Capturing from DVD ...

[macmithos]

I need to capture some images from a DVD to re-edit it, then encode it again and burn it. I use FCP, COMPRESSOR AND DVDSP. My question is: Which workflow should I choose ? Capture from a regular DVD player using my Canopus ADVC-300 or should I use the Apl. MpegStreamclip and then export it as Quicktime and/or DV ?

THANKS PEOPLE.
Macmithos

[tomlee59]

Generally speaking, avoiding any analog-digital conversion is a good idea, so don't go that route. Instead, operate directly on files digitally. If you use sufficiently high bitrates, you can avoid significant loss. With A/D conversion, you're very much at the mercy of factors you cannot control, and the likelihood of loss is correspondingly greater.

That said, what, exactly, are you trying to do? Are you ultimately trying to end up (still) with a DVD? If so, then simply operate on the segment of video you want to edit, then splice it back in. Convert the segment of interest into DV, if needed for your editing tools, and then back to the final DVD-compliant form, assuming that this is what you want to produce at the end of the process. MPEGstreamclip is fine for simple splices. If you need to incorporate more elaborate effects, you'll need other tools.

If you can be a little more specific about what you are trying to achieve, I'm sure many here will be able to offer valuable suggestions.

--Tchau

[Frobozz]

Excellent question. Is it better to use the Canopus to create a DV video file from the analog outputs of your DVD player or is it better to keep it all digital using an application that converts MPEG video to DV or full quality QuickTime move?

I wonder if anyone at kenstone.net has posted on this subject and done comparisons.

Personally I'd choose the Canopus even though the picture may be affected by the digital-to-analog conversion in the DVD player. Or should I say because it will be affected? You may like what this process does to the picture compared with all digital. Look for how the blacks and shadows appear and for how fast-motion scenes are reproduced.

As for the all-digital route I'd choose Cinematize 2 for the conversion to your editable format because it is designed to do this at a very high quality along with keeping the audio and video in sync.

[tomlee59]

Great point, Frobozz: The effective blurring that the D/A/D conversions produce allow more of the bitrate allocation to be spent on keeping up with scene changes, reducing contouring artifacts, etc., so it's understandable that, depending on what your eye prefers, the result could indeed be perceived as better. Resolution isn't everything, I agree, and beauty is definitely a subjective matter. Perhaps the best advice to the OP is to try a couple of methods, and pick the one that seems best to him.

[macmithos]

Let's be more specific as tomlee59 asked.
I've recently got a new client that works selling "How-to videos" for all kind of companies.
One production team was hired to film a video on "How to -work safety training... " and in a specific moment, they record a group of people getting into a gas station and one of the guys was smoking a cigarette ....(BUMMMM) lol... . All the footages were edited, compressed and a DVD was burned ... . They only noticed after it all ... . Now he wants to take the cigarette scene out of the DVD. So, I have to capture the hole movie, edit it again, re-compress and burn a new DVD.

[victoriabears]

I am very confused, why not just rip the files off of the dvd, ?

[tomlee59]

Would your objectives be satisfied by simply deleting a few frames, or do you actually want to modify existing frames (e.g., erase the cigarette)?

[terryj]

macmithos my friend.

Here's what I would do:

1. if the DVDs were commercially created, I would rip the DVDs to the HD
using MTR. If they were made non commercial ( ie, he had his nephew
or someone make them), I would copy them to the HD.

2. Open the "offending .VOB" file in MpegStreamclip.
just only the .VOB, I wouldn't load the whole stream.

3. Nip out the offending footage, and re-save the file to two elementary streams.
(.m2v and .ac3, or .m2v and .aif)

4. Now comes the tricky part.

With MpegStreamclip still open, and the .VOB still loaded,
You export (save as) the .VOB as "VTS_xx.mpeg" in another spot other
than the Video_TS folder. Then, go into the folder and take out the .VOB
you edited. Place into the folder the .mpeg you edited into the folder,
and rename the file from ".mpeg" to ".VOB".

Now take the Video_TS folder and drag/drop it into Toast,
and create a Toast Disc Image.

Open (Mount) the Toast Disc Image, and test it with DVD Player.
if everything plays correctly, then congrats, burn the folder to disc
and make the client happy!

if the mounted DVD doesn't play correctly, then you'll need to re-generate
the structure of the disc. If it is complicated, then you could try editing
the IFO using mydvdedit, to fix the structure.

If the DVD is pretty simplistic ( ie. a static menu, no transitions,
and just text links to the .VOBs to play), I would just re-create the
disc in DVD Studio Pro, and then go back to MpegStreamclip
and demux out the .VOBs to their elementary streams,
re-import them into DVDSP, and author the disc.

[Frobozz]

TerryJ,
Would you also recommend choosing Go to Keyframe in MPEG Streamclip when selecting the in and out points for that cut? If keyframe editing is a problem here then using CaptyMPEG Edit EX may be needed to do frame-accurate trimming.

[terryj]

Brother Fro,
Capty may be better in the frame accurate trimming regard.
with MpegStreamclip, I admit, I simply use Go To Time,
and input my time of roughly where I want to trim / edit / cut,
set my in point there, then Go To Time, set roughly my out time,
set my out point, then trim / edit / cut....

Beauty of being your own editor, you use what works best for your left
brain I suppose, as there isn't a rigid standard......

[macmithos]

my friend Terryj:
I decided to capture the hole movie (MPEGStreamclip), because it is not a matter of just cut the scene. There is an audio that has a meaning for the hole movie. I have to fill the gap with some images that has something to do with the audio on that specific moment of the movie and that is what I already did. After all I exported as QT, COMPRESSOR and DVDSP.
I've found MPEGStreamclip a very good application.
Once again, THANKS A LOT!!!!!!

[terryj]

As always, u r welcome my friend.
Terryj