(cache)DVD-RAM *.VRO File Conversion

jmracek · 4th February 2002, 18:02

I am trying to convert DVD-RAM video discs to mpeg2.

the file is a *.VRO video file. These files are not
copy protected. I can change the file extension on the HDD
and play them with media player. The problem is that the
whole file isn't played. Media player eventually locks up.

Does anyone have any experiance using these files on a
windows 2000 machine. There doesn't seem to be any software
out there that can convert these files to anything else.
The only software I found was for an apple.

thanks
Jack

tonyaldr · 27th April 2002, 16:32

I've got a DMR-E10 that I just picked up, and I have the same question about converting VRO files. Hopefully posting again will keep the subject alive. I've heard that PowerDVD will play the files without any lockups, but haven't tried it. Try downloading a demo from the www.gocyberlink.com website. By the way, you mentioned an Apple solution in your post. Could you tell me what that is? Thanx.

jmracek · 29th April 2002, 15:34

I still haven't found away of converting a dvd-ram to dvd-r.
However, power-dvd and win-dvd will play the files on a
computer just fine. Windvd seems to give better results for dealing
with multi track disks. But both seem to work.

Jack.

tonyaldr · 30th April 2002, 04:45

How about that Apple solution you mentioned in your earlier post?

jmracek · 30th April 2002, 15:37

Toast Titanium looks like it can
deal with DVD-RAM files and maybe convert
them to DVD-R. But I haven't seen a PC solution
from them yet. I looked at Roxio's web site a few
weeks ago and there EasyCD Creator Platinum product
is listing DVD-RAM compatibility but I think that is
just for data discs now. Windows XP is DVD-RAM compliant
as far as that goes, but it doesn't seem to have any
video conversion utilities.
I converted one DVD-RAM video once. If I recall I
renamed the vro file to mpg. Media player would now play
it. (As Long as there was only one track on the DVD-RAM).
I then used TMPGENC to convert it to a VCD. It wasn't
very easy and I got general protection faults once in a while.
But I did do it.

Jack

tonyaldr · 30th April 2002, 20:10

Thanx for the info. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for more and post anything useful.

tonyaldr · 16th May 2002, 22:56

There's a product from Software Architect called GreatVideo which claims to handle and convert VRO files. Don't know anyone who's used it though. I'm currently unemployed so I'm holding off on it until I start getting a regular paycheck. If you want to take a look, here's their website - http://www.softarch.com

EiGuscheMa · 7th June 2002, 07:34

tonyaldr,

I downloaded the GreatVideo manual from Softarch and now I think this is not what we´re after. GreatVideo allows you to convert .vro to QuickTime on a file to file basis.
If you don´t want to fiddle with QuickTime you may achieve the same thing by demultiplexing the .vro files using TMpegEnc´s MPEG-Tools. You will get a .m2v video and an .ac3 audio (in case of the DMR-E20) that you can use for DVD-authoring. This works quite well for me.
But:
The DMR-E20 puts everything into one big .vro, no matter how many programs (or say chapters) are stored on the disc. (In case of DV-Capture there may be several dozens of them) The information about the .vro content is stored in an .ifo file on the disc. But that .ifo seems to be totally different from that .ifo found on a DVD-Video.
I am still looking for software that can deal with this .ifo

In Japan there seems to be a program called DVD-Movie-Album by Panasonic that does just that. But it is not available for download outside Japan.

let´s try ko keep this thread alive

cap4000 · 8th June 2002, 15:38

I have tried Dvd junior and converted vro's to vob's successfully, all
different bit rates. This was using demo DVDjunior 1.18. Couldn't get version 1.20 to work. Still lookin' for Demo 1.18. (lost it).

drmih · 26th June 2002, 17:23

There's no problem converting the files if you only have clips with one speed in the file. Just demux the .m2v part using vobrator/dvmpeg/tmpgenc or whatever and then get the audio by using dvd2avi (the reason for this is that when seperated there is quite often a sync problem which is included in the audio file name). Take the audio track and if there is a delay use besweet to convert it taking the delay into account. The video and audio tracks are then in standard form and can be authored or whatever with most software.

