Importing Dvd/video_ts

[SlidingGlassDoor]

I have a 6 month old Mac OS X 10.5.6. I used to use roxio on my PC to import media from my video_TS dvds. When I got my mac, I could view my dvd's on the Mac DVD player without a problem, but I needed a way to import them onto my computer and then convert them into MPEG-4 files so I could edit my videos on Imovie and other applications. So I purchased Toast 9.0.2 and attempted to convert my dvds. The preview in Toast plays them back perfectly, but the second I click "convert," a message pops up saying:

 

"Couldn't complete the last command because of a Mac OS error. result code = -50"

 

Now I'm thinking there might be a problem with my mac. (Go figure). But I'm hoping a mac os x expert might see this and be able to tell me what's wrong... and what I can do to fix it. Thanks so much in advance!

[Veiled]

Open MPEG Streamclip and choose Open DVD from the File menu. Select either the DVD in the window that appears or the VIDEO_TS folder that's within the DVD. If there are multiple titles (recordings) on the DVD Streamclip will ask which one (in numerical order) you want to open. Select the title you want and click OK.

 

Once it has opened you may be alerted that time code breaks are present. You'll want to fix them all but you can do the faster repair rather than the thorough one so uncheck the Do not skip any frame box. If you don't see this option then go to the Edit menu and choose Fix Timecode Breaks at the bottom of the menu.

 

When the breaks are repaired you need to choose Convert to MPEG in the File menu if you are going to use Toast to do the conversion to another format or to use it in making a new video DVD. If you are going to use Streamclip for the conversion then choose the format you want.

 

Streamclip also lets you cut segments from the video to be exported (as does Toast). You should be able to find instructions for that in the Streamclip guide via the Help menu.

 

Sorry to took so long to reply. I did as you suggested and it didn't work. I waited a few days to let the dust settle and have tried it again. I did exactly as you said in the top paragraph. I opened MPEG Streamclip. I selected the DVD in the window. And nothing happened. It didn't open the DVD. It again said, "File open error: unsupported file type". It gave me two options. One is "Open Anyway" and the other is "OK." When I clicked OK nothing happened. So I closed MPEG Streamclip and tried again. This time I clicked on "Open Anyway." At least this time the wheel turned and it showed something being recognized, but it basically crashed the program and I had to force quit. Either I have done something wrong or this program is going to work for me. Any suggestions?

[Veiled]

Sorry to took so long to reply. I did as you suggested and it didn't work. I waited a few days to let the dust settle and have tried it again. I did exactly as you said in the top paragraph. I opened MPEG Streamclip. I selected the DVD in the window. And nothing happened. It didn't open the DVD. It again said, "File open error: unsupported file type". It gave me two options. One is "Open Anyway" and the other is "OK." When I clicked OK nothing happened. So I closed MPEG Streamclip and tried again. This time I clicked on "Open Anyway." At least this time the wheel turned and it showed something being recognized, but it basically crashed the program and I had to force quit. Either I have done something wrong or this program is going to work for me. Any suggestions?

 

[tsantee]

I'm presuming the DVD has a VIDEO_TS folder within it when you open it in the Finder. If it doesn't, and you recorded it in Video mode, you may not have finalized the disc in your DVD recorder.

 

If there is a VIDEO_TS folder then choosing Open DVD should work. You can select the VIDEO_TS folder when in the Open DVD window.

[tsantee]

The disc has been finalized. It does have a TS folder that is selectable. But when I click on the folder and it opens, all of the files in the folder (.BUP, .IFO, .VOB) are grayed out. I tried several other discs. They all did the same thing. Is there another program that can do this? Perhaps this particular program and my computer aren't happy together. Or, my computer just doesn't like my Panasonic discs. As usual, I'm at a loss. I do greatly appreciate your willingness to keep trying to help. Thank you.

We're still referring to MPEG Streamclip, right? You just need to choose open when you've selected the VIDEO_TS folder. You don't need to select anything inside the folder.

