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Post by supernatural66 on Sept 8, 2008 13:23:08 GMT -5
This is the thread to share your tricks for making videos and make software recommendations. I made this up for the CCC boards and my video swap boards- am happy to share my video ripping schema here too.
This thread will be devoted to video software - ripping, editing, converting and creating.
My personal specialty is ripping files and converting them.
I started out working on videos and editing with a simple need- I needed to figure out how to remove the commercials from the DVDs I had made using my DVD recorder of all of my favorite shows.
After much trial and error I ended up with a really nice system that allows me to do lots of tasks with a small set of really good, fast, not-too expensive tools.
I will share my overall schema for ripping and editing here. As a second topic I will give hints on how to rip content from video sites to keep and share ( think load on my iPod).
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Post by supernatural66 on Sept 8, 2008 13:23:21 GMT -5
DVD Ripping
STEP 1
DVD Decrypter
This is my starting point for ripping almost any DVD whether it is one I have made on my DVD recorder or one I have purchased. Other than DVDs by Sony and Disney it works with nearly every commercial disk I have and will work with your home made DVDs.
DVD Decrypter will break the encoding on the disk and allow you to save the files to your PC.
You want to usually use the IFO mode , and enable stream processing. This will remove the macrovision encoding from your purchased disks. Simply put the disk in your DVD-drive, and click on the files you wish to copy- and they will store them on your computer as a VOB or VTS file.
This can now be read into your editing software.
I use DVD-Decrypter with my own disks and commercial ones because it is FAST and takes up very little processing power. Oh yeah- and it is FREE!
Make sure you have this one in your toolbox!
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Post by supernatural66 on Sept 8, 2008 13:23:34 GMT -5
DVD Ripping
STEP 2
VideoReDo
There are any number of software programs you can use to process the VOB/VTS files but I like VideoReDo. Again it is fast and easy to navigate. It also has some slick tools that I find very helpful.
I use this program to edit out commercials and to assemble and edit files from commercial disks. Sometimes commercial disks will spit out a ton of little files- I use the quick stream fix tool to reassemble these files into one seamless MPEG video file.
I will continue to emphasize- this is a FAST program.
I can usually rip an episode from DVD-Decrypter to VideoReDo in about 20 minutes from either a commercial disk or a homemade one.
VideoReDo has the ability to handle files from your cable box and other recorders as well- I don't use it that way but is can handle all kinds of video input as long as you have the ability to transfer that data to your PC.
Video editing is easy- you open a file, and a video player pops up with sound, you watch and then stop and put in cut marks where you want to remove things. This is how I make all of my clips and edits- I just remove everything I don't want, save the remainder as a MPEG file and then re-edit until I am happy and save.
The MPEG files can be saved in your favorite flavor- a straight mpg, MPEG-1 or MPEG-2
These files will all go into any video converter program.
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Post by supernatural66 on Sept 8, 2008 13:23:47 GMT -5
DVD Ripping Step 3 Video Conversions You have taken your disk and saved the files to your hard drive. You have edited them as you like and now have them on your hard disk as MPEG files. Now the question is what are you going to do with them? If you use a movie maker program that can take any file type- feed them in and you are set. You can clip and edit to your heart's content and add music etc ( you can remove audio in VideoReDo by the way making this easier) If you want to post your edited video directly- I have several programs I use that are really good and again fast and don't take up too much processing power or disk space. AVS found at www.avs4you.com is a nice multi-tasking converter. Fast and it handles tons of file types- perfect for taking online videos you download and your own disk video and formatting them to the same frame size and frame rate for video making. Also will allow you to set your video to the exact format you need to for the site you are posting to. I use it to covert my wmv files to DIVX avi for Stage6 and I also use it to make wmv files out of my clips , it is faster at handling MPEG video than Windows Movie Maker. |
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Post by supernatural66 on Sept 8, 2008 13:24:09 GMT -5
File Conversions- some final notes
If you want to take your ripped videos and put them on your iPod then the Videora iPod converter is for you! It is FREE and does a bang up job with allowing you to pick and choose the exact iPod output you desire.
I find that the iPod format works great on Veoh for loading videos to their site. Most of my content there is output from this tool.
I have the DIVX converter as part of the DIVX pro package but do not use it often- I prefer the free Dr Divx program for converting videos of all sorts to the DIVX format for loading to Stage6 and to DIVX format for playing on my DIVX DVD players.
One note on the DIVX format- the codec is free and everyone should have it along with the AC3 Filter.
I do like the DVD burning feature that comes with the DIVX DVD player- it is fast and allows you to make nice DIVX disks with a menu you can play on your TV with a DIVX DVD player. I use this to burn videos I download all the time and to make the disks I use as backups to my personal DVD collection.
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Post by supernatural66 on Sept 8, 2008 13:24:24 GMT -5
How do I put things on my iPod?
The aforementioned Videora iPod converter is your friend! Free it will transcode any length file to fit on your iPod.
Do you have torrents or avi files you have downloaded from the internet? Feed them into the Videora Wizard, choose your quality output and it does its thing. Beware- file conversions tend to be memory pigs so go get something to drink or go watch tv while you wait for a video over 20 minutes in length to be converted.
If you have made your own videos and they are in avi, mpeg, or even wmv format- all of these plus divx files will easily go into the converter.
A nice feature? It can handle the VOB files from your DVD decrypter too! So if you can rip your disk using DVD decrypter- or some other program - into a single nice clean file per episode- that can go right into the converter- no other steps required!
