A Newbie With A Newbie Question...

[L-Man]

My apologies to the ones who have seen this post on the main index, I didn't see the "Final Cut Pro Forum" until after I made my first post. This is a duplicate...

Hello all, I am brand new to the forum and this is my first post.

I had a really quick question regarding Final Cut Pro.

I have a sony camcorder that records directly to the little 30 minute DVDs. The camera didn't come with software or any form of cable to connect to the computer.

I was wondering if I would be able to just stick the completed DVD into the drive of my Mac laptop, open Final Cut Pro and import my DVD recording into a new project? Or would I have to convert it to be compatible with the Final Cut Pro suite?

If I have to convert it, is it possible to do it in Final Cut Pro, or would I need a different type of software for that conversion?

Thanks in advance and my apologies if my "noobness" got on your last nerve...hehehe

BTW, I currently DO NOT have Final Cut Pro, I plan on purchasing it after a little research on this forum. Been considering this or the Adobe one...

Take care,


L-Man

 

[luciusvorenus52]

There is a program called Cinematize. It extracts DVD footage and converts it to file formats that you can use in Final Cut Pro or any other video editing program.

 

[Viddy]

Hello.

I am not sure what kinds of DVD your camcorder makes; perhaps it is a regular DVD? (the mini size makes me unsure).

You can use HANDBRAKE on the Macintosh (free) to rip the DVD contents and then edit using FCP.

Google it. Handbrake.

 

[progress]

im assuming when you say lil dvd's you mean mini, if this is the case and you have a newer mac laptop (anyone without a cd tray) then do not just stick the mini dvd in. That is a big mistake.

 

[Viddy]

yeah i was wondering about that too; but aren't there some kinds of adapter (coasters?) that let you play them?

If not, then I suppose there is definitely a need for a FireWire connection to the Mac.

 

[professor aire]

If you're trying to work on projects for anything other than personal satisfaction or YouTube, and this is gonna sound a bit extreme, but get a new camera... I know the immediate question that comes to mind is 'why'? The nice thing about the DVD camcorders is that you can record an hour of 'DVD' quality video to a DVD. (1/2 hour to a mini-DVD). The problem is that 'DVD' quality video isn't even close to DV quality footage. It's a file that's had a sizable amount of compression applied to it and ripping it out isn't going to fix that compression. (Remember an hour of DV footage generally weighs in at ~12 gigabytes. A 4.3 gig DVD with 1 hour of footage on it has the video compressed to around 1/3 of it's original size. (Note: Some cameras will perform this compression better than others, depending on the internal codec used for the compression.)

That said, if you aren't doing this for school work, or you're just trying to get a handle on FC or something, your highest-quality way of importing the footage is probably going to be to play it down from the camera through a DV device with firewire and capture it in Final Cut. There are a variety of devices available that have a range of a/v inputs that convert the incoming signal to digital and stream it through firewire. The reason I recommend this is it means you're not having to re-encode files as you rip them from the DVD, which can (and I have ample experience with this) create some problems in the long run. Your camera is also the best device you have to playdown the footage (rather than using an external DVD player) since it's got the codecs used to encode/decode the footage built in and should perform the best. If you choose to go this direction, make sure you use your camera's S-Video output for the video (provided your camera has one, but it should).

Hope this helps,

 

[BenB]

You're best bet it to just capture it from camera to FCP just like Mini-DV tape. You're Mini-DVD is not recording regular Video DVD format, so Handbrake (super limited options) and Cinematize (way more options and stability than anything else on the market, very worth the money) won't help you.