Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How to rip DVD content using a MAC?

This is topic How to rip DVD content using a MAC? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 09-05-2006, 09:28 AM:

I have a MAC, and Final Cut Studio HD. Does anyone know the best way to rip DVD content using a MAC? I would assume that a $1200 DVD authoring program could use content from a DVD, but if it does, I can't figure it out!

Thanks.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-05-2006, 10:06 AM:

Unprotected DVDs?

Just copy them like you would any disk. You don't need any special program. (Assuming your Mac has a DVD burner.)

Protected DVDs? You need a ripper.

Google: "0SEX" ("Zero-S-E-X")

This ripper is NOT intuitive but it IS free... And illegal to use for copying copyrighted material that you don't have permission to copy.

Once you have the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders burn them like normal.

But, here again, the assumption is that your burner burns the right kind of DVDs and that all the material you have copied will fit onto said DVD.

Finally, if you have the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders saved on an appropriately large hard drive you don't really need to burn them. You can watch them on your computer screen if you use a player capable of reading the .VOB files.

Google: "VideoLAN"

It's a free player that can read, stream and transcode many different audio/video formats. It can read the .VOB files directly without needing to decode first.

If all you want to do is watch DVDs that you already own on your computer screen without having to put the disk in your drive, VideoLAN is the way to go.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 09-05-2006, 10:19 AM:

Thanks, Randy. I'll look into those. Here's some more details on what I'm trying to do.

I'm going to be given a list of movie lines, and a pile of movies on DVD. I need to take those movie lines and some how combine them into a new video. So what I really need to do is isolate a time frame on an existing (yes copy protected, most likely) DVD, and rip that one segment of video and audio into a useable mpeg file that I can then manipulate in FCP. I don't need (and don't really want) to rip the entire DVD to my hard drive, although if I have to do it that way, then so be it. Although that will take an enormous amount of time and space.

Thanks again.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-05-2006, 11:46 AM:

That's going to take a little more work.

0SEX only decodes the .VOBs into streams. It doesn't decode the streams. You'll need other programs to do that.

Google the following:

"MacTheRipper"
"mAC3dec"
"a52decX"
"mpeg2decX"
"AIFF from PCM"

Those programs should give you almost everything you need, combined with FCP, to do what you need.

I use these programs in my job:

We need to make preview videos to play on our lobby screen. The artists and performers oftens send us "screener" DVDs for their acts. Often, this is the ONLY thing we have to go on to make our advertising and previews. I often need to rip those DVDs or raid a performer's website to get the material we need.

99 times out of 100, all I have to do is call up the artist's agent and tell them that I need to make "Promotional Material" out of their screeners and they give me the go-ahead.

I assume you are doing the same or similar thing as I am and that you have, at least, phoned the artist's agent... Right? [Wink]

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 09-05-2006, 02:25 PM:

I simply connect a firewire video capture device to the analog outputs on a dvd player. Although it's a bit lower quality, It will enable you to quickly copy exactly the lines you need without muxxing (LOL) around in the confusing world of dvd encryption and encoding.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 09-05-2006, 03:41 PM:

Thanks, Mike. That is definitely plan B if I can't get the ripping / decrypting / demuxing things to work. I only have till the end of the week to do this, and I don't even have my "script" yet.

I have EYE-TV or whatever it is for the MAC, but the last time I captured DVD data through it, there was a really strange flickering effect going on when there was a lot of motion on the screen. It was almost like an improper frame rate or interlace vs. progressive problem or something, but I never did figure out what it was. But if I have to, I'll be using it for this project too.

I'm still baffled as to why FCP can't just read/rip the data from an existing DVD. [Confused]

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-05-2006, 03:52 PM:

Technically, there's no damn reason in the world that I know of why FCP shouldn't be able to take what's on a disc and import it for re-editing but I figure this feature has been crippled for "Rights Management" reasons. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 09-05-2006, 03:57 PM:

If you can use a PC, you can use just one program, DVD Shrink 3.2. Basically mark in and out on the scenes you want, and it'll rip that segment to the hard drive, then put the next dvd in, and do the same thing but rip the segment to a different folder, and when you're done, you can combine them all and reauthor all the clips together, it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it, I've done it for a friend who needed it for class, basically a highlights compilation of sorts.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 09-05-2006, 04:53 PM:

Anyone familiar with Cinematize?

Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 09-05-2006, 07:36 PM:

Mark, you may also want to check out HandBrake. I used it only to rip a short clip from a DVD-R and found it fairly easy to set up and use. Worth looking into! [thumbsup]

Posted by Mathew Molloy (Member # 666) on 09-05-2006, 08:31 PM:

You may want to try this route - and it's free software.

Mac The Ripper
MPEG Streamclip
iMovie (included w/Mac)

Rip the dvd with Mac The Ripper.
Open one of the VOB files with MPEG Streamclip - it may ask if you want to open associated vob files and choose yes. Go to EDIT and choose FIX TIMECODE BREAKS.
Now you can set an IN and OUT point.
Then choose EXPORT TO ___. The ___ being whatever format you want to edit your video in.... (DV, Quicktime, AVI, etc.) Note there are many options for quality, etc.
Next, import the file to iMovie. (Or Final Cut as the case may be.)

You can also use Quicktime Pro ($29) for choosing IN and OUT points once you've made your file with Streamclip.

Hope this info. helps. This worked well when I put together a lobby promo video for a film festival.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-06-2006, 12:34 AM:

Indeed. I edited a bunch of different AVI clips shot my my digital still camera yesterday just by selecting the in and out points in Quicktime, copying and pasting them into an empty movie. Once all that was done, I exported to a stand alone Quicktime (instead of AVI). Cuts only, but worked great.