DVD Styler DVDAuthor problem

[kevbo]

I'm experimenting with saving edited files from VideoRedo as a VOB, so I can make my DVD authoring much faster.

I'm using DVDStyler 1.4 which uses DVDAuthor. I have a 20 minute program that I save as a VOB. I drag it into DVD Styler, and it correctly just calls DVDAuthor with it: it doesn't demux and remux the VOB.

However, halfway through the DVD creation, I start getting these errors:

STAT: VOBU 2448 at 555MB, 1 PGCS
STAT: VOBU 2464 at 558MB, 1 PGCS
STAT: VOBU 2480 at 562MB, 1 PGCS

INFO: Video pts = 0.198 .. 622.871
INFO: Audio[8] pts = 0.198 .. 1245.510
STAT: VOBU 2495 at 566MB, 1 PGCS
INFO: Generating VTS with the following video attributes:
INFO: MPEG version: mpeg2
INFO: TV standard: ntsc
INFO: Aspect ratio: 4:3
INFO: Resolution: 720x480
INFO: Audio ch 0 format: mp2/2ch, 48khz 20bps

STAT: fixed 1 VOBUS
STAT: fixing VOBU at 2MB (17/2495, 0%)
STAT: fixing VOBU at 28MB (129/2495, 5%)
WARN: audio sector out of range: -8203 (vobu #143, pts 35.668)
WARN: audio sector out of range: -8261 (vobu #144, pts 35.918)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8327 (vobu #145, pts 36.168)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8364 (vobu #146, pts 36.418)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8419 (vobu #147, pts 36.669)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8512 (vobu #148, pts 36.919)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8572 (vobu #149, pts 37.169)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8649 (vobu #150, pts 37.419)

And it goes on...and when I'm done, my resulting DVD has a VOB that's the same length (approx) as the original, but only has a 10 minute program (somewhere in the middle of it there's a giant cut with missing data: the start and the end of the program are there).

I'm assuming this should work...am I doing something wrong? Does there need to be a setting set in VideoRedo for this to work?

Thanks,

Kevin

[kevbo]

OK, for completeness sake...I used the "Save Chapter File" option to create a DVDAuthor XML file, leaving DVDStyler out of the loop all together.

I still have the same problem. Here's the start of the log:

DVDAuthor::dvdauthor, version 0.6.11.
Build options: gnugetopt iconv freetype
Send bugs to <dvdauthor-users@lists.sourceforge.net>

INFO: Locale=C
INFO: Converting filenames to US-ASCII
INFO: dvdauthor creating VTS
STAT: Picking VTS 02

STAT: Processing O:\chopped\Good Eats_20050818_02000230 (02).vob...
STAT: VOBU 16 at 2MB, 1 PGCS
STAT: VOBU 32 at 6MB, 1 PGCS
STAT: VOBU 48 at 10MB, 1 PGCS
STAT: VOBU 64 at 14MB, 1 PGCS
[...]
STAT: VOBU 1008 at 228MB, 1 PGCS
WARN: Audio pts for channel 8 moves backwards; please remultiplex input.
WARN: Previous sector: 506.358 - 506.382
WARN: Current sector: 506.358 - 506.454
WARN: Discontinuity in audio channel 8; please remultiplex input.
WARN: Previous sector: 506.358 - 506.454
WARN: Current sector: 506.478 - 506.550
STAT: VOBU 1024 at 232MB, 1 PGCS
[...]
STAT: VOBU 1760 at 399MB, 1 PGCS
WARN: Audio pts for channel 8 moves backwards; please remultiplex input.
WARN: Previous sector: 883.494 - 883.566
WARN: Current sector: 883.494 - 883.566
WARN: Discontinuity in audio channel 8; please remultiplex input.
WARN: Previous sector: 883.494 - 883.566
WARN: Current sector: 883.638 - 883.710
STAT: VOBU 1776 at 403MB, 1 PGCS
[...]
STAT: VOBU 2144 at 486MB, 1 PGCS
WARN: Audio pts for channel 8 moves backwards; please remultiplex input.
WARN: Previous sector: 1072.494 - 1072.518
WARN: Current sector: 1072.494 - 1072.590
WARN: Discontinuity in audio channel 8; please remultiplex input.
WARN: Previous sector: 1072.494 - 1072.590
WARN: Current sector: 1072.614 - 1072.686
STAT: VOBU 2160 at 489MB, 1 PGCS
[...]
STAT: VOBU 2480 at 562MB, 1 PGCS

WARN: Partial sector read (4 bytes); discarding data.
WARN: Video PTS does not line up on a multiple of a field.

