DVD Ripper 8.1.3.8 - Play Time incorrect on finished VOB rip

[wolfie7873]

When DVDFab reads the title information, everything seems displayed correctly, for example, the Play Time of the main title for XMEN The Last Stand is correctly stated as 1:44. When I rip to VOB and queue for playback in either WMC or XMBC it shows as over 26 hours!

Harry Potter 1 should be 2:38 but shows up as 1:18. All of the data is there because I can watch the movie in entirety. But, if I try to use the slider bar, entire sections of the movie are skipped. (possibly accounting for the lost time?)

What gives?

[GregiBoy]

Yep, the VOB's have a problem in them which is being picked up. Usually in the authoring.

Use Ripper in a passthrough mode and see if you get the same problem.

[jbinkley60]

This is one of the reasons that I rip all of my regular DVDs now to the m2ts format with audio passthrough. A regular VOB DVD passthrough rip doesn't remux the file and will pickup the bad VOB length.

[wolfie7873]

OK, I may need further enlightenment. A buddy told me that if I stuck to VOB, then media centers would treat the video as if it was reading off a DVD disk and upconvert as whatever it normally would do, but that some other formats would sort of confine me to a lower resolution.

So, is a m2ts format file going to look as good on my 55" screen as playing the DVD itself in the ROM drive? How can I achieve that result if not?

Thanks for the help guys!

[jbinkley60]

So I have a 50" plasma and I convert all DVDs to m2ts format, which is the native Blu-Ray format (whereas VOB is the native DVD format). Try selecting the m2ts audio passthrough normal profile. Then select the highest resolution available (often 848 x 476 or similar). You can set it higher by creating your own resolution. I've set some of mine to 1280x720 (720P) but it does take more hard disk space. Set the bitrate to 8000 and rip the DVD. I think you'll be very impressed with the results. It will take longer than passthrough because DVDfab has to convert the file and not just stream it through to your hard drive.

[wolfie7873]

Twice I've tried now to do as you suggested, and an hour and half later (for each attempt), I'm left with a 0kb file. This really blows. $50 for software that so far hasn't done anything for me the way it should. How do I get this silly thing to work?

[CBR929]

Hi wolfie7873
Please update to the newest version found here http://forum.dvdfab.com/showthread.php?t=17306
If still having problems post your logs, the default location is:
For Win7 C:\Users\User Name\My Documents\DVDFab\Log
or Vista C:\Users\User Name\Documents\DVDFab\Log
or for XP C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\My Documents\DVDFab\Log
Please use attachment button and attach your most recent, Internal log and post right here.
CBR929

[jbinkley60]

I would agree upgrading to 8.1.7.8. I just saw where you are running 8.1.3.8 . I can't ever remember using that particular version. I've had rock solid performance with 8.1.6.3 and 8.1.7.8 . If that doesn't work, post the logfile so that the support folks can take a look at it.

[CBR929]

I would agree upgrading to 8.1.7.8. I just saw where you are running 8.1.3.8 . I can't ever remember using that particular version. I've had rock solid performance with 8.1.6.3 and 8.1.7.8 . If that doesn't work, post the logfile so that the support folks can take a look at it.

Hi jbinkley60
Some of the versions back then had a problem with Path Player where it was removing playable content, so this is why the OP has to update to the newest version and try again.
CBR929

[wolfie7873]

Update

Thanks for the advice and help.

I upgraded to the new version and at first had no change in the 0kb file issue with XMen. I looked at the log and saw a drive error, so I likely have some sort of intermittent hardware issue. I changed discs just to be sure and picked up Harry Potter 5.

That said, even in the new version, neither VOB nor M2TS look as good as playing the movie directly from disc. I tried the suggestion for M2TS of converting the video to 1280x720 and it made it look worse than VOB.

I still have the runtime issue with VOB - Can I assume that was not addressed in the later release?

I will say that of all the Harry Potter discs, my copy of OOTP plays grainier than any of the others, so there may be no helping it. What I haven't tried is 848 x 476 which was suggested by jbinkley60. I'm at work for the day, so I'll try that tonight.

[CBR929]

Hi wolfie7873
When you get a chance please post your logs as suggested in my previous post.
Thanks
CBR929

[jbinkley60]

Thanks for the advice and help.

I upgraded to the new version and at first had no change in the 0kb file issue with XMen. I looked at the log and saw a drive error, so I likely have some sort of intermittent hardware issue. I changed discs just to be sure and picked up Harry Potter 5.

That said, even in the new version, neither VOB nor M2TS look as good as playing the movie directly from disc. I tried the suggestion for M2TS of converting the video to 1280x720 and it made it look worse than VOB.

I still have the runtime issue with VOB - Can I assume that was not addressed in the later release?

I will say that of all the Harry Potter discs, my copy of OOTP plays grainier than any of the others, so there may be no helping it. What I haven't tried is 848 x 476 which was suggested by jbinkley60. I'm at work for the day, so I'll try that tonight.

Can you describe not looking as good or looking worse ? Also, when comparing to playing the DVD directly to streaming a file you are now including your end point PC or streamer box as a dependency and not just a DVD player sending the signal to your TV. The issue may not necessarily be the source file but mroe data is needed.

[wolfie7873]

CBR929 - I will post logs this evening (EDT).

Jbinkley60 - As for "not looking as good" - in the worse case, pixelated edges are visible, other edges are soft and not crisp. Also, in as much as I could do an apples-to-apples, I'm comparing playing the DVD from the DVD-ROM drive on the PC through XBMC, and playing the DVDFab-ripped M2TS file through XBMC.

[jbinkley60]

I've not seen the pixelated edges but I generally rip mine to 12,000 kbs if I am doing 720P. I recommended 8,000 kbs because I've used it previously, not had any issues and it saves on disk space. I also have found it works more consistently if I use software only in DVDfab and not CUDA. I have seen a bit of pixalation on some rips when using CUDA.

[wolfie7873]

Log File Attached

So I ran m2ts on 848x358 at 8000kbps and the result was jumpy. Meaning that it almost looked like every other frame was missing. I've attached the log file.