Hello Video Forum community,


Hopefully there's an answer out there for this frustrating problem...


Until recently I've been using Vegas to successfully import/rip vob files from my own DVD discs to edit them. However, for some mysterious reason, if I now rip a vob file and place it on the timeline it will:

1. take much longer to open than it used to
2. show as being only, say, 7 minutes long when I know it should be 20
3. hang in the preview window if I move the cursor
4. sometimes lose sync with the audio

What's even more puzzling is if a previously ripped, properly functioning file is ripped again from the same disc it will now refuse to co-operate! Even Windows Movie Maker doesn't like the file. I've used other software to rip the file with no success. I reinstalled Vegas (and the other software) but the same thing happens. And changing the file extension to .mpg doesn't work.


This is a shame because I've got lots of old 8mm video footage of family and friends copied straight to DVD which I'd like to edit to remove some of the dross (if and when I eventually get round to it).


My system is:
Dell 530 Inspiron
Windows Vista Home Premium
Intel Core2 Duo 2.2GHz
2046 (2GB) RAM
320GB Hard Drive (roughly half of that is free space)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card (256MB)


I'm using Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8 Platinum and I've only had the computer since January this year. Has something on my PC changed? I'd hate to have to reinstall Windows. Or maybe my DVD drive is faulty?


Everything worked beautifully before – what has happened?! I'd be very grateful for any help on this matter – even educated guesses are welcome!


Many thanks,
Geoff.

I cant provide a sloution but I have found that v7 sometimes does weird things when editing ripped DVDs . On my system they sometimes freeze the editor for several minutes - weird.

Hi Geoff,
If you're fopllowing exactly the same workflow as previously (when it worked) and the problem also occurs when using other software it's fairly safe to assume the problem lies with something which is common - the OS, the hardware or (possibly) codecs.

Are you able to do a system restore to a time before the problem occurred? Can you uninstall any codecs or software which might have been installed since it worked? As for the DVD drive - Dells normally have some diagnostic test utilitries which work outside the operating system (either from a bootable CD or accessed by pressing certain keys when booting.

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Tim

Thanks for your replies guys,


Mark: Sorry to hear you're having similar problems. Hope you're able to avoid my sense of frustration!


Tim: Having trawled the internet for some weeks now I have heard mention of “broken” codecs. Since I can't tell exactly when the problem occurred to help me identify a rogue codec or piece of software, I'll probably have to reinstall Windows at some stage. But I'll definitely look into removing older software on my system to see if that helps.

I thought about installing a codec package like K-Lite. Is this a good idea or even necessary at this stage?


I did do a System Restore, but unfortunately I could only go back a week or so - this problem revealed itself a few months back.


At times I have noticed an error message which says something like: “Invalid Navigation Structure”. What does that mean? And DVDShrink could only see the last title on the disc (actually has 20 titles). Could the DVD drive be faulty even though it plays DVDs perfectly well? I must try that diagnostics test you mentioned.


Oh, and I've just remembered that I can successfully rip a DVD that I made in DVD Architect (Studio 4.5). Could there perhaps be a problem related to my DVD recorder (Sony) which I used to copy the original 8mm tapes onto discs?


Thanks again for the advice,
Geoff.

Hmmm - are you saying that your problem only occurs with discs you've created on this Sony deck? Are commercial DVDs/DVDs from other sources OK?
Might be worth downloading GSpot and seeing if you can identify differences between the VOBs on DVDs from different sources (not a cure, but might point us in a direction or even eliminate a possibility of two)

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Tim

Tim: Sorry for not getting back to you sooner – been a bit busy. However, you might be happy to hear that I've overcome some of my DVD ripping problems.


Somewhere along the line I inadvertently changed my method of extracting DVD files. I've now “rediscovered” the correct way to do it in Vegas (file > import > DVD camcorder disc > etc etc) – I had been trying to use the Import Media button on the Project Media tab – this does not work with my Sony deck (and probably never has done). How I came to use this route I'll never know, but I do feel a little embarrassed.


DVD Shrink, though, still does not work very well with my Sony deck. But it does seem to be happy with commercial DVDs (depending on how encrypted they are). But I'm not too bothered by that.


So my Dell PC must've been working fine all along – how could I have doubted! Lesson for today: don't go pushing buttons you're not supposed to!


Thanks for your help anyway. Hopefully others will have learned something here too.


regards,
Geoff.

That's the way to do it. Don't be too embarrassed. We've all forgotten something we never knew we knew. Glad you're up and running.

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Tim