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Any suggestions on a good Video file converter?

Any suggestions on a good file converter? I have 4 DVDs that play on my Mac Studio (using a USB Apple super drive). These are older DVDs made in the early 2000's when I insert the DVD it appears on my desktop and it automatically plays but when I click on the DVD icon it brings up a folder that has the VIDEO_TS. Other dvds will play and when I click on the DVD icon located on my desktop it will bring up the small preview icon and I can simply click on it and play the video.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on May 21, 2024 6:05 AM

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Posted on May 21, 2024 9:59 AM

If the DVD plays in the DVD Player app on your Mac and/or in a regular DVD player then the video is already MPEG2. UDF is just the file format of the DVD disc, not the video codec. The VIDEO_TS folder contains the files that represent the video. All playable DVD discs have a VIDEO_TS folder.


There isn't enough information provided about this DVD disc or your other 3 discs to figure out why 3 show a preview icon and 1 doesn't. It would appear something is different about that 1.


If you need to convert this to another codec, try using Handbrake.

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May 21, 2024 9:59 AM in response to KH2o51

If the DVD plays in the DVD Player app on your Mac and/or in a regular DVD player then the video is already MPEG2. UDF is just the file format of the DVD disc, not the video codec. The VIDEO_TS folder contains the files that represent the video. All playable DVD discs have a VIDEO_TS folder.


There isn't enough information provided about this DVD disc or your other 3 discs to figure out why 3 show a preview icon and 1 doesn't. It would appear something is different about that 1.


If you need to convert this to another codec, try using Handbrake.

May 21, 2024 2:44 PM in response to KH2o51

The first screenshot shows a disc being recognized as a disk (volume), not a video file. This would be normal for a "playable DVD."


The second screenshot shows an .mpg file being recognized as an MPEG-2 video file. What does GetInfo show for the disc media that that file is on?


Assuming these are from two different DVD discs, I wonder if it is the only one that is actually a "playable DVD" and the other 3 are simply DVD media on which video files (.mpg files) were burned. That would explain the difference you are seeing. Do all 4 of the DVDs open in the DVD Player app? Or does the 1 DVD open in DVD Player and the other 3 open in QuickTIme?


You said disc 1 has a VIDEO-TS folder ... in that folder are there files inside called VIDEO_TS.ifo, VIDEO_TX_bup and VIDEO_TS_vob? That would be the normal structure for a "playable DVD." (There may be additional files with names like "VTS_01_1.vob" each xxx_xx_n representing a section or chapter of the full video.) If so, Handbrake should be able to open & convert the video.



May 22, 2024 10:44 AM in response to MartinR

Lol right, these are for a friend and I promise you without a shadow of a doubt that these are old DVDs that don’t play, they are beat up and I’ve salvaged over half of the collection he gave me. Half of them bring up the icon, when you click on the icon the “playable media” is in quicktime, they also play on Apple TV as well. There’s just a few out of the collection that give me a VIDEO_TS folder when I click on the icon as opposed to the “playable media” that he is wanting. These are memories of good times and as aTelecommunications student that’s half a year away from getting a degree, this has me in my feelings for lack of a better term. Handbrake is working but I’m not converting them properly evidently because I only get 17 mins outta 43 min videos. One is really scratched so I’ve tried copying them to another disc and it helps a bit but it freezes and ends up apps in the process. I have a gaming laptop that I use for school and for VM/Linux stuff but it doesn’t even give me half the results the Mac does. I appreciate the input and I’ll get back at it at some point but as for now I’m just gonna let it ride. Take care and have a great week

Any suggestions on a good Video file converter?

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