still need help converting these .vob files

[tk265]

i downloaded a couple of .vob files from this address:

http://www.cinenow.com/fr/vobtrailer.php3

i wanted to use them as intro movies on my vcds. converting them to mpg using ffmpex worked ok. the resulting mpg files play ok in quicktime, although the audio seems to be a little out of synch.

however - when i burn those files to vcd i get terrible audio errors and stuttering video and popping noises - it's terrible.

has anybody been able to burn any of the above mentioned files to vcd ?
many thanks for any tips.
marc

[larvis]

Have you tryed to use FLASK MPEG to convert your VOB files? You can choose what codec you want to convert your file to + what kind of an audio you prefer to use. You can also download a plugin so you can convert the file directly to a mpg

[epo]

Larvis, this is MAC forum!

[Ross]

Check the mpegs with something like MpegInfo. See what the sample rate is on the audio. VCD should be 44.1 khz, the original vob whould have been 48 khz.

[tk265]

ross - i did change the audio output to 44.1 but still got the same audio errors and stuttering video. i noticed that although i did tell ffmpegx to use a low bitrate (around 1000) the output in the terminal showed something like 8000. don't know if this causes the problem.

i'm about to give up on this - i've already created more than 5 unusable vcds.......

this generally happens with all .vob files that i downloaded.

[squeed]

Try checking the "Keep Elementary Streams" option of ffMpeg. Then when the encoding is complete you will have a .mpg file, a .m2v file and a .mp2 file. Watch the .m2v file with VLC if it looks good, listen to the .mp2 file in iTunes. If it sounds good then you have a muxing problem. If the video looks bad then you have a bitrate problem and if the audio sounds bad then you have an audio conversion issue.

Let's isolate the problem before you make any more coasters !

-Squeed
VCD & SVCD Support For MAC
http://www.squeeds.com

[AntnyMD]

It sounds like this guy is trying to make a standard VCD in ffmpegX, but you can't really. ffmpegX only outputs variable bitrate MPEG-1 video, which is not allowed in the VCD spec. If your settop VCD player expects a totally compliant disc, it will stutter on a variable bitrate disc.

[tk265]

AntnyMD - are you saying that there is no way to turn a .vob file into a vcd compliant .mpg so that i can burn that file using toast with missingmpegtools ? (which is how i have been burning tons of downloaded .mpg files on standard vcd format for months now).

[bilestyle]

you can make a VCD out of a DVD, just don't use ffmpegx, i don't know why everyone overlooks the great program that is mediapipe, just cuz it isnt as user friendly doesnt mean its not an excellent program. If your vob file doesnt contain a variable framerate than you can just do a direct re-encode of the vob to vcd in mediapipe. just demux the vob first with extractor http://denisx.dyndns.org/extractor/

and then run the video through mediapipe with the following pipelines (i'm doing this from memory so please forgive any errors i make)

File Browser (select your m2v file)
File Streamer
Mpeg Decoder
Scaler (352x240 (NTSC - i THINK) (352x288) (PAL- i THINK)
Color Conversion
MPEG Encoder

VCD NTSC

ppmtoy4m arguments: -v 0 -S 420_jpeg -L -I t -F 30000:1001 -A 4:3
mpeg2enc arguments: -v 0 -f 1 -F 4 -n n -a 2 -b 1152 -I 1 -r 16 -M 2


VCD PAL

ppmtoy4m arguments: -v 0 -S 420_jpeg -L -I t -F 25:1 -A 4:3
mpeg2enc arguments: -v 0 -f 1 -F 3 -n p -a 2 -b 1152 -I 1 -r 16 -M 2

you can leave out the -M 2 if you dont have a dual processor machine

---
these arguments are from memory/referencing the webpages of mpeg2enc and ppmtoy4m -- these SHOULD work fine.. let me know if i made any mistakes

[AntnyMD]

AntnyMD - are you saying that there is no way to turn a .vob file into a vcd compliant .mpg so that i can burn that file using toast with missingmpegtools ? (which is how i have been burning tons of downloaded .mpg files on standard vcd format for months now).

What I'm saying is you cannot currently make a 100% compliant VCD using ffmpegX because it outputs variable bitrate MPEG-1 video, but VCD requires constant bitrate video.

Downloading files off the net (which may or may not have been encoded for use on VCD) is different from creating your own VCD content from VOB files usign ffmpegX.




