Cinematize demo available

[Frobozz]

Miraizon now has a demo version of Cinematize available for download. They say it is fully functional but limits clips to 20 seconds and the demo expires after 15 days. A licensed version costs $50.

Cinematize extracts video or audio clips from non-protected DVDs and exports them in various formats. I'm interested in hearing about users experience with this application before I make a decision to buy it.

http://www.miraizon.com/support/downloads.html

[Frobozz]

Apparently Cinematize is not an application that folks here have anything to comment about. So I'll reply to my own post.

I tried out the demo version and it works as advertised. However, you really need to have Apple's $20 QuickTime mpeg 2 option to make good use of Cinematize.

The features seem similar to OSEx. Unfortunately, OSEx on my Mac crashes as soon as I click Begin. I know it worked when I first downloaded it a couple months ago. Maybe it is a conflict with System 10.3.2. BBdemux does work on my Mac to extract video and audio streams from VOBs but it doesn't let me do this by chapter. Also, I need to first copy the VOB to my hard drive or BBdemux give me an error message.

Cinematize does extract video and audio from a DVD without the QuickTime MPEG 2 option but it is in MPEG 2 form. Therefore, it still needs to be converted to QuickTime or DV for editing. I successfully used Toast 6's video export feature to make a DV file from the Cinematize-extracted files.

[thoughton]

What are you doing with the chapters you extract, if I may ask? I've always wondered what the point of Cinematize was... I mean - who wants a single chapter of a film? Unless your making a home movie of film reviews or something maybe...

Just wondering

[thoughton]

PS: 0sex (version 0.0101b) works fine for me on 10.3.2

[live4ever]

I can't seem to get the preview (its a grey button with a dv cam on it) to work after you hit the extract data button (I think it has to do with me not having the QT mpeg2 plugin) I get an error saying "QT movie processing error".

Can users with QT mpeg2 plugin get this to work, what about anyone else without it?

thanks

[Frobozz]

I read through the help screens and QT MPEG decoder is required for the preview feature to work. I don't have it so I got the same error. That would be a very nice feature to have because it would make it a snap to find which chapter to rip.

As for the usefulness of Cinematize there are times when I'd like to use clips but not very often. I once compiled a playful two-hour video of dozens of clips from movies and music videos showing how Hollywood depicts "being in love" and gave it to some friends as a wedding gift. It was easy to do with Laserdiscs, but would be torture with DVD.

I'd prefer an application that would allow me to select the actual clip I want rather than an entire chapter (or the whole video if it doesn't have chapters). At this point, spending $50 for Cinematize plus $20 for the QT plugin isn't a good value for me.

Thanks for letting me know that OSEx works with 10.3.2. I'll try reinstalling. I notice that OSEx has a greyed out QuickTime option. I presume this is active if I get the QT plugin. I'm curious if with it you can extract video from a DVD into QuickTime rather than MPEG. It might be worth $20 to try this out. But only if I can get OSEx to not crash.

[MikieV]

Apparently Cinematize is not an application that folks here have anything to comment about. So I'll reply to my own post.

Don't take it personally!

I'm interested in the program, but have no current use for it.

If my future plans for getting a stand-alone DVD-R recorder and/or a DVD-camcorder don't get de-railed, then I will be very interested in a program that will allow decoding MPEG2 to QT - so I can do minor editing in FC Express.

I will probably download the demo, not because I have a use for it, but to answer my own questions about any degradation in video quality during the (mpeg2 to QT to mpeg2) decode/re-encode steps.

Mike

[thoughton]

Hi,

So much for me wondering about who on earth uses Cinematize ... yesterday out of the blue my wife asked me to compile a bunch of futuristic/"deep&meaningful issues" clips from various sci-fi DVDs for her religious studies students and then copy them onto 3 VHS tapes for her department.

So one minute I'm going "pffft Cinematize Schimenatize" and now I am using this thing! Anyways, I do have the MPEG2 decoder and the preview feature of cinematize is indeed pretty handy. Extracting a chapter was very quick (something like 1 minute to rip and then about the same again to save as a standalone quicktime mpeg). The resulting file was 300MB. There is an option to save with dependancies which is no doubt far quicker but I was ripping from a physical DVD disc (unencrypted) so I didn't try that.

