DVD to iMovie HD project help

[lanray]

Here goes. I've posted this elsewhere, with little in the way of progress for my problem.

A while ago I filmed a wedding with my DV Cam. I needed the tape for another project, so I used iMovie to make a "magic movie" and burned it to DVD at the preset settings. Now, months later, I want to import that footage into an iMovie project.

So - I need to rip the DVD to a format that iMovie tolerates. Interestingly, I can't use HandBrake. When I rip the movie to .mp4 it creates a file (6 gig), but I can't open it in QT (QT doesn't recognize file), nor can I import into iMovie (QT can't parse - 2048). No one seems to know why this happens. Strange.

First question: why did this happen?

Then, I download FFMPEGX. I place the .vob file into the field, and tell it to rip to .mp4. It works! Magic, or so it seems.

Second question: what settings should I use to get the best quality possible out of the DVD to import to my project? There's a ton of options, and I'm not sure which to use. This goes for sound, as well.

Thanks ahead of time for the assistance. Rodney

PB G4 1.67 1 GB RAM rev. d
OSX 10.4.7
iMovie HD 5.0.2
QT 7.1.3
HB 0.7.1
FFMPEGX 0.0.9

 

[lanray]

another question

Well, I just kind of plugged away and found that using FFMPEGX I could rip a .mp4 .avi. I still don't know why QT wouldn't read the HandBrake .mp4 rip. Anyways, if I make the bitrate 7,000 - the end result isn't so bad. Only problem, now, is that the ripped file is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d. Here's the screenshot of my settings. Any suggestions?

 

[Apple2Mac]

Its a complicated process but pointing you in the right direction here are the apps you'll need

OSeX
mpeg2decX

 

[lanray]

thanks, but a few questions to clarify

The first ap looks like another MacTheRipper-type program. As far as I know, I won't need that (and haven't needed it so far) because my DVD is my own, unencrypted.

The second ap looks like it does largely what FFMPEGX does - create files of one type from files of another.

I suspect that the fact that my end-result rip is stretched horizontally is because I've got the settings wrong. I'm hoping someone can guide me as to the settings I should use to avoid the problem.

Unless I've missed something?

 

[lanray]

one solution

Just for posterity's sake: I downloaded DVD2DV - a handy little ap that seems to have done the trick. It ripped the .vob files from my DVD to a .dv file which loaded into iMovie without difficulty. My only complaint/concern is that I may not have gotten the "best quality" rip possible. If anyone reads this at any time and has a suggestion/clarification, please PM and let me know. Thanks, Rodney