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Using AnyDVD HD to recover DVD with menus from single VOB file

OlympiacosFox

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Happy New Year everybody.

While trying to rip an old movie DVD to ISO, AnyDVD HD stopped around 95%, as it usually does, when the DVD is scratched or somehow damaged. However, what is interesting with this one is that, when I tried to directly play the DVD with VLC, it would play normally through all movie parts (especially after a system reboot). In particular, perhaps VLC would indeed crash at some point towards the end of the movie, but, if I restarted the pc, it would then play through that point and perhaps crash somewhere else. At the end of the day, I managed to convert the entire movie to a mkv, by literally using the "recording" function of VLC until it crashed -> restart pc -> repeat recording from that point, and in the end I stitched all the pieces together in Adobe Premiere. (Yes, I know, that was A LOT of work, but I was curious to see if it's doable.)

My questions are:
1) If VLC could read through all parts of the movie, why did AnyDVD HD fail? I did get that initial error that I haven't set the DVD player region code, but I doubt that is the problem, because I successfully managed to rip other DVDs from the same movie collection (and I've never had that problem in general).

2) Although I have a mkv, I would like to have a DVD ISO with the menus. After converting mkv to VOB, is it possible to use the actual VIDEO_TS.IFO file on the DVD to correctly split the large VOB file to 1GB segments, so that the menus work (after converting everything to ISO)?

Thank you.
 
1. Nobody knows unless you provide an anydvd logfile but the most likely (and common) option that the problematic area is then in a menu or bonus feature. If you only play the main movie, VLC doesn't access the problem area and as such doesn't have issues.

2. No, the track and file layout wouldn't latch the new vob file. Your mkv to dvd conversion program needs to make the proper menus itself.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 
If the problem area is in a menu or special feature, you could possibly repair such a disc when the read error is near the end of processing. What you can do is use some kind of application that allows individual File extraction. I don't know of such a program now that the last one isn't supported anymore. (Or allowed.) But, what you could do is extract all files, keeping the files that fail to fully extract, and then use IFOEdit to Get VTS Sectors and save the new IFO's. This might save your DVD (Doesn't always work.), but any damaged parts would not fully play. However, if you're just interested in the movie and it is intact, you could use this repaired DVD to load in DVD Shrink, save a new VIDEO_TS of just the Main Feature stream, and then use some kind of DVD authoring application to generate new custom menus.
 
Thanks for the response.
1. I am attaching the logfile here (sorry, should have done it earlier). The issue must be in the main movie, because VLC does have errors (crashes) while playing it, but every time it is at a different point in the last 10 minutes of the movie.

2. I tried using IFOedit using the original VIDEO_TS.IFO (http://ifoedit.com/remux.html), it splits the large VOB file to 1GB chunks, but in the resulting ISO (using ImgBurn) the menus do not function properly (any scene selection just starts playing from the beginning). :-(
 

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Well i told you doing that ifo thing wouldn't work.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for the response.
1. I am attaching the logfile here (sorry, should have done it earlier). The issue must be in the main movie, because VLC does have errors (crashes) while playing it, but every time it is at a different point in the last 10 minutes of the movie.

2. I tried using IFOedit using the original VIDEO_TS.IFO (http://ifoedit.com/remux.html), it splits the large VOB file to 1GB chunks, but in the resulting ISO (using ImgBurn) the menus do not function properly (any scene selection just starts playing from the beginning). :-(
One thing that stands out, may not help this issue, but if you're going to do DVDs, you should set your drive region. Make sure you EXIT AnyDVD before checking or setting the drive region.
Summary for drive D: (AnyDVD HD 8.5.0.0, BDPHash.bin 20-03-11)
ASUS BW-16D1H-U E114
Drive (Hardware) Region: 0 (not set!)
Current profile: DVD-ROM
 
There is one program I remember that is able to extract file by file or as ISO and can even read from end of disc to start of disc or use different drives to complete an image, you could try but I'm not sure if it's free use for this purpose.
ISOBuster may be able to help you.
You still need AnyDVD to remove the protection.

Another program would be ISOPuzzle which should be freeware but is no longer developed.
 
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Thanks for the response.
1. I am attaching the logfile here (sorry, should have done it earlier). The issue must be in the main movie, because VLC does have errors (crashes) while playing it, but every time it is at a different point in the last 10 minutes of the movie.

2. I tried using IFOedit using the original VIDEO_TS.IFO (http://ifoedit.com/remux.html), it splits the large VOB file to 1GB chunks, but in the resulting ISO (using ImgBurn) the menus do not function properly (any scene selection just starts playing from the beginning). :-(
Set your drive region code.
 
One thing that stands out, may not help this issue, but if you're going to do DVDs, you should set your drive region. Make sure you EXIT AnyDVD before checking or setting the drive region.

Set your drive region code.

Yes, as i mentioned, when inserting the DVD, AnyDVD does give me a warning about region code not set etc. However, I really doubt this is the problem, since this warning has appeared for many other DVDs, which were successfully ripped to ISO, including one from the same DVD series. I don't want to set the region for my Blu-Ray drive and would prefer to avoid spending yet another $25 for another external DVD drive that again will break in 3 months (I have 3-4 of those already!). If I knew this is the problem for sure, I would do it though.

There is one program I remember that is able to extract file by file or as ISO and can even read from end of disc to start of disc or use different drives to complete an image, you could try but I'm not sure if it's free use for this purpose.
ISOBuster may be able to help you.
You still need AnyDVD to remove the protection.

