The VideoLAN Forums

Hello. Yes, I'm brand new here and, yes, I am a technologically-challenged young person who apparently really has no idea what the hell he's doing. I've read all sorts of FAQs and instructions and still can't make heads-or-tails of this VLC program. I usually back up my commercially purchased DVDs on my Macbook.

I just moved a couple weeks ago and, lo and behold, found one of my more rarer, older finds is pretty scratched and unplayable. Can't locate the DVD anywhere online to purchase a new one - but why should I? I have it copied on my laptop! I have 3 folders copied from that original DVD: AUDIO_TS, JACKET_P, and VIDEO_TS. I opened the entire folder in VLC and was actually pleasantly surprised to find that is plays and functions as such like an actual DVD replete with the menu. But, now, where do I go from here? I've tried converting/exporting and all manners of ways to save the file to burn onto another blank disc, but so far am pretty unsuccessful. I either end up with a really tiny video file of maybe 40 KB and a couple seconds, or a chunk of video with no actual disc menus.

Is there no way to burn ALL the data from the original DVD onto a new disc (including menus)? Bear in mind it's a TV on DVD collection, so there are lots of parts to it and no real "main" title. Also, where is this command line function I keep reading about? I have VLC 2.2 and have yet to run across any sort of command line prompt. Not like I'd know how to use it anyway. I've searched endlessly for 2 solid days to no avail. I've downloaded Handbrake (which is even MORE confusing) and a couple other Apps to finally sort this out. Apologies if you see posts like this every week; I'm a musician and writer and am totally adrift in matters of techy crap. Can someone finally assist me with this before I trash the program and forget the whole thing? Thanks in advance for your help.

Best, Julian

So you are trying to burn onto a new disc the video file ripped from a DVD? What operating system do you have? The more information you provide, the more likely you can get good help here.

Thanks.

Sorry. Didn't know how much detail exactly to provide. Yes, I'd like to burn the file (about 6.7 GB) onto a new disc so it plays like the original DVD. I have OS X Yosemite. Also, maybe should mention that disc is a pretty no-frills version; no subtitles/CC/additional audio tracks. Plus, the quality varies as some features are older rare episode prints shot on videotape. Basically, this thing ain't in HD at all.

Duh, please use paragraphs in your post, this is barely readable.

Regarding the problem: VLC does not provide any burning capabilities. It might be possible that its not as easy as burning all files back.

What I would try is to do the following: Use handbrake, to convert the DVD folder into individual movie files. Then use you favourite DVD creation tool, to create a new (video) DVD.

Take Roxio Toast, import the video_ts and jacket_p folder and burn it onto a new double-layer DVD in DVD-Video Mode. There is no need to convert any of the files.

Thank you, BoingBall. That does make more sense as the files from the DVD are more or less extracted as it were to begin with. I used Nero SmartStart to open and burn the files. Now, I'm running into the issue of disc protection! I'm receiving an error saying that this copyrighted disc cannot be burned. Any way around that to break the protection? Thanks again.

That was the reason why I did not mention to just burn the files directly. But I think this is not the right place to discuss such issues.

There is something wrong. You said, that You've already copied the folder onto Your HDD. If so there can't be any issues with the disc protection! Or do You have an encrypted ISO file? If so, this is the wrong forum.

It sounded odd to me, as well. Yes, I copied the contents of the disc onto my HDD. It's not an ISO file though - just the folder containing the AUDIO_TS, JACKET_P, and VIDEO_TS. Nonetheless, Nero still told me it's copy-protected and therefore couldn't burn it. Thinking of just giving up at this point; this clearly isn't in the cards for me I guess.

If it is still encrypted You can delete it, because of the missing CSS Key. You have to decrypt while copying or copy it with the Key in an ISO. Otherwise I don't know any way to use it anymore.
Can You play the vob-files with VLC without any problems? Then it is not encrypted and You should burn it with toast without any problems.
Nero i used 10 years ago. I don't know whats wrong with that.