Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Rip DVD to edit in final cut

M

Mojo67821

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 20, 2006
196
0
I've taped some stuff off of tv and put it on a DVD. Now I'm trying to rip it to final cut express hd for editing.

I searched the forums and came up with a program called MAC THE RIPPER but it won't work on my computer... everytime I try to use it it crashes.

Can anyone help me out? I have the capability of doing analog passthrough but it's kind of a pain in the ass, plus you're losing a generation. There must be a way to rip DVD's from within Final Cut, but I couldn't find anything in the help menu. :confused:
 
thanks guys. i don't have time to actually rip the file tonight, but I installed nthe program it and it seems like what I need. I'll report back tomorrow with results.
 
As others have said, handbrake will work. I use Cinematize to grab specific clips off DVDs. MPEG StreamClip would also work.
 
Well it worked but the quality is terrible.

Under "Picture Settings" it won't let me put the output at anything larger than 624 x 480 when it says the source is 720 x 480. Doesn't make sense to me. I exported it as an AVI file figuring it would give me the least amount of problems when I went to edit it. Is this the problem?

There were also ton of video artifacts. in general it looks like terribly compressed video. Can anyone tell me if I'm doing this wrong, or if this is a limitation of this program?

Edit: Do I have to check "constant quality" and put it at 100%?
 
I'm re-ripping the DVD with HandBrake with the "constant quality" setting set at 100%. It's taking twice as long so I'm assuming the quality will be better. However, because it's taking so long it's kind of losing the advantage over analogue passthrough. We'll see when the final quality comes through though.

At least this way I can do other things while it's running, and I don't need to set up my DVD player near my compter.
 
I give up, the file that it made is unplayable. I don't understand what the hell is going on...
 
I just ended up going with an analogue passthrough with my DV deck. I needed high quality raw dv, and it was the only way I knew of doing it. I didn't have too much time to spend researching alternatives.

Logic kind of tells me that in order to rip and encode high quality DV AVI video, it will probably take as long as it would for the passthrough anyways. So I guess I answered my own question.
 
Mojo67821 said:
... I searched the forums and came up with a program called MAC THE RIPPER but it won't work on my computer... everytime I try to use it it crashes. ...
Click to expand...

I believe you have to turn off the prescan feature.

Also, check the MTR forums for help.

Lastly, the new version is a lot better, but you have to donate to get it.
 
Too late?

I went through a similar scene. Starting with TV recorded DVDs ending with edited MPEG. Now using Final Cut Express ( I shoud say I am trying to learn to use FCE)

Found that Http://www.squared5.com program "Streamclip 1.7" seems to work faster and more constantly than handbrake or mactheripper. My problem was a 20% quality loss using IMovie HD. It would do 4 frames then a copy of #4 for the 5th one. Handbrake would produce skips in the MPEG.

What I would like to have is an effective way to batter my way through FCE's software.
 
Mojo67821 said:
I'm re-ripping the DVD with HandBrake with the "constant quality" setting set at 100%. It's taking twice as long so I'm assuming the quality will be better. However, because it's taking so long it's kind of losing the advantage over analogue passthrough. We'll see when the final quality comes through though.
Click to expand...

You will get the best quality if you run your tape through a DV camera's pass trough feature. The speed is also "real time". (It take exactly 30 minutes to transfer a 30 minute show) The problem with your DVD method is the encode/decode step kills the quality Going from analog tape to DV format preserves everything that is on the analog tape giving the best quality possible and the DV is directly editable.

The ONLY reason to EVER store video on DVD is for final distribution, it should never be used for anything that is to be read back and edited.
 
Agree with streamclip, took me a long time to figure it out, but it works perfectly, no problem installing on my old G4, but had to buy MPEG-2 playback from Apple for $19 to enable playback in Streamclip. If you have OS X 3.8 and later, MPEG-2 is supposed to be there. Also use Mac the Ripper and have had no install or operation problems.
 
Try DVDxDV. Better quality than MPEG Streamclip and Handbrake, at least for me. I'm sure it all depends on the settings used in each app, but this one was easy enough to use and output a decent clip for editing...

Hope that helps someone.

Merry Christmas!
 
DVDxDV is good, simpler, easy to see things on it's screen, amateur version is $25, pro is around $80, Streamclip is a little harder to figure out but is free and works fine if you don't want to spend the money. Also DVDxDV is for OSX 3.8 and above, which I don't have and didn't want to spend $129 to upgrade to Tiger.
 
This all started for me from a DVR and trying to get the recorded TV material onto;
1) Portable media
2) Editable format
3) Output to DVD for sharing (Referee Training), not for profit.

This is the sole reason I got a MAC. But my expectations have risen, and life isn't so easy now, technically speaking.

So when the DVR folks make their HD files available, this should become easier for me.

Thanks for the ideas, as this can get quite time intensive. And happy holidays.
 
Copy the DVD but convert the VOB files using Squared 5 application to DV format, its quite simple, when you render any other format it can take hours to render both video and audio.

The DV format renders in minutes.
 
What settings does one use in Handbrake so that Final Cut Express will be able to work with the ripped video in real time?

If a second program is required to convert those outputs, which one would you recommend?
 
How to convert DVD for Final Cut

Download Xilisoft dvd ripper

Use the codec .MOV quicktime

Mac the Ripper and Handbrake are nice programs but useless for converting to Final Cut.
 
dvd-vx

tried it didn't have much luck with it. I couldn't find anywhere where it was linked with final cut. your best bet is to download a program that will let you convert to .mov (quicktime). Quicktime is incorparated into Final Cut. final cut says they will run almost anything that quicktime can. Unfortunatly I must have tried all the ones that run on quicktime that they don't support.

Now if anyone has a serial for Xilisoft DVD Ripper (mac version of course) I would love to have it.

Side note: anyone use Quantum Leap Gypsy? Interested in input on program.
 
I've wanted to do the same thing as the OP and just came across an easy solution. If you're willing to invest $23, VisualHub will take the .vob file(s) from the DVD and give you nice-looking DV files that are prepped for working in Final Cut. One step, couldn't be easier :). You can check to see if there's quality loss but I've done some testing and didn't find much of any degradation, and the conversion to DV was a lot cleaner than some of the output I've seen from Streamclip. VisualHub also lets you do all manner of other video conversions at speeds often faster than QuickTime, so if you'll be messing about with transcoding quite a bit, it's a worthy investment.

EDIT: well, looking at the app again I do find there's some degradation going from VOB to DV, so check out the trial to see if it'll work for you or not.
 
this post is soooo helpful~ i got exactly the information i needed cuz i had the same problem and now its solved i got visualhub !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back