VHS => iMovie -- can iMovie import from a Walgreen's DVD?
Frank McKenney
I'm trying to get my father, a long-time analog still photo and
video aficionado, interested in digital video editing. My mother's
iMac-DVD seems like a good place to start, and I just got a flyer
from Walgreen's that offers a $30 VHS/SVHS/Hi8=>DVD conversion
service. For a minimal investment I can set him up with "clips"
from last year's family reunion so he'll have something serious to
work with.
Then I got stuck.
After an hour with Google and Google Groups, I know that iMovie can
import "DV streams", and since the iMac-DVD has a DVD-ROM drive,
everything should work just fine, right? Well, some of us are a bit
cautious about minute technical differences... like "DV stream" vs.
"DVD-ROM". I couldn't find anything on Apple's site that
specifically mentioned importing from a DVD-ROM, and the only
threads G-Groups turned up seemed puzzled by the same question.
I know that commercial DVDs have some sort of regional protection,
but presumably this DVD from Walgreen's won't have that in place.
Would it? But... will iMovie even _attempt_ to read the disc?
If not, can anyone offer an alternative (and relatively inexpensive)
way of getting VHS or Hi8 video into an iMac for use with iMovie?
Specific experience (pro or con) welcomed, as well as any Clues,
Hints, and Suggestions.
Thanks...
Frank McKenney, McKenney Associates
Richmond, Virginia / (804) 320-4887
Munged E-mail: frank uscore mckenney aatt mindspring ddoott com
NeoLuddite
frank_m...@mindspring.com (Frank McKenney) wrote:
> I'm trying to get my father, a long-time analog still photo and
> video aficionado, interested in digital video editing. My mother's
> iMac-DVD seems like a good place to start, and I just got a flyer
> from Walgreen's that offers a $30 VHS/SVHS/Hi8=>DVD conversion
> service. For a minimal investment I can set him up with "clips"
> from last year's family reunion so he'll have something serious to
> work with.
>
> Then I got stuck.
>
> After an hour with Google and Google Groups, I know that iMovie can
> import "DV streams", and since the iMac-DVD has a DVD-ROM drive,
> everything should work just fine, right? Well, some of us are a bit
> cautious about minute technical differences... like "DV stream" vs.
> "DVD-ROM". I couldn't find anything on Apple's site that
> specifically mentioned importing from a DVD-ROM, and the only
> threads G-Groups turned up seemed puzzled by the same question.
>
> I know that commercial DVDs have some sort of regional protection,
> but presumably this DVD from Walgreen's won't have that in place.
> Would it? But... will iMovie even _attempt_ to read the disc?
>
> If not, can anyone offer an alternative (and relatively inexpensive)
> way of getting VHS or Hi8 video into an iMac for use with iMovie?
>
> Specific experience (pro or con) welcomed, as well as any Clues,
> Hints, and Suggestions.
Although I've never tried it I understand that you can use QuickTime Pro
($30) <http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/> to convert any file
format it can read to a DV stream. So the question is, what is the
format that Walgreens is using? Hopefully it's QuickTime or MPEG or one
of the AVI formats that QuickTime understands. If it's RealPlayer or
Windows Media Player then you may be out of luck.
You may also want to repost this to comp.sys.mac.hardware.video
--
Real Email: neolu...@mac.com <- I don't check it every day, but hey.
Blue & White G3/400MHz MacOS 9.1
Starmax 3000/200MHz MacOS 8.6
Quadra 605/25MHz MacOS 8.1
Frank McKenney
This is a re-post, with an update and adding (per a suggestion from
NeoLuddite) comp.sys.mac.hardware.video.
The original post:
-----------------
I'm trying to get my father, a long-time analog still photo and
video aficionado, interested in digital video editing. My mother's
iMac-DVD seems like a good place to start, and I just got a flyer
from Walgreen's that offers a $30 VHS/SVHS/Hi8=>DVD conversion
service. For a minimal investment I can set him up with "clips"
from last year's family reunion so he'll have something serious to
work with.
