Basics: DVD to Hardrive

[denalimac]

I'm new to this. I have a Mac OS 10.5.8 and Toast 10. I took some video on an older cam recorder. I transferred the video to a DVD burner (Panasonic) and burned a disc. I can play that disc on the Mac and have burned copies of it (using Toast) I'd like to copy the disc to my Mac, mainly, so I can put it on YouTube. I have the original tape (but not with me, at this time) and I can't remember what settings (format) I used when I originally burned the disc. Do I need to start all over again (copy video from camera to Imovie) or is there some way to transfer the video (from the DVD in hand) to the computer, etc. Help appreciated.

[tsantee]

You have several options. If you wanted to keep it in the video DVD format for playing with DVD Player then simply drag the VIDEO_TS folder from the DVD to your hard drive. But that won't get you something to view on YouTube. What you should use is Toast's Convert window. It is the icon on the far right (Data, Audio, Video, Copy, Convert). Insert the DVD and choose DVD Disc in the Convert window. Click Options to get a window that lets you select individual titles on the disc if there is more than one movie. Choose what you want to convert and click the red button. Click the "Device" button and you'll see a list of presets. The first three choices all work with YouTube but you'll see the size of the converted video is different with each setting. Choose the one you want (with AppleTV being full-size).

 

Alternatively you can choose Video Files in the Convert window and choose DVD with the top button of the Toast Media Browser. The browser will show your DVD. You can access either the titles or the chapter level on the DVD. Drag what you want from the Media Browser to the Convert window. Toast extracts that clip from the DVD. When done you can click the Extract button that opens a viewer/editor. Here you can mark clips to exclude from the final conversion. When done marking the portions you want to exclude choose Save in the viewer/editor. Now click the red button to select your convert option and save your converted video.