Hi there,

I am familiar with capturing and editing video from my sony digital handycam, using Studio 8 (well, it was free!), and burning my own famil video dvds.
However, I still have some hi8mm tapes from my old camcorder. I cleverly sold this camera before capturing the footage (!!), so I found a company who can put the footage onto dvd for me. They said that the files i'll get are VOBs, which I understand are kind of standard dvd files? Anywho, Studio doesn't seem to support this file type. The company recommended Cyberlink PowerDirector, but I've read some mixed reviews on this product, including how slow it is to render.

So my questions are:
- firstly will VOB files be a nice high quality format for me to edit and preserve as much quality as poss?
- Do you know of any other software that will adequately edit these files or is PowerDirector my only choice?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Polly x x

I have been playing around with vob files in vegas that i ripped from a dvd. The problem i have is not editing the video footage but i can't seem to rip the sound. any help please

just wanted to bump this up cos i'm really in need of advice!
Polly x x

Well its been a long time since I last had to rip a DVD to something that was easily editable so I'm sure the way I'd do it isn't the fastest and best way out there but it works.

Up to you how you rip your DVDs and get your vobs but personally I use dvddecrypter (www.dvddecrypter.com though the site was down for me, quick google search and you'll find loads of places to get it). Really straight forward program where you select the streams you want and then hit rip (or something like that, long time since I used the program). Though since your DVD is coming from a video production company you should be able to just drag-n-drop them via explorer.

After you've got your VOBs, I use a program called DVD2AVI to convert it to a raw avi which nearly any video editing program can import. I couldn't find a direct site for it but you'll get it at http://www.divx-digest.com/software/dvd2avi.html. A warning about the Gloval version, there is a file in the zip called "lame_enc.dl", it should be "lame_enc.dll". The program is really simple to use, just open the first vob, it'll notice the rest and link to them as well. Then File, Save Avi then sit back and wait.

It'll give you an raw avi file of the video and a mpa file of the audio. Now here comes the messy part, so if anyone knows a better way please do speak up.

Studio8 wont except a .mpa audio file but winamp will! So personally I'd configure the Nullsoft Disk Writer output plugin to convert it to a raw wav which studio will accept.

If you need me to go into more detail on any points just give me a shout. I'll make a nice guide with pics. =)

No

Either convert to DV for editing or use a native MPEG editor such as MPEG video wizard. Please check the FAQ for more details: http://www.videoforums.co.uk/guide-faq-90.htm#9

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Thank you for your replies! Marc - bit worried about your "No"! How about this then... in your opinion do you think the quality will be better than my previous method (connect the hi8 camcorder to my new digital one via a/v cable, then the dv camera is connected to the pc via firewire, and the footage is captured that way) or noticeably worse?

I know, I know, so many questions - I should wait until I get the dvds back and have a look myself! The way I see it, the picture I was getting previously was pants, because of the tape itself, method of capture, my novice editing skills and the final render. Whatever I get back from this company can't be any worse! So I figure as long as I can preserve whatever quality there is in my edit and rendering, I should be at peace with the final product!

Thank you so much for your advice - I will definitely download those bits and pieces, and convert to dv before editing.

Anyone got any comments on the best editing software to preserve quality? Do some programs do a better job of this than others?

Polly x x

From the options you have, this would seem to be optimal for editing.

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True, however I sold the camera. That's the extremely clever part of my not-so-cunning plan i'm afraid!!

Thanks for all your help

Polly x x

I have been getting great results with TSUNAMI MPEG DVD AUTHOR. It will import VOB files which can be edited frame by frame. You can combine a number of VOB clips and can then burn to your hard disk or direct to a DVD single layer or double layer disk. If you import several clips it will burn them seamlessly as one VOB DVD which will play on most modern DVD players. You can get optional audio plugins to convert to PCM formats or keep the original formats without plugins. I am working with NTSC VOB files. I personally use Nero to burn the finished product from a folder on the hard drive.

The link in last post is PORNO CRAP.