Thanks for the information the VOB > DV conversion, appears to have worked a treat however two problems have emerged:

1. When I try to import the large DV file created (12Gb) into Elements via 'Add Media' it doesn't appear to be downloading (no indication on download progress bar after 10 mins). Am I being too impatient?

2. When I played the new DV file to check formatting was OK there was no audio (tried on both Windows Media player and PowerDVD 5)