Author Topic: need freeware .vob to MP4 converter (Read 18494 times)

bit · « **on:** January 03, 2014, 01:51 PM »

This is for uploading some approx 1 hour 45 minute Public Domain educational lectures to DailyMotion that are each currently about 4.3GB in size and .vob format, with each video actually consisting of multiple sub-files of audio and video.
DailyMotion says it accepts Format: mp4 (H264), mov, wmv, avi.
I tried to read up on mp4 (H264), didn't learn much, and ended up just focusing on 'plain vanilla' unadorned MP4 as a possible method.

I first tried converting to .wmv using freeware 'Prism Video File Converter', and before my pc finally locked up after a 5 or 6 hour run, it had increased the file size from 4.3GB to an unmanagable 6+GB, so I don't need .wmv format b/c it wouldn't be burnable to regular DVD disks.
When I tried 'Prism' again to go for a different format, it told me it was a 'paid feature', so I bugged out of that.

I also see DailyMotion has a nifty-looking beta Mass Uploader based on Adobe Air that allows pause and resume functions and 'offline' uploads; but its 'fine print' agreement had a lot of scary talk about giving 'third parties' various liberties and I wonder what's the general concensus about doing that?

I'm also open to suggestions whether I should consider .mov or .avi format instead of mp4, but would still need a good freeware bug-free program to do it.

eleman · « **Reply #1 on:** January 03, 2014, 01:55 PM »

Handbrake

skwire · « **Reply #2 on:** January 03, 2014, 02:18 PM »

I use, and like, VidCoder.

40hz · « **Reply #3 on:** January 03, 2014, 02:25 PM »

Handbrake
-eleman (January 03, 2014, 01:55 PM)

+1 Generally excellent results (about 99% of the time) although HB tends to be slow compared to commercial rivals.

I'm also open to suggestions whether I should consider .mov or .avi format instead of mp4,
-bit (January 03, 2014, 01:51 PM)

IMHO you're better off sticking to MP4 (or FLV in a pinch) unless your primary audience is Apple users.

Luck!

c.gingerich · « **Reply #4 on:** January 03, 2014, 03:35 PM »

I like FormatFactory

bit · « **Reply #5 on:** January 03, 2014, 05:40 PM »

I use, and like, VidCoder.
-skwire (January 03, 2014, 02:18 PM)

Thanks everyone!

If one doesn't do the trick, another should.

VidCoder is a 'front ender' for Handbrake, and says "Calling directly into the HandBrake library gives it a more rich UI than the official HandBrake Windows GUI."
But there are 4 different download choices.
I'm running Win7 32bit on an AMD machine; which download should I choose?

40hz · « **Reply #6 on:** January 03, 2014, 06:13 PM »

I'm running Win7 32bit on an AMD machine; which download should I choose?
-bit (January 03, 2014, 05:40 PM)

You'll want either VidCoder-1.4.25-x86.exe - or VidCoder-1.4.25-x86-Portable.exe if you want a portable install that doesn't write to your system directories or bugger with your registry. (FWIW I prefer to use "portable" software versions whenever one is available.)

FYI: most software with an x86 somewhere in the installer name will be for 32-bit systems. And x64 will be for 64-bit systems.

Since you're running 32-bit Windows, use the x86 version.

Using an AMD or Intel brand CPU doesn't make any difference per se. The only thing to remember is that a 64-bit CPU can run both 32 and 64-bit operating systems and software. A 32-bit CPU can only run a 32-bit OS and software.

You'll generally want to use the same app "bit version" your OS is at - even if a 64-bit system can run 32-bit software just as easily.

4wd · « **Reply #7 on:** January 03, 2014, 07:09 PM »

The two picture VidCoder instructions

need freeware .vob to MP4 converter

need freeware .vob to MP4 converter

Optional:

need freeware .vob to MP4 converter

bit · « **Reply #8 on:** January 04, 2014, 08:54 AM »

VidCoder seems possible.

bit · « **Reply #9 on:** January 04, 2014, 08:58 AM »

Oh, and BTW, There's a bad nor'easter dumping mountains of snow on the North East US.
So be sure and download a new Driver for your car so you won't have to deal with it yourself.

bit · « **Reply #10 on:** January 04, 2014, 12:22 PM »

Okay, thank you everybody, let me see what I can figure out...

MilesAhead · « **Reply #11 on:** January 08, 2014, 01:58 PM »

Okay, thank you everybody, let me see what I can figure out...
-bit (January 04, 2014, 12:22 PM)

It's too bad they won't accept mkv. If the videos are standard DVD then MakeMKV may mux them to .mkv container without any reencoding. I haven't messed with it in a while. But I think if you have standard DVD iso image files it will rip them to one .mkv file per title. Might be worth a look:
http://makemkv.com/

To use the program for free you have to get the beta reg key from the forum site with each beta update. I bought it a couple years ago. I don't know why it is still beta unless perhaps the author thinks he'll generate more traffic or buzz or whatever. I rarely got a bad beta where I had to back it off to an older version. The free key won't allow that. But if the release is that bad the instability is usually fixed very quickly.