Then I got stuck.
After an hour with Google and Google Groups, I know that iMovie can
import "DV streams", and since the iMac-DVD has a DVD-ROM drive,
everything should work just fine, right? Well, some of us are a bit
cautious about minute technical differences... like "DV stream" vs.
"DVD-ROM". I couldn't find anything on Apple's site that
specifically mentioned importing from a DVD-ROM, and the only
threads G-Groups turned up seemed puzzled by the same question.
I know that commercial DVDs have some sort of regional protection,
but presumably this DVD from Walgreen's won't have that in place.
Would it? But... will iMovie even _attempt_ to read the disc?
If not, can anyone offer an alternative (and relatively inexpensive)
way of getting VHS or Hi8 video into an iMac for use with iMovie?
Specific experience (pro or con) welcomed, as well as any Clues,
Hints, and Suggestions.
---
To which
<see_signature_for_addre...@news.erols.com>,
NeoLuddite <see_signatur...@invalid.com> kindly replied:
>Although I've never tried it I understand that you can use QuickTime Pro
>($30) <http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/> to convert any file
>format it can read to a DV stream. So the question is, what is the
>format that Walgreens is using? Hopefully it's QuickTime or MPEG or one
>of the AVI formats that QuickTime understands. If it's RealPlayer or
>Windows Media Player then you may be out of luck.
And the update:
--------------
After a couple of phone calls and some 'web-wandering, I discovered
that Walgreen's -- and several local camera shops -- are providing
this service through a company called YesVideo:
YesVideo
http://www.yesvideo.com/
Video questions: 877-817-5375
The site offers some brief FAQs on their services. In particular...
- They will convert up to 2 hours of VHS/SVHS/Hi8 analog video
(from a single tape) to CD (MPEG1) or DVD (MPEG2).
- The service takes about two weeks.
- My Walgreen's coupon offers $5 off a normal $34.95 charge.
However, the person I spoke with was unable to tell me whether I
could load frames directly from their DVD into iMovie.
So... anyone ever tried using iMovie to edit frames from an
"unprotected" (insecure?) DVD-ROM?
SteveINK
video(DV) thru a camera or video source connected to the Macs Firewire port or
from the hard drive. The movie must be in DV format. iMovie cannot import MPEG
movies so any disc you get a Walgreens must first be converted to DV.
First you must open the movie in Movie Player (Pro version). Quicktime Movie
Player has an option to export video as a DV stream. I'm not sure but I don't
think Quicktime can handle MPEG 2 yet (copy protection and so forth) but I can
handle MPEG 1, also called a Video CD.
A simple search for "DVD ripping" should provide you with tons of information
and Apps that can extract MPEG video from DVD's.
Or you could rent or purchase a digital camera that has analog inputs and
digital output and use it as a "bridge" between your Mac and analog video
source, by going straight thru or by resaving the movie to a new tape. There
are also devices made by Sony, Formac and Dazzle that do the same thing.
Ben Bird
as DV. Also, you may not be able to extract video from a DVD because
of copy protection. Also, QuickTime 5 doesn't support MPEG2 so you'll
have a hard time converting this to DV.
If you have MPEG1 video on a CD you can convert it to DV using a tool
such as BTV Pro:
Although this would take a long time (complicated conversion process)
and would loose a bit of quality (but not much). Then you can take the
converted DV file directly into iMovie.
You could try to find someone who converts old analogue tapes to DV
format, in which case you can import the DV straight into iMovie,
although this might be hard to find. Alternatively, you could buy a DV
converter device and do the conversion yourself by capturing the DV
video into iMovie or with BTV Pro (assuming you have the equipment to
play the old analogue tapes). For a list of DV converter devices see:
http://www.bensoftware.com/help/devices.html
Hope this helps,
Ben Bird
Loren Finkelstein
DVD it get's compressed. So, there is a quality loss if you bring it back onto
a computer.