[tsantee]

I'm new to all of this, but my issue is similar to Sliding Glass Door. So your reply seems most on track for me. I'm trying to convert in Toast 9.0.4 from a DVD made on a Panasonic recording DVD player. It makes VIDEO_TS folders. In Toast, it doesn't say "Convert", it does have a list on the left side under the heading Video and includes VIDEO_TS Folders. Firstly, am I correct in understanding that this is indeed the Convert pane of the program? I want to convert this to QuickTime. Is that possible? I want to work in Final Cut Express 4 and read in their User Manual that QuickTime is one of their compatible formats. Clearly I know nothing about this world, but want to learn. I also want to copy this video to my hard drive, not to another disk. I can't seem to find that information in the Toast User Manual. But then manuals are often incomprehensible. Any suggestions other than bugging you??? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you, Veiled.

Toast can extract videos from the DVDs burned by your Panasonic DVD recorder. It actually is best if you choose VR mode or DVD-RAM mode for recording (the latter only if your Mac's DVD drive can read DVD-RAM discs) then it is to record in Video mode and then finalize the disc. Recording in Video mode on many standalone DVD recorders creates a timecode break issue that I explain later in this post. Yours may or may not have this issue.

 

There are five tabs across the top of Toast 9 for different purposes. In order they are Data, Audio, Video, Copy and Convert. You need to click the Convert button because you now are in the Video window.

 

Since you have a finalized video-mode DVD you can use DVD-video as the format select your DVD. If you want to select specific titles from the DVD click Options. Otherwise just click the big red button to select the format and start the conversion. Choose DV as the conversion format for your purposes.

 

Alternatively you can use the Toast Media Browser (which you must use if the source is a VR-mode or DVD-RAM disc). Insert the DVD you want to convert and choose DVD with the top button of the Toast Media Browser. If you don't see the Media Browser choose Show Media Browser from the Window menu. Double-click on what appears in the browser window. You'll see a list of recordings on the DVD. Drag the ones you want to the Convert window with Video Files selected as the format. Toast temporarily writes the extracted MPEG 2 video to the Roxio Converted Items folder that by default is located in your Documents folder. You can relocate that folder in Toast Preferences. You also can change the default that automatically empties this folder when you quit Toast. This process can repair timecode breaks in some cases.

 

The problem with finalized video-mode DVDs from standalone DVD recorders is they often have very frequent timecode breaks that prevent Toast from converting more than about 30 seconds of video. In this case the workaround is to use the freeware application MPEG Streamclip to repair the timecode breaks and extract the repaired MPEG 2 file for use in Toast. MPEG Streamclip requires Apple's $20 QuickTime MPEG2 Playback Component which is purchased as a download from the online Apple Store.

 

If you need this the process is to open the DVD in MPEG Streamclip, choose Fix Timecode Breaks from the Edit menu and choose Convert to MPEG from the File menu. Drag the MPEG file to Toast for conversion to DV.

 

As for saving to the hard drive you can either extract the MPEG file as I described or you can choose Disc Copy in the Copy window and Save as Disc Image and have a duplicate of your video DVD on the hard drive. The disc image can be burned to other DVDs using the Image File setting in the Copy window. It also can be mounted for playback with DVD Player. There are several ways to mount the .toast disc image file. One that I often use is to control click on the .toast file in the Finder and choose Mount It from the contextual menu that appears.

[opalla]

Until a Mac expert comes along to help you throught the night ;-) you can

try out what MPEG-Streamclip can do for you. It's free and a great help:

 

http://www.squared5.com/

 

In case it's not installed you'll need the Quicktime mpeg2 module:

 

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/

 

Maybe a missing mpeg2 play back module is reason for your toast problem, too.

 

 

Regards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SlidingGlassDoor]

Actually, somebody had suggested that same exact thing before I even considered purchasing toast.

A few months ago, I bought and downloaded the Quicktime MPEG-2 as well as downloading Square 5.

 

But when I had installed Quicktime MPEG-2, it didn't show up in my applications as an application (it only gave me the option to install it again). So I figured that maybe it was just an add-on to my original Quicktime Application. But I still couldn't play my DVDs with that Quicktime. And I dragged my dvds to Square 5 and it said "unsupported file type."

