Importing from DVD

[cogar]

I have been trying to edit/burn DVD's which have been created from VHS home movies on a Panasonic DMR-ES35V DVD Recorder/VCR. I tried Roxio's Easy Media Creator 8, which messed up my old computer. I have a new PC (Core 2 Duo/2GB Ram/250 GB HD/256 MB Video/DVD Rom/DVD & CD burner). I would like to purchase a more stable video editing product, & several friends suggested Ulead. So I have downloaded the trial version of Video Studio 10+. So far, I have been unable to import any files into the editor. I have tried the "Capture/Import from DVD" option, the "File Menu/Insert to Timeline/Library" option (from the Importing DVD Files forum item), and have tried copying the Video_TS folder to the hard drive and capturing or importing from there. The DVD's all play on my PC (in either Media Center or Media Player) and in our DVD players. I have 26 days left on the trial period, and I won't buy the product if I can't get this figured out. I thought about calling customer service and asking for their suggestions, but if someone out there knows how to work around this, I would appreciate it. Ulead probably would, too. At least $100 worth.
I am new to this forum, so if I left something out, or need to do something different, please let me know. Thanks.

[jparnold]

What message do you get when trying to import from a DVD?
Are you waiting long enough for the DVD to be read (is the led indicator light on the DVD ROM drive still on when you think it should have imported the DVD).
I know that when I import from a DVD it takes quite some time for the DVD to be read and then the 'chapters' displayed from which you select which parts you want imported.

[NoM.O]

I recently bought the same Panasonic VCR/DVD Recorder, and while I haven't actually used it for anything practical as yet, I figured I may as well do a quick test to see if I could replicate your problem. I could not.

Using VS10+, I went to File>Insert Media file to Timeline>Insert DVD/DVD-VR. It then gave the option to choose which drive I wanted to import from, once selected it went through a DVD parsing phase, and then presented me with a list of chapters with boxes to mark which ones I wanted to import. I ticked them all and clicked 'Import' and, well, it imported them. Nothing remarkable about the whole process really.

The only step in the entire process which may cause problems that I can see is if you perhaps forgot to finalize the disc on the Panasonic before trying to import it into VS.

There will presumably be some slight variations between models of Panasonic recorders sold in the US and the ones sold here in Aus, but since mine will work with both NTSC and PAL I assume yours will as well, so any variations will be fairly insignificant I would think.

If all else fails, a possible (but not necessarily recommended) workaround would be to copy the VOB files to your hard drive and rename them with an new .mpeg extension. Then try to bring those into VS. I haven't had the need to resort to such measures but others have reported successful outcomes.

One thing to note: Even if you do manage to get it working, the test file I recorded had AC-3 audio, this format is not supported in the trial version of VS due to licensing reasons on Dolby's end.

peace.

[jparnold]

I think that you have "hit the nail on the head".

I remember the first time I attempted to import from DVD I too could not and then discovered (from the DVD recorder manual) that DVDs which are NOT finalised would not work on other equipment even though they played on the DVD recorder.

Look up FINALISE DVD in your manual (will be a menu item) and do that and you should be ok.

[NoM.O]

Yeah, I have a suspicion that's what it is but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

peace.

[cogar]

I tried to submit a reply earlier today, & it is not showing up in the in the topic thread. I guess I'll try one more time.
I ran into the finalizing issue previously, when I was trying to use Roxio. So I made sure all the DVD's were finalized. They all play on our DVD units, and on PC. When I try to Import them, I get a screen that says "Import DVD Initialization" w/ a progress bar for "Parse DVD Content." The bar gets to 61%, then seems to lock up the program. I have let it run for as long as 2 hours, w/no change. I have to use Ctrl-Alt-
Del to end the task, then reboot the computer to remove the disc. I had copied the Video_TS folder to my hard drive, so I tried renaming the .VOB files to .MPG. A couple of the files seemed to transfer to the Library, but I wasn't able to view them or edit anything. I saw another thread in the forum which suggested checking the LXDVDPARSER.DLL file. In Program Files/Common Files/Ulead Systems/DVD it shows Version 1.1.19.126. From what I could tell, I think that is the right one. Any other thoughts? Thanks for responding.

[jparnold]

Do not rename file types as they are an indicator of many things such as file structure etc.
Try burning another DVD.
Are you trying to fit more minutes onto the DVD than it can hold? If so ensure you only select no more than 60 minutes for a HQ video.

[NoM.O]

John - He's trying to import from a DVD, I highly doubt that a DVD he can play on other devices will hold more than the recommended amount.

Cogar - Well, I'm afraid my expertise on the subject has been pretty much exhausted. The fact that the parsing phase stalls at 61% would seem to suggest an error in the disc/data at that point. If it were me, my next step would be to try ripping the disc to my hard drive with DVDShrink (FREE) with the split files option unticked, then passing this file through VideoReDo (NOT FREE) using 'Quick Stream Fix' to try and eliminate any errors.

