how do I get a .vob file to play?

[cconcannon]

I am building a menu that has two flash executables, two websites and a DVD video all on the DVD. I can get the exe's and the html files to launch, but I can't figure out how to launch a .VOB file? Do I need something more than just file.open?

Please help!

[Ulrich]

You may need to install software capable of decoding DVD files, like WinDVD, PowerDVD, Media Player Classic, etc. as the operating system has no built-in support for playing DVDs.

Ulrich

[cconcannon]

I have PowerDVD on my system. I even set up the preference for the vob files to be opened by the PowerDVD software. But my code in the AutoPlay doesn't launch the video, only the player. Currently I was using:
File.Open("AutoPlay\\VIDEO_TS\\VIDEO_TS.VOB", "", SW_SHOWNORMAL);

I tried File.Run, but got nothing. Open atleast opens the PowerDVD window, but the file doesn't play.

[longedge]

Depending on the codecs installed on the machine you can just rename it to .avi and it will load and play in a video object. If the computer has got a DVD player installed see a review here then it will work. You can transcode to various other formats using something like TMPGEnc.

p.s. when I started this reply there was only the OP. Must avoid getting distracted in future

[cconcannon]

The problem with that is I need the VOB to play, not an AVI. I want to launch the DVD format video so the user can look through it's chapter menu, not just a movie file. I think the problem is in the code, but I can't find any examples of how to launch a VOB file.

[Ulrich]

Fetch Media Player Classic and you should be able to do what you want...

mplayerc.exe /play filename.vob /close

File.Run("AutoPlay\\Docs\\mplayerc.exe", "/play AutoPlay\\Videos\\filename.vob /close", "", SW_SHOWNORMAL, false);

Ulrich

[cconcannon]

That's definitely closer to what I need. I would never have thought to put both a play and close action in the command string.
I downloaded the player and dropped in the action, and the video plays. However, Media Player Classic pauses the window when you click on it. My VOB file opens to an interactive window, so instead of clicking on a chapter selection, the movie pauses. Is there any other media player that I can put on the disk like that?
I was trying to use this code to get the user's media player, but it didn't work:

DVDKEY = Registry.GetValue(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, "DVD\\shell", "", true);
DVDPATH = Registry.GetValue(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, "DVD\\shell\\"..DVDKEY.."\\Command", "", true);

File.Run(DVDPATH, "/play AutoPlay\\NCAC\\VIDEO_TS\\VTS_01_1.VOB /close", "", SW_SHOWNORMAL, false);

[Ulrich]

I downloaded the player and dropped in the action, and the video plays. However, Media Player Classic pauses the window when you click on it.

Try this syntax, this should make the DVD menus work:

File.Run("AutoPlay\\Docs\\mplayerc.exe", "/dvd /play AutoPlay\\Videos\\filename.vob", "", SW_SHOWNORMAL, false);

Please note that the parameters "/dvd", "/play" and "/close" are for this particular player, and may not work at all with other products.

Ulrich