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Posted on 04/04/2006 9:54:17 AM PDT by housewife101
I have never posted a vanity thread before or something so "off topic." But I am desperate and need help. My husband is going crazy trying to figure this out, and I am following him! :-)
My husband has a 45 minute video that he made. He wants to put this DVD on his computer(an ibook G4),edit it, and then put it into mpeg4 to upload on our churches website. The only editing he wants to do is put an intro and an exit. It is a church service video.
I don't know anything about this sort of thing, but any answers I will print for my hubby. Some questions.
**Does he need another program besides what came with the computer (imovie,iDVD,Quicktime)?
**Is there something he can download to make it easier?
**How much time should he expect it to take?
If you can PLEASE help us, we would GREATLy appreciate any advice.
I just noticed that. Let me look a bit more..
Ping for some iMovie help.
I've never taken video off a DVD, so I can't help you there... I know it's simple to pull it off the a DV camera. You just plug it in by firewire, click the switch so that it's pointing to the drawing of the camera, and click the "import" button.
Once you get it into iMovie, you can edit it and make the intro title cards, etc.
The conversion to MPEG-4 is pretty straightforward. You go to the file menu and pick "Share..." In the window that comes up, select the QuickTime logo at the top, and pick "Expert Settings." Then click the "Share" button. In the window that then comes up, type the name you want to save it as, and pick "Movie to MPEG-4" as the export setting and click save. Viola!
Check this: http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6010.shtml
Next time, take it directly from the camera :)
Just for giggles, I once set an old PIII-700 loose converting a two hour DVD movie to MPEG-4 (XViD, actually). Took it about 48 hours for a two-pass conversion. ;)
When ripping a DVD can you give me an estimated time it will take on the ibook with 1.42GHZ processor. 'Cause my husband downloading something last night he thought would do it,but it was going to take about five hours. That seemed to be way to long to him(plus he didn't have five hours. It was midnight by this time:-). Was wondering how long it usually takes you with the Mac the Ripper software?
Ideally, for image quality, that's the way you want to do it. As it is now, she's taking the DV video, compressing it to MPEG-2 for the DVD, then taking the MPEG-2 and compressing it again to MPEG-4. Best to skip the middle step and go straight from DV to MPEG-4 if possible. Granted, DV is itself compressed, but why add an extra step that introduces even more junk?
I won't even ask how you went about the conversion, if you don't ask about mine. Conversion experiences are so personal.
Well, we will probably do that(run direct from camera next time). In the mean time,though,we have sermons from a missionary in Nicaragua-and we can't redo those! :-) I don't think he'll agree to come back to "repreach" his sermons for us! :-)
I just emailed my hubby. He used to do tech support for Apple. I don't know if he will be able to help, but he is usually pretty good at these things!
To extract the video from the DVD, you'll need MacTheRipper:
http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/14414
(All the usual heartburn over copyrighted material go here). Then take the resulting file into iMovie, add the desired sequences and effects.
Lastly, export the file using the "Expert Settings" option. Select MPEG-4 as your video codec.
Have fun!
I work with video a lot, but have not ever worked with a Mac..so I dunno if this will help. But, here's what I do..first, I "rip" the movie from the DVD, using "DVDDecrypter", (this software will allow either ALL of the DVD to be ripped to a specified folder located on the hard drive, OR JUST the movie alone.) This process does not take any longer than 30 minutes or less.
"DVDDecrypter" is a free software, but it's difficult to find anymore, since MACROVISION now owns it, and has not allowed it to be distributed anymore. (the reason why, is that this software DEFEATS the older form of macrovision) which is why the Macrovision company used extortion on the owner-developer to take ownership of this software. BUT that's entirely another discussion altogether.
Regardless; in this case, this software would be perfect for you to use for this specific project. (if you can't FIND it, then use "DVDFabDecrypter"- it's a free software that you can find at www.videohelp.com . It works just the same as DVDDecrypter; but it'll "Rip" the entire dvd. It won't "Rip " just the movie.
