VideoFab Converter help

I am trying out the VideoFab Converter program to copy DVDs to PSP. For some reason, every DVD that I try the fourth VOB file from the DVD (VTS_01_4) cannot be read. I get an error message that the file is not supported. I have tried DVDFAB mobile and this file works. I like the versitility of the VideoFab Converter, but why is every VTS_01_4.VOB file not read? Is this something with the trial version???

DVDFab Mobile and VideoFab have their own sub-forum now, so this post will probably be moved by a moderator later. VideoFab does not read or decrypt DVDs, it is a file converter, and at present VOB files are not supported as Sources. You should use DVDFab Gold or Platinum with the mobile option to make files for your PS3 from DVDs.

Thanks for your reply. I have made VOB files from multiple DVDs using DVDFab (DVDdecrypter) and saved to the hard disk. These VOB files are read by VideoFab Converter, at least they are listed as usable files. I have tried 4 DVDs. I decrypt to the hard drive and each DVD results in 5-6 VOB files. When I load these files into VideoFab Converter, all of them are read and converted nicely, except the 4th VOB file of each DVD (VTS_01_4). Is there a reason why VideoFab Converter will not use/accept/recognize the fourth file of any DVD I try?
Thanks again for your help....

I have no idea. When I try to read decrypted DVD VOBs from a VIDEO_TS folder it pops up a message that the format is not supported. (v.1.0.1.8). Not sure what is happening here. Maybe Ting will look in during the holiday and give us some insight. I don't believe VideoFab reads the IFOs so it has no way of knowing what VOBs are associated with what Titles on the DVD.

Thanks, I would appreciate any help. I am trying this program now and really like the conversions. I would like to purchase, but not if I can't convert all the file types it lists as compatable.

hi,
This looks very strange, VideoFab not any limit for this, I will try it, all of your DVD have the same problem ? or you only add the fourth vob to convert , there are any problem ?

Thanks.

Thanks Ting. Could this be a FAT32 file size limit problem? gregbunch, are your hard drives NTFS or FAT32 file system? The 4th 1GB VOB would be over the limit for FAT32.

Thanks for helping out with this. My file system is NTFS and all the VOBs seem to be the same size (1GB) except for the last one. I have tried several DVDs and they all have a problem with VOB_01_4. For example, I just tried another DVD tonight. After ripping to my HD, I have 6 VOB files. VOB_01_1 - VOB_01_5 are 1GB in size and VOB_01_6 is 823MB. I can convert all the VOB files exept VOB_01_4. When I try to select this file to convert I get an error message that states a failue to open the file and that the file is not supported.
Thanks again for your help.

As a side note, I just upgraded my PSP to firmware 5.03. Now all my videos that used to look really nice have terrible choppy motion. Do you guys know if Sony changed anything with the way videos play back?

Sounds maybe like Sony took out or changed the interlace/deinterlace fix they put in a few revisions back. Try changing the conversion framerate in DVDFab. I get the same not supported message with VOBs.

I just tried lowering the framerate and still choppy playback. This is really annoying. Just when I thought I had everything figured out... Sony screws up the video playback.....

Is there any way to revert to older firmware to see if that is truly the problem?

There is no way to revert back to an earlier firmware (per Sony's website). Unless you try a hacked version... homebrew???? I have tried other video files that I used to watch that looked great on my PSP and now they have the same terrible motion problems. I don't know what else could be wrong exept the new firmware...

If files that were good before are bad now, it is almost surely the Sony firmware. There is the possibility that they have actually improved it and your TV, if it is set for 2:3 correction, is double-correcting for that. Try changing that setting on the TV--correction on and off-- and see if it makes any difference. Could the new firmware have added interlace or pulldown controls to a menu somewhere on the PS3? I realize this is an unrealistic hope.

I have not seen any action on this topic for a while, but I'm hoping someone out there is still looking into the situation. I have purchased the Videofab product today (downloaded a few hours ago and registration key installed) as well as DVDfab platinum, so it's not a trialware problem.

I am receiving exactly the same error on some VOB files from a DVD, and not others. Between DVDs, it is not always the same numbers. On movie A, it is 1_0, 1_1, 3_2, 3_4, 4_2, and 4_3. On Movie B, it is 1_0, 3_0, 3_4, 5_2, and 10_1.

While some of these are files I don't need on my mobile device, some are, as previously reported, parts of the main feature. Meanwhile, other parts of the main feature, as well as other chapters work just fine. There does seem to be some particular affinity for the 4th VOB in a chapter chain, though, and since it is usually the concluding chapter of a movie, this is especially annoying.

When the same folders/files are processed using DVDFAB into an AVI or MKV file, all chapters are read and processed without error. I understand I could use the MOBILE option and manual settings to make files for my WinMobile devices, but then why did I spend 40$ for the Videofab product?

