[typoon]

Is there anyway to convert VOB files to Quicktime?

[bmedina]

Yes, several ways. What is your goal?

[typoon]

I just want to convert them to Quicktime so that I can store them on my hard drive

[argod]

Originally posted by typoon:
I just want to convert them to Quicktime so that I can store them on my hard drive

I just keep as VOB files and then play them with VLC.

[typoon]

Originally posted by argod:
I just keep as VOB files and then play them with VLC.

The only problem with that is they can be a little big. If you convert them to QT you can compress to smaller format. That is why I want to know.

[dwishbone]

handbrake is pretty good at that.
there are others that will do it too.
just go to macupdate or versiontracker and search a little. plenty of good apps for it.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by typoon:
The only problem with that is they can be a little big. If you convert them to QT you can compress to smaller format. That is why I want to know.

Are you trying to copy a DVD...

I've been using DVDBackup to get the info off of the DVD and on to my HD and HandBrake to take the DVD and make a movie out of it...

It's simple for someone that just wants a nice backup, but you can tinker with the settings and not feel like you need a PhD in mathematics just to get a playable video.

If you want any help, please feel free to ask.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Are you trying to copy a DVD...

I've been using DVDBackup to get the info off of the DVD and on to my HD and HandBrake to take the DVD and make a movie out of it...

It's simple for someone that just wants a nice backup, but you can tinker with the settings and not feel like you need a PhD in mathematics just to get a playable video.

If you want any help, please feel free to ask.

The downside to HandBrake is it only does the DVD folder... it won't take on a single VOB file.

[typoon]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Are you trying to copy a DVD...

I've been using DVDBackup to get the info off of the DVD and on to my HD and HandBrake to take the DVD and make a movie out of it...

It's simple for someone that just wants a nice backup, but you can tinker with the settings and not feel like you need a PhD in mathematics just to get a playable video.

If you want any help, please feel free to ask.

I just want something playable. To copy DVD's I'm using Fast DVD Copy.

[Jacke]

Originally posted by typoon:
I just want something playable. To copy DVD's I'm using Fast DVD Copy.

If you have QT Pro I'd say demux it, use DiVA for the video (use with the 3ivx codec for niceness) and mAC3dec for audio. Then you can join them together in QT Pro.

If you don't have QT Pro you can try OpenShiiva. I don't remember if it converts VOB files, but I do think so, and IIRC it also encodes the audio and puts the whole thing into an MP4 file.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by Jacke:
If you have QT Pro I'd say demux it, use DiVA for the video (use with the 3ivx codec for niceness) and mAC3dec for audio. Then you can join them together in QT Pro.

If you don't have QT Pro you can try OpenShiiva. I don't remember if it converts VOB files, but I do think so, and IIRC it also encodes the audio and puts the whole thing into an MP4 file.

Instructions for HandBrake

1) Insert DVD
2) Click Encode

(there is no third step)

It's free, the quality is good (maybe not amazing) the file sizes are acceptable...

If you want to f@#$ around forever, feel free to do the above...

[Zoom_zoom]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Instructions for HandBrake

1) Insert DVD
2) Click Encode

(there is no third step)

It's free, the quality is good (maybe not amazing) the file sizes are acceptable...

If you want to f@#$ around forever, feel free to do the above...

I agree, Just a tip though, chose FFMPEG rather than XVID as in my experience XVID takes about 4x as long and the quality and size is the same as FFMPEG

Zoom Zoom

[schuey100]

I used to use 0SEX to make Vob files but it seems to be broken after the latest security update??

What's the easiest and quickest way to make a Vob file? I'm not to bothered converting it to anything else.

Thanks

[Jacke]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
If you want to f@#$ around forever, feel free to do the above...

As you yourself said:

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
The downside to HandBrake is it only does the DVD folder... it won't take on a single VOB file.

Which was the original question.

Besides, Handbrake seems to encode into DivX AVI files, which Quicktime doesn't support. It uses MP3 audio, which there is a better alternative to in AAC, and the AVI container gives more overhead than MP4 files.
If you're unfamiliar with DVD ripping/video encoding I'd say it's a neat tool, but I prefer to have full control over every step.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by Jacke:
Besides, Handbrake seems to encode into DivX AVI files, which Quicktime doesn't support. It uses MP3 audio, which there is a better alternative to in AAC, and the AVI container gives more overhead than MP4 files.
If you're unfamiliar with DVD ripping/video encoding I'd say it's a neat tool, but I prefer to have full control over every step.

Actually, Handbrake encodes to a standard QuickTime 6 compatible MP4 file with AAC audio.