Another program would be ISOPuzzle which should be freeware but is no longer developed.

Thanks for the recommendations. I tried ISOPuzzle, but didn't achieve anything better. I think the error is in the VTS_01_5.VOB file.

Really what I need is just a way to use the existing IFO files to work with the new VOB file I have created. I'll try to create an new IFO manually with IFOedit by manually copying the info, but it's tedious and I doubt I'll manage to make it work with the menu anyway...
 
You can always do it the easy and right way, and use something like 'ConvertXtoDVD'.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 
Happy New Year everybody.

While trying to rip an old movie DVD to ISO, AnyDVD HD stopped around 95%, as it usually does, when the DVD is scratched or somehow damaged. However, what is interesting with this one is that, when I tried to directly play the DVD with VLC, it would play normally through all movie parts (especially after a system reboot). In particular, perhaps VLC would indeed crash at some point towards the end of the movie, but, if I restarted the pc, it would then play through that point and perhaps crash somewhere else. At the end of the day, I managed to convert the entire movie to a mkv, by literally using the "recording" function of VLC until it crashed -> restart pc -> repeat recording from that point, and in the end I stitched all the pieces together in Adobe Premiere. (Yes, I know, that was A LOT of work, but I was curious to see if it's doable.)

My questions are:
1) If VLC could read through all parts of the movie, why did AnyDVD HD fail? I did get that initial error that I haven't set the DVD player region code, but I doubt that is the problem, because I successfully managed to rip other DVDs from the same movie collection (and I've never had that problem in general).

2) Although I have a mkv, I would like to have a DVD ISO with the menus. After converting mkv to VOB, is it possible to use the actual VIDEO_TS.IFO file on the DVD to correctly split the large VOB file to 1GB segments, so that the menus work (after converting everything to ISO)?

Thank you.
VLC is an interesting piece of software. It has the ability to play some video files that have not been authored well or did not close out properly. And as you did you can use some of the tools available in VLC to make the file playable with other not so forgiving players. I suggest you find a copy of imgburn, because if you can get a disc that closely to completion, the constant retry mode of imgburn could get you that last 5% and properly close out the iso.
 
Why not? No region code set = locked for ALL regions.

OK, I guess my understanding was that, if I set it to one region, it won't be able to read other regions. With region unset, I know that it has been reading both regions 1 & 2 without problem. Of course, it may have just been because AnyDVD was running in the background(?) In any case, I prefer to follow the logic "if it ain't broken, don't fix it".
In the case of this DVD, indeed one of my other external DVD drives (not-in-perfect condition but managed to read other DVDs) has region set and still had the same issues with this DVD, so that's not the problem, it must be damaged somehow.

VLC is an interesting piece of software. It has the ability to play some video files that have not been authored well or did not close out properly. And as you did you can use some of the tools available in VLC to make the file playable with other not so forgiving players. I suggest you find a copy of imgburn, because if you can get a disc that closely to completion, the constant retry mode of imgburn could get you that last 5% and properly close out the iso.

I guess what you're saying is happening indeed with VLC.
I have constructed a complete mkv file of the entire movie (with soft subtitles), which I can split to multiple 1GB VOB files. With those, I have used the rest of the original DVD files in imgburn to create an ISO without any 'closing' issues. The problem is that then neither the menus nor subtitles work. My goal was to recreate an 'exact' copy of the original DVD.

In any case, unless someone has a simple way where the original IFO files can be used to recreate the menu structure with the external mkv, I will likely simply suffice myself with the mkv. (I may try to do it manually, if I find time.)
Thanks for all the responses!
 
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OK, I guess my understanding was that, if I set it to one region, it won't be able to read other regions.
No. It will read one region easily, the others with brute force and a lot of sweat.
With region unset, I know that it has been reading both regions 1 & 2 without problem. Of course, it may have just been because AnyDVD was running in the background(?)
If the region is unset, AnyDVD has to brute force all regions. Set your drive to the region, you use mostly. Leaving the region unset is the worst thing you can do.
 
OK, I guess my understanding was that, if I set it to one region, it won't be able to read other regions. With region unset, I know that it has been reading both regions 1 & 2 without problem. Of course, it may have just been because AnyDVD was running in the background(?) In any case, I prefer to follow the logic "if it ain't broken, don't fix it".
In the case of this DVD, indeed one of my other external DVD drives (not-in-perfect condition but managed to read other DVDs) has region set and still had the same issues with this DVD, so that's not the problem, it must be damaged somehow.



I guess what you're saying is happening indeed with VLC.
I have constructed a complete mkv file of the entire movie (with soft subtitles), which I can split to multiple 1GB VOB files. With those, I have used the rest of the original DVD files in imgburn to create an ISO without any 'closing' issues. The problem is that then neither the menus nor subtitles work. My goal was to recreate an 'exact' copy of the original DVD.

In any case, unless someone has a simple way where the original IFO files can be used to recreate the menu structure with the external mkv, I will likely simply suffice myself with the mkv. (I may try to do it manually, if I find time.)
Thanks for all the responses!
I am not sure what you are trying to do. But if imgburn gave you a complete iso. You can then use dvd shrink, if you can find a copy, to make a normal dvd folder, which should have the navigable menus intact. You can also split the vob files into 1 gig groups with shrink.
 
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