Hi,

already tried that, but it still only see's it as a 2 second clip.
I can extend the clip in the timeline and it stutters around all over the place. If i then render, i end up with 2 seconds repeated over and over.

K

Howdy Keevo,

This thing has been haunting me for over a year. I have tried everything mentioned regarding drag/drop and renaming. The ONLY way I have ever got a .vob file into V4 (or V5) is as follows:

1. Copy .vob file to HD
2. Run .vob file through dvd2avi
3. Run the .dv2 file through vfapiconv to get .avi markers
4. Run .vfapiconv file into V4

Good luck,

TomG

I have had really good luck running the DV2AVI .avi file straight into Vegas. Without the Vfapiconv.

See:

VOB files

Extracting Video from a DVD image

Don,

I guess you can bypass the VFAPIConv step if you create an .avi file out of DV2AVI. But what I do is to save the project in DVD2AVI which saves a .dv2 file (takes about 25 seconds for 1/2 gig) and then get your .avi markers in VFAPIConv (takes about 5 seconds). That way you save a ton of time and a lot of disk space since the original .vob file is still referenced. I don't think you can take the .dv2 file directly into V5.

TomG

Thanks all for your replys.

I have tried several of the ways mentioned.

Saving an AVI from DVD2AVI doesn't work. The AVI does nothing when brought into Vegas.

Saving the d2v and then run through VFAPIConv does not work. The resulting AVI won't show up in Vegas.

I can get it to work if I use TMPGenc to encode the d2v to an AVI (uncompressed), but this gives me a file of about 40 gigs for a 20 minute video clip. Or I can use TMPGenc to create a new m2v (which Vegas can't read either) and then encode again back to a mpg file. This way seems to lose a lot of quality.

In my view, and reading a lot of threads on this forum and others, the whole thing is very messed up.

Given that a VOB is essentially an MPEG2, it really shouldn't be so difficult to get Vegas to read VOB files.
I knoiw some of you can just drag the VOB files in, but I'm afraid I have tried many times to do this and it just will not work. I have a 40 minute DVD which is split up into 3 VOB's of 1 gig each. The first drags in ok, but the second drags in as a 2 second clip and the third just isn't recognised at all.

Come on Sony, I thought V5 would have sorted this out. I might have to try alternatives.

Any other thoughts??

K

No problems here doing this despite the fact that Vegas was never designed as an mpeg-2 editor. In general, yes you would be better off perhaps with an app designed to edit mpeg-2. I've tried one and well I have to say its not a pleasant experience. Editing mpeg, particularly what comes off most DVDs is just too processor intensive.
I've even been able to edit video from the DVD 220 camera but that is quite a chore. Ended up using DVD2AVI to convert from mpeg-2 to uncompressed AVI, ate up a LOT of disk space and a lot of files to stitch together. Also had to deal with ac3 audio problems, even MSP7 couldn't handle the ac3 file so that needed to be deloused first.
But in the end the result looks OK.

Well, I’ve done lots of searches and read lots of threads about this… thanks especially to johnmeyer for his summary post on this (referenced on many of the threads).

I understand that re-editing these .VOB files isn’t an official feature of Vegas, and it certainly seems to be a “black art”.

I’ve tried all the suggestions, and like many others when I put the .VOB (even if renamed as an .MPG) on the timeline, I only get 5 seconds of the video; even though the actual file is much longer. I don’t understand why this works for some and not for others. But as it is not a supported feature we may never know.

I have been able to convert it to an AVI, and can use that in Vegas. (I used VirtualDub). Quality looked OK to me. But no success directly with a .VOB/.MPG from a disc.

Mark

I don’t understand why this works for some and not for others. But as it is not a supported feature we may never know.

I suspect that the problem may lie in what type of VOB file you are trying to put directly onto the timeline. All of my posts assumed that you are putting a "simple" VOB file onto the timeline -- one that you had created in DVD Architect, for instance. Such VOB files contain video and audio and not much else. However, if you are trying to use a VOB file that you have ripped and decrypted from a Hollywood movie, those contain many sound tracks, navigation pointers, and multiple subtitles, all multiplexed together into a single, very complex stream in one VOB file.

My guess is that when Vegas tries to play one of these, it goes along until it hits a subtitle, or additional audio information (perhaps DTS) and then chokes.

The solution would be to use one of a dozen shareware tools that can "demux" the VOB into all of its separate components. Once you strip out the video portion of the VOB into its own MPEG file by itself, I would be very surprised to hear that Vegas wouldn't play it from the timeline. It might still be sluggish, but that is the nature of playing MPEG files in Vegas -- it apparently has no code that has been optimized to hold in memory all the MPEG playback pointers.

Kevvo:

Try this. Get a copy of a joining tool called "File Merger" (do a Google search), and join your three vob files into one large vob file. Then try renaming the large file as an mpg file, and see if that works any better.

I found I had to re-author some DVDs for a project, and while I could pull the vob files into Vegas after renaming them, there were odd artifacts right at the seams on the timeline. But by using File Merger I was able to get a seamless result. Perhaps this technique will help your situation also.

Oooh, wait a minute...
Just tried to follow my own advice about the Google search. Turns out this "File Merger" program is not easy to find, since there are lots of programs with that name.

Turns out this particular program was written by a college student in Canada who keeps a low profile. I tracked it down to here.

It may be that numerous other utilities can do exactly the same thing; I just haven't tried them.

Is this a DVD you authored? Copy Protection?

I've taken .vob files created in DVDA, Encore, DVDSPro2 and DVDLab and renamed and dropped them on the timeline in Vegas 4 and 5 with no problems. I have problems rendering to Quicktime but to .avi it's really slick and fast.

Like has been mentioned before, if the file is more complex than just video and audio, other measures may be the way to go.

I just noticed you're using the demo of Vegas 5.. I'm certain you cannot do anything with Mpeg without activating the Mainconcept encoder. I don't believe the demo will allow this. That could be your problem right there. Do you own Vegas 4? Have you tried this in that?

Mike

Kevvo,

I know you said that you tried to run the d2v file from dvd2avi into vfapiconv and the resulting avi file didn't show up in V5, but did you make sure to register the output file from vfapiconv with the associated .bat file that comes with vfapiconv so that V5 will be able to see it? That was one step I forgot to mention that tripped me up for a while. And again, the vob file I was trying to edit was a fairly simple format from a lab which converted some 16mm film to a DVD (video only, no audio).

TomG

A VOB file is not just an MPEG file. It may contain extra information that would pose difficulty for Vegas, including menu structures; alternate audio tracks; subtitles; branching indicators; etc...

That is why processing the VOB with the tools mentioned above is usually necessary.

I have all the details regarding importing the files.
You need DVD junior's integrator to fix this problem.
Took me 6 months to find the solution.
go to my web site at www.twinankhs.com
you need to re-combine the multiple vob files into 1 using the integrator,
like from a set top box dvd-recorder or dvd camcorder)
Please email me once you have found this to work....