Using MPEG Streamclip

Open streamclip. Then OPEN FILES. Find your movie and select ALL the vob files and click OPEN. Your movie will come up in stream clip. Then select the FILE tab again and select the conversion that you want.

Do I use a single vob file or all of them.

Any/all that are required for desired contiguous chapter, episode, show, or movie.

How are they stitched together?

Normally, they aren't. This is not required for conversion to final compression format from within MPEG Streamclip. (I.e., they load/convert sequentially just as the are played by DVD players as if they were once, continuous file.)

Could someone please, please, please explain hgow to encode an entire movie using MPEG Streamclip (not just a single chapter).

1) Rip source to hard drive.
2) Use "Open Files" File menu option to select non-zero VOBs for title/series being converted.
3) Fix timecode breaks. (Use command-F if application does not ask.)
4) Select compression format in File menu.
5) Enter target settings/adjustments.
6) Convert.

Is there a way I can select the movie's language version in Streamclip? It seems to me it always picks the "default" one.

Is there a way I can select the movie's language version in Streamclip?

Yes.

Is there a way I can select the movie's language version in Streamclip?

Believe it usually defaults to the first listed audio option laid down by the disc manufacturer. However, this can be overridden by the user in the main work area. (I.e, the preview area wher the VOBs were loaded.) Below the Preview Display you should see the "Audio PID" pop-up control. Unfortunately, it does not use "named languages" to reference the audio content so you must select one of the alternatives and play a sample of the movie to see if you have selected the desired audio content. Audio content can be alternative langueages for the movie or commentary audio tracks so make sure you make the proper selection here.

Thanks, that seems to work! 🙂

Is it better for you to select the non-zero vob files in the open menu or select one and allow the program to open all others. This may be part of the problem i had at first. My finished mpeg was 30 mins longer then intended and the reason was it would run for thirty minutes then go back to the beginning and then play the entire movie. Basically like I recorded the first thirty minutes and also the whole movie and the spliced them together.
Also I do love this program, but multi-pass is so slow. I think it runs 7 passes. I know this is an apple forum, but is anybody else also running streamclip on a windows platform. To ease some of the stress on my mac, I am also trying to set it up on my pc, but when I try to encode a movie, it runs to about 60%-70% and just hangs there. I have tried multiple vobs and still the same issue. Anybody else seen this? Also thanks for your help Jon in my other post. I have tried some of your suggestions and they have helped. I now open from the open dropdown instead of from the batch list, it does give you more abilties to play with the movie. I was also able to then clip the extra 30 minutes off the movies i had already encoded, so they didn't have to be done over again.

Is it better for you to select the non-zero vob files in the open menu or select one and allow the program to open all others.

I prefer using the "Open Files..." File menu option when there are VTS ##0.VOB files present or when converting multiple VOBs from different titles or DVDs and I don't wish to create intermediate "Save As..." files. (These are elements of more advanced editing workflows that I won't go into here.) The menu approach simply allows you select specific multiple VOBs rather that "all." Otherwise using the "drag 'n drop" and "add all" should work fine.

Also I do love this program, but multi-pass is so slow. I think it runs 7 passes.

The number of passes depends on a number of factors and settings, as well as, how you count them. Seven does sound about right for me also -- three slow passes, two fast passes, one previewed pass to assemble, and a final pass to place the stream data in the QT "close-ended" file container. I am in the process of going back and converting old iPod only files to iPod/TV dual use files. (SD -- not HD displays here.)

To ease some of the stress on my mac, I am also trying to set it up on my pc, but when I try to encode a movie, it runs to about 60%-70% and just hangs there.

If using single VOB or TS files here, make sure they are 2 GB or less in length. Believe that is a file limitation for "muxed" MPEG-2 containers on Windows machince. Macs are similarly limited to 4 GB files. That is why it is best to use the original multiple VOBs which are typically limited to 1 GB or less. Remember, if all else fails, you can convert the VOBs independently and merge the tardet files in QT as a last resort.

thanks for all the info, i am going to double check what i am doing on my pc and check the size of my vob files and like you said if all else fails I will do them individualy and merge with quicktime.

Okay, next question: 🙂

I have selected "Multipass" in Streamclip's setting, as most experts here recommend. (With H.264, it's not possible to select "double pass"). What happens is that the program doesn't seem to stop repeating the processing, I let it run for around 36 hrs and it still was showing the progress bar, getting faster with every time. I finally aborted the process, and didn't have a video file. Any idea?

I finally aborted the process, and didn't have a video file. Any idea?

"Stream" file is written during the "preview" pass and is then re-written to "closed ended" file to keep QT happy. For your file to take that many passes and not produce a final file (assuming the source file is of normal duration), would normally guess that either your "Quality" settings is too high (I rarely go over 90% and even then have files that push 150% of my specified average video data rate with some content) or your data rate is too low for the encode display dimensions. In the latter case, the application will reiterate/recycle the encode until the file will not compress any more and you either end up with no video track or a video track with "frozen" frame or "black" frame for most of the clip in order to meet your data rate limitation.

Might be easier to judge what is going on here if you were to supply settings used or post a "screen capture" of your settings, as well as, what you intend to do with the files. (I.e., TV use, iPod use, web use, multi-purpose use, etc.) Also, whould highly recommend that you always test your settings with a 1-3 minute test clip before beginning a full file conversion. No sense in waiting 5 to 10 hours only to learn you made a settings error.

Thanks for your help, Jon. It's a DVD ripped with MacTheRipper, with a 3000 kpbs data rate limit. Can't show you the screenshot right now, as I'm doing a one pass conversion of the movie to see if it plays at all. One big difference to what happened before: The export preview window now shows the progress of the movie, before it only showed the generic "dice" picture.

It's a DVD ripped with MacTheRipper, with a 3000 kpbs data rate limit.

What were the target dimensions and what was the target "Quality" setting used for your multi-pass attempt?