Mac Discussion

Hey all,

I had an old video tape converted into a DVD. Which is AWESOME!

Now how do I pull some video off it to make videos I can send to people? I'm used to using iMovie.

The disc itself has 2 folders on it:

VIDEO_RM, which contains the following file types: .IFO .BUP .DAT

VIDEO_TS, which contains the following file types: .IFO .BUP .UOB

Thanks!!!

m i k e

Bad move there because the VIDEO_TS folder has to be turned BACK into a video file - essentially RECREATING the video that was tossed factoring to DVD. You don't get 2 hours of video (26GB) to fit on a 4.4GB disc without throwing Bunches-O-Data away so what lies ahead for you is finding a program that will guess at recreating the 22GB of stuff that was left out of your 'AWESOME' DVD. One step forward, two steps backward is where you are right now.

Some programs re-create your missing video better than others. There are free ones out there. I use one that costs $130.00.

Hm... guess not so awesome after all! Sounds like a real mess. :^(

I guess better may be getting one of those $65 or so converters so I can plug my VHS player directly into the computer.
[www.amazon.com]

Think that would work?

m i k e

better quality by transferring the original VHS to iMovie via the converter, but if you want to play around with getting the existing DVD into iMovie, use Handbrake and convert to .dv format and import that.

[handbrake.fr]

Do you still have the original VHS tape(s)?

OMG you may loose data!!!! Unless ultimate quality is your goal, do not sweat the dire warnings of video quality loss. I have friends who shoot birthday photos of thier kid in RAW so as to avoid the losses from jpeg. They convert 100 RAW photos, then put 5 onto facebook at 350X500 for grandma to see.

Do you have a DV video camera with video in? The way i do what you are asking is to play the VHS/DVD (or other video source) into the camera recording it to DV, then extract into iMovie the way you would any home video. You could then take that into iDVD if you want to make DVDs yourself.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 10/26/09 03:21PM by Some Guy.

Some Guy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OMG you may loose data!!!! Unless ultimate
> quality is your goal, do not sweat the dire
> warnings of video quality loss. I have friends
> who shoot birthday photos of thier kid in RAW so
> as to avoid the losses from jpeg. They convert
> 100 RAW photos, then put 5 onto facebook at
> 350X500 for grandma to see.
>

We must have some of the same friends. =)


---------------------------------
Posting And You: [www.albinoblacksheep.com]

Some Guy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do you have a DV video camera with video in? The
> way i do what you are asking is to play the
> VHS/DVD (or other video source) into the camera
> recording it to DV, then extract into iMovie the
> way you would any home video. You could then take
> that into iDVD if you want to make DVDs yourself.
>

Some mini-DV cameras will do an analog-to-digital conversion without first recording to tape. If you have access to a mini-DV camera try that first. (If you haven't used a mini-DV camera, they connect to a Mac by FireWire and iMovie can control them over that link.)


Good luck.

- Winston

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Be seeing you.

When folk bring in their tapes I factor the initial capture at Average Bit Rate of 9.5 Mbps and Max Bit rate of 11.9 Mbps to get the best data rate from the analog crap that is inherent in VHS tape. (This creates a data stream of 4.1GB per hour of video) There is a noticeable difference evident upon final presentation. Lesser individuals won't notice a difference but those created in my image would.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 10/26/09 06:01PM by toetag.

Hey all.

I converted to MP4 via Handbrake and am now importing into iMovie - which is taking forever since it's like 700MB.

But that's fine. It'll happen over night and then I'll edit it down.

You all have just been awesome. Thanks so much!

m i k e

Yeah, just be sure to post the link to the thing once it's on YouTube.

_____________________________________________________________________________
I don't have enough faith to be an atheist.

I haven't done it for several years, but I used to convert VHS tapes in iMovie by playing them on the VCR which was input to my Panasonic camcorder which was connected to the computer by Firewire.

Last summer, I was cleaning out some junk so I donated the VCR to my local PAWS thrift shop. Then about a month later my wife found some old tapes she wanted converted to DVD. I went over to the thrift shop. The VCR was still there. They sold it back to me for a dollar.

I haven't done the transfer yet. I hope my wife forgets about it.

People who don't want to go through all this trouble bring their in tape and a few hours later they pick up the tape, the chaptered DVD, and leave behind 18 bucks.