EiGuscheMa · 31st July 2002, 06:39

I just found some interesting threads at avsforum about this topic (go to dvd and ld Hardware). Guys are discussing several approaches (DVDjr vs DVDMovieAlbum vs DVDWorkshop) They also mention that you can order a "driver" disk for the LF-D321U DVD-RAM/R drive from panasonic for 7$ inside US. It contains the DVDMovieAlbum, DvDIt LE and other things. MovieAlbum seams to work with NTSC material only, so the european LF-D321E software does not include it

There´s an update to DVDMovieAlbum 2.6 at panasonic.jp (It´s all japanese so you might want to use an online translator)
I like MovieAlbum because it offers much of the functionality the DMR-E20 has.
just FYI

Blue-Laser-27GB · 17th March 2003, 18:34

Don't waste your money on that GreatVideo garbage.

I have found a very easy and very simply way to extrac the VOB files out of the VRO file.

Here is the layout and instructions:

1. A .VRO file contains several VOB files which contain all the information recorded.

2. Those VOB files are standard DVD VOB files in MPEG-2 format, and may be editing normally.

INTRUCTIONS:

Analyze the VRO file and extract them directly from the DVD-RAM disc in your DVD-RAM pc drive using "VOBtool 0.93 from Dracore"

NOTE: DO NOT COPY THE .VRO FILE TO YOUR HARD DRIVE, KEEP IT ON THE DVD-DISC, AND EXTRACT THE VOBs DIRECTLY FROM THERE (otherwise it will corrupt).

EiGuscheMa · 2nd April 2003, 14:10

Hi,

that´s really great news! It´s exactly what I´ve been after for a long time.
Unfortunately that Vobtool is not in the download area. Does Dracore have a website?

marxking · 8th July 2003, 08:16

Thanks for your suggestion.
I got the vobtool and extract the *.vro files to *.vob files.
but I have a question....
The video is 16:9 at my original VRO file ,and I can play it at the general DVD player and PC (by powerdvd or windvd) with 16:9 ratio shown. After extracting to vob file by vobtool,the video of the vob file was cahnged to 4:3 .....so strange ...
can someone tell me how to transfer the 4:3 video to 16:9 ??
thanks a lot !

Quote:

Originally posted by Blue-Laser-27GB
Don't waste your money on that GreatVideo garbage.

I have found a very easy and very simply way to extrac the VOB files out of the VRO file.

Here is the layout and instructions:

1. A .VRO file contains several VOB files which contain all the information recorded.

2. Those VOB files are standard DVD VOB files in MPEG-2 format, and may be editing normally.

INTRUCTIONS:

Analyze the VRO file and extract them directly from the DVD-RAM disc in your DVD-RAM pc drive using "VOBtool 0.93 from Dracore"

NOTE: DO NOT COPY THE .VRO FILE TO YOUR HARD DRIVE, KEEP IT ON THE DVD-DISC, AND EXTRACT THE VOBs DIRECTLY FROM THERE (otherwise it will corrupt).

UncleTig · 21st October 2004, 12:43

I'm making this post mainly to reactivate this topic as I don't think the answer to the original question has been found.

I would also love to be able to use my pc to convert the .vro files made by my Panasonic dmr-e50 to vobs and therefore create a DVD-R Disc.

I've been searching the web for months now to no avail.

The simple solution of using 'vobtool 0.93' sounds great - but where on earth (or the web) can I find it?!!! I found 'vobtool 0.06' but it only handles .vob files.

If anyone out there can help you would make my day

Cheers

tonyaldr · 23rd October 2004, 16:13

I've been exporting those files to my computer as MPG files using the program DVD MovieAlbum SE that is provided by Panasonic when you buy one of their internal or external DVD-RAM drives. At that point you can use any DVD authoring program to create DVDs. Hope that helps!

robguy · 23rd October 2004, 16:20

Have you tried using something from the TMPGEnc product line?

