How to rip DVD video for Vegas?

VMP wrote on 5/21/2014, 6:36 AM

A client gave me a prepared DVD (with Video_TS folder etc) of their own archive footage, they want me to use some clips from it.
They have no other format available. (I know the quality will not be great when re-converted)

Vegas has a handy CD rip function build in for audio Cd's.
But what could I use to rip/convert the DVD to a HQ file, which then can be imported into Vegas?

As output format I am thinking of Prores or some other format with no further quality loss.

Thanks,
VMP

Comments

Gary James wrote on 5/21/2014, 6:55 AM

The best way to do this is to take advantage of a little known feature in Sony Vegas.

Simply open up your non protected DVD in Windows Explorer. Navigate to the VIDEO_TS folder, and drag the VTS_01_0.IFO file into the Vegas timeline. This imports the entire DVD A/V media chain, and includes all DVD chapter markers as Media Markers in the file.

Now, there is one great big "IF" involved in this method. When the DVD was authored, the movie title must be the first physical title laid out in the VTS. If not, what you get when you drag in the IFO file might be an intro video or other optional title. Fortunately, most DVD's have the movie title as the first video in the VTS.

rs170a wrote on 5/21/2014, 7:42 AM

+1 for Gary's suggestion. I've used it several times and it works like a charm :)

Mike

Former user wrote on 5/21/2014, 8:29 AM

There is also an import DVD function in Vegas. Under FILE.

rs170a wrote on 5/21/2014, 8:37 AM

DaveT2, Gary's method gets around the annoying brief audio dropout between VOB segments.

Mike

Former user wrote on 5/21/2014, 8:41 AM

Mike, I know about that but that is really only an issue if your DVD video spans more than one VOB. I have used both methods successfully so I just wanted to add another option ad let the OP know that Vegas did have an import for DVDs similar to CDs

Thanks

PeterDuke wrote on 5/21/2014, 8:43 AM

What you must not do is drag the VOB files directly to the timeline, unless there is only one or else you will get the annoying dropouts between VOB files.

Yet another way is to first concatenate the VOB files into a single file and make its extension MPG. You can either use the command COPY /B file1.VOB+file2.VOB+file3.VOB file.MPG, or use the free utility VOB2MPG, which is less tedious.

rs170a wrote on 5/21/2014, 8:49 AM

[i]Mike, I know about that but that is really only an issue if your DVD video spans more than one VOB.]/i]

DaveT2, thanks for the confirmation and clearing up any potential confusion. Most of my work is long projects meaning 2 or more VOB files. That's why I like and use Gary's method most of the time.

Mike

Laurence wrote on 5/21/2014, 10:00 AM

The trouble with using the Vegas DVD import is that your project directory ends up having several gigabytes of MPEG2 DVD data when all you really need are a couple of seconds of it.

With this in mind, I apply a different approach. I load the VOBs into MPEG Wizard from womble.com and smart render losslessly just the parts I need into the couple of short mpeg2 clips I actually need. It works really well. You can also do this with Video Redo.

VMP wrote on 5/21/2014, 10:01 AM

Thanks all for your feedback.

I have tried importing VTS_01_0.IFO, but it only imports a single clip not the full chain.
Tried importing the seperate vobs, by dragging them on to the timeline but the audio doesn't run in synch.

Finally imported via File->Import->DVD Camcoder disc like DaveT2 suggested.
This created seperate Mpeg files they play fine on the timeline.

I have also compared the mpeg files with the original Vob files.
Just to make sure that Vegas didn't recompress the Vobs to mpeg.
After comparison both the Vobs and the mpeg quality looks identical.

I did this by placing both files (Vob and Mpeg) on two tracks, top and below and muting/soloing the one on top to quickly see if there was any noticable difference.

I didn't notice the import function before thanks!

VMP

Gary James wrote on 5/21/2014, 5:37 PM

"I have tried

Just to be sure we're on the same page, you DO NOT want to IMPORT anything using this method. You should either drag and drop the VTS_01_0.IFO file from Windows Explorer directly into the Vegas timeline, or use File / Open to open the .IFO file.

VMP wrote on 5/21/2014, 6:26 PM

Gary, Indeed I have dragged the VTS_01_0.IFO from Windows explorer to the timeline :-). That is what I meant with import in that sentence.

VMP