Capturing from DVD

Ravenson · Post by **Ravenson** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:17 am

Hi. I'm looking at getting Videostudio 9 but I've got one of these Sony DVD camcorders. Just wondering if I can cpture from DVD and if i will be able to capture from the dvd drive on my PC or will I have to capture from the camera.
Thanks folks.

Post by **lancecarr** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:26 am

I have a Sony 201.
I can NOT import MPEGs from the cam itself but I DO pull the MPEGs in from the disc in the DVD tray on the computer using the Import DVD/VR function in VS9.

Ravenson · Post by **Ravenson** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:30 am

Brilliant, thanks. Do you have to import the whole chapter and cut it down to the part you want or can you watch it and just capture 'on the fly' as it were.

Post by **lancecarr** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:46 am

You put the disc in the tray and wait until Windows stops bugging the crap out of you with what to do with the disc. Then go to the "Capture" screen of VS9. Hit "Import DVD/VR. VS9 will then open a dialogue box for you to navigate to the DVD ROM.
Click on the disc or on the VIDEO_TS folder and wait. VS9 quickly reads the disc contents and gives another dialogue box showing "Titles" and "Chapters."
When the DVD cam finalises the disc in the cam it usually breaks the MPEGs on the disc into two or three .VOB files. These .VOB files correspond to "Titles" in VS9.
If you want you can select one or all of the "Titles" and all the MPEGs under that "title" will be transferred as one big MPEG file.
OR you can individually select "Chapters" (these are the individual MPEGs you recorded by pushing "rec" and "Stop" on the cam).
The dialogue box also has a preview window and you can see the beginning of the scene and play that scene (Chapter) before you select for import or not.
You cannot import less than a chapter, ie part of an MPEG on the disc.

Ravenson · Post by **Ravenson** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:54 am

Great news. But just to confirm (sorry, I'm new) if i DO import the whole chapter, can i then disect that chapter so that i can cut it down or use different parts of it in editing?

Post by **lancecarr** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 12:29 pm

Absolutely, that is what VS9 does, it is an editing program. Once the individual chapters are loaded on to the computer they are individual MPEGs. You can trim the ends, multi-trim (cut sections in the middle out), join them together, add transitions...the works. The only real limitation comes from the fact that they are MPEG files. Because they are already compressed they do not always go well if you do something to the whole file like add a filter. The reason for this is that the file has to be totally re-rendered and the quality of what you get may vary depending on the original quality and the filter you apply. But as far as cutting splicing adding sound, overlays goes it is fine.

Ravenson · Post by **Ravenson** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 12:32 pm

Lance. What can I say. You've been a tremendous help. I'm off to get my copy after work. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you