I need just one VOB file - not five

[jatluke]

Help a tired, old school teacher! We record our school's daily announcements and used an off-brand DVR (Insignia) to do so until it would no longer record. So, I purchased a Sony DVR, but here's the problem: I can record in my "studio," but then I need to take the DVD and convert the VOB files to an MPEG file so that I can put it on the school's network drive and have each teacher open up the day's video announcements from his/her computer and play it on a projector in each room. With the old DVR, the recording saved in the Video_TS file as one VOB file, but with the new Sony, it breaks it up into five or more .VOB files, so if it's a five-minute video, there are five 1-minute VOB files and my Alive Converter program on my PC can only convert one file. I know if push came to shove, I could change each file to an mpeg and them place it in a Pinnacle Studio file and create a DVD from that, but I only have 10 minutes from the time the kids finish the show to when it is shown school-wide, so I'm in a time crunch. Also, I tried a trial version of a vob joiner and it didn't combine them correctly, and, again, I'd like to streamline this activity as I have to do it every day on top of my other six classes to teach. Plus, surely, there is some DVR out there that finalizes a recording to one vob file or to one mpeg or avi file - isn't there?? I'll take any advice you have. I have already returned the Sony DVR, but can purchase another type if it will produce the file format I am needing. Thanks.

[aedipuss]

try using the free program vob2mpg. it shouldn't take but a few seconds to convert all your small vobs to single mpg.

[guns1inger]

Plus, surely, there is some DVR out there that finalizes a recording to one vob file or to one mpeg or avi file - isn't there??

No, because it would contravene the DVD specification, which states that a single compliant VOB may not exceed 1000MB in size. That is why you get multiple VOBs if the video is long enough. The only way the old DVR gave you a single VOB is if it used high enough compression to fit the title into a smaller space. This would have reduced quality though.

Pinnacle isn't going to author you a disc in 10 minutes or less.

You can use DVD Decrypter to take the DVD contents and give you a single VOB file on your HDD in one move.

VOBMerge is a free alternative to VOB Joiner, and it works.

And VOB2MPG is also a valid suggestion, and mpg files are better than VOB files for straight playback.

That said, you must be giving up a lot of network space to these multi-GB video files. Just how long do these announcements run ?

[jatluke]

Thank you both. I'll try both options. And, yes, these take up a large amount of space, but my IT guy and my webmaster seem to think it's okay, plus we dump all the video stuff at the end of each week, so there are no real archives. The shows run anywhere from 6-12 minutes. Thanks for the help. I'll keep you posted if I need more help.

[guns1inger]

6 - 12 minutes, even in the highest recording setting, should not take more than 2 VOBs at the most, and should fit into a single VOB. The only thing I can think of is that you aren't doing it all in one take, and the Sony is seeing each take as a new title. New title, new VOB set.

Frankly, not a big fan of Sony DVD players or recorders.

[lordsmurf]

Use VR mode on the recorder, instead of VIDEO mode. Assuming it has one. Been a while since I used a Sony.

If it records on DVD-RAM, use a DVD-RAM, as it'll force use of VR mode.

[wabjxo]

Sony does record in VR mode. In fact, it might even auto-initlaize -RW discs in VR mode like the Pioneers do. Check the Initial Setup menus and, in the Recording section, there's probably an option to change the default -RW initialization from VR to Video mode?

If not or you can't find it, insert a blank -RW and record something to it. Computer check should let you know what mode the disc is in?

[lordsmurf]

Just to clarify, the VR mode records to one long VOB or VRO file (MPEG-2 in a wrapper).

It does not do DVD-Video 1GB chunks of VOB files.

[CDan]

DVDShrink will rip a disc into a single VOB file, and it's free.

[jatluke]

Thank you all for your information and help. I have taken the Sony DVD recorder back and bought a magnavox. I'm beginning to figure out that it's not the recorder, but the software, but maybe I'm nuts. So, tomorrow during my TV class, we're going to try the new DVD recorder and the VOB2mpg software. I used disks from yesterday and they had 5 vob files and when I used the newly downloaded software, it converted them to 2 mpeg files, but they were exactly the same, so I am hopeful it will work. If not, I'll come back here and get more adviced. Again, many thanks.

[CDan]

It's really not difficult. If a VR mode disc is recorded in a single session (no stops and starts), you simply re-name the VRO file to ".mpg" and you are done.

If the disc is recorded in DVD-video mode, rip the disc to hard drive using DVDShrink with Shrink set to create a single VOB file. Then re-name the VOB to ".mpg" and you're done.