Capturing DVD to MPEG?

[Groami Geistalt]

Hi.

I've got a big job to do: A lot of VHS was bulk-dumped to DVD without frills or extras, and now it has to be authoured with menus, chapters, etc.
It can be done in steps, but in the same way that I capture VHS to mpeg, I want to capture DVD to mpeg while the DVD is playing: It's for the sake of saving time: review the contents, and have the MPEG ready at the end, to be authoured with quick menus, or with some quick editing first.
Normally I'd work with TMPGEnc, DVDAuthur, MVW, whatever, but I want to process this stuff quick 'n dirty.

I'm looking for information on this, but I keep missing it. WHAT'S THE TERM for "capturing DVD to MPEG" if that's not what it's called?

And how is it done, please. My CapWiz can't do it, not that I can see, anyway. Is there a special card needed, or cable, or both?

I want to record between my computers, that seems easiest, but I'm open to suggestions, for sure.

Thanks.

[greymalkin]

if you already have tmpgenc dvd author then you can go into like you are re-authoring the dvd.

open TDA and tell it you're doing a project from dvd. Point to the .vob files on the dvd and it will ask if you want to copy the data to your HD first as mpg. Say yes and it will suck the data off the dvd and store it on your computer as mpeg files. MUCH quicker than a standard "capture" and no quality loss. Then you can edit to your hearts content and re-author.

[redwudz]

If you were 'capturing to MPEG', you would be encoding it. If it's already encoded to DVD specifications, that would result in lose of quality.

If it's DVD compliant, all you would need to do is edit and author it. MPEG-VCR is good for the editing and you already have TDA. Or Cuttermaran is a freeware editor if you don't need anything fancy.

If it's the wrong format for DVD, then you would have to reencode it to DVD specs. But if it's in a digital format on the DVD already, it would be much easier to just transfer the video to your hard drive and encode from there.

Or am I completely misunderstanding your plan

[Groami Geistalt]

Thanks for the quick replies! This makes a lot more sense than the way I was thinking of trying to do it. I'm very relieved to have this advice, and so fast. Thanks very much.

[SLK001]

If it's on a DVD, then you already have your MPEGs (and audio). You can use any ripper to demux everything into elementry streams, which any DVD authoring tool will import. Add your menus, chapter points, connections, compile, then burn.