[MacDV] Video project - VHS to DVD to DV to DVD

[Robert L. Vaessen]

Nick -

Thanks for the info. I've downloaded MPEG StreamClip. I've already used 
it to create a DV output from the VIDEO_TS files. I'm sure that it will 
be instrumental in my project.

- Robert

On Sep 16, 2004, at 07:58, Nick Scalise wrote:

>  On Wednesday, September 15, 2004, at 11:05PM, Robert L. Vaessen 
> <rvaessen at mac.com> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>> The challenge defined
>> ---------------------
>> Here are the steps that define our project. Steps have changed/evolved
>> as the project moved forward. I've spent well over three weeks just
>> getting to step 2, and I've got two coasters already.
>>
>> + Step 1: Obtain original footage on VHS.
>> Completed: Two VHS tapes were located. One raw footage, one edited
>> production copy. Quality was poor but legible.
>> + Step 2: Convert analog VHS to DVD. We probably should have gone
>> straight to DV, but we didn't...
>> Completed: Two DVDs produced using a hardware analog to DVD converter.
>> The conversion process stabilized the tracking, eliminated some video
>> artifacts, and improved the overall quality of the movie. The DVDs
>> contain a VIDEO_TS folder with the following contents (from now on I
>> will only refer to one of the DVDs).
>> + Step 3: Take the DVD and read the data back into the computer. Need
>> to do this in order to perform video and audio editing of the movie
>> using iMovie.
>> + Step 4: Take the DVD data, now that it's back on the computer and
>> convert it into a format that iMovie can read.
>
> All you need to properly convert your DVD to DV are:
>
> MacTheRipper
> (gets the DVD to harddrive)
>
> MPEG StreamClip
> QuickTime Pro
> QuickTime MPEG2 component
> (converts the DVD to DV)
>
> MPEG StreamCLip does an excellent job at this. You can point it to 
> your VOB files and have it convert them all to dv. It will even cut 
> the dv files to 1.9gb for iMovie, all you then need to do is get them 
> into iMovie and you can edit at will.
>
> http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/
>
> The last time I did this, I just created a new blank iMove project, 
> saved it, quit iMovie and then dragged the new .dv files into the 
> Media folder inside the new iMovie project folder. Start iMovie, it 
> will ask you about some new files, tell iMovie to import them. (I do 
> not know the exact steps, I am not near my home computer, but that is 
> the general direction to take)
>
>> + Step 5: Edit the movie using iMovie.
>
>> + Step 6: Save the iMovie output in a format that can be read by iDVD.
>
> If you have iMovie 4, there is an iDVD icon near the transition, 
> titles, etc. icons. Click that when you are done editing your epic in 
> iMovie and you can then create an iDVD project.
>
>> + Step 7: Use iDVD in order to add menus, and burn the re-mastered 
>> data
>> back onto a DVD.
>
> [snip]
>
>> - Step 7: Can iDVD burn data to a DVD so that the DVD will play in a
>> commercial hardware DVD player? (Not a data disc) Should I use Dragon
>> Burn to produce the DVD video disc? Is there any benefit to using
>> Dragon Burn over iDVD?
>
> Yes. That is what iDVD is for, creating DVD's that will play on 
> consumer/commercial DVD player that is connected to your tv set.
>
> That said, some players are better at playing home made DVD's than 
> others. In my limited experience I have found that some players will 
> play 8x DVD's fine while others can only play DVD's that were burned 
> at 1x.
>
> So, burn your first DVD with iDVD. Test your DVD on different players. 
> If it works on all the players you want to use great. If not try 
> burning some more at slower speeds.  Burn later DVD's with Dragon burn 
> so that you can change the speed at which you burn. You will need to 
> use MacTheRipper to get your new DVD back to hard drive though (unless 
> you have two drives available).
>
> That ought to keep you busy for a while.
>
> Good luck,
> --
> Nick Scalise
> nickscalise at mac.com