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heidegger

Member

Registered: 2013-04-24

Posts: 100

[SOLVED] Error when trying to convert old family movies to MKV

I have received a collection of old family movies that I wish to share with my family via the internet.
The originals were Super 8 and VHS home movies that at different times were transferred to DVD.
These DVDs were likely authored by different entities using varying processes.

My process was to rip the DVDs to disk via dvdbackup using the following command:

$ dvdbackup -i /dev/sr0 -M -p

I then created individual ISOs using variations of the following command:

$ mkisofs -dvd-video -udf -o ~/dvd.iso ~/movie_name

I now have ISO replicas of all the DVDs.
All ISOs can be viewed start to finish via VLC.
This leads me to believe that the content that I care about is not corrupted.

Now, I am trying to convert all ISOs to MKV format using the tool MakeMKV found in the AUR.
Unfortunately, only a couple of the ISOs are cooperating at this step.
The error received is a bit different for each of the failing disk images but here is an example:

MakeMKV v1.17.9 linux(x64-release) started
The program can't find any usable optical drives.
Using direct disc access mode
IFO file for VTS #1 is corrupt, VOB file must be scanned. This may take very long time, please be patient.
Calculated TVOB offset for VTS #1 does not match one in IFO header.
Cells 1-11 were removed from title start
Title #1 (0:50:42) was skipped due to navigation error
Title #2 has length of 1 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #4 has length of 1 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Failed to open disc

I did keep the original folders created by dvdbackup which contain the VIDEO_TS files if that is useful.
I do not have the original DVDs easily available but I could get them back in my possession if required.

I'm considering the following causes for these errors:
- Incorrect settings during the original DVD creation.
- An error introduced during the rip and conversion to ISO.
- DRM added to the disc by the entity that converted them to DVD.

The menu systems on these disks are garbage and unneeded, all I really want is the video and sound of the home movies.
I have tried modifying the DVD structure protection removal method setting in MakeMKV however alternate settings haven't improved the result.

I welcome any suggestions to extract the video & audio data from either the ISO or DVD folder.

Thanks,
H

Last edited by heidegger (2025-02-08 20:13:04)

heidegger

Member

Registered: 2013-04-24

Posts: 100

Re: [SOLVED] Error when trying to convert old family movies to MKV

I would consider basically any options to get this data into an accessible format.
If no better solutions are available, I am considering the possibility of using OBS Studio to record a stream of VLC playing the file.

Also, please remember that these are our personal family memories.
I don't believe that any entity has legal basis to copyright our data, but I understand that my request touches on taboo subjects.

Thanks,

H

tethys

Member

Registered: 2019-08-13

Posts: 166

Re: [SOLVED] Error when trying to convert old family movies to MKV

Why don't you try ffmpeg (cli tool)? You must have it already installed in your system and you can find instructions for doing almost everything with ffmpeg in internet.

Last edited by tethys (2025-02-08 19:53:13)

heidegger

Member

Registered: 2013-04-24

Posts: 100

Re: [SOLVED] Error when trying to convert old family movies to MKV

Thank you! It was that easy!

$ ffmpeg -i VTS_01_1.VOB movie_name.mp4

frostschutz

Member

Registered: 2013-11-15

Posts: 1,589

Re: [SOLVED] Error when trying to convert old family movies to MKV

ffmpeg re-encodes by default (losing quality), check its codec copy options (e.g. -c:v copy -c:a copy) if it's possible to use them. Also no guarantee it will retain all tracks if there are different ones.

Keep the original files around in any case.