iMovie won't recognize format

simmstar · Apr 16, 2009

Hi,

I'm trying (desperately!) to copy a section of a DVD. it is approximately 1h30mins long, but I only need 10mins for a work project. I am having real trouble doing this.I am new to Mac and so am probably doing something wrong. I'll run through what I've done so far:

1-Ripped the dvd to a m4v format and put it on my desktop
2-Opened iMovie and tried to import the file
3-The file is visible, but is grey and unable to be selected
4-Clicked the file on my desktop to preview it, it automatically opened in iTunes-I don't know if that is normal or not

The file is able to be played in Quicktime, which I saw on another site can helpful.
I'm going insane trying to do this as I need it for work really soon!!

Hope someone can help!

spinnerlys · Apr 16, 2009

Try MPEG Streamclip.

Here is something copied from an older thread. https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-196745.html

The poster is TranceClubMusic.

- MPEG Streamclip ($0) converts MPEG files (including transport streams) into muxed, demuxed, DV, QuickTime, AVI, MP4 or H.264 video or TIFF still frames, so you can easily import them in iMovie, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro and Toast Titanium. MPEG2 conversions require the $20 Apple's QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component (you can buy it online from Apple, but you already have it if you use either Final Cut Pro 4/HD or DVD Studio Pro). MPEG Streamclip also includes a player to set In and Out points, and perform a partial conversion. It does not read encrypted VOB files. It can open and convert also DV, MOV, AVI, MP4, H.264, DivX or WMV files (DivX and WMV need 3rd party add-ons).

To convert a DVD or MPEG to DV with MPEG Streamclip (v1.5.1 or later): Open a desired .VOB on a DVD (DVD/VIDEO_TS/VTS_01_1.VOB, for example) or a MPEG file. Select the In/Out points if you want to extract just a portion of the video. Choose "File/Export to DV.../Compression: DV (DV25)". Choose "Split DV stream in Segments" if the content is more than 9 minutes 27 seconds because iMovie 1-4 can't reliably handle longer clip files and it might be a good idea to limit the converted .dv file's size anyway (segmented clips play seamlessly in iMovie). MPEG Streamclip can optionally resample audio to 48 kHz which DV (and DVD) use (use this option when converting (S)VCD 44.1 kHz audio for DV). You can import the converted .dv to iMovie or save it directly into iMovie project's Media folder to save time and HD space (iMovie prompts you what to do with the clip when the project is opened. Notice that iMovie HD 5 now stores its project folder as a package -- MPEG Streamclip can save straight into the package's /Media folder!). As a nice touch MPEG Streamclip correctly adds 8+8 black pixels to the sides when converting PAL/NTSC 352x576/480 half D1 or 704x576/480 MPEG to 720x576/480 DV.

MPEG Streamclip can join similar MPEG files: The joined files must have the same PIDs, the same start codes, and the same audio/video properties (that is, they must come from the same source or channel). Using "Convert to MPEG" before joining the files can be helpful, because it changes PIDs and start codes to a default value. The preferred method to join streams is to Copy one stream in MPEG Streamclip, open another stream and Paste it there. This method checks that the joined streams indeed are compatible. Another method is to put the MPEGs in the same folder, and rename them so that they sort as desired in list view. Then select them via MPEG Streamclip's "File/Open Files..." dialog box (Shift- or Command-click to select multiple MPEGs). Then choose "Edit/Fix Timecode Breaks". After this MPEG Streamclip should report the combined length of all MPEGs (check the Log Window if you want to know whether any timecode breaks were found). Then choose "File/Convert to MPEG... or /Save As..." to save them in a single file. If the video transition between two files looks bad, you can use the Cut command to improve it. You can join very different and incompatible MPEGs with this latter method so the end result is not guaranteed to work.

You can import the edited MPEGs to Toast Titanium, DVD Studio Pro or Sizzle 0.5b2 (some prefer Sizzle 0.1 because it can make DVDs which start playing as soon as you insert the disc, whereas Sizzle 0.5 demands you put in a menu. v0.1 might also be more reliable. There may also be differences in what audio formats each version likes and dislikes), and burn them directly, with no encoding time and no loss of quality. (Notice that iDVD doesn't accept MPEG as its input).

Toast accepts MPEGs, VOBs and VIDEO_TS folders as its input. Use Toast's Video/Advanced/DVD-Video setting (not the "DVD-Video from VIDEO_TS" setting if you want to burn several such items to a single DVD. Delete unnecessary items (such as unwanted DVD menus from old DVDs), change the description of the titles and the DVD itself to something that makes sense and burn the new DVD. This results in Toast authoring a new VIDEO_TS folder that has a title menu of the videos from your other VIDEO_TS folders or their contents. Toast basically treats the VOB sets as MPEG video. Toast adds the AUDIO_TS folder as part of its authoring process so you don't need to do anything other than drag the folders to Toast so it can find the videos.

- ffmpegX ($15) can also convert .VOB or .mpg to .dv. It works OK but its installation and interface can be too overwhelming.

- DVDxDV ($25) can convert DVD-disks, VIDEO_TS folders and .VOB files to DV-encoded .mov files. iMovie 4 users should be aware that the audio is converted to 32 kHz when it imports DV-encoded .mov files (this is fixed in iMovie HD).

- In Toast Titanium ($100), select the Video tab, add the *.mpg or *.VOB files or drag a DVD or a VIDEO_TS folder to Toast's window, select the files in the list, choose Disc/Export Video... and Toast converts them with audio to DV streams. The converted files may even be on the (X)SVCD or DVD disk so no ripping is needed.

- A simple option to convert a DVD to DV is to just connect the DVD-player's analog outputs to a DV camcorder and convert the analog signal to DV.

- HandBrake can't output to DV but it can convert VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD with AC-3, LPCM or MPEG audio tracks to MP4 (MPEG-4 or H.264), AVI or OGM with AAC, MP3, Vorbis or AC-3 pass-through. It supports chapter selection, basic subtitle support (burned into the picture), integrated bitrate calculator, deinterlacing, cropping and scaling and grayscale encoding.

simmstar · Apr 16, 2009

Hey thanks-this worked really well.
Quality of video got really lessened, but hey!!
Thanks again

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iMovie won't recognize format

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