I tried installing Quicktime MPEG 2 over and over.... each time it assured me "installation successful!"

But I couldn't figure out how to use it as an application. It kept prompting me to install it again.

 

So I was thinking that something went wrong, and my mac somehow refused to install Quicktime MPEG-2 properly. That's when I resorted to Toast.

Do you have any idea why the Quicktime MPEG-2 isn't working?? (I tried installing it recently with the same result). Thanks so much.

[Veiled]

Interesting. Try this. Open the VIDEO_TS folder in the Finder. Control click on the file titled VTS_01_1.VOB and choose Open with... MPEG Streamclip in the contextual menu that appears. When Streamclip opens it should ask you if you want the entire title or just the selected VOB (I don't recall the terminology that Streamclip uses in that window). Choose the entire title. It should open.

 

If this doesn't work then something is wrong with the DVD preventing it from being read properly.

 

This doesn't work as none of the titles inside the folder marked VIDEO_TS will highlight. They're all gray and they all stay gray, even with Control click. I've tried doing this with several of my DVDs copied from my Panasonic. None of the files will highlight when attempting this with any of the DVDs. Does this then mean there's something about how my Panasonic records that MPEG Streamclip just doesn't like? Is there any other program out there that might work more successfully with my Panasonic copied DVDs? Or am I screwed?

 

Again, thank you for your many attempts to solve this problem for me. Veiled

[tsantee]

This doesn't work as none of the titles inside the folder marked VIDEO_TS will highlight. They're all gray and they all stay gray, even with Control click. I've tried doing this with several of my DVDs copied from my Panasonic. None of the files will highlight when attempting this with any of the DVDs. Does this then mean there's something about how my Panasonic records that MPEG Streamclip just doesn't like? Is there any other program out there that might work more successfully with my Panasonic copied DVDs? Or am I screwed?

 

Again, thank you for your many attempts to solve this problem for me. Veiled

Are you sure you finalized the discs in the Panasonic?

[tsantee]

I have a 6 month old Mac OS X 10.5.6. I used to use roxio on my PC to import media from my video_TS dvds. When I got my mac, I could view my dvd's on the Mac DVD player without a problem, but I needed a way to import them onto my computer and then convert them into MPEG-4 files so I could edit my videos on Imovie and other applications. So I purchased Toast 9.0.2 and attempted to convert my dvds. The preview in Toast plays them back perfectly, but the second I click "convert," a message pops up saying:

 

"Couldn't complete the last command because of a Mac OS error. result code = -50"

 

Now I'm thinking there might be a problem with my mac. (Go figure). But I'm hoping a mac os x expert might see this and be able to tell me what's wrong... and what I can do to fix it. Thanks so much in advance!

Make sure you've updated to Toast 9.0.4. Choose the VIDEO_TS folder setting in the Convert window if your source is a VIDEO_TS folder, or DVD disc if it is a video DVD. Click options to choose which titles you want to export. Export as DV for editing in iMovie rather than as MPEG 4 unless you have a shortage of hard drive space. This will save time, preserve quality and avoid compatibility problems with Toast's MPEG 4 exports and the version of iMovie included in iLife 08.

 

If you still get the error then use the Media Browser to add your videos to the Convert window. Choose Video files as the format in the Convert window. Choose DVD with the top button of the Media Browser. If your source is a VIDEO_TS folder on the hard drive then place that folder on the desktop. You can use the browser to access the titles and chapters level of the DVD. Drag what you want to the Convert window and Toast extracts those as MPEG files. You shouldn't have any problem with the conversion of those.

[JJRR]

Hi, I have exactly the same problem. How do you fix it? You installed the MPEG 2?

If you have a DVD with Video_TS, folders, you convert from DVD or Video TS. If is a Video TS you could drag from a Disc or need to have it in the Hard Disk?

Thanks for any help.

 

I try with the instructions to change to a DV to edit the videos but an error -50 apperar.

