Rescuing Video from DVDs

[Fleetwell Fox]

I've got a few of my short films on DVD-Rs for which I no longer have MiniDV masters. Right now I want to creat a one DVD reel with several examples of my work on it and I'm wondering: whats the best way to rescue my old video from these DVDs and get it back into FCP? There was no special security placed on them at the time of burning. One was made on iDVD. I wish I could speak in more technical terms but I've only recently delved into editing. I've heard of various ripping programs that might accomplish this task but don't know which way to go.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Stef

 

[skierbri10]

Re: Rescuing Video from DVDs

I've got a few of my short films on DVD-Rs for which I no longer have MiniDV masters. Right now I want to creat a one DVD reel with several examples of my work on it and I'm wondering: whats the best way to rescue my old video from these DVDs and get it back into FCP? There was no special security placed on them at the time of burning. One was made on iDVD. I wish I could speak in more technical terms but I've only recently delved into editing. I've heard of various ripping programs that might accomplish this task but don't know which way to go.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Stef

You could try DVD Decrypter, but I think it is for PC only. I could be wrong.

 

[MarkG]

Yeah, there are plenty of programs for Windows to rip video from DVDs, but I'm not aware of any for Macs. I'm sure they must exist somewhere.

 

[Fleetwell Fox]

Maybe Toast has some feature that can do it? Hmm..

 

[DBXMe2]

basicly you want to rip a dvd.... first.. you rip the dvd...

www.dvdshrink.org

then.... LOOOK for a program to convert VOB files to AVI... or OMF etc.. what ever video format you are looking for..

 

[Alessandro Machi]

I did an actors demo reel for an actress who had appeared on Friends and a couple of other TV shows. About a year later those clips were used to do a tribute video. When I saw the dvd I marveled at how good the clips were and asked if they had gotten a better master than the one VHS masters they had orginally given to me.

I was surprised to learn that they actually used one of the DVD's that I had made a year earlier. It turns out all the editor did was play back the DVD and export the S-Video signal back into their NLE system. I was really pleased to see how well something that I had originally remastered from VHS to betacam sp and then to DVD had held up as well as it did since it then went back into non-linear again via the s-video connector, and then back to dvd one more time.

What I don't recall is if the DVD signal went directly in as S-video or if it was transcoded from s-video to firewire and then imported, so the lesson is don't rule out just going out via the s-video connector from the DVD player.

 

[irishpants]

you could see if your camera has an S-Video or Component input, and find a dvd player that has a similar output, put a minidv tape in your camera and play the dvd and record it on your camera.

 

[Red Prince]

Re: Rescuing Video from DVDs

There was no special security placed on them at the time of burning.

Then what's the problem? If the disc is not copy protected, you do not need to "rip" it, you just copy the files from the disc to your hard drive. At least on a PC (I know nothing about the Mac, other than I would not want one even if someone wanted to give it to me for free).

The VOB files are simply MPEG compressed video files. Changing their extension to .mpg or .mpeg may just be all you need to do. Or it may not, depending on how they were created. But that would the first thing to try: Copy them to the hard disk and rename the *.vob files to *.mpg or *.mpeg.

 

[Tim Kolb]

Re: Rescuing Video from DVDs

The VOB files are simply MPEG compressed video files. Changing their extension to .mpg or .mpeg may just be all you need to do. Or it may not, depending on how they were created. But that would the first thing to try: Copy them to the hard disk and rename the *.vob files to *.mpg or *.mpeg.

While this is technically true, VOB files sometimes don't run well after renaming... Also, there is a filesize limitation so any given video chapter may have several files that may or may not neatly "stitch" back together.

The process of 'ripping' will often recombine the VOB files into contiguous video files, which can be easier to deal with for many NLEs.

I've used Vegas to "Import video from DVD" and then render an AVI from the imported footage...it works very well.

Unfortunately I don't know what's available for Macintosh.

 

[Red Prince]

Yes, Vegas will import it directly from the DVD, but I think it is PC only.

As I said, renaming the VOB may or may not work (for the reasons you mentioned). But, if I did not have Vegas, renaming a VOB file would be the first thing I would try. Because if it does work, you do not need anything extra. Only if that does not work, would I look for other tools.

On the PC Vegas can do it and Nero can do it. Vegas is better.

On the Mac, I do not know. From what I have heard, the latest Mac OS is based on BSD Unix, so perhaps it can run some of the free Unix tools (for the technically savvy), but I am just brainstorming here because I am not a Mac user.

Fleetwell Fox, it might be worth getting a secondary computer, a PC, just to do these things, even if you prefer the Mac for the bulk of your work. You could then import the entire DVD to Vegas and render it in whatever format you need.

 

[BenB]

There are several apps from Cinematize 2 to some freeware apps for ripping DVDs to a more edit friendly file format. A quick Google should come up with enough solutions.

 

[videojoe03]

DVD ripping

DVD ripping

i have had great luck with "hand break". i t can be found at handbrake.m0k.org

it transfers the DVD to a selection presets of MPG files that you can customize. it will only let you convert to MP4 or one other but you can get the video off or DVD here and them open the file in QuickTime pro and convert to a DV stream of something else.

if you dont need to edit you can also justt drag the MP4s into DVD studio.

 

[rivers96]

Editable video from DVD for Mac

Editable video from DVD for Mac

Try Cinematize - link below. Works beautifully for non-copy protected disks.

http://www.miraizon.com/products/products.html

There are many other programs for doing this. If it is your intellectual property on the DVD, try searching for Mac ripping software.

Please do not steal other people's work...