[SuperHard]

My goal was to copy a DVD that is often mistreated by its 3 year old owner, so that I don't have to buy it again when the scratch marks make it un-playable. I used DVDBackup to extract the DVD. Then, to get it to fit on one DVD, I put only the four .vob files that comprised the video in a VIDEO_TS folder. VLC played them just fine with sound as expected. I used DVDImager to make an image and then burned it onto DVD. That DVD is recognized as a DVD and plays just fine on my mac. However, in my home DVD player it doesn't. It gives me an enigmatic message asking/about missing audio and won't proceed beyond that. This was the third time I've done this procedure, the previous two backup's worked just fine (each one a different movie). What could be missing? Also, the AUDIO_TS folder was present, as DVDImager creates that automatically.

Any ideas? I'd love to figure out what went wrong?

Many thanks!

[SuperHard]

I created 3 different DVD's, none of them could play on my home DVD player, one of them could play on my mac. The burning is not the issue, that went fine (could mount and see contents of discs).
As I mentioned in first post, I used DVD Imager to create .img files from VIDEO_TS folders which I burned onto DVD via Disk Utility. I created three different .img files as follows:
#1 - creating a DVD from these files resulted in a DVD that can play only on the computer, not on home DVD player:
VTS_03_1.VOB
VTS_03_2.VOB
VTS_03_3.VOB
VTS_03_4.VOB
VTS_03_5.VOB

#2 - To the list above I added the following two files, which I was guessing might be something home DVD players expect to find as necessary files (this DVD did not play in either computer or home player):
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.IFO
VIDEO_TS.VOB
VTS_03_1.VOB
VTS_03_2.VOB
VTS_03_3.VOB
VTS_03_4.VOB
VTS_03_5.VOB

#3 - The last thing I tried was to rename the VTS files, so that they don't start with the chapter 3 designation. This also resulted in DVD's not playable on either device:
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.IFO
VIDEO_TS.VOB
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB
VTS_01_3.VOB
VTS_01_4.VOB
VTS_01_4.VOB

Can someone tell me what are the necessary files a DVD player looks for when it tries to play a DVD? Any hints? I've searched at other DVD forums, however I find most people can tell me what they do that works (often using Toast, which I don't have) but I was hoping to understand why my attempts failed.
Thanks a bunch!

[cnelson87]

Hmm, a shot in the dark here...
DVDs need to be authored. I'm not exactly sure what that means or entails, but I think it means you just can't drag the VOBs over and hope it will work. The .BUP and .IFO files have something to do with it. I *think* the VOBs are the actual content and the BUPs and IFOs tell the player what to do with the VOBs. That's my understanding anyway.
Soooo, you need to re-author those VOBs. Try dropping them in Sizzle (freeware, check versiontracker) and let it build a DVD image.
Hope that helps more than it confuses.
Chris

[SuperHard]

Thanks for shot. You're right that the Vobs are content, the .bup and .ifo - are some kind of info. However, the disc was authored: I used DVD imager. I'm pretty certain the key to understanding my dilemma is in understanding the relationship of those bup and ifo files to thier vobs and the numbering.

Thanks though...

[euchomai]

After you rip the dvd with backup, try using DVD2oneX http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19238

This will allow you to choose the exact audio you want included on the disk. And it allows you to put a full DVD onto a consumer sized DVD. The quality loss is really not too bad (on a tv), still not too bad on your computer too.

[SuperHard]

Right, I haven't used DVD2OneX, mainly because I've only duplicated three discs and I don't envision duplicating any more than two more, so that kind of nixed justifying the cost. The other reason is that often the movie is in fact only 4GB. Some commercial DVD's use the 8GB of space to hold two copies of the movie (widescreen and 4:3), though some/many movies are in fact >4GB. But what I'm really trying to figure out is, for the movies that are <4.3GBs, what files need be present in addition to the desired vobs so I can create a working copy without without sacrificing one pixel of DVD-quality (I've done this successfully for two other DVDs of mine). But my real reason for not using DVD2ONeX is just not enough need to justify the cost, although I'm aware it does have rave reviews.