[Veiled]

We're still referring to MPEG Streamclip, right? You just need to choose open when you've selected the VIDEO_TS folder. You don't need to select anything inside the folder.

 

 

Yes, I do mean MPEG Streamclip. And I did that. Nothing. It's as I've written to you before. Either I choose OK and nothing happens. Or I choose Open Anyway, and I get a little information on the bottom strip, but the program hangs. It just keeps spinning without ever finishing and letting me work with the program. I have to force quit.

[tsantee]

Yes, I do mean MPEG Streamclip. And I did that. Nothing. It's as I've written to you before. Either I choose OK and nothing happens. Or I choose Open Anyway, and I get a little information on the bottom strip, but the program hangs. It just keeps spinning without ever finishing and letting me work with the program. I have to force quit.

Interesting. Try this. Open the VIDEO_TS folder in the Finder. Control click on the file titled VTS_01_1.VOB and choose Open with... MPEG Streamclip in the contextual menu that appears. When Streamclip opens it should ask you if you want the entire title or just the selected VOB (I don't recall the terminology that Streamclip uses in that window). Choose the entire title. It should open.

 

If this doesn't work then something is wrong with the DVD preventing it from being read properly.

[SlidingGlassDoor]

Thanks so much Tsantee!! Using the media browser helped locate the individual video files on my DVD!

[tsantee]

Hi, I have exactly the same problem. How do you fix it? You installed the MPEG 2?

If you have a DVD with Video_TS, folders, you convert from DVD or Video TS. If is a Video TS you could drag from a Disc or need to have it in the Hard Disk?

Thanks for any help.

 

I try with the instructions to change to a DV to edit the videos but an error -50 apperar.

If the easiest method doesn't work then you use the Media Browser method I described above.

 

The easiest method is to be in the Convert window and choose DVD disc if the source is an unencrypted DVD or choose VIDEO_TS folders if the source is a VIDEO_TS folder. Click Options to select what you want to convert and then press the big red button to select the format you want for conversion.

 

For this to work it is important that the VIDEO_TS folder is complete; for example, it was ripped using full disc extraction.

 

If for some reason this doesn't work, then choose Video Files as the format in the Convert window, place the VIDEO_TS folder on the desktop (or insert the unencrypted DVD) and choose DVD with the top button of the Media Browser. If you don't see the Media Browser choose Show Media Browser from the Windows menu. Follow my previously described steps to add the titles you want from the browser to the Video window. When the extraction is complete, click the big red button.

[steedyweedy]

I extracted some titles but when it was saving to a disc image it stalled at "Filling Ram Cache 4%".

 

It worked fine with Toast 10, but the programme contained skipping

[babylonslim]

I have a 6 month old Mac OS X 10.5.6. I used to use roxio on my PC to import media from my video_TS dvds. When I got my mac, I could view my dvd's on the Mac DVD player without a problem, but I needed a way to import them onto my computer and then convert them into MPEG-4 files so I could edit my videos on Imovie and other applications. So I purchased Toast 9.0.2 and attempted to convert my dvds. The preview in Toast plays them back perfectly, but the second I click "convert," a message pops up saying:

 

"Couldn't complete the last command because of a Mac OS error. result code = -50"

 

Now I'm thinking there might be a problem with my mac. (Go figure). But I'm hoping a mac os x expert might see this and be able to tell me what's wrong... and what I can do to fix it. Thanks so much in advance!

 

Or download VLC media player to copy your TS files, then download Hawkeye to convert to almost any format - both are free - or were when I downloaded them. Bottom line, Hawkeye is great for converting to MPEG-4.

[tsantee]

I extracted some titles but when it was saving to a disc image it stalled at "Filling Ram Cache 4%".

 

It worked fine with Toast 10, but the programme contained skipping

Toast will stall if it can't read a file. A common cause for this with videos is dropped frames. I think there is something wrong with that source video file.

