I really am lost here! Guru-help needed..

[plasmascreen]

Hello all,

I have been reading / trying a lot but still cannot achieve the following simple:confused: thing:

I have my wedding video on dvd, so I only have vob and ifo files.. This dvd only contains the movie with a very simple menu that is very ugly. I want to create my own dvd with menu (already created a moving background menu in several programs) and want to put my wedding movie on it WITHOUT loss of quality...

I have already tried a lot of programs !! Most of them couldn´t deal with the vob format so I finally downloaded DVDLab that can import vob files.. It is a great program and looks very nice.. BUT the output is awfull !! Looks like it compresses everything ?? Or am i doing something wrong ?

So then i left DVDLab and tried scenarist and Maestro..because I want clear professional looking video and menus.. But these professional programs can´t handle VOB ??
THis should be very simple but how do I convert my vob files to some other format without any loss of quality ?? Demuxing with what program ? DVD2Avi ? Tried demuxing with DVDDecrypter but that gives me no audio ? and Maestro get very slow when importing this format ?

Is there a guru amongst you who can explain me how I can use my existing vob files into another DVD project that gives professional looking output and doesn´t give quality loss of my video ?

thanx !!!!!

desperado plasmascreeno
:devil:

[Dimmer]

Since you appear to have experience with professional applications like Scenarist, I suggest you demux your Vob files into elementary video/audio streams and re-author the DVD with your menus. One of the programs you can use for this is VodEdit. Open VTS_01_1.VOB, click on Demux button and check Demux All Video Streams and Demux All Audio Streams. Repeat this for each titleset if you have more than one (VTS_02_1.VOB, VTS_03_1.VOB...). You'll get video in .m2v file and audio in .ac3, .mpa or .wav files. You can feed these streams to the most of the authoring programs like Scenarist or Maestro without quality loss.

[plasmascreen]

thanx for your quick reply... I'm leaving for a meeting abroad in a few hours but I will definatively try this when I'm back and let you know ! :cool:

[mudda_t]

... DVDLab that can import vob files.. It is a great program and looks very nice.. BUT the output is awfull !! Looks like it compresses everything ?? Or am i doing something wrong ?
Output file being the menus or movie?
Dvdlab doesn't touch your video at all, it multiplex's aud and video together(thats if you demuxed first). Even if you used your vobs "directly without multiplexing" it shouldn't affect quality. Dvdlab doesn't touch quality, what you put in you get out.
.
Now if your importing your menus, and it's changing their quality, that i would have no clue about.
THis should be very simple but how do I convert my vob files to some other format without any loss of quality ??
Your vob is already dvd compliant (mpeg2) you do not need to convert to "other" format. Like dimmer said just demux your vob, dvdlab can do that for you. If you have multiple vobs (vts_01_1.vob, vts_01_2.vob, etc) you'll first need to join them before you demux.

[plasmascreen]

yes, i mean the menus..

I created a magnificant looking menu in DVDLab, moving background with flare in the left corner, audio and great looking buttons. In preview mode it looks stunning!
But when i output files to hdd and let powerdvd run, it looks awfull. Or at least a lot more compressed than in preview mode. Also when played back on my standalone it is not cristalclear.
I saw some other posts on this subject, don't think there is a setting i overlooked.
If dvdlab did not have this problem it would definitively be the best program to use i think!

[mudda_t]

Dvdlab has built in checks for menus "ntsc safe colors" etc, try playing around in the preferences. Before you compile the screen that pops up also has some settings.
This may be why Dvdlab is changing your menus.

[plasmascreen]

dear mudda_t ,

I´ve tried to create some examples of what i´m complaining of in DVDLab.. When follow this link:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71367

you can see at the bottom some links to projects I´ve made.. in the last reply i´ve included a screenshot and the actual VIDEO_TS directory zipped for you to see the result...

what am i doing wrong ?

[stl]

Yes, you can demux your VOBs into elementary streams and use a program like photoshop to create a menu (save it as a .bmp) or premiere (for motion menus)

If you use Maestro (easier than Scenarist) it will even create a default sublayer so you don't need to worry about the menu layers. It will even import .psd and split the layers accordingly, although I've never had much success with that method. There is a guide on Photoshop and menus on doom9.

If you create a motion menu (.m2v) then you should create a layer with your buttons. This can be done in photoshop too.

I've never had a problem with Maestro and the resulting quality. It's truly a crime that this program is no longer sold.