INFO: Video pts = 0.198 .. 622.871
INFO: Audio[8] pts = 0.198 .. 1245.510
STAT: VOBU 2495 at 566MB, 1 PGCS

INFO: Generating VTS with the following video attributes:
INFO: MPEG version: mpeg2
INFO: TV standard: ntsc
INFO: Aspect ratio: 4:3
INFO: Resolution: 720x480
INFO: Audio ch 0 format: mp2/2ch, 48khz 20bps

STAT: fixing VOBU at 2MB (17/2495, 0%)
STAT: fixing VOBU at 6MB (33/2495, 1%)
STAT: fixing VOBU at 10MB (49/2495, 1%)
[...]
STAT: fixing VOBU at 28MB (129/2495, 5%)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8203 (vobu #143, pts 35.668)
STAT: fixing VOBU at 32MB (145/2495, 5%)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8261 (vobu #144, pts 35.918)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8327 (vobu #145, pts 36.168)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8364 (vobu #146, pts 36.418)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8419 (vobu #147, pts 36.669)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8512 (vobu #148, pts 36.919)

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8572 (vobu #149, pts 37.169)

[...]
WARN: audio sector out of range: -144609 (vobu #2494, pts 622.571)
STAT: fixed 2495 VOBUS

and there's a lot of those WARNs.

I can't tell if the errors I see in the first half are related to the errors on the second. I think the first half errors are my cuts: there are three cuts in this file.

So, thinking that my cuts may have something to do with this, I tried again, but just did a "QuickStream Fix", so there's no edits in the output VOB. That did make the warnings in the first half of the process go away, but not the multitide of errors in the second half. So, I think they're unrelated. (The resulting DVD is also still cut short).

So, it looks like the "Save as VOB for input to DVDAuthor" isn't working for me.

[DanR]

We've had reports of this "audio sector out or range" message before, and will look into it. Not sure exactly what it is yet.

[Anonymous]

If there's anything I can do to help...

I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary, just taking a 30 minute TV show and running it through the toolchain, but if I can provide any of the stuff I've used for help, let me know.

Kevin

[DanR]

Hi Kevin,

You could help by replicating the problem on a small file that can be uploaded to our FTP site. A VOB formatted file that's about 5-10 mb would be perfect.

[kevbo]

I started out making a 30 second chop from a file, and it didn't have the problem. So, I went to 60 seconds, still no problem, but by the time I got to 90 seconds, it now has the problem.

Thing is, it is 43mb. Is that too large to try?

(Also, I need a pointer on how to upload it: I know how to FTP, just not host/username/password).

Thanks...

[Anole]

They hid that over here:

http://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/viewtopic.php?t=92

;)

[Lester Burnham]

We've had reports of this "audio sector out or range" message before, and will look into it. Not sure exactly what it is yet.

I thought this was due to a certain build of dvdauthor that was released / used with the various packages that use it?

I am going of hazy memory, though, so I could well be wrong.

[kevbo]

OK, I've uploaded "Good Eats_20050527_02000230.vob" to Kevbo/ on the upload server. It is 43MB, so you may want to rm it quickly. :)

Kevin

[kevbo]

Any news on this? Has my problem been replicated?

Thanks,

Kevin

[DanR]

Sorry, haven't gotten to it yet, but its on the list to look at Monday or Tuesday.

[DanR]

The source of the discontinuities appears to be in DVDAuthor. Here's what I did. Using DVDStyler, I create a DVD project with your video. On the settings menu in DVDStyler, I checked: "Save temporary files". The file of interest if DVDAuthor.xml. This is the input file to the main authoring engine, DVDAuthor.

