Vob & Mpg not playing on ext. desktop

[KenKelley]

I should have put a little more info here. Also, I have turned in a ticket and MTU is thinking Bug because of my situation (not many folks use .vob video files) but after seeing this post, maybe you all have come up with a work around or remedy MTU isn't aware of.

1st Computer: Dell XPS 1701
OS: Windows 7 Professional
Memory: 8gig
Video: Nvidia (3gig memory)
Hoster: 4.32.12 (with all required Windows settings)

2nd Computer: Dell Inspiron 17R
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Memory: 6gig
Video: Radieon (1gig memory)
Hoster: 4.32.12 (with all required Windows settings)

VOB files are copied to my hard drive from "Pioneer Karaoke PDL Series" DVDs (about 650 and I have another 100 files copied from Ubest DVDs). These files worked flawlessly when I was running an HP with 2gig ram, shared video memory, Windows XP Home (Media Edition). I had tried the K-lite codecs on that laptop but discovered ffdshow worked better (it allowed for the mux button to operate for these particular files, K-lite would not).

I have installed Windows 7 Codec Pack from a site that Microsoft recommends for codec updates and now the Mux button works properly on the 2 new computers. The video however will only play in the singers display when it is on the laptop screen.....

I have updated both computers with all the software, driver, and bios updates from dell as well as all Windows 7 updates.

I have to say, the computers are great, Hoster 4.32.12 is even better than ever when any other file is played through it; CD+G, MP3+G, .DAT, wmv, etc with all other video file types being played showing up on the singers display and the mux button working properly weather or not I have a codec pack installed.

When I utilize an Insta Button to play a .vob file, the video not only shows on the singers display on the extended monitor but also on the preview display on the Hoster console! (Not in sync however) Never saw that before.

Just cannot quite figure out why the video from a .vob file disapears from the singers display when the display is moved to the extended screen.

One other thing, I have attempted to run non-karaoke .vob files as I would a karaoke .vob with the same results.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you might be able to render!

[Roy Dennis]

I don't know why you are having this problem but just to let you know that .vob files are playing correct on my Windows 7 system.
I have both ffdshow and k-light on my system. Have you tried tweaking the settings in K-light tweak tool, if all goes wrong you can always tick the box for reset settings of codec filters.
When I'm playing a .vob file I get 3 icons showing on the task bar, Haali media splitter, ffdshow video decoder & ffdshow audio decoder.
I attach a picture showing the settings from the codec tweak tool, it shows 3 pictures because I have to scroll it and can't display all the settings with one shot.

I get to this box from Start programes/k-light codec pack/Tools/codec tweak tool from the box that opens select "Manage prefered souce filters" and see if your settings match mine.

Another thing you can try as it works on mine, rename one the the files by just changing the extension to .mp4. ignore the warning, you can always change it back.

The only other thing that may be different is my vob files are music videos not lyrick only files.

[KenKelley]

Roy,

I will go back tonight and attempt to duplicate the settings or change the file name as you have suggested.

My .vob files are also Music Videos (they are the DVD verson of the 12" Pioneer Laser Karaoke disks).

A couple of things I neglected to mention in my previous post is that this only happens when I attempt to play the files from the play list. Also something that seems new is these files will play in Windows Media Player on both the laptop screen and the extended screen. Under Windows XP, the video portion would disappear when Windows Media Player was moved to the extended screen.

One more thing, the operating systems on both Dell computers are 64bit.

I shall post of what worked and what did not.

Thanks in advance!

Ken

[KenKelley]

Roy,

Unfortunately all that you suggested did not work.

[ddouglass]

Kelley,
Since we have not been able to come up with a solution here, I would suggest that you put in a Support Email Ticket on the main web page for MTU. Maybe Support can figure out the problem.
Just one more question. How did you get the laser disc files to the computer?

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by kelleykd01

Roy,

Unfortunately all that you suggested did not work.

When you say "did not work" were you able to check if the settings were the same as in my attachment, or was the problem you were unable to find the settings?

[KenKelley]

Roy,

All settings were identical to yours.

I have turned in a Ticket for the problem and MTU suspects a Bug in Hoster with regards to .vob files. However why the .vob type of files work on your machine and not mine with the same settings is a puzzle.

There is one more thing that I will attempt tonight and that is to connect a second monitor to the HDMI port and see what happens (the Hoster playlist shows the video file (.vob) as being HD).

