MPEGs not recognized correctly

DKomp wrote on 3/21/2006, 11:21 PM
New user here. Earlier this month I had ten days to learn Vegas and cut a six minute promo reel (incorporating raw DV footage, DVD excerpts, CDs and JPEGs) for a trade show in Japan (I'm in LA). Thanks to the information on this forum I was able to do it with a minimum of hassle and very successful results. My thanks and praise.

Now I'm trying to edit down 75 minutes of footage from a home-burned DVD. Though initially recorded as one continuous event by a DMR, the resulting DVD-R segments the data into four VOB files, each roughly 19 minutes in length (three files at 1,048,574KB, the fourth is 1,047,818KB). I've moved them onto a hard drive dedicated to Vegas and each plays fine with PowerDVD.

The weird part is that only the fourth (smallest) VOB is properly recognized by Vegas -- namely as an 18-minute event. The other three VOBs are treated as 3 to 5 minute events (the first minutes from each respective file), even though their file sizes are listed correctly on the properties bar.

I can even "slide" through the entire file from start to finish, but can't expand it on the timeline to its proper length. I've tried addressing the files directly off the DVD, but got the same results. (I've imported them into Project Media, as well as directly onto the timeline or Trimmer, with no change in results.)

Has any one run into this situation before? (No problems accessing DVD files on the previous project, both with factory pressed and DVD-R media.) The footage is archival and I can't get access to it except on this DVD. (It's a DVD-R; should I try reburning it as a DVD+R?)

Thanks for listening.

Comments

IanG wrote on 3/22/2006, 1:10 AM
There's a maximum size for VOB files, so having more than 1 is what you'd expect.

I'm not sure what you mean by "expanding" the files on the timeline - are you trying to zoom in, and if so, how are you doing it? You say the files are being treated as 3-5 minute events - is that what the time markers are showing? If you've read the files OK then burning a new DVD isn't going to do anything for you.

Ian G.
DKomp wrote on 3/22/2006, 9:28 AM
By "expanding" I meant trying to simply drag the edge of the event to the file's true length. (No go on that.) I zoomed in until the timeline showed each individual frame but I couldn't get the event's length to alter in that mode either.

I wasn't aware there was a ceiling on VOB size, though I can see the logic of this in retrospect. Is this not an issue for the full version of the progam? I guess what I need to do is find a way to split the VOBs into smaller units. Any further thoughts? Thanks.
IanG wrote on 3/23/2006, 1:31 AM
>Is this not an issue for the full version of the progam?
No, it's part of the DVD standard - DVDs are expected to be made up of sequentialy numbered VOB files, not more than 1 MByte each. There's also an IFO file, which provides the navigational information.

Just to be clear about what's going wrong, you have a vob which should be 19 minutes long, but the timeline shows it's only 2-3 min long. When you play it on the timeline you get the full 19 minutes? What happens when you try dragging an edge? You should see the event start to repeat itself. I'm really grasping at straws here, but I'm wondering if you've got something like multiple angles in your DVD. VOB files can contain multiple video streams - maybe that's true for yours and VMS is showing the timing information for the wrong stream. That's a complete SWAG, but it would be interesting to know what's in the original DVD. It might be interesting to try splitting the events on the time line and see what that does.

Ian G.
DKomp wrote on 3/23/2006, 11:39 AM
I am bringing into Project Media a selection of VOB files of 1.05GB in size. Sometimes Vegas posts them correctly (around 20 minutes in length) but just as often they are "seen" as only a few seconds (5 secs to 22 seconds), even though the file size is shown correctly. The VOB sources vary but all are from home-burned DVDs of DV footage (so there's no alternate camera angle issue).

The Project Media pane shows the correct size of the files (1.05GB) but one will list the correct length, another the incorrect. I can't detect any difference in the VOBs aside from the DVDs I've imported from (both are DVD-Rs).

As noted, after putting the VOB file into the timeline as an event, I've tried to simply drag the tail-end ("expanding" by lengthening the event) but this doesn't work; the event starts repeating rather than changing in length.

There must be some simple program out there that can divide a file into smaller units, but I've yet to find it. What puzzles me is that Vegas seems to be arbitrarily treating VOB files of the same exact size in two different ways. I wish I could post a JPEG showing the Project Media window and how these files are being displayed.

thanks
Myles Strous wrote on 3/23/2006, 3:42 PM
Ctrl-drag (hold down the Ctrl key while clicking and dragging with the mouse) the tail-end of the event to change the length of the event (of course this results in the video slowing down, or speeding up if you reduce the length of the event).

Regards, Myles.
DKomp wrote on 3/23/2006, 9:35 PM
Dragging the event to lengthen it was one of the first things I tried. No soap; the event stayed at its abbreviated length, going to slow-mo. (Trying to extend the file like an edit only makes it start repeating the same few seconds.)

Today I installed DVtool and cut one of the VOB files in half, creating two VOBs well under 1MG from one of the top limit (1.05MG). This did not help matters. The smaller files still load up as only being a few seconds long! There must be something about those files specifically that's causing this as I have other 105MG VOBs, also on DVD-R's, also burned with a set-top DMR machine, that read just fine.

I'm going to get a conversion program and try porting the VOBs to AVIs; maybe they'll load that way. (What a hassle.)

Is there someone at Sony I can bug about this?
IanG wrote on 3/24/2006, 3:37 AM
>I can even "slide" through the entire file from start to finish

This is the bit that's confusing me - are you saying that you can view the full 19 minutes on the timeline?

Ian G.
ggrussell wrote on 3/24/2006, 1:16 PM
Reburning to DVD+R wouldn't solve anything. Why are you editing VOB or MPG files when you have the original DV Tape? You wouldn't have any of problems just capturing driectly from the DV tape. I own several editors , Movie Studio 6 being one of those. Regardless of what software you own, editing MPEG can be a challenge. Stick with DV AVI and you will be problem free.

If you are going to re-record anyway, capture from the camcorder into Movie Studio.
dvd300man wrote on 3/25/2006, 1:10 PM
What version on VMS are you using? I am using VMS plat. 6.0a (build 85). I copied a 1.05G *.vob file to my harddrive, renamed it *.mpg, and used explore to add it to the timeline. Everything seemed to work ok (27min video). Is this happening on all large *.vob files?
Chienworks wrote on 3/25/2006, 2:22 PM
With version 6 it would be better to use the "File / Import / Import DVD camcorder disc" function rather than copying the VOB files to your hard drive.
DKomp wrote on 3/25/2006, 5:19 PM
I tried renaming the VOB files as MPGs but that didn't change anything. I also contacted Sony directly, who said that Vegas only supports camcorder DVD files. This explains how the same size VOB files were being handled differently within Vegas -- the source for some of the DV footage (supplied on DVD-R) must have been sourced from camcorder DVD.

Nothing I've tried so far works with VOB files that do not derive from DVD camcorders. Smaller size VOBs will import to their full length, but these have serious sync problems -- the audio can be off by almost ten seconds by the end of a ten-minute event.

There might be a program out there that will turn VOBs into MainConcept MPGs but I haven't found it. Bottomline, I think I'll just have to recapture the footage within Vegas via Firewire and live with the quality hit; this seems to be the most practical. Maybe down the road someone will come up with a workaround for this issue.

(I'm using the most recent release and build of Platinum.)