[Veiled]

Toast can extract videos from the DVDs burned by your Panasonic DVD recorder. It actually is best if you choose VR mode or DVD-RAM mode for recording (the latter only if your Mac's DVD drive can read DVD-RAM discs) then it is to record in Video mode and then finalize the disc. Recording in Video mode on many standalone DVD recorders creates a timecode break issue that I explain later in this post. Yours may or may not have this issue.

 

There are five tabs across the top of Toast 9 for different purposes. In order they are Data, Audio, Video, Copy and Convert. You need to click the Convert button because you now are in the Video window.

 

Since you have a finalized video-mode DVD you can use DVD-video as the format select your DVD. If you want to select specific titles from the DVD click Options. Otherwise just click the big red button to select the format and start the conversion. Choose DV as the conversion format for your purposes.

 

Alternatively you can use the Toast Media Browser (which you must use if the source is a VR-mode or DVD-RAM disc). Insert the DVD you want to convert and choose DVD with the top button of the Toast Media Browser. If you don't see the Media Browser choose Show Media Browser from the Window menu. Double-click on what appears in the browser window. You'll see a list of recordings on the DVD. Drag the ones you want to the Convert window with Video Files selected as the format. Toast temporarily writes the extracted MPEG 2 video to the Roxio Converted Items folder that by default is located in your Documents folder. You can relocate that folder in Toast Preferences. You also can change the default that automatically empties this folder when you quit Toast. This process can repair timecode breaks in some cases.

 

The problem with finalized video-mode DVDs from standalone DVD recorders is they often have very frequent timecode breaks that prevent Toast from converting more than about 30 seconds of video. In this case the workaround is to use the freeware application MPEG Streamclip to repair the timecode breaks and extract the repaired MPEG 2 file for use in Toast. MPEG Streamclip requires Apple's $20 QuickTime MPEG2 Playback Component which is purchased as a download from the online Apple Store.

 

If you need this the process is to open the DVD in MPEG Streamclip, choose Fix Timecode Breaks from the Edit menu and choose Convert to MPEG from the File menu. Drag the MPEG file to Toast for conversion to DV.

 

As for saving to the hard drive you can either extract the MPEG file as I described or you can choose Disc Copy in the Copy window and Save as Disc Image and have a duplicate of your video DVD on the hard drive. The disc image can be burned to other DVDs using the Image File setting in the Copy window. It also can be mounted for playback with DVD Player. There are several ways to mount the .toast disc image file. One that I often use is to control click on the .toast file in the Finder and choose Mount It from the contextual menu that appears.

 

 

Okay tsantee, you gave me a lot of information, for which I'm most grateful. It all made sense right up until I tried to open the DVD in MPEG Streamclip. I had tried to convert the DVD straight from Toast and it had an error with :30 in it, so I assumed (dangerous I know) that it wouldn't/couldn't convert more than 30 seconds of my DVD. So I bought and downloaded the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component. I then downloaded the freeware MPEG Streamclip. After opening the program, I selected the DVD-VIDEO-Recorder icon on the left side of my finder. The MPEG program came up with the following dialogue box: "File open error: unsupported file type". I had the option to "open anyway" which I tried first and it hung up so I had to force quit the program. When the program downloaded onto my computer, in the Extras folder, it recommended that I drop the "Save as AVI.component" into Library/QuickTime. I did that. So, I'm sorry, but I'm stuck again. I tried to select the DVD files VIDEO_RM or VIDEO_TS individually, but they didn't highlight so I could select anything within them.

 

I thank you for all you wrote. Many things now make sense to me that did not before. However, I'm not there yet.

 

I do understand that you don't work for Roxio. Again, thank you and help! Veiled

[Veiled]

I'm presuming the DVD has a VIDEO_TS folder within it when you open it in the Finder. If it doesn't, and you recorded it in Video mode, you may not have finalized the disc in your DVD recorder.

 

If there is a VIDEO_TS folder then choosing Open DVD should work. You can select the VIDEO_TS folder when in the Open DVD window.