The files were extracted from a CSS protected DVD using DVD Decrypter, because until I read the forum I didn't find the link to the CSS enabled DVDFAB. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.


Thanks
Fred

The DVDDecrypter could possibly be an issue, particularly if these are discs with weird/new structure protection variants. If you have the CSS version installed now, try just one of those that showed the problem with DVDFab instead of Decrypter to make the VIDEO_TS folder and see if the file conversion works any differently.

Hi Greg,

Thanks for answering my problem. Sorry about the long delay, I have been overloaded with work and hadn't gotten back to digitizing in a while.

I have tried as you suggested, and use DVDFAB to extract the DVD's contents (it's slower than the other, BTW).

I have the same problem with the VideoFAB product no matter the source of the files.

As a result, I'm making a max-resolution high-bit per pixel 2-pass AVI of the VIDEO_TS folder, then running VideoFAB against that to lower the resolution and the BPP. The results are acceptable, though they weren't with a standard-quality one pass conversion.

This is a very slow process as well (1.5-2 hours for the initial AVI alone) even though the machine is an Intel Core2Quad @3.21GHz (oc) w/4G dual bank DDR2 and RAIDed SATA 3.0 disks. I see the performance for the two threads (DVDFAB and FABCORE) bouncing between 11% and 94%, so they're running pretty well unimpeded.

On the flip side, running a multicore Whetstone benchmark (@ belownormal priority) while processing an AVI still yields 3.5GFlops instead of 6.3 with an idle CPU - how many threads does the FABCORE actually use? (ie, can I use two parallel copies without them stepping all over each other?)

This raises a side question or two: Is this performance (72fps+/-) normal on this type of hardware? Is there something that will raise the speed of the rendering?

Thanks
Fred

chipmonk3775
I'm not sure if you addressed your last post to Gregbuch or to me, but I will reply since I have some questions. Could you explain why you are processing the entire VIDEO_TS folder? I am also not clear on why you are doing the two step process (1st DVDFab then VideoFab). As to the speed, my Core 2 duo laptop gets 60-65 fps with H264 w/AAC or MP3 audio, about 125 fps with audiocopy, all this with a 480x270 screen and around .35 bits/pixel. If you are using a larger screen and higher bits/pixel, the conversion rate you are seeing I would think is not out of line. Make sure you don't have a bottleneck somewhere, e.g. reading and writing the same HDD or optical and hard drives on the same controller. You can also experiment some with the memory allocation settings in Common Settings-> DVD to Mobile. I'm really not clear on your goals for these conversions.

Hi,

I'm not actually processing the entire folder for viewing on my PDA. I am, however, extracting the entire folder to hard drive from the DVD as the initial step (so as to have an electronic copy of the physical DVD, in case something happens to the media).

Then, I open VideoFAB in order to only process the main movie sections (VOB) to make a small copy for my WinMobile PDA; the movie usually has 4-6 1GB sections. It is when I open the folder in the program that I get errors that "the format is not recognized" for only some of the VOB files - in most cases, at least one of those files is part of the main feature. I can't therefore make the small AVI directly.

OK, then it's normal. I am doing a max resolution conversion (640x480 or higher, depending on the DVD) with about .3-.4 bpp depth and AAC/DTS digital sound.

You're right, I will have to add 2 more RAIDed disks for the output, to see if that speeds things up. The optical isn't the problem, since it's on the PATA channel by itself, and I extract to HDD before beginning the conversion. I do all conversions locally before sending the whole package to the fileserver, so network bandwidth isn't the problem. I'll also check memory allocation settings.

There are three goals:
1) Full copy of the DVD on the network. First, for backup; second, for watching a DVD on my TV from the electronic copy
2) Having a hi-res AVI to use on my laptop when traveling to foreign countries. If I need to relax in the evening, I usually turn on the TV, but if I can't understand it, then it isn't relaxing. Thus, the movies in a smaller filesize I can take with me
3) Small-filesize @lower resolution for use on my PDA/WinMobile device when on planes or in airports waiting for planes, when I really can't use my laptop. Multi-hour layovers go a lot faster with decent entertainment, and the shorter (2-4 hour) flights are usually on planes without individual entertainment options


Thanks,
Fred

All makes sense now! I'm not sure about the error you are getting (I assume with VideoFab), but it might be easier to process both your low res and hi res MPEG-4 conversions with DVDFab Mobile. You could set them both up on the mobile task list and just walk away until they are both done, and DVDFab handles DVD content (i.e. sources) as Titles rather than as files, so the placement of the video in the VOBs is read from tables in the IFO files and less likely to produce glitches or have content included that is not part of the movie. I make two conversions for some movies this way (one for Archos, one for cellphone) and it works pretty well. I just tried one with VideoFab and it did not convert the VTS_01_4.VOB file correctly at all. There was no video (bitrate zero). The other three worked but the aspect ratio was wrong.