Assuming that you have a DVD-ROM (like one made by lite-on) or a DVD burner (like the Iomega DVD Superdrive) that can read .VRO files on your PC, the simplest solution I've found to convert .VRO to MPEG-2 is to import the .VRO files into either TMPGEnc DVD Author or TMPGEnc Xpress 2.5 or 3. Once they're converted, I can use any number of products to cut the MPEGs to remove commercials, etc.), then use DVD Author to burn the edited MPEGs back to a -R.

Of course, these programs are not free, but the results are what I had been looking for -- and the effort requires less hoops to jump through and learning curves that I found inherent in many free programs.

UncleTig · 25th October 2004, 13:07

Thanks for the responses guys.

Tonyaldr, "DVD MovieAlbum SE that is provided by Panasonic" should be a great solution BUT...it only works with the NTSC format, not PAL. So you guys in the States get it bundled with your Panasonic drives but we in the UK don't

Robguy, I've had to admit defeat on trying to solve my problem with free software. If anyone else out there knows of a free way to solve this issue then I would still like to know about it.

If it's of help to others I found that DVD LAB will directly accept the .vro file and build a complete movie with bespoke menu and scene seletions (+ many other features I've not used yet). It will then burn a competed DVD-R suitable for any player.
DVD Lab costs $99 but best of all you can download a 30 day free trial to test it out before you buy.

What are others peoples experiences with DVDLAB? (before my 30 day trial finishes!)

Cheers

volvofl10 · 27th October 2004, 23:17

Quote:

Originally posted by robguy
Have you tried using something from the TMPGEnc product line?

dvd author does it. you need a RAM capable reader on your pc, its probably easier and better to use the "EDit" feature on your panasonic recorder rather than any dvd authopring prog .

run the ram disc thru TMPGenc DVDauthor , this will give you a folder full of .VOB files, you can burn to media with nero or something similar .

SeeMoreDigital · 2nd November 2004, 17:55

Does anybody know what type of Mpeg2 stream DVD-RAM uses?

Is it I, P and B-frame based or I-frame only.?

I only ask because for a "disc" based system it seems very easy to edit!

Cheers

4th February 2002, 18:02	#1 \| Link
jmracek Registered User Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: CA Posts: 5	*DVD-RAM .VRO File Conversion** I am trying to convert DVD-RAM video discs to mpeg2. the file is a *.VRO video file. These files are not copy protected. I can change the file extension on the HDD and play them with media player. The problem is that the whole file isn't played. Media player eventually locks up. Does anyone have any experiance using these files on a windows 2000 machine. There doesn't seem to be any software out there that can convert these files to anything else. The only software I found was for an apple. thanks Jack

29th April 2002, 15:34	#3 \| Link
jmracek Registered User Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: CA Posts: 5	DVD-RAM I still haven't found away of converting a dvd-ram to dvd-r. However, power-dvd and win-dvd will play the files on a computer just fine. Windvd seems to give better results for dealing with multi track disks. But both seem to work. Jack.

8th June 2002, 15:38	#9 \| Link
cap4000 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: ontario Posts: 29	dvd junior - vor to vob I have tried Dvd junior and converted vro's to vob's successfully, all different bit rates. This was using demo DVDjunior 1.18. Couldn't get version 1.20 to work. Still lookin' for Demo 1.18. (lost it).

17th March 2003, 18:34	#12 \| Link
Blue-Laser-27GB Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: USA Posts: 5	SIMPLE TO EXTRACT VOB FILES FROM VRO Don't waste your money on that GreatVideo garbage. I have found a very easy and very simply way to extrac the VOB files out of the VRO file. Here is the layout and instructions: 1. A .VRO file contains several VOB files which contain all the information recorded. 2. Those VOB files are standard DVD VOB files in MPEG-2 format, and may be editing normally. INTRUCTIONS: Analyze the VRO file and extract them directly from the DVD-RAM disc in your DVD-RAM pc drive using "VOBtool 0.93 from Dracore" NOTE: DO NOT COPY THE .VRO FILE TO YOUR HARD DRIVE, KEEP IT ON THE DVD-DISC, AND EXTRACT THE VOBs DIRECTLY FROM THERE (otherwise it will corrupt).