Loren
Smiling Triangle
frank_m...@mindspring.com (Frank McKenney) wrote:
<various snips applied>
> If not, can anyone offer an alternative (and relatively inexpensive)
> way of getting VHS or Hi8 video into an iMac for use with iMovie?
We've edited material from VHS by importing it with Director's Cut
(~$350), by Power R....uh, hrm, Miglia has purchased the Director's Cut
technology and is now handling it...
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/director/index.html
Anyway, it works great, import and then edit with iMovie or whatever.
A few of these DV devices were reviewed in August 2001 Macworld, which
you can see at:
http://www.macworld.com/2001/08/reviews/converters.html
That probably isn't what you meant by inexpensive, but it's all I know
of.
Regards,
Typpi
Wolf Feather
> frank_m...@mindspring.com (Frank McKenney) wrote:
>
> > If not, can anyone offer an alternative (and relatively inexpensive)
> > way of getting VHS or Hi8 video into an iMac for use with iMovie?
I personally use MyVideo, which had dropped in price to about $175 when I
last checked. The quality is certainly not as good as with digital video,
but I like it for several reasons:
1.) USB: no need to upen the computer to install an AV card, or pay a
high-priced professional to install it for you; even works great on a USB
hub
2.) Composite AND S-VHS for both input AND output
3.) Comes with Strata VideoShop (full working version), although I find
iMovie MUCH easier to work with
4.) Imports and exports to/from videotape/DVD/etc. via QuickTime
5.) Includes EskapeTVViewer for importing from VHS/DVD/etc., and VideoView
for exporting to videotape
6.) The resulting files can be imported into Toast 5.x for automatic
conversion to MPEG-1, for use in creating VideoCDs
7.) All audio is handled via the Sound In and Sound Out/Headphones ports,
not actually on the MyVideo device itself
On the downside, you will need to convert the resulting QuickTime file(s)
to DV Stream format to import into iMovie; QuickTime 5 has this capability,
so all you need is QuickPlayer Pro or another QuickTime-compatible program
to convert (I personally use MoviePlayer 2.1 for this purpose, and for its
better interface). iMovie allows exporting back to QuickTime in several
different formats, so that you can then output the resulting file to
videotape/DVD/etc.
Note 1: I have both MyVideo and a QuickCam connected to my iMac. For
whatever reason, whenever I first import video with MyVideo, the QuickCam
is actually active, and its image comes up in the EskapeTVViewer window.
This is quickly remedied.
Note 2: Because iMacs do not have an internal floppy drive, I use an
external USB floppy drive. Whenever I open either program to import/export
video to/from MyVideo, the external floppy drive stops working. This may
not necessarily be a concern, depending on how you work and/or how much you
might use an external floppy drive.
Note 3: For best video quality, I strongly suggest using Radio Shack's Gold
Cables. They cost a bit more, but they do deliver better quality video
signals.
=====================================
Wolf Feather / Jamie Stafford
FEAT...@IX.NETCOM.COM
=====================================
What isn't remembered never happened
- _Serial Experiments Lain_
=====================================
Frank McKenney
>iMovie will not directly open/import MPEG video. MPEG is not the same
>as DV. Also, you may not be able to extract video from a DVD because
>of copy protection. Also, QuickTime 5 doesn't support MPEG2 so you'll
>have a hard time converting this to DV.
Ben,
Thanks. Jargon and acronyms are useful ways of "encoding" to speed
communication, but like all "codes" one needs to know exactly what
they stand for(;-). I was dumping the "Digital Video" of "DVD" into
the same bucket as "DV". Sigh!
Since I need something "concrete" to bang my head against, I went
ahead and ordered both an MPEG2 DVD and an MPEG1 CD from YesVideo,
via my local Walgreen's. (Note: This is A New Thing, at least here
in Richmond. The store I visited was not familiar with the steps to
take a tape->DVD and had no info on tape->CD.)
