Fastest VOB to MPEG-2 Utility

"VideoRedo"

.  .  .  a "must-have" utility

The Myths - a lot of people claim that a VOB file is actually an MPEG-2 file, and all you have to do is change the extension from "vob" to "mpg" to convert it. WRONG !!   

Other people claim that a VOB file is merely a container with an MPEG-2 file inserted inside.  This is closer to the truth, but to be accurate they need to say that each frame is a container with an mpeg-2 frame inside.

The Truth - VOB files are very similar to mpeg-2 files, and they are so similar that when you convert from one to the other, the file size will be very close.  However, they are NOT the same.  When a DVD authoring utility creates VOB's from MPEG-2 files, it takes each frame, adds a VOB header, and saves it.  It may actually "replace" the mpeg header info with vob header info or it may just "add" a vob header to the existing mpeg-2 header - not sure which.

The Mother of all VOB Converters  .  .  .  VideoRedo

VideoRedo is by far the fastest VOB-to-MPEG-2 converter.  Now, with that knowledge you would think that all utilities capable of opening vob's and saving them as mpeg-2 files would be extremely fast.  Unfortunately that is not the case.  Virtually ALL of them, except for one  .  .  .  re-encode the video, and this take forever.  The one app that truly converts only the headers is "VideoRedo", available at http://www.videoredo.com/ .  VideoRedo is a program that will do quick editing (it doesn't re-render the files), and you can try it for free for 28 days to see if you like it.   

What can VideoRedo do??  

• convert from VOB-to-MPEG2, MPEG2-to-VOB

• convert to the very rare transport mpeg files:  MPG-to-ts (transport stream - as opposed to the typical "program stream").  I am not sure of any app that uses *.ts files but they are used for broadcast digital video.  See "the basics" and scroll down for more info

• VOB-to-VOB (for editing out segments, such as advertisements - or joining VOB's)

• it can split and join video files faster than anything except BoilSoft Splitter (they are the same speed because both split without re-encoding). 

• it can convert files in Batch mode

• it can remove advertisements - AdDetective™ Commercial Detection takes the pain out of finding the best places to cut advertisements from your videos. AdDetective will scan your files for likely places where advertisements start and end

What Can't VideoRedo do ??

• VideoRedo cannot convert MPEG-1 to MPEG-2 !!  The resulting file from an MPEG-1 input will be MPEG-1

• the biggest drawback - VideoRedo cannot resize video files at all - the output dimensions always = the input dimensions

• VideoRedo cannot apply any filters (such as Levels, Hue and Saturation, etc) - because it does not re-encode - EVER !!!

• it cannot retain subtitles when going from MPEG-2 to VOB.  Hpwever, your DVD authoring utility will do that conversion for you, so you should not have to ever do an MPEG-2 to VOB conversion with VideoRedo, even though it supports it

How to use VideoRedo

*** you can use three methods to save to MPEG-2:  

• Save as  .  .  .  -  this just converts the VOB headers to MPEG-2 headers
   

• Quick Stream Fix - basically the same as "Save as . . ." - except that it will re-multiplex an MPEG2 program stream. It will copy the input file to the output file through the VideoReDo stream processing routines. The clip is not "re-encoded" but all the time stamps in the output file, such as PTS and GOP headers, will be re-calculated. In addition, all the processing parameters as specified on the Advanced Stream Dialog will be honored as well. In other words the output file will be MPEG2 compliant file.
  
  The key purpose of QuickStream Fix is to re-align the time stamps in the output file. Sometimes, video captured from DVB Satellite or sourced from DVD VOB or VRO files may have internal time stamps that are not sequential. When you normally open a file in VideoReDo it will search for these non-sequential time stamps and handle them gracefully. Occasionally it is unable to do so effectively and the QuickStream Fix function will prove useful.
  
       NOTE:  If your source is not MPEG-2, then it will remain as it is (for example, an input MPEG-1 file will be saved as an MPEG-1 file). 
  
   

• Trim and Copy - this function performs a byte-for-byte copy but is not really much faster than  Quick Stream Fix.  CAUTION - if your start point is not the beginning, the MPEG header info is chopped off and it will not create MPEG compliant files. The files will play on your PC but may not work properly in certain applications - such as DVD authoring.  However, you can trim the end off of a video and leave the file MPEG compliant as long as you copy from the beginning.

NOTE on PAL:  since this app just converts without re-encoding, if you use a PAL DVD then the MPG file will also be PAL format (720x576, 25 fps).

How fast is it?  

Well, a traditional VOB-to-MPG utility will take about an hour for a typical 1 GB VOB.  VideaRedo takes about 5 minutes !!!

Even better  .  .  .  since it does not re-encode the video, there is no loss of quality !!!  So your resultant MPG file will have the same, identical quality as the original DVD has !!!