ConvertXtoDVD and VOB Files

Gary Parent

I have had mixed results using ConvertXtoDVD. Maybe its me.

I am converting the main title of a PAL DVD that works on a PAL player but I want to use on NTSC player. Therefore, I must create a NTSC DVD, which means conversion.

This is what I do after I start ConvertXtoDVD version 201101.

I ADD each VOB of the one title on the PAL DVD. This generates a whole video source for each VOB. When I am done, I have VOBs that are converted to NTSC format. Unfortunately, each new VOB is a separate title. I must use DVD2ONE for joining the titles and make one title from it.

Why does ConvertXtoDVD not treat all the VOBs of the source as one long video? In fact, it should allow me to select the IFO file associated with that VOB SET and treat all the VOB's associated with that one title as one video MPEG.

Work around.

I have to use DVD2AVI to create a single AVI file and then use that to convert using ConvertXtoDVD. Yet, that defeats the purpose of using your program. I might as well just use TMPGEnc to convert from PAL to NTSC.

What am I doing wrong?

Gary

cougar_ii

Hi there,

I have sent your suggestion to VSO, and let's see what they thing, for future versions...

I would also like to see a Full DVD conversion without the need to have multiple titles, just convert the .VOB and keep the DVD Structure ! (Main Movie Only I guess).

Gary Parent

Have you used DVDLab? With DVD-Lab, I can drag and drop the first VOB of a multi-VOB title to the asset window and it will chain its way through all the rest of the VOBs and I end up with ONE MPEG and ONE AUDIO file. Which I can use to apply a menu, add chapters, etc.

Next Issue. ConvertXtoDVD seems to not replicate the original chapters, but I am not certain of that. With ConvertXtoDVD, they offer a chapter generator every X number of minutes, like a metronome ticking away. If I can't place the chapters properly then I have to turn off the option, which I did. However, you would think that original chapters could be retained, optionally.

Just my 2 cents, FWIW!

jacen9

after u have coverted your vob's to ntsc dont bother joining them together with dvd2one. its ok them being seperate vob's in the video_ts folder.
just add the video_ts folder to either clonedvd or nero to burn it to dvd.

ckhouston

Actually ConvertXtoDVD converts VOB title sets correctly once you understand how it handles them.

When you pick a VOB from a set, it automatically includes all VOBs below that one in a cluster (see the operation log) which it converts as a single title. So simply pick the first VOB to convert the entire set as one title.

Picking each VOB as Gary did may be intuitive but gives multiple titles. With a 4 VOB set, for example, you would get 4 titles. The first would include all 4 files in the set, the last 3 in the 2nd title, the last 2 in the 3rd one, and finally the last VOB in the 4th title.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

BTW, the op log is the best source of help right now along with these forums.

Gary Parent

Thanks, I stand corrected on the VOB set being included with the first VOB selected.

I am now having a problem with oe two VOB set title. It drops almost the entire PAL DVD. Any clue about what P-SDT buffer Underflow is all about?




