way.

Every now and then you'll come across a DVD where the episodes are all in a single title and separated using chapters, in which case you can drag the single title from the right pane to the left pane multiple tiles (ie six times if there's six episodes), use the edit button to set the start and end chapters for each copy of the title so they're only a single episode, then once again use the backup function.

[jagabo]

Hmm, seems VOB2MPG doesn't want to work on Windows 10

This might help: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/376694-Instructions-for-Running-on-Windows-10

[CursedLemon]

DVDShrink claims there isn't a VIDEO_TS.IFO file in my ripped folders.

Well, DVDShrink, I'm looking right at it.