Then from the cmd line, I executed DVDAuthor using that temporary file and did indeed receive those audio discontinuities. FYI, the command line used was:

dvdauthor.exe" -o vob -x dvdauthor.xml

Then edited the dvduathor.xml file and removed the menu references:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<dvdauthor>
<vmgm>
<menus>
<pgc>
<post>jump titleset 1 menu;</post>
</pgc>
</menus>
</vmgm>
<titleset>
<menus> <<<<<<< Removed this section.
<pgc>
<button name="1"></button>
<button name="2">jump title 1;</button>
<vob file="c&#58;\temp\burn\menu1-0.mpg" pause="inf"/>
</pgc>
</menus> End of removed Section >>>>>>>>
<titles>
<pgc>
<vob file="C&#58;\Temp\Kevbo\Good Eats_20050527_02000230.vob" chapters="0,15&#58;00,30&#58;00,45&#58;00,1&#58;00&#58;00"/>
</pgc>
</titles>
</titleset>
</dvdauthor>

Re-ran the DVDAuthor program and there were no discontinuities. Not sure what is going on internally, but it appears to be a DVDAuthor issue.

[Lester Burnham]

Not sure what is going on internally, but it appears to be a DVDAuthor issue.


Dan - I'm pretty sure this is specifically to do with the build of dvdauthor.

I can vaguely remember that the package I use (GUI_for_dvdauthor) had another release with either a recompiled version of dvdauthor, or one specifically compiled for the package.

The OP could try obtaining a compiled dvdauthor version that's different - either later, or earlier than the one with dvdstyler, then save the original and copy in the newer / older version and see if the problem still occurs.

[DanR]

Good point. FYI, I'm using the DVDAuthor build that came with DVDStyler:

DVDAuthor::dvdauthor, version 0.6.10 SvG12.

[Lester Burnham]

Good point. FYI, I'm using the DVDAuthor build that came with DVDStyler:

DVDAuthor::dvdauthor, version 0.6.10 SvG12.

0.6.10 is from the back end of last year. There's 0.6.11 available, which was from February this year.

My choice of (freeware) authoring tool (GUI_for_dvdauthor) is using an alpha version (0.6.12 build 2992) which has been rock solid.

[kevbo]

OK, I'll try for a different version. I'll let you know.

[kevbo]

OK...I installed GUI_for_dvdauthor and tried two things.

First, I copied all of the .exe files in GUI_for_dvdauthor's dir to DVDStyler's "dvdauthor" dir (to get all of the ancillary utilities as well) and ran DVDStyler, and got the exact same problem I had before: the program is about half as long as it should be.

I'm actually trying to use GUI_for_dvdauthor, and can't figure out a way to tell it to use VideoRedo's VOB output: it seems to just want to use .mpg files. If I can use the VOB files in GUI_for_dvdauthor, I'm willing to try that, I just can't figure out how.

DVDAuthor::spumux, version 0.6.12-alpha-2992-GfD-2.
DVDAuthor::dvdauthor, version 0.6.12-alpha-2992-GfD-2.

[Lester Burnham]

OK...I installed GUI_for_dvdauthor and tried two things.

First, I copied all of the .exe files in GUI_for_dvdauthor's dir to DVDStyler's "dvdauthor" dir (to get all of the ancillary utilities as well) and ran DVDStyler, and got the exact same problem I had before: the program is about half as long as it should be.

I'm actually trying to use GUI_for_dvdauthor, and can't figure out a way to tell it to use VideoRedo's VOB output: it seems to just want to use .mpg files. If I can use the VOB files in GUI_for_dvdauthor, I'm willing to try that, I just can't figure out how.

DVDAuthor::spumux, version 0.6.12-alpha-2992-GfD-2.
DVDAuthor::dvdauthor, version 0.6.12-alpha-2992-GfD-2.

Firstly, how to use VideoReDo's VOB files in GUI_for_dvdauthor - save the files as type VOB, but with the extension of mpg.

As to the other issue - ie using another build of dvdauthor with dvdstyler, I'd consider using the official build of dvdauthor - 0.6.11, which you can get through www.videohelp.com section on dvdauthor.

[kevbo]

I had been using the official build...I'm trying others now. They're not working.

I did figure out how to use a vob in GUI for DVDauthor after I posted, and still had the same problem. I'm trying now with elementary program streams, which appears to be working, but won't be as fast (because there's another mux stage, and that's what I'm trying to avoid).

And yes, it worked using elementary program streams. Using these will help save the demux time, but I still then have to remux, which I was hoping to avoid.

