[Jeff in Tallahassee]

I filmed a 13 min interview on my miniDV camera, burned it onto a Philips DVD burner (+R), and then copied the disc using Toast 10.0.4. So now I have a DVD which, using Finder, shows 2 folders: Video_TS and Audio_TS. The Video_TS folder has 6 files (2 each of .BUP, .IFO, .VOB). The Audio_TS folder is empty.

I would like to extract just the audio of the interview. When I try Convert > Audio Files and try to drag in the Video_TS folder, it says that VGS_01_1.VOB was not added becasue it is not a sound file, or is not in supported format. None of the 6 files will drag into Toast (same error message). When I try to add the Audio_TS folder, it says Audio_TS is in an unsupported format and cannot be imported.

Is it possible to do this? Nothing is copyrighted. I don't need any editing; just the audio track. I would like to end up with a small file (.wav if possible) that I can e-mail to people. Thanks in advance, Jeff

[pseudonym]

Considering you just need a 13 minute clip, you might want to try Wiretap:
http://mac.softpedia.com/progDownload/Wire...nload-6692.html

Using Wiretap, you can obtain an AIFF (uncompressed sound) file from anything that plays through your Mac's speakers. You can then use another program such as iTunes or QT Player to convert your AIFF file to mp3 or wav or whatever you need.

You can also extract the audio track from your VIDEO_TS folder using Toast (see my next post, below).

This post has been edited by pseudonym: 03 November 2009 - 05:16 AM

[Jeff in Tallahassee]

Thanks, I can try Wiretap as you suggest. However, I thought that Toast would do it. Page 130 of the Toast 10 User Guide (under "Converting Video Files") says that:

For iTunes: Extracts the audio portion of the video and creates
an M4A audio file for use in iTunes.

which I understood to mean that I could, within Toast, strip out the audio portion.

[pseudonym]

-Insert DVD.
-Select Convert tab in Toast.
-Select DVD Disc tab on left.
-Navigate if necessary to DVD from within Toast.
-Click small "gear" button at bottom of Toast window.
-Choose Quicktime Movie from Device popup menu.
-Choose Custom settings.
-Uncheck video checkbox.
-Keep sound checkbox checked.
-Click OK, save to Desktop (or wherever), click OK.
-click BIG RED button to convert video to Quicktime (sound-only) movie.
-You can now convert Quicktime movie to mp3 with itunes, or wav using QT player (Pro only?).

HTH

[Jeff in Tallahassee]

HTH, thanks for your suggestions. Your procedure works, it creates a DVD_VR.mov file that is 12 MB in size (for the 13 min interview). I used QT Pro as you suggested, and made a .wav file but it is huge -- 129 MB.

I'm trying to get the size down for ease in e-mailing. It is non-copyrighted material, voices only, no need for great quality. I used iTunes to convert to .mp3, and it makes a 5MB file -- much better size, but the court reporter's software (who will be using it to check her transcription) will not recognize the .mp3 file. Further ideas?

[pseudonym]

You probably should find out what kind of sound file the receiver's equipment can handle. If not mp3, then perhaps mono, 8-bit WAV? That would be a somewhat smaller file. AIFF has a couple of compression options. Any of the compression options or reduction to 8-bit would significantly reduce sound quality, as opposed to mp3 (at a bit-rate of 128 or above). See what your options are using the export function in QT Player. There are other export options in iTunes, for instance, but if the playback equipment won't handle mp3s, then I doubt it will play Apple Lossless or AAC, etc.

When you exported to mp3, did you use a typical bit-rate such as 128? Some devices can only play back a limited subset of bit-rates.

Sorry, by HTH I meant "hope this helps"

This post has been edited by pseudonym: 03 November 2009 - 02:10 PM