I've been using QT pro to cut out all but the scene I want, but I have to export the whole clip to something else (I've been using mp4) before I can edit it.

All in all the program seems to do what it says. Hasnt crashed or given me any errors.

[pusa]

What are you doing with the chapters you extract, if I may ask? I've always wondered what the point of Cinematize was... I mean - who wants a single chapter of a film? Unless your making a home movie of film reviews or something maybe...

Just wondering

I take parts of a movie and put it together with the film I'm editing.
It makes my film look better.

[mhar4]

I've been using QT pro to cut out all but the scene I want, but I have to export the whole clip to something else (I've been using mp4) before I can edit it.

This is exactly what I have been doing for a film course I teach. I also do vid capture from VHS and extraction of clips from VCDs, and re-encode them into MPEG-4s. Then I line then up on my iBook and run them through a data projector for the class. Works. Really well, actually. But I would like to avoid re-encoding stages. I just bought the QT MPEG2 component, but playback isn't that great on the iBook. Dropped frames. Maybe its time for a hardware upgrade.

[thoughton]

This is exactly what I have been doing for a film course I teach. I also do vid capture from VHS and extraction of clips from VCDs, and re-encode them into MPEG-4s. Then I line then up on my iBook and run them through a data projector for the class. Works. Really well, actually. But I would like to avoid re-encoding stages. I just bought the QT MPEG2 component, but playback isn't that great on the iBook. Dropped frames. Maybe its time for a hardware upgrade.

If you are just playing back the mp4s at full screen and mirroring to your projector you might be interested in the thread about Goldberg at https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=202336 . I've just used it to cut out unwanted parts of the mpeg2 movs produced from Cinematize and then set up a playlist of my clips in Cellulo. I then mirrored into a VCR and recorded the whole sequence onto tape. No more encoding for me happhappyjoyjoy

Edit: Euh I just realised this wont help you too much since you still wont be able to play back the mpeg2s very well

By the way: to anyone who's interested in Cinematize output, there is something odd about the mpeg2 output from it. Both gumby mpeg splitter and mpgtx complain about missing header info and incorrect durations and refuse to split them.

[mhar4]

If you are just playing back the mp4s at full screen and mirroring to your projector you might be interested in the thread about Goldberg at https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=202336 . I've just used it to cut out unwanted parts of the mpeg2 movs produced from Cinematize and then set up a playlist of my clips in Cellulo. I then mirrored into a VCR and recorded the whole sequence onto tape. No more encoding for me happhappyjoyjoy

Yep, I started that thread. And I was trying to do exactly what you've done. After I read your comment, I got the QT MPEG2 component. I am pleased to see it worked for you. Obviously the 700Mhz G3 just doesn't cut it, and I might have to get a PowerBook! One thing I don't do, however, is mirroring. The iBooks have a dual desktop capability, but it is disabled(?). You can enable it with Screen Spanning Doctor (v0.3.2) from http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

By the way: to anyone who's interested in Cinematize output, there is something odd about the mpeg2 output from it. Both gumby mpeg splitter and mpgtx complain about missing header info and incorrect durations and refuse to split them.

You get the same thing if you try and use a .VOB and convert it into a .mpg. Annoying.

[mhar4]

I meant to add: my preferred playlist player is Bitplayer (http://www.tanjero.com/bitplayer/) which works extremely well. It allows fullscreen playback on a second monitor (hence the above interest in screen spanning on the iBook), so in classes I teach at a university here in London (on cinema and television in the Chinese-speaking world) have lecture notes on the laptop screen and video excerpts on the data projector at full-screen.

[thoughton]

Heh sorry I missed the fact that you started the Goldberg thread. I'm preaching to the converted I guess.

One thing that occurs to me, screen spanning on the iBooks was probably disabled (1) so that it wouldnt compete with the powerbooks and (2) due to the weaker processor.

Have you tried playing mpeg2 full screen and just mirroring (not spanning). This should be less processor intensive, since you arent driving two displays at once. However I have no clue if iBooks can do mirroring or not

Good luck!