This program is used to view and re-export the vob files on dvd's. It can be used for dvd authoring and other uses.

From the README file:

This is a useful program for viewing dvd vob files, and for dvd authoring to some extent. The program has a lot of user interface issues and needs work in a lot of areas, but it is already a useful tool to me so I thought I'd make it available to others as well.

The executable is vobview and it takes either an iso9660 dvd image or a list of .vob files as an argument. It opens a window (uses the SDL library which stands for Simple Directmedia Layer). On the bottom of the window are 2 slide bars, the top one is the course control, and the bottom is the fine control. With these you are able to scan through the input files and view individual frames. Vobview shows you a single timeline which is the joining of all input files together. If the input file was an iso9660 image, it is treated as a dvd and you are shown the largest vob file. You can specify another vob file to use instead. If the input is a list of vob files directly, they are all joined into a virtual large file and you can scan through that.

vobview can be used for authoring dvd's. It can export vob files or a complete udf/iso9660 image in the format for a dvd. No other program is needed for this (such as mkisofs). With a dvd burner you can then burn the image to a blank and it will play immediately in any player. The output has chapters every 5 minutes. The DVD NAV packets are all correct to allow trick play.

vobview can also split a really large set of source vobs so they will fit on 2 dvd blanks.

vobview has embedded in it tools from the dvdauthor project, but they've been modified to make them more useful. vobview also uses the libmpeg2 library which is included in the source so you don't need to find that yourself. vobview can "play" video/audio if you've got the ac3dec program in your path. The video is displayed but no attempt is made to sync the video and audio. mpeg-2 audio isn't handled at all.

What is the intent of vobview? The main purpose is for dvd authoring. The idea is it can be a means to cut/paste sections of video and merge them back together to make a complete video. There is a real scarcity of dvd authoring tools under linux. My goal was to be able to convert my library of home movies on vhs tapes to dvd's under linux. vobview only helps with the editing and authoring part. The capturing, as in creating the original vob or iso images, must be done by some other means.

Another use is to look for easter eggs in your dvd's.

Another use is to back up your dvd collection. Recently it has become apparent that some dvd's suffer degradation over time, separation of layers within the dvd due to bad manufacturing. Also if a dvd gets damaged, you've lost the contents. vobview doesn't address the CSS scrambling issue, it assumes you've already dealt with that somehow. I've heard of a program called dvdbackup which lets you extract the vob files from dvd's. You can then pass those vob files stored on your hard drive to vobview and work with them.

This code is released under the GPL.

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Last modified 20031116.

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