So, have you had success using VideoRedo's VOB output as input to DVDAuthor? I'm getting the feeling that this is not a front-end problem, because the problem I'm seeing, I've seen with both front ends and now two versions of DVDAuthor.

[Lester Burnham]

I had been using the official build...I'm trying others now. They're not working.

I did figure out how to use a vob in GUI for DVDauthor after I posted, and still had the same problem. I'm trying now with elementary program streams, which appears to be working, but won't be as fast (because there's another mux stage, and that's what I'm trying to avoid).

And yes, it worked using elementary program streams. Using these will help save the demux time, but I still then have to remux, which I was hoping to avoid.


Well before VideoReDo had the same as VOB option I used mplex to create an mpg input file with a compliant header for dvdauthor.

If you're interested in this option, I'll try and find the options I used - but it'll probably be tomorrow before I can find them.



So, have you had success using VideoRedo's VOB output as input to DVDAuthor?


Well yes, but as I've mentioned, as input to gui_for_dvdauthor - that's all I use for authoring, and I always use VideoReDo on the source mpeg before authoring.



I'm getting the feeling that this is not a front-end problem, because the problem I'm seeing, I've seen with both front ends and now two versions of DVDAuthor.


As I've mentioned, I've had no problems using VideoReDo's save as VOB file type, using dvdauthor, and specifically gui_for_dvdauthor.

[kevbo]

Well, that's what bothers me, because I tried just that: save the clip as a VOB, named .mpg, and fed it to GUI_for_dvdauthor, and I still had the same problem. Very very weird.

I wonder if it is my capture somehow...

[Lester Burnham]

Well, that's what bothers me, because I tried just that: save the clip as a VOB, named .mpg, and fed it to GUI_for_dvdauthor, and I still had the same problem. Very very weird.

I wonder if it is my capture somehow...

How / what are you capturing?

[kevbo]

Just TV from my Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500, using a free package called GB-PVR. Nothing exotic...

[Lester Burnham]

Just TV from my Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500, using a free package called GB-PVR. Nothing exotic...

I tend to capture using a Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2, and pretty much exclusively using wintvcap. Briefly flirted with GB-PVR when I first got the PVR thingmy.

What settings do you use for the type of mpeg output created?

[Lester Burnham]

Well before VideoReDo had the same as VOB option I used mplex to create an mpg input file with a compliant header for dvdauthor.

If you're interested in this option, I'll try and find the options I used - but it'll probably be tomorrow before I can find them.


Have now found what settings I used before VideoReDo had it's VOB type save:-

mpgtx -d -b <basename of output> <path to mpeg>

mplex -f 8 -M -V -o <target output mpeg file> <basename of mpgtx output>.*

Added a bit of time, but I'm just curious as to whether this gets around your problem or not.

[wuurp]

I thought I'd bring this topic back because I've been having these problems for months now with my tv captures.

I use gui_for_dvdauthor. I've kept uptodate on the versions, but I have to stick with dvdauthor 0.6.10. Using version 0.6.11 or 12 I always get the "audio sector out or range" warnings. I don't use any features that require the later versions, so this isn't really a problem.

However, even with the old version, I get the following warning messages:

WARN: Audio pts for channel 8 moves backwards; please remultiplex input.
WARN: Previous sector: 982.902 - 982.950
WARN: Current sector: 982.902 - 982.926
WARN: Discontinuity in audio channel 8; please remultiplex input.
WARN: Previous sector: 982.902 - 982.926
WARN: Current sector: 982.974 - 983.022

The way I've been fixing this is to always run my files through QSF after editing and output to vob. I finally got tired of this tedious extra step so I did some more tests.

If I open a capture file, make my selections and save directly to vob, then when dvdauthor runs, it will give those remultiplex warnings at positions in the file which correspond to where the scene selections are joined together.

If I run that vob file through qsf then it works ok. Or, if I open that vob, select it all, and save as a new vob, it works.

If I use the same project file and save to mpg instead of vob, then open that mpg, select all, and save to vob, that works too.

So, it seems to only cause the problems if I save a file with selected scenes directly to a vob.

[kevbo]

Thanks for waking this up again. I just came to post and ask about this again, and saw your post.

What do you mean by "select all"? Inside of VideoRedo? So, if you basically make VideoRedo process a vob a second time, it works?

That kind of leads me to believe it is something in VideoRedo's output that it corrects a second time.

