Can iMovie import a family DVD to convert to mov file?

[vjaaan]

I have a treasure of old family home movies that I originally converted from VHS and made into DVD movies with Pinnacle, complete with chapters and menu.

It is time to get them off the DVDs and into a single movie file that can be played anywhere from a flash drive (and more easily saved in multiple places for history). The DVDs are composed of numerous files that combine to make the movie play from a DVD player. I need to convert all that to a single movie file (like mov or mp4 or whatever the best format is).

Can iMovie import that whole movie so I can then create a movie file? If the chapters are a problem, can I get the basic movie and create new chapters in iMovie?

Or is there a better option?

Thanks.

I am using a MacBook Pro (2016) running El Capitan.

 

[vjaaan]

I think I have answered my own question here. I will have to rip and convert my old home movies to a new movie format. If I convert them to avi, then I think I can use them in iMovie to create a new movie. But I guess I lose the Menus I created in the original.

 

[Dave Braine]

Use Handbrake to get an mp4 video file of your dvd. You can then put that into iMovie.

The latest iMovie doesn't have the Chapter Markers feature. If you just want to join all the videos into one without any editing, then you could use Quicktime. You can also use Subler to insert Chapter Markers into the finished video
https://handbrake.fr/downloads.php
https://subler.org

 

[vjaaan]

Thank you for that information. I just used MacXDVD Ripper Pro's free trial demo and obtained an MP4 file. Of course, my chapters don't work. If I use subler to make chapters, will I still be left with a single movie file (like mp4 or mov, whichever I use)? So the chapter icons on the open screen of the movie with be interactive, taking the viewer to whichever chapter is clicked? And, do you know if the skip ahead button on the remote (not the fast forward) will jump to each new chapter along the way?

Since I am making copies of all these home movies for many family members (with the idea of handing them out on flash drives, easy for storing, and I'm assuming able to plug into any USB port and have the movie file accessible with a remote control for playing), I figured I should use mp4 instead of mov, since many are using PCs. In fact, I used the windows version of the xDvd ripper on one trial run. Also because I need a DVD player in the computer to access those old movies, and my latest MB Pro of course does not have one.

So I will either buy the mac or pc version of the DVD ripper pro to convert the rest of my movies (assuming it makes no difference which kind of computer I convert from, and I need the DVD player). I apparently don't need to import the converted movie files into iMovie since it cannot make chapters (the mp4 did import fine). So I guess I just need to be sure the Subler makes chapters without changing the mp4 (or mov) format.

Thanks so much for any further help you can give me.

 

[Dave Braine]

will I still be left with a single movie file (like mp4 or mov, whichever I use)?

Yes.

So the chapter icons on the open screen of the movie with be interactive, taking the viewer to whichever chapter is clicked?

No. If you play your movie with Quicktime, you'll be able to pay it all in one go or choose the different chapters from thumbnails in the QT window.

 

[dorsal]

Now that you have separate files for each chapter, you may want to organize each project into a Folder, with the chapters inside. Viewers can select the trip folder then the chapter of interest. I find most people don't have the attention span to sit through a 20 minute trip video anymore. :-(

Or maybe it's just my trip videos.