Video file length is wrong

Hello all, I am new here and I am paraphrasing a thread I started on another forum here:

I recently bought the TV Live Plus HD, which I love.  I have noticed that some of my movie files are not fully loading, if that is the correct way to describe it.  I have ripped DVDs to my external hard drive using DVDFab8, into MPEG2 .vob files.  I know that the entire movie is there, because I can watch it on my computer, but when I load it onto the TV Live Plus, it will only show about the first half hour or so.  When I browse to the folder that holds the file, it shows it as being around 4 to 5 GB in size, corresponding to the file size on my hard drive.  But I can’t watch the entire movie.  As an example, I can only view the first 37 minutes of “Up”.  There is only one file in that folder, so I’m wondering if I ripped it wrong, or if I’m not viewing other files correctly.  I think DVDFab my have split this file up into several .vob files, and I am only seeing the first one.

Any ideas?  

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me.

Mike

If I recall, by convention, a VOB file can ONLY be 1 GB in size MAXIMUM.

So the WD is probably abandoning the VOB file once it gets to the 1GB limit.

Now, if you rip it into ISO, you probably won’t have that issue.

… or just clone the existing DVD structure, instead of re-packing it all into a single file.

Thank you for your prompt replies.

I think that cloning sounds like the more attractive option, it prevents me from going back into the attic where all my physical DVDs are sitting in a box, to re-rip them.

So my next question is:  How do I clone them into the appropriate format (sorry, I am only a noob to this video stuff, otherwise I am quite proficient with computers)…

Thanks,

Mike

No, I think cloning WILL require you to redo it from the source media.

I use DVDFab 8 QT also, and I just rip straight to ISO format by clicking the “Disk” icon next to the OUTPUT path.

Thanks,

I’ll give that a try and let you know how it turns out.  I may have to spend an extra couple of days ripping all my stuff, but I think it’ll be worth it.  

Just a question:  Any difference in the quality of the rips of .iso’s versus .vob’s?

Thanks,

Mike

Well, in general, the FORMAT has nothing to do with the quality.

Given a specific set of quality settings, an ISO is just a “Collection” of VOBs all stored inside.  An ISO might be a tad larger to account for formatting overhead, but the CONTENTS of the ISO are IDENTICAL to the original file and folder structure.

In DVDFab, just make sure you set the output format to DVD9 (100%) and it’ll be identical in quality to the original DVD.

Ya, I’d meant when you were doing the initial rip, if you’d wanted a VIDEO_TS structure instead of a single .iso file, that if you’d "clone"d the disk from DVDFab, that it’d have the same 1GB .vob files as the original disc.

I’d guess that if you went back into DVDFab now and tried a clone (or tried to create an ISO, for that matter), that it’d just duplicate the existing large single .vob, which is what you’re trying to avoid.

Unfortunately, whether you go with .iso or VIDEO_TS, I think you’ll need to grab the original discs and re-rip either way.

Also,

I forgot to mention that some of the .vob’s on my hard drive play just fine, and at full length, regardless of the size of the .vob file.  An example of this would be my rip of Tales of Despereaux, which is 3.59GB, 1:33:00 in length.  It plays the whole way through.  Up, on the hand, shows up as being 4.93GB, but only plays to 00:37:12.  I think that must be the length of the first .vob, but on my hard drive, it only shows up as one file of 4.93GB, not several 1+GB .vobs cobbled together.  

Also, to let you know, I am ripping them at the DVD9 setting.  I bought DVD for a reason, the picture quality.  I’m not worried about space, I’ll just buy more hard drives for storage.  

Mike

Are you’re vob movie files in a video_ts folder? if not put them in one for each movie. If they are try pressing play just on the video_ts folder and see if that works.

I’ll give that a try, as I also read that is the way to play a movie all the way through without pauses if it is broken into several pieces.

Thanks for the tip.

Mike

i rip DVD’s via anydvd, which i presume will be similar to dvdfab (which i use for blu-rays). I rip to create dvd files of the main movie only (with no compression). The dvd files will be created in a video_ts folder. The files within the folder will include the vob files (1GB max each) & VERY importantly some small files being a .ifo, & .bup file.

Ha, i used to delete these small “info” files & would have similar problems that you describe. But i quickly learned to keep all the files that the software creates, as they allow all the .vob files to play correctly, in order, & seamlessly. And the info bar on the WD (when playing) will show the full running time of the complete movie.

By keeping all the files that are created in the video_ts file you can either press play on the actual folder (video_ts), or go into the folder & press play on the first.vob (as the wd will not show the info files that are there) with either way playing the movie correctly.

Wayne.

The “BUP” files should not be necessary.    They are BACKUP IFO files.    If you look carefully, you’ll see that every IFO file has an identically sized BUP file.

Now, that being said, I am not certain that the WD will play if they’re missing or not…

I will try reripping my copy of the Pacific Disc 1, which should give me a good indication if I’m on the right path or not.

Thanks for the advice.  I just assumed the ifo and bup files were unnecessary as the videos would play on my computer without them, but I guess they are there for a reason.

Thanks again,

Mike

That seemed to fix the problem.  Thanks for the info.  Appreciate all your help

Mike