DVD-Video vs DVD-VR format conversion

[NIino]

I'm a newly registered member and I'm not familiar with posting procedure yet. But, let me start. I'm looking for an inexpensive (or freeware) software to convert DVD-VR formated contents on the disc to DVD-Video format so that I can use my regular stand-alone DVD player to view them.
Anyone can help me?

[BigDid]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

Forgive me if I smash open doors ;) but:

What structure is on your dvd media (+/-R or +/-RW) ?

1/ If you have 1 or 2 directory one being "VIDEO_TS" and including some files named VTS_0x_1.vob and following and VTS_01_0.ifo, you have a DVD-video structure and you may only need to finalize your media in your standalone recorder to be able to view it on other standalones.

2/ If you have a different structure like from the wikipedia:
"A DVD-VR recorded disc contains a 'DVD_RTAV' directory in the root of the filesystem, in which a single 'VR_MOVIE.VRO' file exists, containing the raw audio and video data for all video recordings on the disc. The recording metadata along with navigation data to represent playlist,programs and so on are also stored in the 'VR_MANGR.IFO' file in the same directory."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-VR
If so, the ".VRO" file is definitely a mpeg file and you should be able to open it with usual mpeg apps like Avidemux or similar for editing or re-encoding (if not try renaming the .VRO to .MPEG).

As for conversion to dvd-video format, DVD-shrink (no compression) or similar apps may be able to create the VIDEO_TS and .VOB structures from mpeg source file.

Did

[setarip_old]

If I remember correctly, you may have to use a commercial program, such as "TMPGEnc DVD Author" to properly process/convert VR files into a standard DVD "package"...

[NIino]

Sorry, folks. I was really in rush to ask my original questions.
Instead, I should have mentioned this prior to my question:"A friend of mine(in abroad) who sent me the finalized DVD-R discs of TV programs confirmed they were recorded in DVD-VR format instead of DVD-Video format". Of course, my stand-alone DVD recorders or DVD players are not able to play them back. Also, my PC(Windows XP SP3) with Pioneer DVD-R/RW drive can not see them. This is where my original question comes in:what software will let my PC to read these discs, and save the files in my HDD in DVD-VR structure or DVD-Video structure so that, later on, I can make copies to DVD-R media in DVD-Video format?

[setarip_old]

Instead, I should have mentioned this prior to my question:"A friend of mine (in abroad) who sent me the finalized DVD-R discs of TV programsYes, you certainly should have mentioned this first ;>}

You should also re-read my first post to this thread...

[Milvus]

I had this problem with some DVDs from a Panasonic Camcorder. I don't think there is an all-in-one tool for this task, but you can do it with several free software or freeware tools. These are the steps i followed :

- DVD-VR use UDF 2.0 filesystem. To rip the files to your hard drive, you'll need either a UDF 2.0 driver or an OS supporting it natively (like most flavours of linux). I used Kubuntu linux since I had it installed on my laptop.

- If there is more than one title, you'll need to cut VR_MOVIE.VRO into individual files. Small utility Vob Tool 0.0.6 (http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Other-VIDEO-Tools/VOB-Tool.shtml) is perfect for this. Be careful that even deleted title files will be in the output. You'll have to make some quick check to be sure there is only titles you want to be on your final DVD.

- At this point, you'll have a bunch of vob files. To make a DVD-Video, the next step is to author it. I used AVSToDVD (http://sourceforge.net/projects/avstodvd/) for this. Quite easy to use, juste be sure to select "Keep DVD Compliant Video" in the Audio/Video part of the preferences : there is no need to reencode your video if it comes from DVD-VR.

I hope this small guide will be useful for you.

[Ghitulescu]

Thank you for the hints. I used before TMPGenc DVD Author to read that file.
BTW, VOBtool is no longer findable (I think the last time when it was seen on the net was somewhere in 2007), but I managed to have a copy and I uploaded it to MU: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4B8VCCZU
People say that it might be merged into VCDgear ...

-=-
One more issue: the VRO file may contain clips having various resolutions or, in case of Panasonics, even the same clip may have various resolution, so even if you manage to have the clips you may have problems later on during authoring.