I recently got hired to work on a video project for a couple of tradeshow displays. This required me to extract some scenes from a DVD and then edit them into a montage for display on a loop.
Extracting the video from the DVD:
For this step you can use any number of available applications such as MactheRipper or DVDBackup which will give you all of the files from the disc in a VIDEO_TS folder.
Converting to DV (or any other format):
To be able to edit your video in Final Cut Pro, Avid Xpress or eve in iMovie, you need to convert the .VOB files you just extracted into DV format. This can be done in Toast 6.0 and higher, HandBrake, DiVa, ffmpegx or similar software. I used MPEG Streamclip for the conversion process because it allowed me to set up a conversion list of the files and additionally produced a final converted file that consisted of all the streams I wanted from the DVD joined together as one stream.
Most of the conversion software are available as a free download. MPEG Streamclip required the Mpeg2 Quicktime component from Apple which was $19.99 but well worth it because without it MPEG Streamclip will not allow you to export as DV. It doesn’t beat the pro applications but it’s also not a bad alternate option if you only need to this a few times a year. I found that it works better at some times than others but I didn’t really have the time or opportunity to get into more technical testing to find out exactly why. I basically did the best with what I had.
Editing your DV files:
Once you have the files you want converted to DV, you can import them into your editing application and work on your masterpiece.
–
Each piece of software mentioned above is able to convert different video files into other formats but for my purposes I needed to have DV. I don’t have the time to go into the intricacies of each application but they do have pretty decent documentation.