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[loraan]

So, maybe I'm the last one on the block to figure this out, but it turns out that if you rip a DVD to hard drive--e.g. with DVDShrink--MC can play back the VOB files. It's even smart enough to put together the multiple VOB files of a single title, find the chapter breaks, play all the different audio tracks (commentary, foreign language, etc...). Holy cow--is this new in MC 10?!

One question: when I playback, my receiver sees 2ch digital PCM input, which suggests to me that MC is downmixing to 2ch audio before it sends to the sound card. When I playback the VOB in PowerDVD (with S/PDIF passthrough), the receiver sees 5.1 channel Dolby Digital or DTS. Any way to make this work? That would be absolutely sublime!

[JohnT]

Did you check out the audio properties option on the DVD right-click menu?

[loraan]

I don't see "audio properties". I did set the soundtrack to a DD or DTS soundtrack in "audio/video options".

[JustinChase]

Now, if only they could allow me to catalog my ripped DVD's in MC, Store cover art, director, actors, etc, and play them directly (without having to navigate to them), I'd be all set.

[TXgary]

This is great news.... I have been ripping the video to avi and loading that into Media Center, but the sound sometimes gets off from the video.  That is not my real problem.. Here is the real problem.  I want to playback thru the TV (TV out) I do that but I get a BLACK window where the movie should be.....there must be a setting on my computer to adjust, but not finding it.  Can someone help.  I have tried all kinds of videos, all play on the monitor but none play thru the TV....  Thanks

[loraan]

Your video card is only outputting "overlay" video on the primary monitor. The card might have a setting to tell it to play the overlay on the secondary monitor (the TV), but more likely, you'll have to set the TV as your primary monitor.

[TXgary]

I'll try that...  Thanks

[TXgary]

It seems strange that MC will play a VOB, but will not load it into the library???

[loraan]

Works for me. But you don't load the VOBs directly into the library. MC seems to create a "virtual" entry in the file directory tree for the DVD. This "virtual" entry, when played, plays back all of the VOBs, one after the other, if the file contains multiple VOBs (as most movies do). I right-clicked that entry and imported it into the library just fine.

[loraan]

I don't see "audio properties". I did set the soundtrack to a DD or DTS soundtrack in "audio/video options".

I checked again, and saw "audio/video options - properties". In this dialog box, I could select the output device. It is currently set to "directsound: system default". I tried other options, but none of them caused MC to play the DD soundtrack.

[Nikolay]

Next build of MC will allow importing of VOB files.

NOTE: MC can play VOB files that have corresponding INF files in the same directory.

Nikolay

[TXgary]

This is great news.  I like the AVI size but continue to have sync problems between audio and video on Large files (Complete Movies)

[glynor]

This is great news.  I like the AVI size but continue to have sync problems between audio and video on Large files (Complete Movies)

How are you converting the DVD to AVI?  Loss of Audio/Video sync is almost always due to either:

1. bad hardware that doesn't lock the audio sampling rate to the video frame rate at capture time (an example of this would be a Dazzle-brand Analog<->Digital encoder) - I doubt that this is your issue unless you are encoding the video by running it through an analog input ... If so, stop doing it that way!

2. bad encoding settings (probably audio interleave or sampling/frame rate) - check out http://www.doom9.org/ and http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ for some great tips, software, and guides to correctly rip and encode DVD's (there are even samples on how to extract AC3 audio correctly).

I have struggled with A/V sync issues quite a bit with my job.  If you work at it a little bit, you can certainly come up with a workflow that will correct the issue.

Hope this helps!

[Nolonemo]

Why would you want to convert VOBs to AVIs anyway?  Seems to me to be the equivalent of converting your MP3s to WAVs.

[JimH]

This was added to the advanced import as "DVD Video (VOB)" in MC 10.0.94.

[loraan]

Why would you want to convert VOBs to AVIs anyway?  Seems to me to be the equivalent of converting your MP3s to WAVs.