2/10/2006 9:44:28 PM info ********** Report session closed ***********
2/10/2006 9:41:57 PM info Conversion completed in 00:17:26
2/10/2006 9:41:26 PM info Converting Menu
2/10/2006 9:41:26 PM warning P-SDT buffer Underflow 5 times, 47729 bytes peak
2/10/2006 9:41:26 PM warning 94810 frames dropped
2/10/2006 9:41:26 PM warning 2 frames duplicated
2/10/2006 9:24:34 PM info Stream #1 Sync. delay : 0.02 ms
2/10/2006 9:24:34 PM info Stream #0 Sync. delay : 0.00 ms
2/10/2006 9:24:34 PM info Output Stream#0 - Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 720x480, q=1-31, 8244 kb/s
2/10/2006 9:24:34 PM info Video Stream #0 Pulldown : 25.000 -> 29.97 Fps
2/10/2006 9:24:34 PM info Video source original frame rate: 25.00
2/10/2006 9:24:34 PM info NTSC 29.97 FPS output format set by user
2/10/2006 9:24:34 PM info Fullscreen (4:3) set automatically
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info Video bitrate 0/8244/8244 Kbps (min/avg/max)
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info Converting "D:\NHOP\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VOB"
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info Project size 4.3 Gb. (924 Kb. audio - 2.57 Gb. video - 1.72 Gb. originals)
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info Stream #1 - Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 256 kb/s
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info Stream #0 - Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 352x576, 6000 kb/s
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info 2 Stream(s) found - est. duration 00:00:29.560
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info Opening file "D:\NHOP\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VOB"
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info #2 - "VTS_01_2.VOB"
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info #1 - "VTS_01_1.VOB"
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info Cluster of files opened:
2/10/2006 9:24:30 PM info Encoder quality: 100%
2/10/2006 9:17:27 PM info User default language : 1033 (0x0409h) - English (United States)
2/10/2006 9:17:27 PM info System default language : 1033 (0x0409h) - English (United States)
2/10/2006 9:17:27 PM info Version 2.0.1.101
2/10/2006 9:17:27 PM info ExeName : "F:\Program Files\VSO\ ConvertXtoDVD\ ConvertXtoDvd.exe"
2/10/2006 9:17:27 PM info OS : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
2/10/2006 9:17:26 PM info ******************** Report session started ********************

ckhouston

This is a message that seems to be coming up in different situations. It is probably caused by those 94,810 dropped frames in this case, about 53 min worth. That is probably because ConvertX estimated the duration of the 1st VOB to be less than 30 sec which I'm guessing is ridiculously low.

This is likely a bug which I reported only last night. They will fix it in time along with a couple of others reported when converting VOBs.

Please be patient. VSO is working hard for compatibility with a lots of different files, and it takes a lot of work since this is a complete engine rewrite. I frankly don't know how they do it, considering there is litlle uniformity in file structure of files from different sources that you would think would be the same. Most problems like this should be fixed when they publically (formally) release version 2.

Gary Parent

I am being critical out of admiration for this software that I would like to be enormously successful and make a lot of money for VSO. Nobody else seems to have exhibited the same sort of ambition for a broad based universe of video file types. I am willing to give it until the Summer to get its act together. Thanks for the feedback!

ckhouston

I think it will be worth it and hope we don't have to wait that long. They really are working hard and solving a lot of issues. One thing that impresses me is that they don't duck bug reports, they fix them if practical. Some are naturally lower priority than others of course.

Gary Parent

CKHUSTON,

Regards the PAL => NTSC project that drops over 50 minutes of video, I tried version 2.0.5 and there is no difference in the outcome. Therefore, I tried a little experiment.

(1) I took the original two VOBs, from the PAL DVD, and dragged them to the assets window of DVD-LAB. The PAL MPEG was properly demuxed along with the audio track.

(2) Next, I compiled the two and created a PAL DVD.

(3) Now, I essentially had what appears to be nothing different. I demuxed PAL and re-muxed back to a PAL DVD, that's all!

(4) Finally, I selected the output of DVD-LAB into CXD 2.0.5 and it did not drop frames and created a good project by properly converting PAL to NTSC.

My conclusion is that ConvertXtoDVD was unable to demux the original PAL DVD properly when DVD-LAB had no problems. What ever is throwing a curve at CXD is being handled by other programs in the procedure of demuxing the source VOBs.

ckhouston

Thanks for reporting back Gary.

ConvertX had to be misreading something in your file and some I tested. I haven't been able to participate much in beta testing lately, but I just checked and VSO has assigned my bug report about this to a developer. The next step should be resolution and hopefully soon.

Watch for new releases and try them. You don't have to convert completley just to check. Make sure the log view is shown and cancel conversion if you see low duration estimates.

I will alert VSO about your finding, maybe it will help them.

Thanks again.

Ken

jacen9

there's a update on vso.
ConvertXtoDVD changes history

2.0.5

Fixes :
- aspect ratio problem with some dvd player
- support /n tag in subtitles
- audio discrepancies resync. doesn't work
- Unsupported MOV/MP4 files with low samplerate
- No warning when loading a project with non-existing subtitle file
- do not skip dialog when a new version is available
- Subtitle color's RGB information is shifted
- update some translations

ckhouston

There is also a new v2.0.6 (here) that isn't public yet but can be tried by those with problems fixed in it.