>If you have MPEG1 video on a CD you can convert it to DV using a tool
>such as BTV Pro:
>
>http://www.bensoftware.com/
>
>Although this would take a long time (complicated conversion process)
>and would loose a bit of quality (but not much). Then you can take the
>converted DV file directly into iMovie.
Sounds like it's worth a shot. If I were setting this up for a
professional, it would be a lot simpler and I'd be more willing to
Throw Money At The Problem. Right now all I want is an
iMovie-usable sample of something personally meaningful -- if that
generates enough interest, that interest will justify further
spending.
>You could try to find someone who converts old analogue tapes to DV
>format, in which case you can import the DV straight into iMovie,
>although this might be hard to find. Alternatively, you could buy a DV
>converter device and do the conversion yourself by capturing the DV
>video into iMovie or with BTV Pro (assuming you have the equipment to
>play the old analogue tapes). For a list of DV converter devices see:
>
>http://www.bensoftware.com/help/devices.html
Thanks.
Hm. Wonder how hard it would be to write an AppleScript that would
drive the iMac's DVD player frame-by-frame and capture a section of
the screen at each step. Horribly slow for (2*3600) seconds at
30FPS, but in this specific case I could get away with running the
iMac over a weekend or two to achieve my goal.
Frank McKenney
>In article <a9583n$5l4$1...@slb2.atl.mindspring.net>,
> frank_m...@mindspring.com (Frank McKenney) wrote:
><various snips applied>
>
>> If not, can anyone offer an alternative (and relatively inexpensive)
>> way of getting VHS or Hi8 video into an iMac for use with iMovie?
>
>We've edited material from VHS by importing it with Director's Cut
>(~$350), by Power R....uh, hrm, Miglia has purchased the Director's Cut
>technology and is now handling it...
>
>http://www.miglia.com/products/video/director/index.html
>
>Anyway, it works great, import and then edit with iMovie or whatever.
>
>A few of these DV devices were reviewed in August 2001 Macworld, which
>you can see at:
>http://www.macworld.com/2001/08/reviews/converters.html
Typpi,
Thanks. Since this is a "proof of concept" project, I'm taking the
low-end route (e.g. wasting twenty or thirty hours rather than
spending an extra $1-200). Your list should be very useful for
Phase 2.
Frank McKenney
>> In article <a9583n$5l4$1...@slb2.atl.mindspring.net>,
>> frank_m...@mindspring.com (Frank McKenney) wrote:
>>
>> > If not, can anyone offer an alternative (and relatively inexpensive)
>> > way of getting VHS or Hi8 video into an iMac for use with iMovie?
>
>I personally use MyVideo, which had dropped in price to about $175 when I
>last checked. The quality is certainly not as good as with digital video,
>but I like it for several reasons:
>
>1.) USB: no need to upen the computer to install an AV card, or pay a
>high-priced professional to install it for you; even works great on a USB
>hub
>2.) Composite AND S-VHS for both input AND output
>3.) Comes with Strata VideoShop (full working version), although I find
>iMovie MUCH easier to work with
>4.) Imports and exports to/from videotape/DVD/etc. via QuickTime
>5.) Includes EskapeTVViewer for importing from VHS/DVD/etc., and VideoView
>for exporting to videotape
>6.) The resulting files can be imported into Toast 5.x for automatic
>conversion to MPEG-1, for use in creating VideoCDs
>7.) All audio is handled via the Sound In and Sound Out/Headphones ports,
>not actually on the MyVideo device itself
Thanks for the description. If I get positive feedback on Phase 1
(translation: "If my mother gets excited playing with these first
clips with iMovie and indicates she's interested in doing more...")
we'll need something like this.
>On the downside, you will need to convert the resulting QuickTime file(s)
>to DV Stream format to import into iMovie; QuickTime 5 has this capability,
>so all you need is QuickPlayer Pro or another QuickTime-compatible program
>to convert (I personally use MoviePlayer 2.1 for this purpose, and for its
>better interface). iMovie allows exporting back to QuickTime in several
>different formats, so that you can then output the resulting file to
>videotape/DVD/etc.