Similar to WAV, AVI is a container format. Files with the AVI extension can actually contain a wide variety of compression types, with DIVx being one of the most common. Although DIVx files can have a DIVx extension, it's far more common to encapsulate them in .AVI.

[TXgary]

Yes, DIVX files also take up far less space than VOB files (significate) with very little loss of quality.  My divx files all have AVI extensions.

[Nolonemo]

Why would you want to convert VOBs to AVIs anyway?  Seems to me to be the equivalent of converting your MP3s to WAVs.

Similar to WAV, AVI is a container format. Files with the AVI extension can actually contain a wide variety of compression types, with DIVx being one of the most common. Although DIVx files can have a DIVx extension, it's far more common to encapsulate them in .AVI.

Thanks loraan and txgary, didn't realize that (I'm used to working with 12GB/hr DV in the avi wrapper).

[JustinChase]

This was added to the advanced import as "DVD Video (VOB)" in MC 10.0.94.

THANK YOU!!!!

It doesn't seem to import like other files, however.  I have to play the file in MC first, then I can tag it in playing now.  Even when I right-click on the file in Explorer, and hit MC...Import, it tells me no new files have been imported.

[TXgary]

JimH---version 94 does not import vob files.  I selected dvd (vob) then pointed to the directory where the vob files are located, it scans 5 but does not select any of them.  There are 5 vob files (all part of the same movie) in video_ts sub directory, but none are imported.

[JustinChase]

JimH---version 94 does not import vob files.  I selected dvd (vob) then pointed to the directory where the vob files are located, it scans 5 but does not select any of them.  There are 5 vob files (all part of the same movie) in video_ts sub directory, but none are imported.

That's what I'm seeing also.  Reports nothing imported.  But, it should actually only import the lowest numbered VOB file (usually 1), since it will point to the next, and I don't need/want 5-9 files for the same movie.

[TXgary]

ver 95 hangs when you point it to a directory with 1 movie made up of 5 vobs.  The directory contains less than 10 files, but the import hangs there.

[markp99]

MC10 & VOBs...interesting!

Rip'd a short DVD title and produced the nromal audio_ts and video_ts.  There are 4 VOBs in the video_TS directory, along with the corresponding IFO's.

Seeing similar result as others:  MC10 is .NOT. seeing these VOBs during import (yes, I selected the VOB import option )

[Nikolay]

Please keep in mind that although MC does import VOB files there are a couple of constrains:
1) VOB files must have corresponding INF file.
2) Decrypted VOB files will not work if copied directly to hard drive.
3) The majority of VOB files have locked region, so you would not be able to play them from a hard drive.

On the other hand, some VOB files can be renamed to MPG and played in MC.

Nikolay

[JustinChase]

Please keep in mind that although MC does import VOB files there are a couple of constrains:
1) VOB files must have corresponding INF file.
2) Decrypted VOB files will not work if copied directly to hard drive.
3) The majority of VOB files have locked region, so you would not be able to play them from a hard drive.

On the other hand, some VOB files can be renamed to MPG and played in MC.

Nikolay

In response...

1) In all of my DVD rips, I have a VTS_01_1.VOB file (note 01_1.VOB) and a VTS_01_0.IFO file (note 01_0.IFO).  My VOB files continue to usually 4-6.VOB, but NEVER a 0.VOB like the IFO files, so no truly corresponding IFO file is available for any DVD I have ripped.  I would guess this is true for all DVD rips.

2) How else would you get a VOB file on to a hard drive?  Pretty much doesn't it have to be decrypted to get on the drive?

3) Most DVD ripping software will remove the region lock, but even if not, most people will normally have DVD's that are for their correct region, so they should still play on the machine set for the same region.

Finally, all of my ripped DVDs play just fine in MC.  I would assume (I know, bad idea) that if they play fine, and MD should allow importing of VOB files, these limitations should not be a problem, since they play fine.  All I want is the ability to catalog my movies, with cover art and actor info, and director info, last played, etc.

Please let me know what I'm missing.

Thanks