Playing commercial videos

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PaulD_ Author

Level 1

16 points

Playing commercial videos

I have a video that won't play on MAC. Says '~iMovie cannot open this file type (VOB)...'. How do I play

thanks

iMac 21.5" 4K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 21, 2019 10:28 AM

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Answer 1

PaulD_ Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 22, 2019 9:20 AM in response to Rich839

Hi Rich,

This is a separate question, not related to previous dialog. The agent that did the transfer of my home movies (other posted dialog) said that I should be able to play his DVD from my Mac. His older Mac has an App for this purpose. I had to play it thru my TV DVD player. So, if I had a commercial Video DVD....a movie for instance.... I would not be able to play it on my Mac?

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

47,730 points

Dec 22, 2019 9:50 AM in response to PaulD_

O.K. If by "commercial video" you mean your home movies that a commercial outfit placed on a DVD, it would not be a violation of copyright laws to rip that DVD. If that's your situation, you could take your VOB file and use the free download, Handbrake, to convert it to to H.264, Mp4/AAC that Handbrake will do by default. Then import the converted movie into iMovie.

You can get Handbrake here:

https://handbrake.fr/

As for playing a commercial DVD on your computer, you should be able to do that. However, you need to have an optical drive in which to insert the DVD so that it can play it with the DVD Player app on your Mac. Older Macs had a built in (internal) DVD Player, but the newer Macs do not. Therefore you would need to purchase an external DVD burner/optical drive that you can plug in to your Mac and then insert the DVD for playing. The newer Macs do have a DVD Player app as long as you have an optical drive to utilize it. Check your own Mac for the DVD player. It should be located on your Dock, or at Macintosh HD/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications.

-- Rich

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Answer 3

PaulD_ Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 22, 2019 6:23 PM in response to Rich839

I have an external DVD player. I have to see if its an optical drive. I have had it awhile.

thanks for your explanation.

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Answer 4

Rich839

Level 8

47,730 points

Dec 21, 2019 10:24 PM in response to PaulD_

Hi, PaulD,

If the VOB were ripped from a commercial DVD that would be a violation of copyright laws. The rules of this forum prohibit us from advising in that situation.

-- Rich

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Answer 5

Rich839

Level 8

47,730 points

Dec 22, 2019 6:38 PM in response to PaulD_

An external DVD player is an optical drive.

-- Rich

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