Questions about DVD importing and menu creation

[Reading Bug]

Hello all,

This is my first post on the forum and I’m looking for advice. I am relatively new to video editing, but am pretty sure how to go about what I want to do (and with what kinds of programs) but I’m not sure which programs would be the most effective. I’m hoping some of you more knowledgeable folk may make some suggestions based on your experiences.

I have several DVDs that need audio clean-up. I know what kind of independent audio program I would like to use, but I first need to get the video onto my computer. I’m not editing the video, just the audio. After clean-up, I would like to create new, custom menus when I put the finished product back on DVD.

As for importing, I’m looking for software (purchase or download) that will put this material on my computer with as little video loss as possible. I would prefer not to record the video directly into the computer, as it’s already in digital form on the DVD and especially since this audio program will extract (and return) audio from a video file. Hard disk space is not an issue, so it’s ok if the files are large. Each DVD is composed of multiple titles too, so the program would need to recognize titles and allow for them to be imported individually. So video quality retention and ease of use are the most important factors. I’ve familiarized myself with the different video formats, and it sounds like AVI-DV is the likely one to use, but please chime in if you believe different.

As for menus, I’ve done my research and know there are a lot of DVD creation programs out there, but I’m interested in opinions anyway. I’m looking for a program that will allow me to create custom menus, buttons, chapters, music and graphics. And it would obviously need to be compatible with the file format used (for example, Sony Vegas will not recognize AVI files with the Xvid or DivX codec).

That’s it. I’ve enjoyed looking through the site and am happy it (and the forum) is here to help. If there’s anything you can contribute, or if there’s something important I might be missing, please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

[X_Splinter]

For the DVDMenus i recommend DVDLabPro or DVDMenuStudio.

[noemi7]

As for importing, I’m looking for software (purchase or download) that will put this material on my computer with as little video loss as possible.

Assuming that your DVDs are not copy protected, you don't need any specialised program to copy them to HD Any file management application, like Windows Explorer (I don't know Mac) can do it. There is no any quality loss - it's just like copying any other binary file. Copy all contents of the VIDEO_TS folder.

Next step - what programs to use, depends on what is your operating system.

[X_Splinter]

As for importing, I’m looking for software (purchase or download) that will put this material on my computer with as little video loss as possible.

Assuming that your DVDs are not copy protected, you don't need any specialised program to copy them to HD Any file management application, like Windows Explorer (I don't know Mac) can do it. There is no any quality loss - it's just like copying any other binary file. Copy all contents of the VIDEO_TS folder.

Next step - what programs to use, depends on what is your operating system.

DVDDecrypter

[guns1inger]

DVD Decrypter or DVDFab HD Decrypter will get your DVD content to your HDD without loss. From there you have several options.

1. Demux the audio, repair it in whatever way you see fit, re-encode it, remux it with the video and put it back into the original DVD structure. Burn with Imgburn. This approach means no video quality loss, and you get to keep the original menus. There are several guides for doing this. Look under tools such as VOBblanker, PGCEdit and IFOEdit in the Tools section for links to these guides.

2. Demux the video and audio from the DVD Structure with something like DGIndex. Repair the the audio stream. Encode the audio. Reauthor to create a new DVD with new menus. Again, no video quality loss, but you don't get to keep the original structure or menus. This may or may not be an issue to you. This is the easiest option to complete.

[Reading Bug]

Thanks for the advice!

I should have mentioned the audio program before - Izotope RX:

http://izotope.com/products/audio/rx/

Their FAQ says it will work with "audio from video files (.mov, .avi, .mpg, .dv, .m4v, .wmv)."

So more specifically, I think I need a program that will import the content as one of those formats. Will DVD Decrypter allow me to do that? Will there be video loss if I convert to AVI using another program, like XviD4PSP?

[guns1inger]

The method I outlines are the ones that will let you do what you want to do without video loss. Any conversion will cost you, either go there, or coming back.

[Reading Bug]

Guns1inger, or anyone

I'm finally at the point where I want to import DVD video losslessly and would love to try DVD Decrypter, but I have a Mac. Everything I see indicates Decrypter only works with Windows. True? If so, are there any alternatives?