There is one other thing that popped up last night. I started playing one of the files in Windows Media Player (WMP) and checked to properties of the file in WMP, under the Media Usage Rights tab "The Media Usage Rights are missing from this file". Even though I have the originia DVDs, the usage rights don't seem to convey when I copy the files to the hard drive for ease of use in Hoster (it takes what seems forever for a video file to load if I import from the DVD). I am wondering if that could also have something to do with it.

I shall keep trying until I hear from MTU.

Thanks!

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by kelleykd01

Roy,

There is one more thing that I will attempt tonight and that is to connect a second monitor to the HDMI port and see what happens (the Hoster playlist shows the video file (.vob) as being HD).!

I think the HD you are seeing is refering to Hard drive file not High definition.

Originally Posted by kelleykd01

There is one other thing that popped up last night. I started playing one of the files in Windows Media Player (WMP) and checked to properties of the file in WMP, under the Media Usage Rights tab "The Media Usage Rights are missing from this file". Even though I have the originia DVDs, the usage rights don't seem to convey when I copy the files to the hard drive for ease of use in Hoster (it takes what seems forever for a video file to load if I import from the DVD). I am wondering if that could also have something to do with it.

I shall keep trying until I hear from MTU.

Thanks!

You don't really want media usage rights to be enabled as that would restrict your use to use it on other computers. That normally comes about if you rip music disks as wma files best to stick with mp3 in the case of Audio ripping. Your second point about them taking a long time to load from DVD is normal.

From reading your messages again, it seems you have just copied the .vob file straight from the DVD, this could possibly be a problem as the .vob files direct from a DVD contain other data. I think you would be better of ripping them from the DVD to hard drive via a dvd ripping software. when you say they play in media player do you mean your hard drive versions or straight from the disc.

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by kelleykd01

I have installed Windows 7 Codec Pack from a site that Microsoft recommends for codec updates and now the Mux button works properly on the 2 new computers. The video however will only play in the singers display when it is on the laptop screen.....

Are you saying you can get the video to play on the singer display on the extended screen? And not on the kj display? If so, video files will not display on the host computer as of yet, only displays on the singer display.

[KenKelley]

The Video is visible in the Singers Display when it is on the host laptop screen. When I move the Singers Display to the Singers Monitor (extended desktop) the video disappears completly and the music continues to play,

[Chad Slater]

As of yet, I still cannot get mine to play as have basically given up. What is strange is that when I have to hoster window that is on the ext desktop and drag it over to my main desktop and hit play I can get the .VOB files to play but when I move it over the ext. desktop it goes black.

[KenKelley]

Chad,

I have submitted a ticket regarding this issue we have and have not heard anything as of this evening.

After doing a GOOGLE search on the subject, I've discovered a lot of folks have had issues with playing videos in the extended desktop. The search led me to an economical yet very time consuming work around.

One of the forums I visited suggested "Saving" the .vob as a different video file type. It was suggested in earlier posts to either "RIP" and save as a different file type or just change the file name. Neither worked for me as Ripping caused the guide vocals to be embedded on both channels which renders the MUX button useless. Windows 7 doesn't seem to allow a forced file extension change ("rename" the file from *.vob to *.wmv).

The work around that I have stumbled upon is this:

1. Open "Windows Live Movie Maker"
2. On the large open area to the right, click to browse for videos and photos.
3. Search for your .vob files and select one and it will open in Windows Live Movie Maker, you can even play it there.
4. Close to the upper left hand corner of the window you will see a dropdown menue button, click on it and bring your mouse pointer down to "Save Movie", then to the right and up to "For High-Definition Display" and click.
5. Give the movie a name and click save. (I recommend you save your first one or two to a different folder and test them after you have saved)
6. Close Windows Live Movie Maker and start Hoster, click on the Video button and search for the one you just saved and select.
7. Play the file and keep your fingers crossed for the outcome that you are looking for. (It has worked for me on my first attempt)

With all that being said, here is the draw back to doing this procedure for all your .vob files. It takes about 10 minutes per video to load and save and be prepared for the saved file size..... my first was double the size of the .vob (.vob = 220,000kb - .wmv 469-000kb).

My .vob collection is about 750 files. I'll pull out the calculator later but 10 minutes a file roughly equates to a lot of patience.

I hope MTU discovers a code to insert to Hoster soon so that we can just play the .vob files.

Hope this helps you. It's going to be a busy few weeks for me unless I can find a batch converter that will treat the files I have as Windows Live Movie Maker did.

Any suggestions out there?

Thanks in advance!

[Chad Slater]

Kelly,

Try winavi video converter. It is what I use and its fast

[KenKelley]

Chad,

What type of files did you convert to.

Thanks!

[Chad Slater]

I converted to mp4 and avi