_Creating_ tape/DVD? Ack! We're a long way from that. First step is
to get someone to spend some time playing with iMove, and like the
results, and want to do more. (Still, one never knows...)
Thanks again...
Frank McKenney
In <20020412034022...@mb-fh.aol.com>, stev...@aol.comornot (SteveINK) writes:
>I'm not a video expert but I know that iMovie will only import
>digital >video(DV) thru a camera or video source connected to the
>Macs Firewire port or >from the hard drive. The movie must be in
>DV format. iMovie cannot import MPEG >movies so any disc you get a
>Walgreens must first be converted to DV.
Steve,
Sigh. Most of the video files I've seen are in either MPEG2 or MPEG1
format, so of _course_ it makes sense that iMovie wouldn't provide
any way of directly importing them (Grumph!).
>First you must open the movie in Movie Player (Pro version).
>Quicktime Movie >Player has an option to export video as a DV
>stream. I'm not sure but I don't >think Quicktime can handle MPEG
>2 yet (copy protection and so forth) but I can >handle MPEG 1, also
>called a Video CD.
Okay -- I've ordered both "DVD" (MPEG2) and "CD" (MPEG1) formats
from YesVideo (via Walgreen's), so I should be able to get
_something_ into iMovie-compatible form for my father to work with.
>A simple search for "DVD ripping" should provide you with tons of
>information >and Apps that can extract MPEG video from DVD's.
>
>Or you could rent or purchase a digital camera that has analog
>inputs and >digital output and use it as a "bridge" between your
>Mac and analog video >source, by going straight thru or by resaving
>the movie to a new tape. There >are also devices made by Sony,
>Formac and Dazzle that do the same thing.
If I can get someone actually interested in playing with iMovie I'll
follow up on those. Thanks.
Frank McKenney
Loren,
I think you lost me on this. I can see a loss during the
AnalogSVHS->MPEG2 step, and I can believe that MPEG2 is, like JPEG,
uses "lossy" compression technique, but I don't see a loss in
bringing MPEG2 (a digital format) into a computer.
If I save the MPEG2->Analog I can believe there'll be some loss
(hopefully small), and if I re-compress my iMovie->MPEG2 there might
be some loss, but I don't see any in the DVD/MPEG2->computer step.
What am I missing?
Frank McKenney
Matti,
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
In <nospam-F9A822....@plaza.suomi.net>, Matti Haveri <nos...@here.invalid> writes:
>You basically want to transfer VHS/Hi8 to iMovie, right? From iMovie you
>can quite easily transfer the edited footage:
>
>1. Back to a DV/D8 digital camcorder in its original quality (most
>camcorders have DV-in for this to work)
>
>2. Back to VHS via the camcorder (AFAIK most camcorders support this)
>
>3. MPG1-based near VHS-quality VideoCD (VCD) via Toast 5 Titanium
>
>4. (Currently with some difficulty) to near DVD-quality SuperVideoCD
>(SVCD)
>
>5. To a real DVD if you have a new Mac with a SuperDrive.
>
>6. To CDs as QuickTime movies, etc.
Yup (That's a "yup" as in "Makes sense", not as in "I've tried it
myself and it works"(;-)).
But first one has to get the ol' home videotape _into_ iMovie.
>One good option is to get a digital camcorder with DV- and analog-
>input/outputs. I have a (unnEUtered) Sony D8 TRV320E and it is OK for
>home use. If you work with iMovie, you usually want to have a DV/D8
>camcorder as well. You could get an analog-DV converter box but a
>camcorder allows you to be all digital after the initial digitization
>step. USB converters may be nice but you get better quality with DV/D8.
My father might well be willing to spend the money on one of these,
but only after _he's_ convinced that "playing with a computer" can
produce something that _he_ finds interesting. My first cut is just
to get some "interesting" video footage into the $#^%! iMac for him
to play with.
