I like FlaskMPEG for this. You may have to experiment with different settings to get the output the way you want, but you can easily select just a short clip to convert each time.

Rob

I use TMPGEnc DVD Author. Actually this is what I used before DVDA2 and continue to use it for it's simplicity. It's super cheap, supports AC3 and best of all, you pop a DVD into your computer, it will extract the files into MPG files. I'm now using this technique to bring my files into DVDA2. My workflow is, edit in V5, export via Firewire to my Pioneer DVR-7000 for a realtime MPEG2 encoding. Extract files off DVD-R, Author, reburn.

Just use DVD2AVI,(decodefix,DGMPGDec)
Look here:
http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?s=2f8a99c4930101a9e2e137ae3f47426a&forumid=5

"export via Firewire to my Pioneer DVR-7000 for a realtime MPEG2 encoding. Extract files off DVD-R, Author, reburn"

What a novel idea. Any degradation in the process? It seems like there would be somewhere along the way.

Mike

An easy way to do this is with Vegas.

In the Vegas explorer right click and change the view to all files

Drop the VOB on the tineline and then render as an AVI using whichever codec you want

Paul

Hey Paul,

Keep in mind that you will only get video that way and no sound.

Clearvu,

Thanks for that it is a while since I have done it, forgot about the audio

Paul

Try to go to www.videohelp.com
Search for DVD2AVI. You'll need also vfapi codec. It works this way: you set your project with DVD2AVI and save it. Open VFAPI codec, convert this project as a fake AVI and then set Vegas or TMPGENC to generate your final real AVI. Trying to re-encode this file to MPEG2 or dropping VOB files/demuxed VOB files (MPEG2) directly on Vegas timeline or any other NLE software for editing purposes and re-encoding it again as MPEG2, will generate some banding on video. A way to fix this would be adding noise to a signal to mask quantization noise (dithering) or using a TMPGENC feature named Deinterlace (even field adaptation). For me, dithering gave a better result. :)
PS: I haven't tried this yet, but it might work "despite all the passes" (some might say): Capture the generated avi tru a mini dvcam. Then recapture it again tru firewire as MPEG2 with Vegas. Open the file and drop it on Vegas timeline. Edit it and give it a final render. Is the banding still there? If it is, you can follow the other process described above (dithering and deinterlacing).
Hope this is not too confusing.

Hey folks,......I've been away for a few days , and thought I'd check this thread,... since I started it. Thanks for all those highly creative approaches to converting VOB files to AVI. I guess there's multiple ways to solve this, but actually I was able to open a new project in my Vegas 4,....drop the VOB on the timeline,......render as AVI,.......and to my delight it gave me the audio as well. Then, as an AVI with complete audio intact, I can easily edit it, or pull just the sections I want for insertion into my other project.

I don't know why some folks report not being able to access the audio when dropping the VOB file on a new timeline and rendering to AVI, ......while it worked for me. Perhaps different forms of audio encoding are more easily back engineered than others,so to speak. I don't know, but perhaps someone with more technical savy than I could explain it.

Roxy11