10 replies to this topic

[Anorak]

Using the Media Browser in Toast 7 it is apparently possible to convert a .vob file from a DVD to Mpeg4 format which can then be inserted into iMovie and mucked around with.

I've just tried this with a home-produced DVD, but only about the first 90 seconds of a 20-minute segment seems to pull through. I have tried other DVD's but the same thing happens to each one of them.

I am running Mac OS 10.3.9 on a 1GH G4 PowerBook. I have performed the recent upgrade of Toast to 7.1 but it appears to have made no difference.

I have had success with Handbrake in the past, and I presume it will work again. I just wondered what the problem with Toast was.

Thanks in advance for all help and advice offered.

[John at Roxio]

I tested in 10.4.8 and it seems to work fine.  Do you get any errors or does it complete and just not contain all the video?

[tsantee]

What is the source for the VOB? Is it a standalone DVD recorder?

[Anorak]

Thanks for the replies. The source of the VOB is a home-made DVD recorded from the TV, using a Panasonic DVD recorder. I just get 90 seconds of a 40-minute clip converted and then it ends as if it has done the complete file. In the media browser it says the clip only lasts 90 seconds, even though it will preview the full 40 minutes.

I have maged to convert the file using Handsbrake, but I would still be interested to know what the problem with Toast is though.

[tsantee]

Anorak, on Oct 18 2006, 01:06 PM, said:

Thanks for the replies. The source of the VOB is a home-made DVD recorded from the TV, using a Panasonic DVD recorder. I just get 90 seconds of a 40-minute clip converted and then it ends as if it has done the complete file. In the media browser it says the clip only lasts 90 seconds, even though it will preview the full 40 minutes.

I have maged to convert the file using Handsbrake, but I would still be interested to know what the problem with Toast is though.

I believe the problem is time-code breaks in the video recorded by the Panasonic recorder. I have the same issue with ones recorded by my Pioneer DVD recorder, except Toast seems to figure those out when I'm using those to make a DVD. I haven't tried using them to convert to MPEG 4.

The fix for the time code breaks is to use MPEG Streamclip. Open the VOB title set on the DVD with Streamclip. It will warn you about the presence of the time code breaks. Click okay. Now go to the Edit menu and choose the option to fix time code breaks. This is fast. Now choose Export to MPEG to save the file to the hard drive. You can drag that MPEG to the Toast video window to convert to MPEG 4.

An alternative is to have your Panasonic recorder make VR-mode DVDs instead of video-mode DVDs. I always use VR-mode with my Pioneer recorder when I know I'm going to be transferring the video to the computer because those don't have the time code break issue.

[Anorak]

Thanks for the tips. I've just checked out Streamclip - it seems very useful!

Not sure if the Panasonic can make VR-mode DVD's but I'll check that out too.

[jtbell]

Note that MPEG Streamclip can export to MPEG4, so if that's what you want to end up with, there's no need to go through Toast at all!

[greatpenguini]

I was just logging in to pose this question and lo and behold here on the  top of the discussion list is the very topic I wanted to ask about.  But my question is a little different.

I need something that will rip VOB to MPEG.  I'm running Mac OS10.2.8.   I've used handbrake a couple times but the end result always has these large pixilated areas in the darker colered areas.  These are not commercial DVDs, they are both semi-professional made but not commercial movies or copy-guarded.  I've assumed that with Handbrake, you get what you pay for.  A freeware product, I'm assuming, yields a lesser quality product.

I read here in others discussions that while Popcorn is the Roxio "Back-up" program Toast 7 will do everything Popcorn does.  Here are my questions.

1) How do you rip a DVD in Toast?  I tried finding the "Media Browser" in  Toast 7 without luck.

2) Can I expect a higher quality end file than with Toast vs Handbrake file?

Thanks for your help.

greatpenguini again.  I guess I need to be more specific in that my goal is to also make an MPEG file I can  edit in iMovie.  Not copy straight to another DVD

Thanks

[tsantee]

How are you using Toast 7 in OS 10.2.8? It requires 10.3.9 or later because it also requires QuickTime 7.

Toast 7 can extract the MPEG video from a non-encrypted DVD or VIDEO_TS folder using the Media Browser. It writes the extracted MPEG to the Roxio Converted Items folder. Insert the DVD, select the Video window, enter the Media Browser, select DVD with the top button, use the lower button to access what you want to extract, drag the video you want to the Video window.

You might check if MPEG Streamclip does what you want, but I don't know if it works with 10.2.8. I've never used Handbrake.

If you are going to be using this in iMovie, convert to DV or a full quality Quicktime movie rather than convert to MPEG 4. This gets you better quality and won't take any more time (may be faster). After extracting the video with Toast, select it in the Video window and choose Export. You'll see the options to convert it to another format.

Edited by tsantee, 28 October 2006 - 06:57 AM.

[razrbac]

tsantee, on Oct 28 2006, 06:53 AM, said:

How are you using Toast 7 in OS 10.2.8? It requires 10.3.9 or later because it also requires QuickTime 7.

Toast 7 can extract the MPEG video from a non-encrypted DVD or VIDEO_TS folder using the Media Browser. It writes the extracted MPEG to the Roxio Converted Items folder. Insert the DVD, select the Video window, enter the Media Browser, select DVD with the top button, use the lower button to access what you want to extract, drag the video you want to the Video window.

You might check if MPEG Streamclip does what you want, but I don't know if it works with 10.2.8. I've never used Handbrake.

If you are going to be using this in iMovie, convert to DV or a full quality Quicktime movie rather than convert to MPEG 4. This gets you better quality and won't take any more time (may be faster). After extracting the video with Toast, select it in the Video window and choose Export. You'll see the options to convert it to another format.

Digital Guru,

I was hoping you could lead me in the right direction importing all of my Hi8 and mini DVD camcorder video. I have an old Hi8 DV camcorder which I would like to import all of my video onto my Mac, as well as a newer Sony DVD403 camcorder which writes to mini DVD's in  Mpeg 2 format (I think).

I am extremely new to this and I bought the Mac a month ago with this in mind. Getting my Hi8 video into iMovie appears to be easy; however, I have had trouble with the DVD video. I purchased Toast 7 just for this task. Using Toast 7, I have exported my DVD video clips to my "documents" folder in two formats; DV and Mpeg 4. The Mpeg 4 files are significantly smaller than DV and the video quality appears fine in iMovie. I have also been able to edit these files easily in iMovie (so far).

My question is should I be using the DV format exclusively when importing my DVD video, regardless of the space it uses, or is Mpeg 4 an acceptable alternative format since I'm planning on exporting hundreds of hours of video? I don't want to spend all of my time using Mpeg 4 when I may have to do it all over in DV.

Also, after I've exported the video into the correct format, can I delete the files that show up in "Roxio Converted Items" folder in "documents"? I have a 250GB HDD but I feel as if I'll use it up too quickly.

I know I'll run into problems with iMovie as well, but I would appreciate a simple answer to this since I can't seem to find it elsewhere. Any additional advice would be very helpful. Thank you.

[tsantee]

My advice to choose DV exports rather than MPEG 4 may be off base. I choose DV because it has lesser compression and doesn't seem to take as long to convert as does MPEG 4. But I've never timed how long one or the other takes. MPEG 4 can have very good quality so it seems to me you're doing fine choosing that format. If you've looked at both of them and see little difference then trust your eyes.

You may already know that the Roxio Converted Items folder is automatically emptied when you quit Toast, unless you change that in Toast Preferences. I choose to manually empty the folder. You don't need to keep the extracted video after you've converted it to a different format.