Video Conversion and YouTube

[Navrig]

A few years ago we had our family videos, taken on Sony handycam etc, moved to DVD. At the time I did not appreciate that the chosen digital file type could affect how we shared and viewed the DVDs. As a result the guy doing the conversion saved the video in what I would describe as DVD format rather than MP4 or other single file formats.

We now have a dozen or so DVD discs each with multiple files. Typically each dis has 2 folders Video_RM and Video_TS. Within the folders are various files: .DAT, .BUP, .TFO, IFO or .VOB.

Judging by the file sizes the actual video is in the VOB files. In some cases there are multiple VOB files all with the same file size and named with sequential numbering.

As time has passed we have moved from a house with many DVD drives to having an ageing Panasonic DVD player, a PS4 and a very old HP laptop each with DVD drives. Our more modern laptops and chromebooks do not have DVD drives. Our family and friends are now spread across the world.

I want to share these videos with family and friends and it seems that YouTube is as good a medium to share these SD quality videos.

Whilst seeking help on how to do this I found advice which said the easiest way to convert the videos was to get YT to do the conversion. So I have taken a few discs as examples. However I was not sure what files should be uploaded to YT. I dragged all files to YT. A bunch were "rejected" whilst others uploaded. Some of the uploads converted and others failed at conversion stage. Some got through and seem to be intact. Mostly however the videos are limited to the first "scene" of what was on the tape/disc. So, for example, a tape which contained scenes of our dog and then our daughter creating a play only has the dog section.

I've tried searching online for the best way to convert videos for upload to YT but nearly all the returns are for various suites of video conversion software rather than giving advice.

In reality I want to know:

Is mass loading of files to YT the correct solution?
If so, what files do I Ioad and how do I ensure that all scenes are loaded and converted?

If YT conversion is not the way to go then:
What software is worth buying for a chromebook (I have an HDD caddy with adequate HDD storage and an i5 based chromebook with 8GB RAM)?
What files on the DVD do I point the conversion software at?
What is the best output for loading to YT as that will be the sharing medium?

 

[MarkE19]

It's been a while since I worked with any DVD's, but hopefully I remember correctly.

As you say the .vob files are the ones you want, but as you say they are split into scenes etc. So what you would need to do is using any video editing software drop them onto the timeline and output them as a single MPEG-2 file - you can just rename a .vob file to .mpg
You can then download the free video converter Handbrake - HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder

Which format you convert to depends on where they are going to be played, ie YouTube or on a media player etc.

Mark.

 

[next010]

Here is a quick approach
1) Download and install MakeMKV
2) Feed the DVD into that and have it scan the disc, in the tree list it should auto select all video streams, hit the rip button.
3) Check the output folder and you now have a bunch of MPEG-2/MKV videos which are the original DVD video repackaged in MKV containers (play any of them in VLC to see which is which).


You can optionally upload any of those .mkv files to Youtube and it should auto convert them, if willing to spend the time it takes to upload what might be 4-5GB of video per disc.

The other approach as Mark says is feed the video into Handbrake and convert it will generate a YT mp4 video much smaller in size to upload.

If these are PAL DVD's maybe the Preset->General->HQ 576p25 Surround is one to go for and on summary tab tick the box for web optimized.

 

[Navrig]

Thanks guys.

I am restricted to a Pixelbook or a 9 year old HP laptop so I'll have a look round to see what software runs on what.

 

[Navrig]

I have managed to install Handbrake on the Pixelbook (Linux enabled) and have processed an MP4 file. Now loading all the DVDs onto a HDD for processing and loading to YT.

 

[Navrig]

Thanks guys. All working now using Handbrake for Linux.