>If you get a DV/D8 camcorder, you can do this all by yourself. With a D8
>you can easily convert old analog Hi8 tapes as well (beware that some
>lowest-end D8 camcorders don't have this feature).
>
>I'd use an outside service for the transfer of old 8mm _film_ only and
>I'd look carefully where to do this and for what price.
He's tried several services for converting old 8/16mm footage
(pre-"video" home movies) and has not yet found one he really likes.
Still, my first step is to get him used to the idea of using a
computer to edit _anything_(;-).
>BTW, I recently squeezed over 30 hours of old VHS to 12 hours with
>iMovie and Sony TRV320E.
Was the reduction from the conversion? Or from editing?
Ken Weaverling
Ben Bird <ben...@kagi.com> wrote:
>iMovie will not directly open/import MPEG video. MPEG is not the same
>as DV. Also, you may not be able to extract video from a DVD because
>of copy protection. Also, QuickTime 5 doesn't support MPEG2 so you'll
>have a hard time converting this to DV.
>
>If you have MPEG1 video on a CD you can convert it to DV using a tool
>such as BTV Pro:
Isn't DV basically uncompressed (aka huge)?
I'm having a similar problem. I converted a bunch of VCR tapes of home
movies to mpeg2 format using my PC and a Hauppauge PVR. I was burning
them to VCD's just fine, but not all DVDs will play VCDs on CD-R or
CD-RW. So I used this as an excuse to buy a DVD-R-iMac last week. I
dreamed of distributing DVDs of my family home movies on DVD-Rs.
So, imagine my shock when this great digital hub I just bought was
useless for this task. I'm at a loss now. iDVD will only import DV
format? So it's purpose is almost soley taking stuff from digital
video cameras and that's it huh?
I sure wish Apple was a little more honest about this. I feel ripped
off.
--
Ken Weaverling (ken @ weaverling.org) WHOIS: KJW http://www.weaverling.org/
Loren Finkelstein
frank_m...@mindspring.com (Frank McKenney) wrote:
> In <Loren-8780D2....@reader1.panix.com>, Loren Finkelstein
> <Lo...@Finkelstein.Net> writes:
> >What I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is that when you burn
> >video to a >DVD it get's compressed. So, there is a quality loss
> >if you bring it back onto >a computer.
>
> Loren,
>
> I think you lost me on this. I can see a loss during the
> AnalogSVHS->MPEG2 step, and I can believe that MPEG2 is, like JPEG,
> uses "lossy" compression technique, but I don't see a loss in
> bringing MPEG2 (a digital format) into a computer.
>
> If I save the MPEG2->Analog I can believe there'll be some loss
> (hopefully small), and if I re-compress my iMovie->MPEG2 there might
> be some loss, but I don't see any in the DVD/MPEG2->computer step.
>
> What am I missing?
Sorry. I was unclear. What I meant was if you take video on a computer, burn a
video DVD and then try to get the video back on your computer you will have
quality loss from your original.
I had made the mistake of thinking DVD, being digital, would mean no loss,
making a video DVD a good storage medium for iMovie data to be edited at a later
date. What I neglected to consider is that raw video files in iMovie are rougly
1 Gig per 10 minutes of video, yet you can get 90 minutes of video on a DVD that
would only hold 4.7 gigs of data. I now know that if I want to store data that
way, I should burn a data DVD, with only 47 minutes (roughly) of video. That
can be copied back to a computer and edited with no loss at all. But burning a
video DVD compresses the video so it's not the best choice for storage of
footage to be later edited.
Loren
Subutai Ahmad
I work at the company that does the DVD transfer for
Walgreens (YesVideo). I can answer some of your questions below.
Our DVDs are not region encoded and will play on standard
DVD players and DVD-ROM drives. The format on the DVD
is MPEG-2 VOB format with Dolby AC-3 encoding for the audio.
Any editor that can read that format will work, however that
is not common.
