Authoring with .vobs

[Technophyle]

Hello all! Hope this post finds everyone doing well.

So, right to the meat of the problem. I have been trying to come up with a way to copy a VHS home movie with a simple menu and chapter points.

Note: This is not Copyrighted material. This is all home movie type footage. Kids birthdays, ball games and the occasional wedding.

First attempt was with a Panasonic DMR-ES35VS VHS DVD combo unit. While this unit did a nice job of inserting chapters (with thumbnails) every time it saw the index signal on the original tape, it would back the tape up a few frames thus overlapping the the 2 chapters. This made it really difficult to watch.

Second was an LG DR787T recorder only. This unit sets a chapter point every 5 minutes but does not create a menu with thumbnails to choose them from. You end up with one long title with chapters you cant choose unless you use the chapter forward button once the title is playing.

I have also tried several software solutions. The most promising was TitleWriter. It did a nice job inserting the chapters (with thumbnails) but when a chapter was chosen from the main menu it played that chapter only then returned to the main menu. And, there was no "Play All" feature.

Now the actual questions(s)....

Is the problem I am seeing with TitleWriter typical or is it user error (very possible)?

Would TMPGEnc DVD Author be the answer?

Does anyone know of a hardware solution that would solve my problem?

I really appreciate any help at all!!


Thanks in advance,

Technophyle

[r0lZ]

I like Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD to reauthor home movies. You can do clean edits, add transitions, select chapter points, and create simple menus. However, it is not free.

[Technophyle]

Thanks r01Z...

I am ok with spending some money to get the job done, but I just want to make sure I spend it on the right things.

Also, the recorders write .vob files to the disk, Is Womble capable of working with vob's or do they need converted to MPEG?

Technophyle

[r0lZ]

A big advantage of Womble DVD (there are other versions) is exactly that it can work on VOB files directly. Furthermore, when you cut a file, if re-encodes only the current GOP at the cut point (approx 1/2 second.) Same thing when you add transitions. Therefore, there is (globally) no quality loss.

However, I haven't found a way to load a long movie, made of several VOBs, easily. I wrote a little plugin for PgcEdit to generate a little file that can be used to load all VOBs at once. The same plugin can also be used to export the current chapter points, and import them in Womble. It is available on my homepage.

Also, Womble has several limitations, such as no support for subtitles, and only one or 2 audio tracks. I'm not sure it knows AC3 neither. These limitations are important when you use it to re-author a commercial DVD, but are not important for home movies.

Try the evaluation version first anyway...

[Technophyle]

I will certainly give it a try. At this point I am getting desperate!

Yeah, the other limitations don't concern me. This set-up will dedicate to home video.

You wouldn't happen to have or know where I can find a guide for it, would you?


Technophyle

[r0lZ]

There is a good help file with Womble, with good step by step examples for beginners.
It is relatively simple to use, once you have understood its philosophy, and mastered its somewhat obscure GUI.

[FallenAngel]

With regard to Titlewriter -- Sounds like no user error--Thats the typical navigation of a multi movie dvd-- Haven't really released it yet -- Play All Is on the Todo list

[Technophyle]

FallenAngel - Thanks for the reply! You have written a nice program and a "Play All" would be a nice addition.

If I could find a way to combine all the .vob files and placed the chapters where I need the DVD should continue to play from that point, correct?

r01z - I have downloaded Womble and am trying to figure it out. Thanks again for your help.

Technophyle

[FallenAngel]

Yes -- But the menu generator works as a switcher for multiple movies -- the chapter/audio menu is just a plain generic. So if you combined them up you would end up with say 1 movie and a Menu with only 1 thumb pointing to your compiliation then play would proceed thru each "chapter" with TW's old style generic for ch selection (the old style is not fancy).

You are right Play All solves all your problems Tw's old style switcher has it. Still learning DvdAuthor command syntax -- xml Command syntax Support is terrible.

[Technophyle]

I think it's great that you have put the effort in this far and made it available for the rest of us to use.

Thanks again for the help.


Technophyle