problem with NTSC DVD source in Vegas

[lilly_the_kid]

Hi everyone,

I hope somebody can help me. I usually use .VOB files in Vegas which works fine. However, I now encountered a problem I've encountered before where the clips on the timeline keep stuttering/looping and these stutters and loops keep changing. Last time I powered through and recut and recut clips, but it was a nightmare and I don't want to do it again.

The DVDs are region 2+4, but the format is NTSC. I started one Vegas project where I chose NTSC and one where I chose PAL in the beginning in both versions these stutters occur. It's hard to describe, the clip is like frame, frame, repeated frame, frame, frame, different repeated frame and so on, sometimes with frames being repeated that are quite far removed from the recent frames. And like I said this keeps changing and it gets worse.

I use DVDshrink for ripping.

I'm open to all suggestions, I will change my ways of clipping/ripping/converting, I am desperate. I really want to make this vid and I don't want the process of making it be horrible.

Thank you!!


ETA: post on lj with some great suggestions: https://vidding.livejournal.com/3329174.html

ETA: I'm currently trying a version of those and so far so good :)
Thanks for everyone's input!

Comments

[sanguinity]

I'd wondering if these discs are CSS-encrypted? (Content Scrambling System) In my experience CSS-encrypted VOBs look like that, all out of order, with many many many frames of the movie in the wrong place. The disk plays all right, but the copied VOB is all scrambled out of order.

(Sidenote re repeated frames: it's very common for NTSC-encoded discs to have repeated frames, but it'll be like every fifth frame is a repeat of the frame immediately beforehand -- it's an algorithm for padding out 24fps on the disc to 30fps on the player. You generally won't see that with the naked eye; I only ever notice it when I'm going through my source one frame at a time.)

But if what you're describing doesn't have that rhythm, and ESPECIALLY if the effect is that the movie frames are all out of order on the DVD... I'd suspect CSS-encryption. Which can be defeated during ripping with Handbrake, if you install libdvdcss first.

[lilly_the_kid]

Oh, that sounds like it could be it! I have handbrake anyway, so I'll give this a try. Thank you so much!!

[sanguinity]

Good luck! Let us know how it comes out!

[lilly_the_kid]

I just realized it might just be the common thing you mentioned because the VOBs play fine in a player when I watch them.

Someone on lj had suggested various kinds of software where I can convert the VOBs to AVI which I just managed to do with some and so far the stuttering in Vegas doesn't seem to be there anymore. But I don't want to be so hasty :)

[klia]

FWIW, we had hellish problems with a BBC series (originally PAL) released as Region 1 NTSC, so I'm not surprised. Some encoding that's being done today seems really wonky.

I'm impressed that Vegas works with raw VOB files -- I use FCP and always need to convert to another format.

Looks like you found a solution? Fingers crossed.

[lilly_the_kid]

I had this problem with the Always Sunny DVDs which were also NTSC. Ugh, so frustrating!

I discovered this by accident and usually the VOBs work just fine in Vegas, I also made vids with VOB and wmv files both and it worked, but this stuttering is horrible, especially since the clips keep changing.

Yes, I may have :) I'm still a bit cautious, though.

[littleheaven]

I have always vidded with .vob in Vegas, ever since it was Screenblast Movie Studio back in the early 2000's. I'm in a PAL region and I do remember having some issues with NTSC source but it was so long ago that I am not sure what they were or how I fixed them. However, this might help - have you tried the "match settings to source" button in your project settings? If not, go to the Project menu, then Properties, and on the Video tab at the top right there's an icon that looks like a bit of film. Click that and it'll take you to your media bin - just click on one of the .vob files that you want to match. Doing that should make all your settings the same as the source, which should, theoretically, remove any conflicts.

[lilly_the_kid]

Thanks for the tip! But alas, I do that with every project and it didn't have an affect on that source. I've been using several programs now to convert the vobs into avi files and those work.

[littleheaven]

Oh, that's annoying! I think that's probably what I did back in the day, using MPGStreamclip to convert to a different format. Extra work, but hooray for solutions!

[lilly_the_kid]

Yes, hooray! I see it as a good thing now (though I was really frustrated earlier today). I mean it's always good to know another method and I usually need a push to try new ways of doing stuff :)

[seekingferret]

My editor (Kdenlive) has a utility for 'remuxing' mpegs that sometimes helps clean things up when the vob files are a little corrupted. I think there are other utilities you can download that can do this remuxing thing, not that I know exactly what remuxing is or why it helps.

But in general vobs are never going to be ideal vidding source and you're usually better off, if you have the time and hard drive space, transcoding them into a more editable format.

[lilly_the_kid]

Thank you! I'm now converting the vobs to avi files and it works. Good to know I now have an alternative method.