4wd · « **Reply #12 on:** January 08, 2014, 04:20 PM »

IIRC, before he changed his post, he reported the conversion worked OK but he was having trouble uploading through the TOR network.

MakeMKV isn't going to fix that

Better off using one of the free VPN services.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #13 on:** January 09, 2014, 09:58 AM »

MakeMKV isn't going to fix that

True. But remux only is faster than conversion. Esp. if you have SSD as source and destination. There's a nice little freeware MkvToMp4. It converts the audio to compliant for .mp4 and just muxes the video with it. It's portable. I had the program as well as input and output folders on an SSD in a USB 3.0 dock. Even though the USB 3.0 didn't max out the sequential read and write of the SSD, the random read and write was almost as fast as the sequential benchmarks. Just drag and drop a bunch of input files and you could watch the progress bar slide over as the program ate through the list. It was really fun doing those.

Edit: but it's pointless to use that program unless the input mkv is HD(avc1 is it? I forget.) It won't work for mkv with mpeg video.

4wd · « **Reply #14 on:** January 09, 2014, 06:21 PM »

Edit: but it's pointless to use that program unless the input mkv is HD(avc1 is it? I forget.) It won't work for mkv with mpeg video.
-MilesAhead (January 09, 2014, 09:58 AM)

I guess that depends on what restrictions the PS3 has in the way of format compliance:

Uses existing tools to convert ~~troublesome~~* mkv files to mp4. The conversion does not re-encode the video and only re-encodes the audio if it doesn't use AAC codec (one can override this behaviour using --audio-codec). The resulting mp4 will be playable on the troublesome* Sony PS3.

*Correction mine

With the MP4 container, the video is supposed to be MPEG4 compliant, Part 2 (SP/ASP) or Part 10 (AVC), whereas the audio can be AAC, MP3, ALAC, etc.

bit · « **Reply #15 on:** January 12, 2014, 12:34 PM »

I'm giving the free version of Hotspot Shield a try.
Seems to work, starts automatically on boot and engages Firefox and Chrome.
Prompts me to register, but seems to work even without being registered.

For most needs, I think TOR may be free of backdoor tracking, whereas Hotspot may not.

edit-- Hotspot insists on auto-starting on boot, and I see no option in settings to reset it to only start manually, and this -I hate to say it- creeps me out.
I would venture to paraphrase the words of my programmer friend, that it is not 'polite'.
I also don't like it that it is based in the US, and therefore probably backdoored, unlike TOR Vidalia.
At this point, maybe I'm totally wrong, but I have to say I just don't like it.

4wd · « **Reply #16 on:** January 12, 2014, 10:18 PM »

There's plenty of other free VPNs that don't need any software other than what comes with the OS, eg.

http://www.pptpvpn.org/
http://www.bestukvpn.com/
http://www.freecanadavpn.com/

Passwords change for them every few hours. Unless you find a service that has a straight forward "we don't log anything" statement, then I would expect the minimum logging of them to be connection times/duration and originating IP.

But honestly, if you are that paranoid about uploading them, I'll do it

bit · « **Reply #17 on:** January 13, 2014, 01:31 PM »

^Gee, that's a way cool offer.
But I'd hate to impose on your generosity because it's a lot more data than I first mentioned.
There are two lecture sets, one is 12 vids and one is 14 vids, about 1.5 to 2 hours per lecture.
After conversion, each would probably be about 1GB, which takes 2 or 3 hours to convert to mp4, and only one's been converted yet.
Let me see what I can do first, please, and tnx very much.

edit-correction:
Hotspot Shield loads on boot, and sometimes it does not self-activate but waits to be manually started...
--and then again, the last time I booted, it self-activated, jumped online, and begged me to suggest it to 10 friends...
--after which, I got it to uninstall very cleanly leaving no noticeable tracks or left-over folders like so many other programs seem to do.

However, just prior to uninstall, I ran CCleaner, which ran about 1.5 minutes longer than usual to clean a bunch of extra temp files with a total of only 47MB (MB not GB).
So Hotspot was creating a ton of small temp files somewhere, which CCleaner took an unusually long time to hunt down and erase.
So Hotspot gets a 'qualified' approval for being so easy to install, and uninstalling so cleanly, but I really did not like it self-activating and popping online like that.

The 1st and 3rd of the other three VPNs mentioned above seem well worth checking out, so tnx very much.
I spoke too soon; 'Free PPTPVPN' and 'Free Canada VPN' both require rather detailed manual set-up.

Whereas Hotspot is practically one-click installation, and may be worth another try, if I can get it to settle down and stop self-activating and jumping online by itself like that.

4wd · « **Reply #18 on:** January 13, 2014, 10:06 PM »

I spoke too soon; 'Free PPTPVPN' and 'Free Canada VPN' both require rather detailed manual set-up.
-bit (January 13, 2014, 01:31 PM)

Um, it takes literally ~1 minute to set up a PPTP VPN, after that it's just three clicks to connect.

eg. Windows 8:

need freeware .vob to MP4 converter

Windows 7 is similar, (the connection list opens above the network tray icon).