 

 

The disc has been finalized. It does have a TS folder that is selectable. But when I click on the folder and it opens, all of the files in the folder (.BUP, .IFO, .VOB) are grayed out. I tried several other discs. They all did the same thing. Is there another program that can do this? Perhaps this particular program and my computer aren't happy together. Or, my computer just doesn't like my Panasonic discs. As usual, I'm at a loss. I do greatly appreciate your willingness to keep trying to help. Thank you.

[tsantee]

Okay tsantee, you gave me a lot of information, for which I'm most grateful. It all made sense right up until I tried to open the DVD in MPEG Streamclip. I had tried to convert the DVD straight from Toast and it had an error with :30 in it, so I assumed (dangerous I know) that it wouldn't/couldn't convert more than 30 seconds of my DVD. So I bought and downloaded the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component. I then downloaded the freeware MPEG Streamclip. After opening the program, I selected the DVD-VIDEO-Recorder icon on the left side of my finder. The MPEG program came up with the following dialogue box: "File open error: unsupported file type". I had the option to "open anyway" which I tried first and it hung up so I had to force quit the program. When the program downloaded onto my computer, in the Extras folder, it recommended that I drop the "Save as AVI.component" into Library/QuickTime. I did that. So, I'm sorry, but I'm stuck again. I tried to select the DVD files VIDEO_RM or VIDEO_TS individually, but they didn't highlight so I could select anything within them.

 

I thank you for all you wrote. Many things now make sense to me that did not before. However, I'm not there yet.

 

I do understand that you don't work for Roxio. Again, thank you and help! Veiled

Open MPEG Streamclip and choose Open DVD from the File menu. Select either the DVD in the window that appears or the VIDEO_TS folder that's within the DVD. If there are multiple titles (recordings) on the DVD Streamclip will ask which one (in numerical order) you want to open. Select the title you want and click OK.

 

Once it has opened you may be alerted that time code breaks are present. You'll want to fix them all but you can do the faster repair rather than the thorough one so uncheck the Do not skip any frame box. If you don't see this option then go to the Edit menu and choose Fix Timecode Breaks at the bottom of the menu.

 

When the breaks are repaired you need to choose Convert to MPEG in the File menu if you are going to use Toast to do the conversion to another format or to use it in making a new video DVD. If you are going to use Streamclip for the conversion then choose the format you want.

 

Streamclip also lets you cut segments from the video to be exported (as does Toast). You should be able to find instructions for that in the Streamclip guide via the Help menu.

 

[Veiled]

Make sure you've updated to Toast 9.0.4. Choose the VIDEO_TS folder setting in the Convert window if your source is a VIDEO_TS folder, or DVD disc if it is a video DVD. Click options to choose which titles you want to export. Export as DV for editing in iMovie rather than as MPEG 4 unless you have a shortage of hard drive space. This will save time, preserve quality and avoid compatibility problems with Toast's MPEG 4 exports and the version of iMovie included in iLife 08.

 

If you still get the error then use the Media Browser to add your videos to the Convert window. Choose Video files as the format in the Convert window. Choose DVD with the top button of the Media Browser. If your source is a VIDEO_TS folder on the hard drive then place that folder on the desktop. You can use the browser to access the titles and chapters level of the DVD. Drag what you want to the Convert window and Toast extracts those as MPEG files. You shouldn't have any problem with the conversion of those.

 

 

I'm new to all of this, but my issue is similar to Sliding Glass Door. So your reply seems most on track for me. I'm trying to convert in Toast 9.0.4 from a DVD made on a Panasonic recording DVD player. It makes VIDEO_TS folders. In Toast, it doesn't say "Convert", it does have a list on the left side under the heading Video and includes VIDEO_TS Folders. Firstly, am I correct in understanding that this is indeed the Convert pane of the program? I want to convert this to QuickTime. Is that possible? I want to work in Final Cut Express 4 and read in their User Manual that QuickTime is one of their compatible formats. Clearly I know nothing about this world, but want to learn. I also want to copy this video to my hard drive, not to another disk. I can't seem to find that information in the Toast User Manual. But then manuals are often incomprehensible. Any suggestions other than bugging you??? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you, Veiled.