23rd October 2004, 16:20	#17 \| Link
robguy Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 22	Have you tried using something from the TMPGEnc product line? Assuming that you have a DVD-ROM (like one made by lite-on) or a DVD burner (like the Iomega DVD Superdrive) that can read .VRO files on your PC, the simplest solution I've found to convert .VRO to MPEG-2 is to import the .VRO files into either TMPGEnc DVD Author or TMPGEnc Xpress 2.5 or 3. Once they're converted, I can use any number of products to cut the MPEGs to remove commercials, etc.), then use DVD Author to burn the edited MPEGs back to a -R. Of course, these programs are not free, but the results are what I had been looking for -- and the effort requires less hoops to jump through and learning curves that I found inherent in many free programs. Last edited by robguy; 23rd October 2004 at 16:29.

27th April 2002, 16:32	#2 \| Link
tonyaldr Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Queens, NYC Posts: 7	I've got a DMR-E10 that I just picked up, and I have the same question about converting VRO files. Hopefully posting again will keep the subject alive. I've heard that PowerDVD will play the files without any lockups, but haven't tried it. Try downloading a demo from the www.gocyberlink.com website. By the way, you mentioned an Apple solution in your post. Could you tell me what that is? Thanx.

30th April 2002, 04:45	#4 \| Link
tonyaldr Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Queens, NYC Posts: 7	How about that Apple solution you mentioned in your earlier post?

30th April 2002, 15:37	#5 \| Link
jmracek Registered User Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: CA Posts: 5	Toast Titanium looks like it can deal with DVD-RAM files and maybe convert them to DVD-R. But I haven't seen a PC solution from them yet. I looked at Roxio's web site a few weeks ago and there EasyCD Creator Platinum product is listing DVD-RAM compatibility but I think that is just for data discs now. Windows XP is DVD-RAM compliant as far as that goes, but it doesn't seem to have any video conversion utilities. I converted one DVD-RAM video once. If I recall I renamed the vro file to mpg. Media player would now play it. (As Long as there was only one track on the DVD-RAM). I then used TMPGENC to convert it to a VCD. It wasn't very easy and I got general protection faults once in a while. But I did do it. Jack

30th April 2002, 20:10	#6 \| Link
tonyaldr Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Queens, NYC Posts: 7	Thanx for the info. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for more and post anything useful.

16th May 2002, 22:56	#7 \| Link
tonyaldr Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Queens, NYC Posts: 7	There's a product from Software Architect called GreatVideo which claims to handle and convert VRO files. Don't know anyone who's used it though. I'm currently unemployed so I'm holding off on it until I start getting a regular paycheck. If you want to take a look, here's their website - http://www.softarch.com

7th June 2002, 07:34	#8 \| Link
EiGuscheMa Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Berlin Posts: 52	tonyaldr, I downloaded the GreatVideo manual from Softarch and now I think this is not what we´re after. GreatVideo allows you to convert .vro to QuickTime on a file to file basis. If you don´t want to fiddle with QuickTime you may achieve the same thing by demultiplexing the .vro files using TMpegEnc´s MPEG-Tools. You will get a .m2v video and an .ac3 audio (in case of the DMR-E20) that you can use for DVD-authoring. This works quite well for me. But: The DMR-E20 puts everything into one big .vro, no matter how many programs (or say chapters) are stored on the disc. (In case of DV-Capture there may be several dozens of them) The information about the .vro content is stored in an .ifo file on the disc. But that .ifo seems to be totally different from that .ifo found on a DVD-Video. I am still looking for software that can deal with this .ifo In Japan there seems to be a program called DVD-Movie-Album by Panasonic that does just that. But it is not available for download outside Japan. let´s try ko keep this thread alive

