Suggestions for converting DVDs to MPG for MVP playback

[steve_c_nz]

Hi,

I used to do this all the time with kids DVDs.

First, pick your DVD ripper of choice and create a media file of a rip of the *.vob DVD files. If there is more than one *.vob file for the main movie then first combine them. In Linux use the cat command to combine the files, in windows the equivalent (according to wikipedia) is the type command, but googling a little further people have used the Windows copy command.

cat 1.vob 2.vob 3.vob > all.vob

or in Windows

copy /b 1.vob + 2.vob + 3.vob all.vob

That command will create a single file (all.vob) for the whole video. The next step is converting to an MVP compliant format. I use ffmpeg. The trick is to use mp2 audio, mpeg2 video and tell ffmpeg that you are creating vob file. Once the conversion is complete rename the file to .mpg and the MVP should play without needing the host machine to transcode. No transcode means the skipping etc works much better as all the hardware is doing what it is supposed to do, the MVP decoding and playing, and the host pc just serving the file.

ffmpeg -i all.vob -vcodec mpeg2video -vb 3500k -acodec mp2 -ab 128k -async 1 new.vob

Change the video and audio bitrates as required. I find the above a good compromise between HD space and quality. This was done for kids videos so quality wasn't important.

The final step is to rename your output file, in this case new.vob to new.mpg.

Give it a try on a small file. If it works then you should see the complete timeline on the MVP, not an increasing timeline as you'd get with transcoded video. I know it's command line, but it's only 3 command lines if you include the rename to *.mpg. Don't forget to clean up all your working files once you're done.

S.

[wtg]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try that next.

I did remux a couple of my files using mplayer and it fixed the problem. So while the files created by vlc seemed ok in vlc, wmp and MediaInfo, there must have been something strange about them that npvr or mvpmc doesn't like. I hope I can work out a single command line that'll go straight from ISO to MPG reliably since I have a bunch more to do, but if ripping the isos to vobs once allows me to you ffmpeg reliably, I might just have to go that route.

Thanks again.

[steveum]

@steveum, thanks for the suggestion, though I don't have VideoRedo myself. I should have specified that I'm looking for free software that will do the trick. I'm curious though... did you use the rips via the MVP, and if so, any trouble with skipping or FF during playback?

I think skipping issues are related to timeline problems in your mpg file. I have seen where someone suggests if just rename a VOB to MPG. As I recall, this was ok to do for MVP to play the file, but it could not skip around very well. VideoRedo allows you to create a MPG file that works as you would expect. It is a great tool, but it is not free.

[pBS]

i use this for almost every dvd..straight from disc to mpg.. [change stuff in bold for dvd disc, use path instead of drive letter for dir path, "-dvd-device c:\dvdrip\video_ts"]

Code:

mencoder.exe -cache 8192  -alang en -dvd-device [b]o:[/b]  dvd://[b]title#[/b] -ovc copy -oac lavc -dvdangle 1 -alang en -lavcopts ildct:vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vqscale=3:vmax_b_frames=2:keyint=15:acodec=mp2:abitrate=160:autoaspect  -idx -af volume=9  -of mpeg -mpegopts format=mpeg2 -o output.mpg

there's another tweak to it if that one doesn't work, it's setup for progressive only..i do have one for telecined material that works just as well..
and that video sounds like was shot on videotape not film..
for telecined material, add this near beginning: [videotaped]

Code:

-vf filmdint,softskip,harddup -ofps 24000/1001 -fps 30000/1001  -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:telecine [b]-ovc lavc[/b]

which will inverse telecine it and output progressive video...

or can use mplayer to dump it as-is:

Code:

mplayer -cache 64000 -dumpfile %output%.vob -dumpstream -dvd-device %DiskOrPath% dvd://%title% > mpdump.log

[wtg]

Thanks pBS... I'll give those a try. Re: the first one though... since -ovc copy is used to copy the video stream directly, why specify video parameters in the -lavcopts parameters? I thought those would only be necessary if you wanted to re-encode the video. Admittedly, there's a lot I don't understand about mencoder, ffmpeg, vlc, etc.

[pBS]

true, but they don't hurt anything being there and not used...easy to convert it to video encode if need be..
the second one needs it cuz it's encoding, to get the inverse telecine to work..[has to]
and one nice thing is they can all read directly from a dvd..no decrypting needed beforehand..
[tho it does help to use anydvd on really bad copy protection discs]