Disc files

[mwsing]

I have a lot of projects that I saved to discs (DVD) a few years ago. Is it possible to create mp4 files from these DVDs that I can play directly on a computer or smart TV? If so, how?

[RobertOZ]

HandBrake is a free conversion software used by many forum members

https://handbrake.fr/downloads.php

[Ken Berry]

When you say you saved your projects to DVD, does that mean you used a DVD as a storage medium; or did you burn the projects to video DVDs with menu etc? If used as a storage medium, they would likely be mpeg2 files with the extension .mpg, and easy to convert using Handbrake or any other video converter.

If they are video DVDs then you would need to extract the videos, though Video Studio can do that. They could then be converted with Handbrake. On the DVD they will be there as .vob files, but if you copy these to your hard disk from the DVD and then change the extension from .vob to .mpg that usually works too.

[RobertOZ]

having just installed Handbrake on my new desktop, be aware it requires NET framework 5.0 to run, if you need to download and install, make sure you download NET framework runtime 5.0.1
Windows cannot detect later versions, as I soon found

[mwsing]

I think I'm losing the plot. I did burn them to the DVD. However, when I open it there is a whole list of files- the folder Video_TS which contains: VTS-31-0, 64K; VTS_01_1 , 1,000,116K;VTS_01_2,1,000,356K;VTS_01)3, 1,000,108K; VTS_01_4, 1,000,866K.

When I try to copy any of these to my hard drive, nothing happens.

From memoer - although it was many years ago - I thought I remembered that, when I put the disc in my disc player then VLC played the dis, just as if I had put it into my DVD player atached to my television, but now nothing happens either.
Also, I have tried this with three different discs and now have in my directory the three disc image file from each disc. When I try to delete them, this doesn't work either. I think I'm losing my mind!

[mwsing]

Please ignore my last comment. I disconnected my DVD drive and then reconnected it. Itwill now play the discs with VCL. But I still do not know what to copy to my hard drive and change the VOB to MP4 (or2)

[canuck]

No wonder you are losing your mind - you have disabled the "show file extensions".
To turn that option on, search the Windows help for "extensions". You will then see all the vob files on the DVD

[mwsing]

Pardon my ignornace, even though I have been using Videostudio for years! I have done as you both suggested and copied the files on DVD to my hard drive and then changed the extensions to .mpg. I can now play them from these files on my computer, but still have a couple of questions. Why does it split the project into so many files? The first one Video-TS just seems to be the opening screen that shows me the chapters, but won't play the rest of them from that. The others, labelled 1,2,3,4 in the list I sent to you are sequential parts of the film that I can play one at a time. However, when you convert directly to mpg files in the Share step, you get one continuous file. Is it possible to combine these fur separate files so that you can play the whole project?

[Ken Berry]

I'm afraid that is the case. When you converted your original project into a DVD, it changed the nature of the videos in it, and made it continue in various new file structures which, if your project was a long one, would total 4.3 GB which is the maximum size of a single layer DVD (which most of us produce). So though your original project might have had clip1.mpg, clip 2.mpg, clip3.mpg, clip4.mpg and so on, when combined into the new DVD you end up with just, say, clip1/2/3.vob, clip 4/5etc.vob, and of course your menu which is made from your DVD-making process is another vob in its own right.

So yes, if you play the vob's you have sequentially you should have your entire original project, only in a new form and no longer the originally separated clips, but with new separations based on the maximum size which could fit on a DVD. If you ignore the menu.vob and change the extension of the others to mpg, then you should have your original video even if combined, at least in mpeg-2 format, and be able then to convert them to mp4 in Handbrake.

Your menu vob, by the way, can't play the other parts from itself. Now that it is no longer part of the video DVD, the original structure of the DVD is gone, and all you have is the video made by VS of the menu as you structured it. But as I understand it, the other vob's are what you are most interested in anyway.

[mwsing]

Thank you Ken, your knowledge is astounding! Is there an advantage in now using handbrake to convert from mpeg-2 to mpeg-4. To my eyes the mpeg-2 looks perfectly acceptable.

[Ken Berry]

Well the mpeg-2 has the same quality level as the original DVD. Converting it to another format is not going to improve the quality. Depending on the settings you use for the mp4, though, you could at least expect that level of quality to be preserved in the conversion, but in a smaller sized file. But if storage space is not an issue for you, then I would leave it as mpeg-2.

[mwsing]

Thank you for your assistance so far, which has been very helpful.

It is amazing how one's memory gets stirred up. I suddenly realised that I made disc image files of most of these projects that we are discussing. You can tell how long ago it was because they are stored in the Videostudio 7.0 folder. Each of these contains an iso file with an accompanying dwz file. Is there anything that can be done with these files except to create a new disk from them? For example - if I copied them to a thumb drive and connected that to my smart TV, would I be able to view them?

[mwsing]

Does no-one know if you can use disc image files for anything other than burning another disc?

[canuck]

Some TVs can play iso image files. Why not just test it!

[Ken Berry]

You could "mount" them within Windows and then extract the video files (vobs) from that. If you point File Explorer at an ISO file and right click it, then in the large menu which appears, there should be a "mount" command. That assigns a drive letter to the iso. It then appears within File Explorer as a new drive, and you can then access the files within it also using File Explorer.