Now, I understand that you wish to amend a PROLOGUE and a short ending to this movie..WELL.. it CAN be done. First of all, I would suggest that you buy a copy of "TmpgEnc DVD Author". This costs 70 dollars, but there is a 30 day free TRIAL download to try it out, so, that's good Here's the website =http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tda.html)
This is a software that will enable different video clips to be joined together and edited into ONE movie - in the DVD format. There are various DVD Authoring softwares available, some are even FREE.. BUT TmpgEnc DVD Author is the best one, simply because it's so EASY to learn how to use. And a DVD Authoring software IS a neccessity to have if you are going to be working with video.
If I wish to "convert" the movie into an AVI file, (the Xvid encoding codec is free- also, from what I understand..the Xvid format is ONE of the Mpeg 4 format containers)
You should put all of the IFO files, and the VOB files that are from your movie folder, directly through a software called "AutoGK"..this is a "One-Click" software that you really don't even need to "Configure", it AUTOMATICALLY works correctly, I have never had any problem with it. The "AutoGK" software, depending on the length of the movie, will do a 2 pass conversion to Xvid.AVI...usually takes MAYBE 2 and 1/2 hours, depending on the speed of your computer's processor.
Many people are happy to post the completed .AVI file on a website..and are satisfied with the results. However, many people want to have thier movie in the Mpeg-2 format; so we can do this by using another "One-Click" software called "DIKO" (DIKO is a FREE software)..it needs no special configuration..and it will convert your .AVI file directly into a SMALLER Mpeg-2 format file. This process, depending on the length of the original video, and again, on the speed of your computer's processor, may take anywhere from one to two hours. The final result is a movie file that may be a little over 1 gig, but look and sound perfect.
All of these softwares I've mentioned (with the exception of DVDDecrypter) can be found at www.videohelp.com as well as all of the GUIDES that you will need to read to learn how to use the various softwares.
Again, these softwares will work with Intel PC's..I have not worked with Macs, so I honestly dunno how to do video using a Mac. Or even if these softwares will work with Macs. (although, they probably will. Just read the website to make sure before downloading anything.)
Next, all you need to do is figure out HOW to POST it on the website. But since I've never done this, I dunno how to go about doing this. So, sorry, I can't help you there.
But..hopefully, if you use these softwares, and follow the step by step guides..you should have no problems completing your project.
I hope this has been helpful.
Thanks for the info. I am not sure if any of that will work with Mac, but I'll check into it.
Putting it on the web is going to be the easy part. We already run a website with Mp3's of sermons, and we have added space so that we have the capacity to put up video sermons as well.
I eagerly await what he has to say. Trying to get the best results printed up before my hubby gets home. He spent SO much time on this last night. the "expert" at the computer store sold him "Popcorn" to do it. It won't. He was up until after midnight messing with all of this. I am hoping he has better success this evening! :-)
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Ok...we have ripped the movie with Mac the Ripper, but it doesn't just "go into" imovie to edit. How do we do that? The movie folders don't show up as available.
We ripped the movie with the ripper, but we can't get it into iMovie. It doesn't show up as an available file, and it won't accept it. Are we missing a step?
Actually - if the video to be edited is already on a DVD (in DVD format that is), then it will have to be "ripped" to a format that iMovie can use (QuickTime or DV). From that point, it's quite easy. Complete the project in iMovie then simply click "send to iDVD" if you want to put it back on DVD. I would recommend NOT putting back on DVD, instead clicking on "share" and save as a web-friendly format.
There's a step-by-step tutorial for another freeware application called Handbrake which can also do what you need. It might be easier for you all to use that and the tutorial:
http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/12987
http://www.freesmug.org/tutorial/handbrake/
Mac The Ripper creates separate video and audio files (that have CSS encryption removed) that need to be muxed (joined together) before you can drag them into iMovie. My bad for not more clearly explaining that.
Use Full Disc Extraction from MTR, then use Handbrake on the resulting "VIDEO_TS" folder MTR creates.
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