I just upgraded to 2.1.2.417 with hopes that it might fix the problem, but it didn't.

What kind of bothers me a little bit is that they're touting this as a feature, but it isn't working for me. This program isn't the most expensive thing in the world, but it wasn't free either :) and this feature working would REALLY decrease my time on my workflow here, so I'd really like for it to work.

Another question: are there any other authoring programs that can take the VOB output? Wondering if we could take a VOB that screws up in DVD Author and try it in something else...the only other software I have rerenders it.

[Anole]

...is it time yet to try a different authoring program? :)

.

[Lester Burnham]

...is it time yet to try a different authoring program? :)

.

What? Ditch GUI_for_dvdauthor? Are you mad? ;-)

[jaherbert]

I've had the same trouble. Occasionally, I can use the .VOB from VRD. I've tried all 3 versions of dvdauthor. Usually I have to run through the steps Lester mentioned (mpgtx, mplex). I do this by default in my repetitive projects.

[Anole]

Well, I have a reliable and successful work flow.'
I've been in the groove for a number of months.

Made up two discs of Formula One racing last night.
They included qualifying and the race in China this weekend .
That was the first disc. 3.5 to 4 hours.
Practice, behind the scenes, and a GP2 race fit on the 2nd disc.
Maybe 3 hours of video.

Other than taking 15..20 minutes each to author, everything went quickly.
I set chapter marks about every 5..6 minutes, and made a menu for each disc witih a fancy background graphic.
(the race course layout graphic)
There were no "do-over", there were no glitches, there were no surprises.

I can count on making several good DVDs every time I sit down to work on 'em.

[kevbo]

Thanks for the positive report: I'm assuming you're using DVDAuthor?

This whole thing is weird...like, for example, I tried to do the "save as an mpg, reprocess into a vob" thing, and it didn't work for me. (When I generate the DVD files and point PowerDVD at them, the show is about 1/2 the length it is supposed to be.) However, when I accidentally pointed PowerDVD at just the VOB that was output, it had the whole thing!

Is there any other workflow that doesn't rerender that doesn't use DVDAuthor? I'm wondering if we could narrow it down to just a problem with DVDAuthor and the output. Heck, I'm willing to try something else, but everything I have here rerenders...

[kevbo]

Actually, Anole, when you save from VideoRedo, do you save as .vob? That's what I'm having trouble with. What makes me wonder is that, if it were a .vob, I was thinking the processing time would be less than 15 minutes.

[Anole]

Sorry I was so obtuse.
I should have been more clear.
Just didn't want to offend too heavyhandedly.
(let me do so, now.) ;)

See the topic of my post above.
I use DVD Labs, and don't have problems.
I'd suggested earlier that maybe it was time to try a different authoring program.

Lester Burnham uses DVDauthor and seems to have it working pretty well.
I assume he can beat you 'till ya make it work, too.
He sure doesn't seem too shy. ;)

I know DVDauthor will or can take VOB output by VRD, but in the bigger scheme of things, having VRD put out VOB files isn't really very useful.
(hopefully, someone will come to defend that attack, and you can hear the other side) ;)

People seem to get caught up thinking VOBs are good.
Not when output by an editor.
Only when output by an authoring program.
You can search for some old discussions on how the VOBs put out have blank fields to be filled in by DVDauthor.
So what?
No other authoring programs that I know of, use this feature/format!
So, you might as well output .mpg (both video and audio) or .mpa and .mpv (audio and video) format.
The authoring program knows how to put 'em back together.
I save in mpa/mpv and DVD Labs reassembles them without making any lip synch errors.

(I'd never make it as customer support!) :)

And "editing" VOB files without going back through the authoring step, isn't often going to get you anywhere.
The VOBs you find on a commercial disc are the output of a long authoring process.
They are not very edit-friendly.
For the most part, the best you can do is extract the video and audio, and re-author the disc.
.

[laserfan]

I'm skeptical about this myself (using VOB as input). I haven't used dvdauthor a lot of times, but when I HAVE used it I've applied it to an .mpg file. Works fine.

I'm pretty sure that it then has to demux and remux into a titleset, so it does take a little bit of time to do.