I will totally agree that it does NOT give you full control over the whole process and if you need specific things (like subtitles or unique codecs), it's not for you (it's still in the early stages, but it's important to remember that this application is from the same people that designed VLC, so it's going to keep maturing).

I've played around with many alternatives, and they work great, but take (seriously) 4-10 times longer to complete and for me, the end quality isn't much better then what Handbrake offers.

[Jacke]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Actually, Handbrake encodes to a standard QuickTime 6 compatible MP4 file with AAC audio.

That's what I get for not reading the front page at Handbrake's website... Just read the faq page and noticed it had the note about missing audio in AVI files and assumed it encoded only into AVI files.

But if it encodes into MP4's too, that's good

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by Jacke:
That's what I get for not reading the front page at Handbrake's website... Just read the faq page and noticed it had the note about missing audio in AVI files and assumed it encoded only into AVI files.

But if it encodes into MP4's too, that's good

I'm currently transcoding The Matrix: Revolutions with Handbrake 6.1 (first time with this particular version).

I'm interested in seeing how it does.

[mishap]

What i read from the first post.... you want to convert a DVD VOB file to just a plain old quicktime.

I had to do this recently to edit a VOB file in Final Cut Pro.

Guys, this is significanly easier than you all make it out to be.

1. Get a copy of QTPro and the MPEG2 codec
2. Open the VOB file in QTPro
3. Save the files as a MOV (including all dependent parts)

takes 5 mins at the most. The resulting file will be huge. If you want it smaller, use Cleaner.

Note: this works only for non-protected DVDs. if it is protected, first rip the DVD with DVDBackup

have fun.

[Jacke]

Originally posted by mishap:
1. Get a copy of QTPro and the MPEG2 codec
2. Open the VOB file in QTPro
3. Save the files as a MOV (including all dependent parts)

takes 5 mins at the most. The resulting file will be huge. If you want it smaller, use Cleaner.

Uh, not unless it's AC3 audio, which most DVD's use. Besides, the MPEG-2 component costs money, while both Handbrake and Openshiiva are free. And getting Cleaner just to compress a VOB file? Seems sort of wasteful...

[Angus_D]

Originally posted by Jacke:
Uh, not unless it's AC3 audio, which most DVD's use.

I think you meant to write:

Uh, unless it's AC3 audio, which most DVDs use.

And even then that's not entirely true, there's an AC3 component for QT here.

[Jacke]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
I think you meant to write:And even then that's not entirely true, there's an AC3 component for QT here.

Exactly what I meant, but I don't think the AC3 component supports audio in VOB files, only in AVI files.

[Angus_D]

Originally posted by Jacke:
Exactly what I meant, but I don't think the AC3 component supports audio in VOB files, only in AVI files.

Oh right, it's screwy because it's a single muxed track.

You could just use 0SEx to rip the elementary streams then combine them together into a .mov

[mitchell_pgh]

<joke> For the best quality, I would simply connect RCA cables to your computer </joke>

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
Oh right, it's screwy because it's a single muxed track.

You could just use 0SEx to rip the elementary streams then combine them together into a .mov

as I understand it, the ac3 decoder is highly dependent on the DivX.com AVI importer, which makes sense since they are written by the same fellow. I would guess that the fellow in question picked the codec identifiers for AC3 audio without knowing what (if anything) Apple's code would use for those identifiers. Furthermore, since Apple denies knowledge of anything DivX, their VOB import component probably discards ac3 audio instead of passing it along to any codec, and even if it did it would probably not give the codec the same identifying FourCC or Vendor (etc) codes that the ac3 decoder would recognize (though since the ac3 decoder is open source it is at your discretion to try to find out if the VOB importer does retain the audio and if so how it fills out a SampleDescriptionHandle for it, and alter the ac3 decoder accordingly)

Anyway, I doubt it has anything to do with the muxing issue, since even in MPEG-1 files it only affects conversion, not playback.

disclaimer: I haven't actually tried to verify any of this, even whether or not the ac3 decoder does work with VOB files or whether ac3.VOB files show an audio track that can't be decoded (in quicktime)

[typoon]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
<joke> For the best quality, I would simply connect RCA cables to your computer </joke>

Actually I've thought about that. then import to iMove or something then export.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by typoon:
Actually I've thought about that. then import to iMove or something then export.

The quality of RCA is very poor, and you also lose because of the Digital ---> Analog ---> Digital conversion.

[typoon]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
The quality of RCA is very poor, and you also lose because of the Digital ---> Analog ---> Digital conversion.

Thanks. I realized that afterwards.

[juanvaldes]

Could someone put HandBrake up? The official site's download link does not work. For some reason OpenShiiva is giving me garbage output now so I'm looking for a new encoder.