[OT] Converting VOB to something useful :-)

how many uses what: - u cant include servers for that - Its verry verry few i know who DONT have a computer with winXP. And some of thouse same ppl got linux servers running also. I use both here.

yoyager i totaly agree with you. But as a fast solution wmv is what I use. For bigger things i would use divx.

The premisses we are disussing on was different from the start since i misunderstood alberts procject. I though it was in a hurry to get something trasfared to some ppl over net.

ffmpeg and video lan client can handle unencrypted vobs. ffmpeg allows you to convert them to other formats, but on my 400 MHz G3 it takes 24 hours to compress 1 hour of video!

We could possibly make a DVD based on a free mulutiplatform format such as ogg theora: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theora using ffmpeg2theora ( www.theora.org/ )

Fluendo has a java based ogg-theora streaming applet and real media's helix has preliminary support for ogg-theora streams. But I doubt Albert (or anyone) has time to put this all together before COSMOS. So I would suggest for this cut, leaving the vobs, jpegs, mp4s and whatever else in their native format, this may make it more difficult for the average person to play. But we're all above average, right If we put enough copies of the "mostly raw" content in the hands of IFAS members, someone might figure out how to make a high quality universally playable video!

I'm still trying to work out how to play region 1 DVDs my daughter's grandparents gave her in our region 2 DVD-recorder.

Al,
All I can say is pleaseeeee put it in a format that most PCs will be able to read. It needs to be as fool proof as possible.
If a small minority get left out, too bad!

All I can say is pleaseeeee put it in a format that most PCs will be able to read. It needs to be as fool proof as possible.

Thats what I'm aiming for!

Al,
... It needs to be as fool proof as possible.
If a small minority get left out, too bad!

Thats also one of the reason i first said wmv, because thouse with winxp dont need to do anything then open it. But divx is easy to install. Though not to get in to the codec mess, there should be included something like vlc or ffshow. Both are easy to install.

DivX is a great format, but might cause some people who aren't techie oriented problems. Fact of the matter is that no matter what format you use there will be someone who cant play it. You could always make it a Flash Video- The Flash plugin is pretty common... good enough for Google video.

MPEG doesnt have to be large- depends on what compression you use.
Failing that I'd go with the DivX.

Dave