let's say you use DVD shrink and you copy a section out of a DVD that you originally made (like a wedding vid or somn). how can you reauthor the DVD so that you can burn those .vob files from the HD to DVD correctly. i tried to play around with DVD-Arch1.0 and it didn't work.

I'm not sure if this is what you're asking but if you want to edit the VOB's, simply rename the .VOB to .MPG.

are .vob files simply .mpg files? that's interesting...

i'll have to try that out when i get home. what i'm asking is if i copy the .vob files to hard drive and i need to make a brand new DVD from those .vob files i can't just drag and drop and make a new DVD, can i?

VOB files are simply MPEG files, however . . . if they're from a commercial DVD, they'll be encrypted and unreadable. DVD Shrink is a free program that will decrypt VOBs (along with lots of other neat tricks).

With respect to re-authoring, DVD Shrink will not let you select between VOBs unless each is a distinct title, nor will it easily let you cut out segments (as I recall you can trim the beginning and end). However, Nero Burning ROM will let you burn video DVDs from whatever VOBs you want. Premiere will edit decrypted VOBs that have been renamed to MPG.

that's all i needed to know, thx! =).

Well they are MPEG2 files, but not a lot can read them (even after
they are decrypted) because they are program streams that
can contain multiple video/audio/subtitle tracks which most
programs cannot read or understand (AC3 audio tracks etc.)

So normally you will de-mux the program stream into it's elementary
streams (seperate files for video and audio for example).

And a lot of times you cannot re-author simply with the vob
files, especially with more complex DVD's with motion menu's,
multiple tracks and whatnot.

DVD Shrink will allow reauthoring of anything, as it lets you pick and choose among the audio and sub streams.