[DM-MUG] importing video from a DVD

[Arne Quanbeck]

Use a tool designed to import DVDs, like HandBrake, then import the  
ripped copy into iMovie. I think Apple makes it intentionally  
difficult to import DVD content since that is a major way movies are  
sold.

On Apr 9, 2010, at 21:48, Matt Stanton <inflatablesoulmate at brothersofchaos.com 
 > wrote:

> DVD video is a sort of confusing deal.  I'm not sure that I really
> understand much more than a sliver of it, but I will attempt a stab at
> it.  First, video on a DVD (standard, anyway... there are also DivX
> DVDs, and they are a whole other matter) is encoded as an mpeg-2
> Transport Stream.  That's what the VIDEO_TS folder has in it.   
> The .VOB
> files are the different video streams.  On a self-made DVD with no
> menus, trailers, etc, you should have only maybe one or two of these.
> If you download a video player for mac that can play these directly,
> then you could open each one to find out which is the correct video.
>
> There are other files on the DVD, but I have no clue what they really
> do.  I assume that subtitle tracks, alternate audio tracks (Dolby
> Digital, DTS, PCM, and different languages), menu system options,
> playback control, chapter points, and some of the other stuff that  
> DVDs
> are capable of go in those files.  The only thing you'll be interested
> in should be the .VOB files.  You will likely need to transcode them  
> to
> a format that iMovie can work with.  I don't have any experience with
> iMovie, so I can't really help you with it, but it might be possible  
> to
> just stick the dvd in the drive, open iMovie, and select video clips
> from the DVD for it to extract, in which case it should take care of  
> the
> transcoding for you.  Maybe see if iMovie has a way of 'importing'  
> the dvd?
>
> On 4/9/2010 8:47 PM, Jeff Muller wrote:
>> I'd like to put together a project in iMovie (my first attempt)  
>> using several pieces of video that are on DVDs. Most of these were  
>> originally on a broadcast format and were dubbed to VHS and later  
>> to DVD (the more recent ones were straight to DVD). All of them  
>> will play fine in the iMac's DVD Player. The problem is that when I  
>> try to import any of them into iMovie, I get two folders called  
>> "VIDEO_RM"&  "VIDEO_TS". Inside those folders are several grayed- 
>> out files with cryptic names and extensions  
>> like .BUP, .IFO, .DAT, .VOB. I don't have a clue what these are or  
>> how to make them available. I've searched thru the Help files but  
>> can't find anything that addresses this problem.
>>
>> What am I doing wrong? Help, please!
>>
>> Jeff
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