Hi Eugenia,

The ripped files are fine if used as the VOBs -- perfect. I can play the ripped VOB files on the computer and I can burn the full VOBs on a DVD as well, unedited, or after using DVDshrink.

But she only wants 44 seconds inserted into the lecture video. There is the problem. I don't want the whole movie, just a short clip.

Thanks,
Dennis

For what it's worth, i always have this problem trying to use material ripped from DVDs, even my own DVDs that i've created in DVD Architect. When you try using portions longer than 44 seconds you'll start finding places where the sync suddenly jumps forward or backwards.

Do what you've been doing, ungrouping the audio and repositioning it. It's the fastest solution for your problem. You might be able to get away with doing that with the original ripped file as well, but i find the sync to be squirrely and it moves around. Rendering the section to AVI first locks down the sync error and then it's at least consistant after that.

I've given up ripping from DVDs. I use the analog output from the DVD player, run it through an A/V -> DV converter, and capture that through firewire to get a DV file to begin with. No sync problems at all that way.

I guess it's a Vegas bug then. This is worthy of a bug report using the online form.

Eugenia,

What an obvious solution! The hard way turns out to be the easy way. I'll remember that for the next time.

And, oh yes, there will be a next time -- this is a series of lectures. Just FYI, she is a midwife and wanted to show the clip from "Knocked Up" of the young child at the dinner table telling where babies come from. For a midwife, that's about the only funny moment in the movie. :)

Dennis

I've seen similar symptoms before, outside of Vegas - and that turned out to be the ripping software incorrectly working out the correct sample rate. Perhaps something similar is happening here?

It could be I'm doing something wrong.

The DVD wouldn't copy directly, so I copied the section that I wanted using DVD Decrypter. This (and in other copies I've done later to try to solve this problem) and other VOB files copied and played perfectly when used directly (in DVD-playback software like Power DVD). I could even make a DVD copy of the files.

However, they could not be edited without the sync problem appearing in VMS or VideoReDo (which I downloaded yesterday because it claimed to fix sync problems).

Since I have this deadline tomorrow, I grabbed everything I could find. Doing conversions in SUPER didn't work (that seems to work with everything), but "shrunk" copies in DVDShrink worked great -- only as VOB files. Those, too, wouldn't convert without going out of sync.

So I'm mystified as to what stage the problem comes in. The files play on DVD, off DVD, and 'shrunk'. I can play them and drag them right into VMS or open them in VideoReDo -- but they won't convert to another format, and won't even stay in sync in VMS.

This is probably obvious stuff to the ripping community, but copying somebody else's stuff hasn't ever interested me -- until this little 44-second nightmare!

Dennis

CHeck ouot TMPEG encoder
http://www.tmpg-inc.com/en/index.html

That stuff is pretty good at converting stuff for those who need to do what you're asking.

HTH

Ken

Couldn't it be that Sony leaves this 'bug' in Vegas on purpose to discourage illegal practices like ripping a commercial dvd? Don't expect Sony to help you rip dvds. They sell them, btw!

Also, why doesn't your wife simply show the movie clip from the dvd straightaway? I am a teacher myself, and as a teacher, I see myself as a rolemodel for young people. If possible, I try to avoid using ripped movies and other illegal downloads in the classroom. If teachers give up setting a good example, who's left?

The time you have wasted trying to get around this bug is disproportional compared to your wife playing the scene from the original dvd.

If you want a quick and easy solution, download the Snagit Trial (just google for it), and use that screencapture program to capture the 44'' fragment as a avi file.

I'm not sure protection is the reason there's a problem. As others have pointed out, you can't necessarily rip your own DVDs and transcode them successfully. It might just be part of wacky standards, such as the lack of data validation on CDs, or a process that only high-end professional software can perform effectively.

Ivan, I'm not sure what country you're posting from, but in the US, educational inclusion of short excerpts is covered by section 107 of the copyright law: "the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."

A teacher in fact should set an example. And one such example in an era of patent and copyright intimidation is that the law's purpose means it is limited in several ways -- this educational use among them. Technological measures that prevent such use are a back-door way of expanding protections outside the scope of the law.

As a composer who depends on royalty income, I'm a great believer in copyright -- just not where it overreaches the original text in the US constitution, where it reads in Article 8 (the basis for US copyright legislation), "The Congress shall have power [...] To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

I know this isn't a forum for debating copyright, so I respond only because the fair use provision is very important, and should not be ignored due to misunderstanding or fear.

Dennis

It can be about practicality.

You are doing a seminar with a laptop and projector and something like powerpoint (sigh). You embed the clip at the relevant point, click, and it plays. Much less hassle than skipping out of the presentation, loading up the dvd and navigating & playing the scene, then returning to PPT etc.

(Just as an example of why).

Kenny,

Yes, Powerpoint is exactly right -- an old version, too (97). I have OpenOffice.org, but my wife isn't ready to learn a new version with a new GUI.

Powerpoint is actually pretty good for this application because there aren't likely to be live births to give a demo with. :)

Seriously, though, what do you suggest for backup visuals (images, text, video) for a presentation? I had thought about doing a video, but that doesn't advance/reverse frames (and fade/fill text) like Powerpoint does, unless a bucket of short individual scenes is created ... which is enormous authoring work.

Thanks,
Dennis

I live in Belgium, Europe, and here there is no 'fair use' principle. Each commercial dvd starts which a copyright text stating that selling copied dvds equals stealing. The text going with it explicitly states that it is prohibited to use the dvd for public showings, schools included.
Still, I rest my case, as this is the wrong forum for this discussion.

You should use Snagit Trial for what you want to achieve.

Try downloading the trial version of VideoReDo and run your file through VideoReDo's Quick Stream Fix utility.

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion, but that was the second or third piece of software that I tried. VideoReDo doesn't even see the whole file, and truncates after a few minutes. I re-ripped, too. But I did try it on another file from that same film, and it doesn't fix the sync on that one.

But she gave her lecture two hours ago, so that one's moot at least. :)

Dennis