MPEG2 muxed files have no audio in Quicktime
If you have ever opened a VOB file from a DVD in Quicktime, you’ve probably noticed that there is no sound. When you examine the properties of the file, you’ll see that it is an Muxed (Multiplexed) MPEG2, which means that the audio and video are interleaved together into one transport stream. Apparently Quicktime is not yet capable of dealing with Muxed files, although it can playback MPEG2.
I often have to convert DVD’s to Flash Video, with specific settings to make it stream correctly on our Red5 server. In the past, I’ve tried several combinations of DVD ripper software and Flash encoders, but it has always seemed inefficient that I can’t just open the VOB files in Quicktime and export directly to Flash Video using Quicktime’s conversion functions. However Quicktime cannot access the audio in VOB files.
One video converter from Xilisoft (Video Converter Platinum for Mac or Windows) does open VOB files and exports them directly to Flash Video but lacks controls for the settings for codecs and keyframes that I need.
Today I found the answer – at least until Apple fixes Quicktime. MPEG Streamclip from Squared 5, a free video converter for Mac and Windows. MPEG Streamclip opens and converts the files using the full Flash Encoder conversion interface. The quality seems quite good, too.
Thanks to Rolen27 of the MacRumors Forums for the tip.
Download MPEG Streamclip
After two days and almost $100 in third party software, Streamclip was free and it worked. You have to open your MPG files from within the application “Streamclip” (it is not a component of Quicktime), but it works. (this is on my Mac OS X).
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