Videora will even load your new videos into your iTunes library! They usually load as movies- so look in your movies folder and then click on the info about the video button to fill out all the details.
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Post by supernatural66 on Sept 8, 2008 13:25:04 GMT -5
How do I save videos from Youtube or other video sites so I can play them on my computer or iPod? Lots of ways to do this- I will give you a few. First lets talk about what you see when you view a video on Youtube. What you are seeing is a flash video representation of the video that someone has loaded onto the site. This is known as a flv or .flv file. It is a small file that will play in the Youtube online player. Most streaming video sites use some kind of flash technology to render video for viewing. Quality will vary depending on how well their converters handle the video people input. This is why folks will post download links to their videos that may not look as nice on Youtube as they do if you play the video directly. There are lots of tools for video ripping I will go over a few here. 1. You can use a video site that will save the flv for you by having you input the link for the video and then saving it to your harddrive. Make sure you add the suffix .flv to the name! Some sites to try: mytube.kuso.cc/~kuso/youtube/or mytube.kuso.cc/~kuso/google/This is the GOOGLE video retriever and I think it works the best of the ones of this type 2. Use a video client to download your videos. Install the Veoh player and the Veoh plug-in. When you view a video go to the plug-in box on your browser skin and select the button where there is a 1 - this will download the flv as an flv right into your Veoh library. This works with Youtube and Dailymotion and a couple of other sites. 3. Use a video download and converting tool all in one- the best tool I have seen for this is the VDownloader. It will save your video not as an flv but you can save it as an avi or mpg- your choice! Download here: comunidad.uem.es/epuertas/post/20....-video-y-grinviNow you have downloaded your video- if it is in flv format you need to convert it to your favorite video flavor. Want to load it on your iPod? Use the trusty Videora converter! Want to save it and watch on your DIVX dvd player? Dr. Divx will handle many but not all flv files. You can use any number of video converters for short videos under 5 minutes- do some hunting around - new stuff is available all the time. That is it for now from me- I hope you have found this helpful and I welcome suggestions and stories from the trenches on the tools you use and what you like and don't like. Please share bad experiences and what to stay away from! I tend to stay away from the programs that promise to rip a disk and covert to iPod or avi format directly as they take HOURS and HOURS to run vs my speedy schema. Yes there are multiple steps but all very quick and manageable. Kate SN66 |
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Post by Ronnie on Sept 10, 2008 12:43:02 GMT -5
Awesome thread, Supernatural! Thanks for the info. I will be looking into all this tonight. I purchased a BlackMagic Intensity Pro card with hopes of being able to capture episodes directly from my DVR. I have been able to capture video output from the DVR at 1080i over a HDMI cable, but without audio, and the framerate chugs a bit. This is with only the slim utility that accompanies the card. I have yet to try capture with the Component Video breakout cable:  I also purchased a copy of Sony Vegas Pro 8 for editing (along with my car videos), I plan to install it and hopefully capture directly from the DVR into Vegas for editing, and final output in various file formats. What do you think? |
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Post by supernatural66 on Sept 10, 2008 13:39:26 GMT -5
Sounds good! One of the functions of the VideoReDo software is to process output from set top boxes and various types of transport streams if your system does not automatically convert your signal to Mpg format. I bought a little egg shaped thing that does the same thing as your card but no matter the output unit- unless you use a hdmi cable- you don't get HD from that satellite dvr as far as I can tell- so I am stuck with hq output- which is fine for me. You should be able to get really nice clean output this way.
Most people seem to like Sony Vegas - lots of features you can play around with.
One thing- if you are using video streams of varying sources and bit rates, frame rates etc- you may want to check out your software's ability to adjust your stream rate and normalize the video. It is easier to make these normalizations before you begin clipping and editing because they won't present themselves until you are ready to make your final video. You can do this by clicking on the properties of your source material and seeing what comes up, if it does not give enough info, try clipping some small clips from each source and plop them into a new project then try to save it- if you are given an error message- you know you need to do a stream fix.
The other source of videos that people use in making fan videos is of course torrent downloads. One thing you have to careful with is what format the video is in and what codec was used to encode the video. Usually people use one of two codecs for avi files. The DIVX ( which I like) or the Xvid codec. Both are good- you just have to be aware of which one you have. If you have not installed the codecs on your machine, you will not be able to view the videos much less edit them.
I would like to hear from someone about how their video making programs work with avi download files. I know that not all are created equally.
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Post by sabaceanbabe on Sept 17, 2008 13:07:58 GMT -5
I use DVDShrink for ripping and VirtualModDub for converting to avi. They're also free and simple to use. I'm just starting to play around with AviSynth, too. The software I use for video editing is *usually* Roxio VideoWave 10. Easy to use and fairly inexpensive. In conjunction with that, since each program can do different things, I use AVS Media's video editor and Windows Movie Maker. I'd LOVE to score a copy of Vegas, but I don't have that kind of money.  Generally, until I have the DVDs to make my own files with, I use the *ahemed* files from various places online. |
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Post by supernatural66 on Sept 17, 2008 23:24:51 GMT -5
I am a huge AVS fan too- I use it for encoding the videos I rip in VideoReDo. Love that I can clip in VideoReDo very specifically and in nice HQ frames. The Roxio stuff is good too- I used it back when I had an operational HP- I loved it for DVD burning and copying. REally fast and easy to use. The AVS suite is a good deal- I bought the $59 one time license that gets you access to everything they have- forever! I have used their audio software to record things with my cheapo microphone and I use the AVS flash/ AVS converter/ AVS Video Editor for working with my videos - very flexible system.
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