We have another product through Walgreens which is our CD
product. The encoding on those discs is MPEG-1, which is
slightly lower quality but is more commonly understood by
most editing programs.
Hope this helps. If you have any more questions, please
don't hesitate to email me or call our toll free line
at 877-817-5375
Regards,
--Subutai Ahmad
VP Engineering,
YesVideo, Inc.
sah...@yesvideo.com
www.yesvideo.com
frank_m...@mindspring.com (Frank McKenney) wrote in message news:<a94t3e$ulo$1...@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net>...
Phil Lefebvre
and iMovie certainly can't. In fact, I don't think there is any way to
directly edit MPEG-2 on a Mac. Even MPEG-1 is very difficult to edit on a
Mac.
Anyway, the answer is no, you cannot import video directly from a DVD into
iMovie. You can do something like buy an analog to DV converter, attach it
to your iMac FireWire port, and a DVD player to the converter. Many
digital camcorders are also capable of doing this conversion, which would
be the best thing to get if you are serious about digital video.
You will get much better quality if you import directly from your source
tapes, rather than have it converted to MPEG-2, then import that. I think
Subati will agree that every time you do a conversion, you lose quality.
If your source footage is on 8mm camcorder tape, use certain Sony Digital
8 camcorders to do the conversion, as many of them (not all, check to be
sure) are able to read analog 8mm/Hi8 tapes directly. That would be the
best way to get them into iMovie.
BTW, show your dad how iMovie is a great app to do still photo slide
shows, and/or combine still photos and video. Once you have all this
edited in iMovie, print it to tape. Hopefully YesVideo can convert MiniDV
or Digital 8 to DVD. $30 is a nice price for that service (I suppose that
is an hour or 2 per disc.)
In article <bbf3002f.02050...@posting.google.com>,
li...@subutai.com (Subutai Ahmad) wrote:
--
Phil Lefebvre
Chicago, IL
Remove GO from e-mail address to reply.
David C.
>
> I work at the company that does the DVD transfer for
> Walgreens (YesVideo). I can answer some of your questions below.
>
> Our DVDs are not region encoded and will play on standard
> DVD players and DVD-ROM drives. The format on the DVD
> is MPEG-2 VOB format with Dolby AC-3 encoding for the audio.
> Any editor that can read that format will work, however that
> is not common.
Thanks for the info. This brings to mind another question:
Are the Walgreens DVDs CSS encrypted?
Personally, I would hope not. After all, if I own the original footage,
then there's no legal reason why I shouldn't be able to make duplicates.
CSS in this context would be, IMO, unfair,
Sorry for being off-topic here.
-- David
Subutai Ahmad
No, they are not CSS encrypted. As you said, you own the video
footage and any associated copyrights. Our value is in doing a
high quality transfer so you know your video is preserved and
compatible with as many DVD players as possible.
Other technical details: We also perform scene detection on the
video, put in 54 chapters corresponding to major scenes, and
print out a nice cover sheet with thumbnails from each chapter.
Cheers,
--Subutai
www.yesvideo.com
sah...@yesvideo.com
"David C." <sha...@techie.com> wrote in message news:<3CD1EE2B...@techie.com>...
Subutai Ahmad
Yes, it is true about quality loss. Although it is generally very high
quality, MPEG-2 is a lossy format, just like JPEG for images. The quality
of the MPEG-2 encoder has a huge effect on the quality of the final
video, particularly for complex scenes. I don't know how good the iDVD
encoder is - it's probably decent.
With your miniDV question - yes, we convert just about any videotape
format. 8mm, Hi8, Digital 8, miniDV, DVCam, DVCPro, BetaMax, SVHS, VHS,
etc. etc. It's actually amazing to me how many miniDV tapes we get - it's
our second most popular format after VHS.
Cheers,
--Subutai
sahmad @ yesvideo.com
p-lef...@GOnwu.edu (Phil Lefebvre) wrote in message news:<p-lefebvre-02...@areca-33-028101.nuts.northwestern.edu>...
