Here's a kind of related question. I just downloaded a season of a TV show and all of the files are in VOB format. How do I convert them to something I can stream to my 360? Preferably for free.
Assuming the 360 does MPEG2 you should just be able to concatenate the VOBs together and slap a .mpg extension on the file. Otherwise, grab a free tool like Handbrake which will convert MPEG-2 into AVC.
It's almost that simple, but I should clarify a little.
1. DVD's call their titles VTS_01_0.VOB, VTS_01_1.VOB etc. So title 01 might have 5 parts running from 0 to 4 The reason titles are split up like this is a file limitation, in practice the bits are joined together.
2. VOB (video object) is a container format containing the MPEG-2 data. You should be able to rename it to .mpg and it can be read by media players.
3. Most DVDs are encrypted so VOBs are unreadable on DVD unless you transfer them to your hard disk first using a tool like DVD Decrypter which removes the content scrambling. It's easy enough to find this tool.
4. Once on your HDD, you can concatenate the files together from the command line or any GUI tool. From command line, syntax is like "copy /b VTS_01_0.VOB + /b VTS_01_1.VOB ...etc.... MyMovie.mpg". This will create from the parts MyMovie.mpg
5. You should be able to stream this to your console. But I don't have a 360 to confirm (I know I can from a PS3). If you can't you can google for a tool like Handbrake. This is a frontend for DIVX & AVC encoders which will turn your DVD into an .avi or .mp4 file which you can stream. You lose a bit of quality for reencoding the movie, but then it only takes up 1/5th the space so there are advantages too. If you have the time, choose AVC over DIVX because the quality is better for the same disk space.
It's pretty messy and a little complicated but ripping movies is quite possible with free tools. If you have money then a combination of DVD Decrypter and Nero 8 makes it much easier - rip to HDD and fire up Nero Recode to spit out an AVC file.
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Here's a kind of related question. I just downloaded a season of a TV show and all of the files are in VOB format. How do I convert them to something I can stream to my 360? Preferably for free.
Assuming the 360 does MPEG2 you should just be able to concatenate the VOBs together and slap a .mpg extension on the file. Otherwise, grab a free tool like Handbrake which will convert MPEG-2 into AVC.
Really? That's it? Just change the .VOB to .MPG on the end and it's ready to go?
I'll try that when I get home and see what happens.
It's almost that simple, but I should clarify a little.
1. DVD's call their titles VTS_01_0.VOB, VTS_01_1.VOB etc. So title 01 might have 5 parts running from 0 to 4 The reason titles are split up like this is a file limitation, in practice the bits are joined together.
2. VOB (video object) is a container format containing the MPEG-2 data. You should be able to rename it to .mpg and it can be read by media players.
3. Most DVDs are encrypted so VOBs are unreadable on DVD unless you transfer them to your hard disk first using a tool like DVD Decrypter which removes the content scrambling. It's easy enough to find this tool.
4. Once on your HDD, you can concatenate the files together from the command line or any GUI tool. From command line, syntax is like "copy /b VTS_01_0.VOB + /b VTS_01_1.VOB ...etc.... MyMovie.mpg". This will create from the parts MyMovie.mpg
5. You should be able to stream this to your console. But I don't have a 360 to confirm (I know I can from a PS3). If you can't you can google for a tool like Handbrake. This is a frontend for DIVX & AVC encoders which will turn your DVD into an .avi or .mp4 file which you can stream. You lose a bit of quality for reencoding the movie, but then it only takes up 1/5th the space so there are advantages too. If you have the time, choose AVC over DIVX because the quality is better for the same disk space.
It's pretty messy and a little complicated but ripping movies is quite possible with free tools. If you have money then a combination of DVD Decrypter and Nero 8 makes it much easier - rip to HDD and fire up Nero Recode to spit out an AVC file.
One clarification to what I said, you only need to concatenate the files from _1.vob onwards. The VTS_**_0.vob file is not mpeg data.