A couple of questions which may help somebody diagnose your problem. I gather from your comments that you've tried importing from more than 1 disc. Does the error occur in the same spot each time, or at different points in the process? Also, have you tried importing any other videos (from the internet, DV Cam etc)? Did they import successfully?

peace.

[jparnold]

Does the problem DVD stall at the same place using other equipment? I realise that NomO said that the DVD works on other equipment but has he tried to view the DVD past the point (61%) which causes problems importing into VS?
I agree try and RIP the DVD (go to http://www.videohelp.com/ for help and downloads) to see if it can be copied.

[NoM.O]

Does the problem DVD stall at the same place using other equipment? I realise that NomO said that the DVD works on other equipment but has he tried to view the DVD past the point (61%) which causes problems importing into VS?

Fair point.

peace.

[Adrian Perkins]

The bar gets to 61%, then seems to lock up the program.

I had this problem as well.

The solution is to get hold of a small (free) utility called FixVTS from here:

http://download.videohelp.com/FixVTS/home.htm

Copy your DVD to your hard drive (just drag and drop the folders using Windows Explorer), run it through FixVTS and it will then import into VS.

Hope this helps!

[NoM.O]

Nice One!

I'll have to remember that app for the future.

peace.

Edit: I notice that the author is Jeanl, who has also made some great contributions to the PGC Edit program amongst other things, very talented lady(?).

It also sounds like my shrink idea would fail reading the discussion linked on that site. Although, following the theory of that discussion, it doesn't explain why importing into VS works for me and not Cogar, but anyway, definitely worth a try.

[cogar]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Should keep me busy for awhile. The Panasonic unit has a record option which lets you fit all the video from a VHS tape onto one disc. I used this on one of the DVD's, so I'll reburn that tape onto multiple discs and try again. Maybe the compression can cause the problem? I haven't noticed that any of the DVD's have any problem spots which might correspond the 61% parsing level. They all seem fine, with all chapter functions working properly. I'll definitely download the FixVTS utility. I'll try it on all the discs, even the compressed one, to see if it works. I'll post the results. Sounds like something people should know about. This is a great forum. They don't pay you guys enough.

[NoM.O]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Should keep me busy for awhile. The Panasonic unit has a record option which lets you fit the video from one VHS tape onto a single disc. Maybe the compression causes the problem? I used that function on one of the discs, so I'll reburn that tape onto multiple discs.

I really don't think that the length/amount of data on the disc is an issue. Time scales given on discs etc are representative of the highest quality settings, they are not dictated by the DVD Spec as far as I know.

I will definitely download the FixVTS untility. I'll try it on all the discs, even the compressed one, and I'll post the results. Sounds like something people should know about.

Yes, please, report back with the results of your tests with FixVTS, it may prove valuable to others at a later stage.

This is a great forum. They don't pay you guys enough.

They don't pay us at all ...but your right, this is one of the finest forums on the net IMHO.

peace.

[cogar]

I downloaded FixVTS and tried to use it on the folders on the DVD. It wouldn¡¦t recognize a folder, so I tried it on the .VOB files in the Video_TS folder, and it converted them. I was able to insert them into a VS project, but the image was jittery and pixilated. So I went back to the DVD, and just to try something different, I went to VS File menu, and chose Insert Media File to Library/Insert Video, then browsed to the .VOB files in the _TS folder of the DVD itself. Selecting a .VOB and clicking Open brought up a dialogue box which said ¡§The file C:\My Documents\My Videos¡KVOB cannot be edited. Do you want to perform pre-process to make it editable?¡¨ Choosing ¡§Yes¡¨ then started a progress bar which said VS was performing the action. The file got imported into the Library. I could then place it into the timeline and work with it. I have since been able to get the contents of the first DVD (4 separate .VOB files) into a project. I haven¡¦t had time to do a lot of editing to the files yet, but so far it seems to be working. I also tried clicking ¡§No¡¨ instead of ¡§Yes¡¨ at the pre-process dialogue box. VS then imported a non-editable image file, I am thinking just a thumbnail, into the Library. I deleted that, with no negative effect. I also tried this procedure (Insert Video/pre-process to make editable) on the .VOB¡¦s I had copied to the hard drive, and it worked from there, as well.

I am still curious, though, as to how NoM.o is able, using the same Panasonic unit, to import the DVD straight into VS without jumping through all the extra hoops. I would like to try to duplicate his technique on one of my DVD¡¦s. I am wondering, if it is not too much trouble: 1) What type of video did you record (VHS, TV, Movie, etc.)? What recording settings did you use (One-Touch, Flexible, High-Quality, Normal)? What type of media did you use (Ram, -R, +R, etc.)? Anything else you can think of which might be worth trying? I don¡¦t know if any of this stuff will make any difference, but I would just like to be able to get the program to do what it says it will do one time, before I shell out the $100. The only other obvious difference might be that he has the full version, & I have the trial. I would contact Ulead support, but that option is not available until (if) I buy the product. Thanks again for all your help.