Please help-transfer handycam mini dvd videoTS file to USB

Originally Posted by djcj14

Ok Im really hoping one of you guys or gals can help me out here. Since 2003 I have had a sony handycam dcr-dvd01 which records home movies to mini DVD's. I have about 60 of these now which each contain 30 mins of video. I decided I wanted to transfer the video files onto a high capacity USB drive and keep it in the safety deposit box for safe keeping and to be able to have all of the files in one easy place so if in the future I want to convert them all to Bluray or condense the collection into higher capacity DVD's. My problem is this, put the mini DVD in my computer and then I open the folder to view the files. I see about 6 files in a folder called VideoTS. 3 of the files are .VOB video files and the others are BUP files. Now what I wanted to do was just copy and paste the video files to the USB and then be able to plug the USB into any other computer or even my own and just double click a video file and boom my video would play. However it seems that the 30 mins of video is broken into two main files and then there is a smaller file that contains the MINI DVD menu. If I click on one of the movie files I transfered it automatically opens up in WIndows Movie maker and it only plays one second of a clip. I just want to click and see the movie..Im sorry for rambling but I really wanted to present the whole picture here so to speak. So all boiled down I just want to transfer my minidvd .vob files onto my USB and be able to just click and play...help me oh lord help me.

Originally Posted by djcj14

Ok Im really hoping one of you guys or gals can help me out here. Since 2003 I have had a sony handycam dcr-dvd01 which records home movies to mini DVD's. I have about 60 of these now which each contain 30 mins of video. I decided I wanted to transfer the video files onto a high capacity USB drive and keep it in the safety deposit box for safe keeping and to be able to have all of the files in one easy place so if in the future I want to convert them all to Bluray or condense the collection into higher capacity DVD's.

Originally Posted by sabatical

Ok, this is what you should do:

1. Copy the entire VIDEO_TS folder (and everything inside it) onto your hard drive.
2. Download the a media player called VLC ( http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ )
3. After you've installed VLC, just right click on the "VIDEO_TS" folder (located on your hard drive) and then select "Open with VLC" (or something similar).
4. VLC will then play the entire DVD (including the menu structure)

Do not follow gso125's suggestion. There is no need to convert your mini DVDs into the AVI format.