[Anole]

DVD Labs will demux the audio and video from an .mpg (and maybe from a .vob), but it's slow.
I have VRD save my final edit in .mpa and .mpv, then hand those files to DVDL.
If DVDauthor will take those files as input, maybe that is something worth trying.

[kevbo]

If I feed DVDAuthor the .mpg files, it will demux them, remux them, turn them into VOBs, then "fix" them. 4 passes (but the 4th is fast). (I'm also not sure what that 4th "fix" pass does.)

If I feed DVDAuthor the VRD VOB's, it turns them into the DVD image's VOB's and fixes them, 2 passes, saving a full demux and remux, which is a very large amount of time.

If I could feed DVDAuthor the video and audio separately, I'd save one pass, which would help a bit. My current GUI (I'm using DVDStyler) doesn't let me do this, but GUI_for_dvdauthor does. Maybe I should switch. It still wouldn't be optimal.

I understand that you seem to think this is a waste of time. OTOH, the VideoRedo people actually put this feature into the program, and it doesn't appear to be working 100% correctly, and I'd like to help get that fixed: not the least of which because it will make by far the fastest workflow time for what I do.

Of course, another option is to build a set-top box and stream the videos, which is what I intend to do some day, but until that happens, I need to put the output of VideoRedo onto a DVD, and I'm trying to hone in on the fastest way to do so.

Thanks.

[Lester Burnham]

Lester Burnham uses DVDauthor and seems to have it working pretty well.
I assume he can beat you 'till ya make it work, too.
He sure doesn't seem too shy. ;)


And you haven't even bought me dinner... ;-)



I know DVDauthor will or can take VOB output by VRD, but in the bigger scheme of things, having VRD put out VOB files isn't really very useful.
(hopefully, someone will come to defend that attack, and you can hear the other side) ;)


Well that rather depends on your perception of the term VOB - there's doing what VRD does now, or the discussed future possibility of it also providing a limited authoring process.



People seem to get caught up thinking VOBs are good.
Not when output by an editor.
Only when output by an authoring program.


That's because what's output by VRD at present, isn't a fully fledged VOB - it's simply an mpeg file (of specific type - I'm thinking in the headers) and with blank / empty NAV packets.



You can search for some old discussions on how the VOBs put out have blank fields to be filled in by DVDauthor.
So what?
No other authoring programs that I know of, use this feature/format!


But where it's of use and not much extra effort, then why not have the functionality. The problem being the terminology. At the time, I campaigned against using the terminology of VOB in VRD, but was seemingly overruled.

However, it is misleading and misinterpreted.

[wuurp]

Thanks for waking this up again. I just came to post and ask about this again, and saw your post.

What do you mean by "select all"? Inside of VideoRedo? So, if you basically make VideoRedo process a vob a second time, it works?

That kind of leads me to believe it is something in VideoRedo's output that it corrects a second time.


Yes. Here are the steps I am using. I open my original file, select the scenes to keep, and save to mpg. I then open that mpg file, the selection start and stop defaults to the whole file, so I just click add selection. Then I save to type vob (giving it an mpg extension to keep gui_for_dvdauthor happy).

If I follow those steps, and use dvdauthor 0.6.10, I don't get errors, at least so far. It does appear to be something VRD is doing, as the errors occur where commercials were cut out.

[wcarlson]

I'm not sure if this helps anyone, I am generating a slideshow with 0.6.10 dvd-slideshow (NTSC) a large (500) number of pictures with 5 mp3's for audio. There are other movies (mpeg converted from mjpeg with audio) and a menu on the DVD. I get the "audio index out of range" using dvdauthor (0.6.10) and on the DVD some missing (audio) and freezing of the video. The DVD is readable on *most* players. Obviously I'd like to understand this issue and fix it but I have not succeeded yet.



Yes. Here are the steps I am using. I open my original file, select the scenes to keep, and save to mpg. I then open that mpg file, the selection start and stop defaults to the whole file, so I just click add selection. Then I save to type vob (giving it an mpg extension to keep gui_for_dvdauthor happy).

If I follow those steps, and use dvdauthor 0.6.10, I don't get errors, at least so far. It does appear to be something VRD is doing, as the errors occur where commercials were cut out.

[Not now, John!]

WARN: audio sector out of range: -8203 (vobu #143, pts 35.668)
Check that chapter times are within time boundary of the MPEG video.
That fixed my problem.