Addendum: Attached is a RAS phonebook containing entries for PPTPVPN:
a) Extract
b) Double-click PPTPVPN.pbk
c) Choose US or UK, then hit Connect
d) Enter User/Password, (from web page), then hit Connect.

To disconnect:
a) Double-click PPTPVPN.pbk
b) Choose the connection and hit Hangup.

IainB · « **Reply #19 on:** January 14, 2014, 12:40 AM »

Handbrake
-eleman (January 03, 2014, 01:55 PM)

+1 Generally excellent results (about 99% of the time) although HB tends to be slow compared to commercial rivals.
I'm also open to suggestions whether I should consider .mov or .avi format instead of mp4,
-bit (January 03, 2014, 01:51 PM)
IMHO you're better off sticking to MP4 (or FLV in a pinch) unless your primary audience is Apple users.
-40hz (January 03, 2014, 02:25 PM)

I'm a novice in this. I just tried Handbrake and it works quite well on single .VOB files, but I can't see how to get it to input 2 or more .VOB files and output a single .MP4 file containing both.
Have you got to concatenate the .VOB files first? (How the heck would you do that?)

4wd · « **Reply #20 on:** January 14, 2014, 12:46 AM »

I'm a novice in this. I just tried Handbrake and it works quite well on single .VOB files, but I can't see how to get it to input 2 or more .VOB files and output a single .MP4 file containing both.
-IainB (January 14, 2014, 12:40 AM)

Add the folder, not individual files.

If you use VidCoder, you can drop the folder of VOBs or the ISO on the interface, it will auto-select the longest title on the DVD, (you choose any others), for encoding.

EDIT: HandBrake will do the same, just drop the folder/ISO on the interface.

IainB · « **Reply #21 on:** January 14, 2014, 06:01 AM »

Add the folder, not individual files.
-4wd (January 14, 2014, 12:46 AM)

Hmm. By that's what I did. A folder with three .VOB files...HB scanned all 3 files, but would only output them individually as an .MP4. Perplexed, I tried but couldn't alter the settings to make it do any different.

4wd · « **Reply #22 on:** January 14, 2014, 04:49 PM »

You didn't mention whether these VOBs are all from the same title set or not.

HandBrake/VidCoder will concatenate if they are all of the same set but not if they are of a different title within the DVD structure, AFAIK.

For that you will need to use another program, or you can try to copy the VOBs to another folder and renumber them so that they appear to be from the same title set and use that folder for the source.

That probably won't work if the there are aspect/resolution changes between the different VOBs.

bit · « **Reply #23 on:** January 14, 2014, 09:19 PM »

I spoke too soon; 'Free PPTPVPN' and 'Free Canada VPN' both require rather detailed manual set-up.
-bit (January 13, 2014, 01:31 PM)

Um, it takes literally ~1 minute to set up a PPTP VPN, after that it's just three clicks to connect.

eg. Windows 8:
(see attachment in previous post)
Windows 7 is similar, (the connection list opens above the network tray icon).

Addendum: Attached is a RAS phonebook containing entries for PPTPVPN:
a) Extract
b) Double-click PPTPVPN.pbk
c) Choose US or UK, then hit Connect
d) Enter User/Password, (from web page), then hit Connect.

To disconnect:
a) Double-click PPTPVPN.pbk
b) Choose the connection and hit Hangup.
-4wd (January 13, 2014, 10:06 PM)

Tnx, I'll check this out.
One of the supreme virtues of TOR Vidalia is that once you set it up, it doesn't pull unexpected switcharoos from encrypted to unencrypted mode; in fact it bundles its own version of Firefox that -in a word- is tailor-made to be paranoid in the extreme by passionate security-conscious zealots.

Compared to that, the way some VPNs jump in and out of protected mode, with just a little bitty color-coded icon in your bottom tray to warn you, it's inviting accidental exposure that can take way too long to become aware of before you realize your mistake.

That's about like the woman who always did base jumps with a shoulder-pull rip cord, and one day she tried a pack with a waist pull-cord instead, stepped off a cliff, reached for her shoulder cord, remembered it was on her waist, started to reach down instead, and hit the rocks.
True story; her b/f or husband co-base jumper was quite grieved by her death.

IOW, you take care of your habits, and don't switch around too much, and they will take care of you.

For .vob conversion, I hate to sound sloppy, but I just click on one file in the folder [an entire folder full of sub-files for one single vid], and it converts the entire folder bundle into a neat single mp4 file.
And cuts the size from 4GB to 1GB.

bit · « **Reply #24 on:** February 04, 2014, 01:20 AM »

Okay, one video file can actually consist of 10 or more sub-files in .vob .ifo .bup .dat formats, and the entire video folder for the one video can be a total of up to 4.5GB, or about the size of a full DVD.
I've got about 30 videos I need to do this, but I think they can if necessary be deleted after each send to make room for the next.
Does anyone know of a good free file transfer service that can handle that?
BTW, these are rare out-of-circulation public domain videos that are not copyrighted, so there is no danger of that.