Playing VOB files

[ironorr]

TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: Latest build
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Windows Version: XP
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Alright, so here's the background: I have ripped all of my TV series DVDs using DVD Shrink so that the ISO files have just the episodes. I've been using Daemon Tools to play them. However, now I would like to have each episode as its own file so that I can use MP-TV Series and have everything more convenient and streamlined. I've just been mounting the ISO with Daemon Tools and using Windows Explorer to pull out the VOB files for each episode.

The problem I am having is that Media Portal isn't playing the VOBs. I just get a black screen when I try to play one. I get the same result when trying to play in Media Player 11. In Media Player Classic it plays the files but squishes 16:9 material into a 4:3 frame. Divx Player with also play them, but it puts a border around the whole 16:9 frame (letterbox and pillerbox). I have the K-Lite Codec pack installed.

Any advice?

The main reason I want to go this route is that every program I've ever tried to rip direct from DVD to any video format has had audio/video sync issues, and any attempt to convert the VOB files to another format has resulted in poor quality and similar framing issues to what I previously mentioned. If I can get some help with playing the VOB files in Media Portal that would be fantastic, but if someone has another solution for having all my TV on DVD episodes separated into individual files for use with Media Portal I would be interested to hear about it.

Thanks

[jameson_uk]

VOB files are just mpeg video. You can change the extension from VOB to mpg and they should play just as normal videos.

Have you set DVDShrink to actually rip the episodes to seperate VOB files? (one per episode)

[ironorr]

Actually I had read about just changing the extension, but that doesn't seem to be working for me. When I rename the file in Windows Explorer it doesn't actually change the extension. When I rename it to "Branch Closing.mpg" it still says that it's a VOB file. So I guess it's just changing it to "Branch Closing.mpg.VOB"

I wasn't aware that DVD Shrink could rip to individual VOB files. If I can get them to actually play I'll have to do that for future rips. Thanks for the tip.

[cics]

Hi

It works for me by renaim to .avi

Example:
Eagles - Hell freezes over - HotelOfCali.vob

rename it to

Eagles - Hell freezes over - HotelOfCali.vob.avi


VOB is a container just like AVI, but MP will play it with MyDVD even you play it from MyVideo; and DVD Navigator requires more files, such as chapter info, in the container to work. However if you rename it to .AVI then MP will play the file directly from MyVideo.

Note: I still keep the extension .vob for reference it origin from VOB.

Hope this work for you.

[ironorr]

Well, I had to change a setting in Windows Explorer to let me change extensions. For anyone who might have this issue in the future here are some instructions:

"In Windows Explorer go to Tools/FolderOptions. Click on the View tab and if the option "Hide Extensions for Known File Types" is active, de-select it."

It works flawlessly now. I'm really excited about starting to use Media Portal for all my TV shows on DVD.

Thanks for the help you guys!