DVD to .DV format ?

[patriot1405]

Forgive my ignorance everyone, newbie at this.
Wife recently bought me a Sony DCR DVD-403 camcorder, which records directly onto a mini 3 inch dvd disc. At the end of disc i must finalize to be able to be seen on my dvd player. my question however, is i would like to bring this footage into Imovie for manipulation, but the end result is a video ts-folder. is it possible to convert this folder to a .DV format that imovie would accept? and will this conversion and the subsequent reconversion back to dvd form result in a severe quality loss?
Read somewhere that if a DVD-RW is used i could select VR-Mode which would enable me to remove the mpeg2 file before the camera converts it to a video ts-folder during finalizing process, dont know for sure will purchase some today. just trying to get this into a format Imovie will accept, without too much quality degradation.any help would be appreciated.

Regards.

[terryj]

Yes you need to get the format into .DV.
The simplest route would be if the camcorder has an
FW i/o port, then you could hook a FW cable from it to
the Mac, and then playback the footage on the camera,
importing it native ( .DV) into imovie, without all the
conversions hassles.

post back if you have a FW port on the camera,
and we can take it from there.

[miksu]

Unfortunately, most camcorders, that record onto DVD, have only damn stupid USB2 and no FW at all.

FFmpegX might be able to convert VOB to DV. You will lose on quality, but use high bitrates for repacking, you lose less (max allowed is somewhere near 10Mbps). And, for recording settings (cam), use something like "high quality, shorter record time".

Fact is, cameras that record on discs, aren't really meant for people that want to edit shootings with computer. MPEG2 (VOB) isn't really suitable for editing, as it doesn't have "all frames", just some of them and rest is described with vectors desribing changes (movement) between frames.

MPEG(2) can be still cut, joined etc, but then something else is needed. MPEG Streamclip does little wonders, same with DVD Studio Pro (requires de-multiplexed, ie. elementary streams, but it's simple and Streamclip does it too). Adding titles or graphics may create artifacts or something other weird effects. Sound is less problematical and since DVD is designed for 6ch audio, 2ch audio can use really high bitrates.

[patriot1405]

the camcorder does not have the firewire port...has a usb 2 export cable.
cant i use the dvd on my dvd burner to import to the mac?

[miksu]

MacTheRipper can rip it (using your burner), then try convert VOB-files to DV using FFmpegX. There isn't really straightforward way

[AntnyMD]

MPEG Streamclip is a straightforward way.

[ansberry]

I had a very similar problem last fall. I had some DVDs that I needed to rip and get into iMovie to rework. After much help from this forum I was able to get it done. But I think it would be easier to hook a DVD player up to one of those analog to dv boxes (sorry, I forget the technical name) and play the DVD into iMovie. I wound up doing that with most of my video because it was a LOT easier. I didn't lose a lot of quality.

[maetel99]

People seem to keep forgetting that MPEG Streamclip alone cannot do any DVD extraction. The Apple QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback component (US$19.95) is required as well. Also, it seems likely that anyone who upgrades to Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger will have to buy the component again because QuickTime is changing to QuickTime 7.

Another option is Cinematize.

[sjk]

More accurately, MPEG Streamclip requires the MPEG-2 Playback Component for playback and conversion of MPEG-2 files and transport streams to QuickTime or AVI movies and DV streams.

[AntnyMD]

More accurately, MPEG Streamclip requires the MPEG-2 Playback Component for playback and conversion of MPEG-2 files and transport streams to QuickTime or AVI movies and DV streams.

MPEG Streamclip has been around so long its getting to be safe to assume folks have heard about the additions needed to enable certain functionality. If that was missed, going to MPEG Streamclip's download page will make it all clear.

[AntnyMD]

People seem to keep forgetting that MPEG Streamclip alone cannot do any DVD extraction. The Apple QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback component (US$19.95) is required as well. Also, it seems likely that anyone who upgrades to Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger will have to buy the component again because QuickTime is changing to QuickTime 7.

Another option is Cinematize.

Since the original poster is using a 3" DVD created on a camcorder, this content is not copy protected and can be copied in Finder, or opened in MPEG Streamclip directly from the mounted DVD.

[sjk]

MPEG Streamclip has been around so long its getting to be safe to assume folks have heard about the additions needed to enable certain functionality.

I clarified the product requirement in case maetel99 wasn't aware of it and so other readers here have correct information. And I hope I'm doing my bit to keep further inaccuracy from propagating.

If that was missed, going to MPEG Streamclip's download page will make it all clear.

Who knows if the MPEG-2 Component requirement there is being read and understood, especially when that info is often misrepresented elsewhere.

[djsteve1]

I use DVDxDV to convert DVD footage to DV. It works well, although the user interface is not the best. Note that this app does not require the Quicktime MPEG-2 component to do its magic, and thus avoids the extra $20 charge.

-djsteve