NTSC DVD import to iMovie

[fishhawkbill]

Hi Folks,

Old Mac user here with a first venture into iMovie. The interface seems simple and I've tinkered a bit at the Apple store so I had a bunch of my Mother's 8 mm video put on DVD's. The disks play fine in player but when I try to import the files into iMovie it cannot recognize the files. I have set iMovie to accept NTSC (Which the dvds are marked with) and restarted iMovie with no luck.

My project is to take a lot of unknown video and turn it into a nice littel iMovie I can show my Mom to help her connect to memories that are slipping away with Alzheimer's. Frustrating to get hung first thing. I did not see anything in the forum on this but may not be putting the query correctly. All help appreciated.

Have I gone down the wrong path with the content?

I have 08 on a new Mac Mini (as of 2/08)

 

[JNB]

Unless I'm missing something major, I don't believe you can import from DVD directly. It has to be from a camera or through the iSight (or other webcam), or some other file with audio & video tracks that iMovie can read. More of a deliberate restriction because of copyright, I'm sure, else we'd all be ripping and recutting our favorite movies.

You can use Handbrake to rip the the DVD to an mp4, then import that file.

 

[fishhawkbill]

Thanks

Unless I'm missing something major, I don't believe you can import from DVD directly. It has to be from a camera or through the iSight (or other webcam), or some other file with audio & video tracks that iMovie can read. More of a deliberate restriction because of copyright, I'm sure, else we'd all be ripping and recutting our favorite movies.

You can use Handbrake to rip the the DVD to an mp4, then import that file.

These are not commercial DVDs. They were made of personal non-copyright material so I assumed they would not be encrypted and therefore be used like audio CD files. I thought I was getting digital files from 8mm analog tape. What are these files? Are you saying NO DVD can be imported? What about DV cameras that record directly to DVD? I'm looking at cameras, should I avoid anything that produces a disk as incompatible? Is Handbrake in a Mac and Windows version or is it Universal? Don't want to add the wrong software to the wrong file type!

 

[JNB]

The files need to be mp4 format. What's on the DVD is usually not that. The DVD-based camcorders can export from the camera to the Mac, but disc is usually not recommended, anyway, particularly if it's not a full-size DVD. NEVER put a mini disc in a slot-loading Mac. Ever.

MiniDV is currently preferred by many, and is an inexpensive, reliable media. A very highly rated camera right now is the Canon HV20. Actually, check out the Apple Store. If it's on their site, it'll be compatible.

As to the current issue, try Handbrake. It's not stupid simple, but pretty straightforward to just rip a DVD and get an mp4 file on your machine to import to iMovie. Here's a tutorial on using it.

 

[fishhawkbill]

Saved

Thanks for saving this project. Thought I might be in a blind alley. Just curious, but what can you import if you set iMovie to import NTSC?

 

[JNB]

Here's the skinny on NTSC: