Importing VOB files--iMovie, Final Cut Express? New to Mac

[Theresa]

Hi all,
I have just gotten a MacBookPro and plan to get an iMac. I have burned all my VHS-C via Windows/Adobe Premiere Elements to DVDs as VOB files. Now I would like to edit and finalize with menus. Can I use iMovie to do this, or do I upgrade to Final Cut? Will either accept VOB files? I need to do alot of homework.

Thanks!
Theresa

[Baldrick]

Nope, they don't accept vobs. See http://forum.videohelp.com/topic361396.html for some ideas. Or maybe they accept mpgs, use vob2mpg and pc and import those.

[Case]

iMovie/iDVD/Final Cut are not really suited for just adding menus, as it takes two full conversions: VOB to editing format DV (with quality loss) and then back to VOB (with quality loss).
But if your edits are more than straight cuts, then you would have no choice but to accept the conversions.

Roxio Toast can extract titles from existing DVDs lossless and re-author them with (template based) menus.

[Theresa]

Thank you both for your replies. I barely learned what to do using Windows. Now everything is new again. Maybe I'll leave my DVD's to my pc to handle.

Thank you
Theresa

[Theresa]

I had another question in regards to these videos. I hate to have to re-capture them--all 85--but would it be better to do this with my Mac? Would the quality of the videos end up better in the end? On second thought I hate to go back to my old. slow pc for the years of editing waiting for me with these family videos. But if vob2mpg can do the job without loss, I'll figure out how to do it.

Thanks again,
Theresa

[pixel zombie]

you can edit the VOB's with MPEG Streamclip (without having to re-encode) and make simple menus using toast

[Theresa]

Hi pixel zombie--thanks for your reply!
I'm embarrassed I find it so hard to figure this all out. So, I would edit the VOB's using MPEG Streamclip on my PC, correct? Then once they are MPEG's I can edit them with Toast on Mac. It sounds wonderful. I do have it right??

Thanks
Theresa

[pixel zombie]

no, you can do all of it on your mac, edit in MPEG Streamclip and author in toast..no reason to use the pc at all

[Theresa]

Wonderful! One more question: Is there any loss of quality in going through this process?

[pixel zombie]

none that i have seen so far...

[Theresa]

Thanks again so much. I didn't know where to start.

Theresa

[Herve]

Is there any loss of quality in going through this process?

MPSC read your VOB files and write their contents into a new -and cleaned- mpeg wrapper (it corrects informations inside for best compatibility).
Menu item "File">"Convert to mpeg…"
There is no reencoding
and you can author (make a DVD-Video structure) with this mpeg (no reencoding too during this step)

Notice: MPSC only handle the 1st video track, the 1st audio track and no subtitle. But it's a great soft.

bye

[Theresa]

Hi Herve,
Thanks for replying. So, I can do this all on my Mac, correct? Sorry I need so much explaination, but I'm just not techie enough to do this without alot of help. Also, what is the best Mac program to use for this?? IMovie, IDVD, Final Cut Express?? It's still all new.

Thanks!

[Herve]

So, I can do this all on my Mac, correct?

yes
[/quote]Also, what is the best Mac program to use for this?? [...][/quote]You already have VOB files
What sort of editing do you want?
- just trim the bad parts? use MPegStreamClip and "convert to mpeg" (cost 20$ to buy the Apple MPEG2 codec). Speed, no lose.
- make a real edit (with sound, transitions, etc): convert your VOB to DV (MPSC does it too). Not speed, need some disk space.

if you keep your MPEG files, just make a DVD-Video with them (commercial software = Toast, or any shareware that handles DVD-Video authoring). You cannot use iDVD, 'cause it does not accept MPEG files.

if you converted to DV, use iDVD to encode your editing (from iMovie)

bye

[Theresa]

Thanks again, Herve! I have to wait until the first of May to get my iMac--I don't want to take over my son's MacBook--so I can't wait to apply this great advice until then. Thank you SO much! If you don't mind, I may ask a few more questions then to make sure I'm doing this right.

Theresa