ffmpeg - VOB to MPG, timing errors...

[zehd]

(I'm transcoding some kids VOBs to Harddrive for easy MVP viewing)

Using ffmpeg.

When I transcode a VOB to an MPG, My video length timing is off... A 24:39 VOB becomes 28:35 MPG. Several 10 minute VOBs become 3 secs MPGs

(I should point out that it appears to create a full size MPG with all the content, just that VLC or WMP reports the lengths wrong.

I suspect that with those time errors, skipping forward and back with the MVP would be he11...

Any ideas?

[HtV]

Does ffmpeg really transcode the vob. That shouldn't be necessary because vob already is mpeg2.
I found this an interesting thread on videohelp.com
:
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php...emultiplex

[zehd]

Does ffmpeg really transcode the vob. That shouldn't be necessary because vob already is mpeg2.
I found this an interesting thread on videohelp.com
:
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php...emultiplex

Yup. I knew that. What I'm doing though, is downsizing the file size by transcoding to a different bit rate and aspect ratio... Saves space of the HD...

[HtV]

Have you tried retime on this. Or demux first then transcode, then mux again. Make sure audio is mp2, although I think mp3 works too. A lot of dvds have ac3-sound wich the mvp won't play. If you use ffmpeg to do it in one go it has (posibly) to transcode audio and video at the same time.

[pBS]

try the -copyts switch... [stnds for copy timestamps]
may or may not work...
also many dvd's now have blank sectors and sectors marked bad so sometimes readingthe will give choppy encodes...use something lto rip to hd first,then re-compress...or use Anydvd with ffmpeg...the encode will be smoother..
[anydvd decrypts the dvd in background,so you can just copy it to hd with copy command]

[pBS]

oh and ffmpeg can copy the video and change the audio without messing up the timecodes...just use -vcodec copy and -acodec mp2
that way the timestamps and video go thru unchanged, and the audio is fixed for mvp..
those usually work great for me...smooth and skips work..
that really is the best way to watch dvd's on mvp..
also mencoder can do the same...

but make sure it's a ntfs drive you transcode to cuz the files will be over 4 gig for most dvd's...[and fat32 can't handle this,will cut them off]

[zehd]

THanks to everyone for the considered input...

It turns out that I was doing everything right, and my resulting MPG was bang on for Time stamps etc.

It seemed that VLC was not reporting the correct time and length. That's what I was guaging all the rest of my info on...

Now: I'm taking all sequential VOBs joining into one temp VOB, and then transcoding down to a smaller MPG all quite seamlessly withing my ZProcess program...

Thanks

[HtV]

Cheers.
I noticed too in the past that vlc has different "time-estimates" it differs often from MediaPlayerClassic. Probably has to do with the fact that it uses its own decoders, not the directshow ones.