As for MediaPipe, I always overlook it precisely because it isn't user friendly and requires way too many steps (and "pipes"). You'd think someone would have automated the user interaction with MediaPipe through some sort of AppleScript. As long as the goal of ffmpegX is to make the conversion process uncomplicated and user-friendly, I'll continue to support that product.

Some of you may like complicated encoding processes -- more power to you. [/u]

[Ross]

MMT_Lite is a single button any vob to svcd GUI for MediaPipe. If requested, I can make it also support vob to vcd. What's really cool is going direct from dvd disk, but it take another pipe for this function.

[squeed]

I'm not bothered by the "unuserfriendlyness" of MediaPipe, the thing just crashes on me all of the time. It doesn't seem to be too stable. I haven't been able to do anything useful with it.

I keep getting "LazyprogrammerError" and it quits. Also everytime I try and do something it takes 10 minutes to compile something, I don't know what it is doing or where it is putting programs on my Mac. I feel like I am junking up my machine when I install that thing.

-Squeed
VCD & SVCD Support For Mac
http://www.squeeds.com

[i-on-s]

Get DVD2AVI and Tmpgenc

Open the .vob file(s) into DVD2AVI and than go to file->save project
Than load that saved project file into tmpgenc and load the VCD templete
thats all i do for .vob to .mpg

Or you could just load the .vob(s) into DVD2AVI and use file->save avi
and make a uncompressed avi file and encode with your fav encoder to whatever you want.

hope that helped but if not i tryed.

[qshartle]

You Stupid PC users
Now i know why Mac people choose mac.
God You are either blind , retarded or both

THIS IS THE MAC FORUM!!!!!!!!

Both are PC programs

God

[i-on-s]

i'm blind sorry! but i didnt ride the little bus to school so i guess that makes me retarded also.

[bilestyle]

I'm not bothered by the "unuserfriendlyness" of MediaPipe, the thing just crashes on me all of the time. It doesn't seem to be too stable. I haven't been able to do anything useful with it.

I keep getting "LazyprogrammerError" and it quits. Also everytime I try and do something it takes 10 minutes to compile something, I don't know what it is doing or where it is putting programs on my Mac. I feel like I am junking up my machine when I install that thing.

-Squeed
VCD & SVCD Support For Mac
http://www.squeeds.com

there are only TWO binaries that compile themselves when mediapipe runs them the first time. mpeg2enc and mp2enc, it doesnt take long to compile and it completely self sufficient in compiling the binaries itself, you dont junk up the computer at all it only installs something in three sections of your computer. If you follow any of the directions i've give in any of my tutorials correctly you will never have mediapipe quit on you. Its extremely stable, has more options than ffmpegx and is faster. -- again no offense to major i think hes done a great job with it, but i still prefer mediapipe.

with regards to it being more user friendly i am in the process of writing a section onto mediapowertool to make the dvd->svcd conversion process more simple for those intimidated by mediapipe, yes you do need the developer tools installed for both of those binaries to compile properly, but thats really not much to ask.

[Ross]

From a MPEGLA licencing aspect, you probably need to compile some of the stuff in ffmpegX also.

[tk265]

to everyone who replied - many thanks guys !

What i've learned so far is that i cannot create an mpeg-1 file out of a vob file that has a "variable bitrate" using ffmpegx. i'd have to use mediapipe which i dont even want to get into if i'm already having problems with ffmpegx.

lets say i have all the trailers that i want on existing dvds and want to use those trailers instead. could i just take the trailers from the dvd somehow and demux those using bbdemux or any other existing mac tools ?

how can i make sure that those .vob files then won't again be in a format that i can't use to make a vcd ?

thanks alot for the help
marc

[behoovedgirl]

What's really cool is going direct from dvd disk, but it take another pipe for this function.

i was curious about this... is there a pipe to make this possible available to download anywhere? that would make MMT lite the ultimate easy-peasy-all-in-one dvd>svcd program

[phoney]

I'm not bothered by the "unuserfriendlyness" of MediaPipe, the thing just crashes on me all of the time.

It did that for me too when I upgraded from an ancient version to a newer. The solution was to erase everything that was installed and do a new system install (local install didn't work for me). Read in the readme what is installed and where.

[rockinsage]

Bilestyle,

You gave an example of dvd->vcd in mediapipe if the source is not variable bitrate. How would you set up mediapipe if the source is variable?

Thanks,
rockinsage