Best DVD-ripper settings for FC express editing?

[thejiggers]

Hi there. New to the forum, pretty new to my imac, too. My question relates to ripping DVDs (in e.g. handbrake) for editing footage in FCE4.

I've got a bunch of video files of my band playing live which were copied from DV tape to DVD. I want to import these DVDs to my mac for editing together in Final Cut Express 4.

I installed Handbrake 64 and ripped some of these DVDs as MP4. It seems though that Final Cut Express does not handle this format very well (if at all).

I assumed that FCE4 would just "change sequence settings to match clip settings" when I imported the ripped files into the project, but that doesn't happen. I import the clip, but when I play it in the timeline it plays in the sequence video as "unrendered" with a red box around the timeline and a soothing and delightful beeping noise

I had initially imported the mp4 files into imovie, but since I needed the advanced timeline features of FCE4, I bought that. But even when I exported an imovie-edited project as a .mov file, FCE4 doesn't work any better with that. I believe this is because .mov is simply a delivery format, and doesn't change the video content (e.g. framerates and things).

But my understanding of this technology is fairly vague.

So my question is:

Can handbrake rip DVDs into a format that is suitable for easy editing in Final Cut Express 4. If yes: what settings should I use, and if not, what software WILL?

 

[spinnerlys]

MRoogle will answer your question in more detail.

As video DVDs use MPEG-2 as codec, it is not suitable for editing. Handbrake also does not output anything useful, as it uses MPEG-4 codecs like H264.
.mp4 is a container for such a codec. And MPEG-4 is also not suited for editing.

You can get MPEG Streamclip (www.squared5.com) and open the ripped DVD folder with that application and convert to a .mov using the DV or Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC), as those are meant for editing. But you need the 20USD QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component for that, which you can get at the Apple Online Store.

Again search with MRoogle, example: http://www.google.com/cse?cx=011016...e:forums.macrumors.com&hl=en&as_qdr=all&meta=

 

[thejiggers]

MRoogle will answer your question in more detail.

As video DVDs use MPEG-2 as codec, it is not suitable for editing. Handbrake also does not output anything useful, as it uses MPEG-4 codecs like H264.
.mp4 is a container for such a codec. And MPEG-4 is also not suited for editing.

You can get MPEG Streamclip (www.squared5.com) and open the ripped DVD folder with that application and convert to a .mov using the DV or Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC), as those are meant for editing. But you need the 20USD QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component for that, which you can get at the Apple Online Store.

Again search with MRoogle, example: http://www.google.com/cse?cx=011016...e:forums.macrumors.com&hl=en&as_qdr=all&meta=

Thanks for that response! I downloaded mpeg streamclip and was actually able to use it to convert the .m4v file I'd previously created into a .dv format. Now the video seems to have imported, but the audio is still beeping... a quick render does the trick though.

Finally getting somewhere. Thanks again!

 

[spinnerlys]

Thanks for that response! I downloaded mpeg streamclip and was actually able to use it to convert the .m4v file I'd previously created into a .dv format. Now the video seems to have imported, but the audio is still beeping... a quick render does the trick though.

Finally getting somewhere. Thanks again!

What are the clip and sequence settings visible in FCE's browser?

Have you used a compressed file like .mp3 or .m4a as your audio? If so, better convert it to something like .wav or .aiff, which uses no compression, which is better suited for editing applications.