26th June 2002, 17:23	#10 \| Link
drmih Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 590	There's no problem converting the files if you only have clips with one speed in the file. Just demux the .m2v part using vobrator/dvmpeg/tmpgenc or whatever and then get the audio by using dvd2avi (the reason for this is that when seperated there is quite often a sync problem which is included in the audio file name). Take the audio track and if there is a delay use besweet to convert it taking the delay into account. The video and audio tracks are then in standard form and can be authored or whatever with most software.

31st July 2002, 06:39	#11 \| Link
EiGuscheMa Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Berlin Posts: 52	I just found some interesting threads at avsforum about this topic (go to dvd and ld Hardware). Guys are discussing several approaches (DVDjr vs DVDMovieAlbum vs DVDWorkshop) They also mention that you can order a "driver" disk for the LF-D321U DVD-RAM/R drive from panasonic for 7$ inside US. It contains the DVDMovieAlbum, DvDIt LE and other things. MovieAlbum seams to work with NTSC material only, so the european LF-D321E software does not include it There´s an update to DVDMovieAlbum 2.6 at panasonic.jp (It´s all japanese so you might want to use an online translator) I like MovieAlbum because it offers much of the functionality the DMR-E20 has. just FYI

2nd April 2003, 14:10	#13 \| Link
EiGuscheMa Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Berlin Posts: 52	Hi, that´s really great news! It´s exactly what I´ve been after for a long time. Unfortunately that Vobtool is not in the download area. Does Dracore have a website?

21st October 2004, 12:43	#15 \| Link
UncleTig Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: UK Posts: 2	I'm making this post mainly to reactivate this topic as I don't think the answer to the original question has been found. I would also love to be able to use my pc to convert the .vro files made by my Panasonic dmr-e50 to vobs and therefore create a DVD-R Disc. I've been searching the web for months now to no avail. The simple solution of using 'vobtool 0.93' sounds great - but where on earth (or the web) can I find it?!!! I found 'vobtool 0.06' but it only handles .vob files. If anyone out there can help you would make my day Cheers

23rd October 2004, 16:13	#16 \| Link
tonyaldr Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Queens, NYC Posts: 7	I've been exporting those files to my computer as MPG files using the program DVD MovieAlbum SE that is provided by Panasonic when you buy one of their internal or external DVD-RAM drives. At that point you can use any DVD authoring program to create DVDs. Hope that helps!

25th October 2004, 13:07	#18 \| Link
UncleTig Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: UK Posts: 2	Thanks for the responses guys. Tonyaldr, "DVD MovieAlbum SE that is provided by Panasonic" should be a great solution BUT...it only works with the NTSC format, not PAL. So you guys in the States get it bundled with your Panasonic drives but we in the UK don't Robguy, I've had to admit defeat on trying to solve my problem with free software. If anyone else out there knows of a free way to solve this issue then I would still like to know about it. If it's of help to others I found that DVD LAB will directly accept the .vro file and build a complete movie with bespoke menu and scene seletions (+ many other features I've not used yet). It will then burn a competed DVD-R suitable for any player. DVD Lab costs $99 but best of all you can download a 30 day free trial to test it out before you buy. What are others peoples experiences with DVDLAB? (before my 30 day trial finishes!) Cheers Last edited by UncleTig; 28th October 2004 at 08:34.

2nd November 2004, 17:55	#20 \| Link
SeeMoreDigital Life's clearer in 4K UHD Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Notts, UK Posts: 12,235	Does anybody know what type of Mpeg2 stream DVD-RAM uses? Is it I, P and B-frame based or I-frame only.? I only ask because for a "disc" based system it seems very easy to edit! Cheers __________________ \| I've been testing hardware media playback devices and software A/V encoders and decoders since 2001 \| My Network Layout & A/V Gear \|