>
> You will get much better quality if you import directly from your source
> tapes, rather than have it converted to MPEG-2, then import that. I think
> Subati will agree that every time you do a conversion, you lose quality.
> If your source footage is on 8mm camcorder tape, use certain Sony Digital
> 8 camcorders to do the conversion, as many of them (not all, check to be
> sure) are able to read analog 8mm/Hi8 tapes directly. That would be the
> best way to get them into iMovie.
> :
Frank McKenney
>I work at the company that does the DVD transfer for
>Walgreens (YesVideo). I can answer some of your questions below.
Subutai,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I picked up the DVD from
my order a few days ago (YesVideo is looking into what happened with
the VCD, which was apparently never created).
>Our DVDs are not region encoded and will play on standard
>DVD players and DVD-ROM drives. The format on the DVD
>is MPEG-2 VOB format with Dolby AC-3 encoding for the audio.
>Any editor that can read that format will work, however that
>is not common.
The DVD plays nicely on the iMac-DVD, and I just sent a message off
to YesVideo regarding 8mm film conversion.
>We have another product through Walgreens which is our CD
>product. The encoding on those discs is MPEG-1, which is
>slightly lower quality but is more commonly understood by
>most editing programs.
It's unfortunate that you (YesVideo) can't produce an iMovie-ready
format, which is what I'd really like(;-). Given that Apple is
including iMovie2 with each new Mac, has the company given this any
thought?
Frank McKenney
>As Subati mentioned, not many editors can read MPEG-2 directly from DVDs,
>and iMovie certainly can't. In fact, I don't think there is any way to
>directly edit MPEG-2 on a Mac. Even MPEG-1 is very difficult to edit on a
>Mac.
>
>Anyway, the answer is no, you cannot import video directly from a DVD into
>iMovie. You can do something like buy an analog to DV converter, attach it
>to your iMac FireWire port, and a DVD player to the converter. Many
>digital camcorders are also capable of doing this conversion, which would
>be the best thing to get if you are serious about digital video.
I'm sure there are a lot of DV camcorders out there, and there will
be more over time. The problem is that _requiring_ a DV 'corder or
a conversion unit means a front-end cost of $300+ for anyone who
even wants to _play_ with iMovie. That's going to stop a lot of
I-have-an-iMac-I-wonder-if-iMovie-is-useful-for-home-movies people
cold.
>BTW, show your dad how iMovie is a great app to do still photo slide
>shows, and/or combine still photos and video. Once you have all this
>edited in iMovie, print it to tape. Hopefully YesVideo can convert MiniDV
>or Digital 8 to DVD. $30 is a nice price for that service (I suppose that
>is an hour or 2 per disc.)
Good suggestion, but until I have some "footage" in an
iMovie-editable format all else is moot.
Phil Lefebvre
frank.mck...@spring.com (Andy Spayam) wrote:
>I'm sure there are a lot of DV camcorders out there, and there will
>be more over time. The problem is that _requiring_ a DV 'corder or
>a conversion unit means a front-end cost of $300+ for anyone who
>even wants to _play_ with iMovie. That's going to stop a lot of
>I-have-an-iMac-I-wonder-if-iMovie-is-useful-for-home-movies people
>cold.
There is a $80 widget from XLR8 that can import analog video over the USB
bus. You can convert this to DV using QuickTime Pro (which is included in
the package), or export it as DV from many video editor apps (I think it
still includes Strata VideoShop). iMovie can import any DV stream encoded
that way.
>>BTW, show your dad how iMovie is a great app to do still photo slide
>>shows, and/or combine still photos and video.
>Good suggestion, but until I have some "footage" in an
>iMovie-editable format all else is moot.
iMovie can import several still photo modes, e.g. JPEG, and QuickTime Pro
can convert many other still formats to those that iMovie can handle.
In other words, it doesn't cost a lot to get started with iMovie. You
probably have a lot of material already. Enjoy it.