Import DVD footage into Vegas

CVM wrote on 10/22/2007, 1:05 PM
I know I can use the 'Capture Camcorder Disk' command under the File menu, but that is one of the least user friendly ways of doing it (no option for selection of footage to import or file format to save it as).

So, I need an inexpensive 'break out box' I can plug my DVD's RCA output cables into... then use firewire to connect to my computer. What box should I buy?

Another question... can I import video into my computer using the above breakout box using USB 2.0? Does it have to be FireWire from the box into my computer?.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Comments

rs170a wrote on 10/22/2007, 1:32 PM
Do you have a miniDV camcorder that has the pass-through feature?
If so, outputs of DVD player into camcorder.
Firewire output of camcorder into computer.
Make sure to deselect "enable DV device control" in the VidCap prefs.
I've also read of people using DVD Shrink (Google for it) to split a DVD up into smaller sections.

Mike
Former user wrote on 10/23/2007, 6:30 AM
You might want to check out STREAMCLIP.

http://www.squared5.com/

Dave T2
farss wrote on 10/23/2007, 7:04 AM
What is so user unfriendly about the way Vegas does it?

What you get ont the timeline is exactly what's on the disk and yes you get all of it.
The first part means no transcoding i.e. loss of quality, the second part means you can scrub around and find the part you want. With Vegas Pro 8a's smart render you should be able to go back to a DVD with zero quality loss unless you've applied FXs.

Playing the DVD out and recording that will give you a quality hit. The mpeg-2 is decoded, the video goes down a composite cable and then into an A->D converter to get it back into an compressed digital format. If you're in NTSC land your chroma sampling has gone from 4:2:0 to 4:1:1 as well, not pretty. You can do a little better using a S-Video interconnect or a component connection but still far from as good as how Vegas does it.

Bob.
BirdOPrey5 wrote on 10/23/2007, 8:34 AM
I don't see why Vegas can't just 'rip' video directly from a non-protected DVD- it makes so much sense to just have that ability.

Sony DV Gate software that came on my Sony RA desktop has the 'import from DVD' option but they removed that options in versions on new PC's and you can't install the old one on any model that it wasn't originally designed for... A reall pain- it works so well- put in DVD, and in a few minutes I have an MPG file of as much or as little of the DVD as I want, without any loss in quality and no wasted time re-encoding the file- just the minimal task of changing it from VOB to flat out MPEG2.
farss wrote on 10/24/2007, 2:31 AM
"I don't see why Vegas can't just 'rip' video directly from a non-protected DVD- it makes so much sense to just have that ability."

Um, it can.

Bob.
JimMSG wrote on 10/24/2007, 11:37 AM
I don't know that it is exactly "unfriendly" but I have some problems making it work properly when there are chapters in the DVD. Just got another one from a client that likes what's on the DVD, but now wants to add titles and compress for a website.

Unfortunately, when the DVD was made it was created with chapters every three minutes. I'm hoping I just missed something in how to make Vegas work with DVD's, however whenever I have to rip a DVD with chapters, and usually when it has more than one .vob file, I have video and/or audio dropouts between the chapters or .vob files. And, there are no drop outs in the program when played back from the DVD.

Is there a way to rip without these dropouts, and can you explain what they are and why they exist when I rip to Vegas, but aren't there when the disc is played?

Jim
[r]Evolution wrote on 10/25/2007, 2:16 PM
I too have experienced Audio Drop Outs from imported DVD's.
I've also experienced Repeated Video at the End/Beginning of the next .vob after import.

I was looking for a way to select which Chapters/.vob's to import but it seems I can only import the entire DVD.

Anyone know a way of selecting which Chapters/.vob's to ingest?