This problem of low duration estimates for some VOBs, not all, hasn't been fixed yet though. I'm confident VSO will fix it in time, but they work on those they think are more critical first.

Gary Parent

CXD can't accept Frame Served AVI file (DVD2AVI => VFAPI).

Just waiting to fix the bug where it reports a 64 minute output as ~ 1 minute. Then drops the frames and gives one minute of video. Strange since every other program that is VOB aware can read the DVD properly, even though it may be whacked.

ckhouston

Versions before this read the files properly so it is a matter of finding errors in the new program code. They need time to get all reported problems fixed.

Gaius Baltar

This version seems to have new bugs in it. For instance, neither the language or the sub setting is remembered between sessions.

Are we all beta-testing for VSO or what?

cougar_ii

Humm, and why is build v2.0.6 not a PUBLIC ONE YET ?

People have the priviledge of getting the latest release when we offer them.

Official Public Release is still v2.0.5

And yes, they are aware of the issue

My 3 cents ßeta, officially, it's just 2 cents

Gaius Baltar

If it's a beta it should be marked as such. If it's not for public use, it shouldn't be posted in a public forum and linked to as if it was a public release.

ckhouston

I did say that the release wasn't public yet. Maybe I should have been more clear that the link was only for those with issues fixed in the changelog to try.

I think we all feel that way and with good reasons. But it has become standard practice for every software vendor I've dealt with in many years. Maybe we are partly to blame. We keep asking for features and software becomes so bloated that it is hard to completely debug and still keep the price down. Their mostly complete rewrite helps hold bloat down compared with adding to an existing version, but debugging lots of new code is also a challenge.

I will say though that I am more impressed with VSOs response to bug fixes than than any software company I've dealt with in many years.

Thanks for reporting these. really; it helps all of us. It would also help if you report them directly to VSO through their support link in case they don't read it here.

I haven't had time to check if these are new bugs only in this version. But sometimes logic flow in software like this gets very convoluted. Then corrections for one problem can cause new ones. It takes a lot of work to get it done right but I think they are capable and trying hard. Be patient.

Gary Parent

CKHUSTON,

I tried version 2.0.7.114 on the problem DVD and I came up short again. Has it fixed your problem, which seems similiar to mine?

Thanks!

Gary

ckhouston

I haven't had a chance to try that version yet Gary. But I did check the bug site and this issue hasn't been resolved yet. I don't know when but hope it won't be long.

I wish I could promise to let you know when, but things are hectic now and I'd probably forget. So keep trying the new releases and watch for a low duration estimate when conversion starts. You might as well cancel if you see that because it means the problem isn't fixed.

I might say that this may be more complicated than it seems. I found problems with VOBs from 5 of 6 different sources - one sailed through with no problem. There were also some differences in how the problem was manifested in the other 5. Which again indicates there is a lack of uniformity in how different sources write these files. A surprise to me because I thought VOB structure was well defined.

I found similar lack of uniformity in other file types that were also a surprise. So have other testers. So VSO has undertaken a big goal of converting so many types from so many sources.

Good luck!

Dr. Who

The newest nero 7 will convert any to VOB files and the burn to disc too.

ckhouston

Prior versions of ConvertX (formerly called DivXtoDVD) also did this including the burn. This new version is still under development and has some bugs that will eventually be fixed.

Gary Parent

CKHUSTON,

Ok, great. Its good to know they are working on the problem.

A general question.

Do you need to install any special Codecs for XVID, DIVX 5?, DIVX 6?, et al. I see a DLL file in the CXD directory that looks like it can decompress these formats that VSO claims it can handle as input. Regards output, I assume there is no need to compress in anything other than MPEG2 when creating the target DVD. Is this correct?

Gary

ckhouston

Don't think so, I think ConvertX includes decoders for all file types supported. I have seen a list of supported types somewhere but don't have it handy; maybe someone else can point us to it.

Not sure what you mean. You don't have a choice if you mean ConvertX output or that destined to DVD from any similar authoring program. DVD standards require that video content in the VOB files be coded with MPEG2.