Getting Footage Off DVD?

Z

zoomin

Member
Hi, I have had some footage sent via DVD. The clips are burnt in a timeline that opens in DVD player and not just individaul quicktime clips burnt as media. There's a Audio_TS and Video_TS folder, how do I get these into to FCP or imovie to begin logging and editing w/??
Thanks
John
 
Well there are two ways you can do this. The "profestional" way is to hook up a media converter such as a canapus or AJA or something like that they take the AV RCA's out of your dvd player and trun it into a Firewire that can go right into your make and then in FCP you just log and capture them like you would a mini dv. The other way is to get a ripper program that can strip the footage off the dvd and make them into media files. you can find some at http://www.versiontracker.com you just have to be careful that you get one that can turn them into media files and not just rip off the VOB dvd files then you have to find a program that can take VOB files and make them into media files. But eiather way it will work. I just use a media converter that way I can use what ever codec out of FCP I want. and that way you can hook up all kinds of decks. but the ripper will work just takes some tweeking.
 
I don't know if the "professional" way is worth the trouble, especially since you have to go out to analog first. The other suggestion is better -- but finding a good program can be tricky.

Handbrake will rip and encode DVDs into MPEG-4, which isn't directly suitable for editing ... but if you get desperate, here's a link:

http://handbrake.m0k.org/
 
Something I did, and the client was happy with the quality, was to use your DVX as a through from the OUTPUT of your dvd player (in the back most likely) to your Mac. Then set your log and capture to a "non-controlable device", play the dvd and capture and cut what you need. I did a "Year in Review" for a mall management team here in Utah and had to use footage that wasn't my own in the project. I had to use three scenes from DVD's they had. Not my choice for how to get things done, but it worked. Go to my site to see for yourself. www.newdogmaproductions.com don't use Firefox as a browser, it has issues. Just go to the "Promotion" link (hit the eye) and hit "The Gateway Year in Review" There is no loading animation for the video, just wait a bit and it will come up. The scenes with the "chef" and the wedding were from the DVD, everything else was my DVX.
 
How long does it take a rip and convert an entire DVD? Don't know for sure...
Probably a lot longer than just playing it off a DVD player analog into your computer.

I've used the same method as Joe mentioned many times with fine results. Quick/Cheap.
 
It all depends on how fast your computer is. How much ram/cpu speed/hard drives speed most the time the actual rip is prety fast 10 to 20 minutes vs. 2 hour play back on real time. But when you start getting into having to convert the VOB files to media then that all up to your system and yes it can take longer.
 
Right.. Can you select a ten minute clip in the middle of an hour long programme?
(English because of recent attacks against me for using American spellings!?)

If not, then you'd be taking an hour of HDD space (11+GB) to extract a ten minute clip.
I personally don't see the "benefit" of that particular approach. Willing to try it out, at least.

Anyone have a recomendation for some freeware to rip and convert on a Mac ?
 
Thisiswells I agree with you. To me it dose not make any sense to rip a whole DVD for just 10 or 20 or 1 minute clips. I just use a media converter it cost me 150 but I bet you could get one cheaper if you looked around. This way I capture what I want how I want no file conversation no render it just seems better that way. The way it should be. The only one I have used is called hand break but it out puts in mpeg 4 not the best. Look at http://www.versiontracker.com you should be able to find one in there. Now one thing we haven't talked about is if you are trying to get footage off of a copyrighted DVD, like a Hollywood movie. Most DVD’s not all have a copy protection known as I believe mulitscane or something like that. Basically it shifts the color every so often on the screen and annoys the hell out of you. I'm not sure how it works. I have put it on some of my DVDs in DVD Studio Pro but any way. I had to do a project that had me take bits and peaces of footage from different Hollywood movie DVD’s. I have hared of little work around but the only way I was able to capture the footage was to use a device called a frame sync. Basically it looks at all the frames of video in a NTSC signal and checks and rewrites them. So it gets rid of the copy protection information’s and leaves you with the original picture. No these things are not cheap and I barrowed mine from the place I work. Now if you were to rip these same DVD’s you would not have to deal with this problem at all. So I guess after all this useless info is that there are pros and cons to either way.
 
Guys guys guys. Settle down. You can select which 10-20 minute clip you want from DVDxDV and it will only rip that part. Converts it to any codec you want that QuickTime supports. It's really a great program. You can test out the demo version for free and it will leave your file watermarked.
 
BTW- for copyrighted DVD's, if they are protected. A program (free) called "Mac the Ripper" found on Version Tracker in combination with DVDxDV will handle any DVD that you can put in your computer.
 
tbanucci said:
You can select which 10-20 minute clip you want from DVDxDV and it will only rip that part. Converts it to any codec you want that QuickTime supports.
Click to expand...
Awesome. That's exactly what I needed to know. I'll try it out.
Thanks!!
 
imgentertainment@mac said:
Most DVD’s not all have a copy protection known as I believe mulitscane or something like that. Basically it shifts the color every so often on the screen and annoys the hell out of you. I'm not sure how it works.
Click to expand...
Macrovision. You can actually see the Macrovision copy protection on a waveform monitor. I may try to take some pictures of it sometime.. It's really very interesting.
imgentertainment@mac said:
I have put it on some of my DVDs in DVD Studio Pro but any way.
Click to expand...
Probably not. You can check that option in DVD SP, but it only applies if you specifically purchase a license to use it from Macrovision. Apple cannot included the license, though the software is capable of the encoding. A license is exclusive and easily overrided (as I'm sure you're aware). Hope this helps.
 
Thanks thisiswells, I did order a license. We sent two of our productions to the Telly awards, and the artists performance that we sent had not been released on DVD yet. So they were kind of concerned about it. But we got the license and used it in DVD Studio pro and worked like a charm. Yeah I would love to see some pics of Macrovision on the waveform. I have a waveform monitor at the studio maybe I'll have to hook it up sometime and see what is going on.
 
A freeware program call Mpeg StreamClip works good, can convert to any quicktime codec. Will also demux if you just want to rebuild a dvd project. Use Mac the Ripper to transfer dvd to hd. Then open VOB in Mpeg StreamClip to select the clip you want to convert. Has trouble holding sync for full movies, but works great for short clips.
 
haha you guys are making this too difficult.

Pop in the dvd to your player, grab your dvx, stream it out to that.

It'll be done in real time, you can select what you want specifically and that's it. :)
 
I think Joe Fowler's way is the easiest and will provide fine results. Just run the DVD player through your camera or deck, select "non controllable device" and go for it. Simple, no headaches.
 
Use HandBrake (freeware). Converts into MPEG4 among others.
No need to add wear and tear to you camera and then havign to reimport and provides the best quality.
 
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