easiest way to import footage from DVD to iMovie?

[cinclodes]

What is the easiest/fastest way to import video footage from a previously authored DVD into iMovie? The need sometimes arises to rework a DVD that I created years ago, and I have always done this with the tedious approach of playing back on a DVD player and getting the DV into the Mac with a Canopus ADVC-300. This approach provides good results, but surely there must be a better way? It sure would be nice to be able to insert a DVD into a Mac and import the desired footage directly into iMovie. Isn't it obvious that this would be a highly useful capability? Why doesn't it exist? I tried Prism, which allows you to extract footage to a file, but is there a better way?

[bsulli]

Not knowing which version of iMovie you have generally if the DVD isn't encrypted or have some sort of DRM on it just browse the DVD go to the video_ts folder and there are .vob files which is the actual videos you want. copy one of the bigger ones to your desktop and rename the .vob extension to .mpeg If you have the mpeg encoder installed which generally you will and or have QT pro then you will. At that point you can drag and drop the .mpeg file in the iMovie and it will import it just fine. I have an older Mac wil iMovie 6 that I do this with all the time. I mostly use Final Cut on my new Mac but occasionally for quick edits I do the instructions above. When you pull it in iMovie pulls it in as a .DV format within the project file. Every now and then renaming the extension doesn't work depending on what the DVD was originally edited in. Or copy the file and do the rename and then use a video program to convert it to DV.

[pixel zombie]

if you are just doing simple edits and need only a simple menu you don't even have to use imovie or even convert to DV, you can extract the chapters of the DVD with YADE and then trim with MPEG Streamclip and use Toast to author the final disk...

[cinclodes]

Thanks so much for the suggestions!