Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with video and DVD

All I want to do is upload some band videos

chocolatepeanutbuttercup — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:31:51 -0800

Recommendations for converting a 35-minute DVD to discrete segments so I can post it on youtube? I have a 35 minute DVD of a music performance that I want to chop up into individual songs (six, I think) and upload to youtube. Please give me your recommendations on software that will do this. It's a local band and not copy protected. I've been trying to work with Auto Gordian Knot but I'm finding it a little more complicated than that name would seem to imply. Thanks for your help

How to transfer video from camera to computer

Alexdan4 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:56:06 -0800

I have a Sony DCR-DVD92 video camcorder that records video on DVD-Rs. I have finalized the disc on the camera and I'm trying to capture the video onto my PC for storage/editing, but the camera doesn't seem to connect to my PC, and my PC DVD player doesn't seem to recognize the mini DVD-Rs that the camera uses. Any suggestions?

Need more live punk rock, please.

Ufez Jones — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:47:46 -0800

I work too much and don't get out anymore. Help me acquire some (more) great live punk rock albums/DVDs. I'll keep it clean and just let you know what I have and what I'm into all at once:

CDs I already own:
Avail - Live at the Bottom of the Hill / VMLive Fireside Bowl / At the King's Head Inn
Buzzcocks - French
Subhumans (UK) - Bristol Bootleg
Bouncing Souls - Live (2xCD)
Dropkick Murphys - The Singles Collection Vol 1 (McColgan era, only half of which is live)
NOFX - I Heard They Suck Live

DVD:
Minutemen - We Jam Econo Disc 2 (live stuff)
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Eyeballs (the bonus disc that came with the 25th anniv. edition of FFfRV)
American Hardcore - the Doc, which has a lot of great live footage

What else should I add to my collection? Looking for stuff that is well-recorded and well done.

Help me hook up a new HDTV to an old(ish) stereo receiver?

Dr. Wu — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:03:39 -0800

Can you help me connect my optical-out DVD players to my new HDMI-in HDTV? This is the kind of thing that drives me bananas.

Just got a nice, brand-new Sony HDTV, with several HDMI-in ports. I would like to get the highest resolution I possibly can out of my video components -- generally DVD. In the past, when I had an older, analog TV, I just used the stereo receiver as an A/V switcher, for which purpose it works very well. But now this functionality has been compromised by the new array of input/output jacks.

Here's the setup:
- The two DVD players I have (one "regular" and one multistandard) both have optical-out ports. I have an old laserdisc and an even older VHS player hooked up to the system, too, but I'm not terribly concerned about them right now.

- I have all audio and video components running through a good, but eight-year-old, Sony A/V receiver. LP/tape/VHS/LD are connected via regular old component RCA plugs, which are just fine. The CD player and the two DVD players can connect to the receiver with optical cables -- which I prefer to use whenever I can. They work well and provide good sound.

- The problem is that the new HDTV does not have any optical-in ports. (If it did, I'd just run the sound from the DVD players through the receiver, and the picture, via optical cable, right to the TV. But I can't do this.) It does have composite-in and component-in, but no optical-in. And the receiver has only composite-out.

The receiver I have is a Sony STR-DA 333 ES. The manual, in PDF form, is available on this page; click "primary user manual" and go to Page 5.

The HDTV I have is a Sony Bravia KDL-46VE5. The manual doesn't seem to be online, but you can find the details here by clicking on "Specifications." (The site will not allow me to access that page directly.)

- The upshot of all this (if you're still with me) is that my only current option is to run all video components into the receiver, and thence to the TV via a crappy composite video cable. Which would sort of defeat the purpose of the 1080p set that I just bought. (We don't have any sort of cable, satellite, or other TV, so this new HDTV is really just going to be used as a monitor for movies on the DVD players.)

What I would like to do is get the highest possible resolution (the HDTV can handle 1080p/24f) when I watch DVDs. Is there a simple, inexpensive way to convert the optical signal to HDMI?

I can imagine several options:
1. I find a magical converter device that can handle multiple optical inputs and output HDMI. This device would be a switcher, so I could run optical cables from both DVD players into it, and then a single HDMI cable from the switcher to the HDTV.

2. If it's cheaper, I certainly don't mind eschewing with the idea of the switcher box and just getting two separate optical-to-HDMI cables, one for each DVD player.

HOWEVER: the problem I foresee: What about the audio??
I want to run the audio from the DVD players through my stereo system, which has a nice 5.1 setup. HDMI handles both video and audio, right? So if I choose either option above, will I be locked into using the speakers built into the HDTV? Or would I then just add another cable, so that the setup would look something like this:

DVD optical out --> HDMI cable --> HDMI in to HDTV --> TV audio out --> receiver. (In which case the audio running from the HDTV to the receiver would be component, yes? Which would be a step downwards, yes?)

I am reasonably good with stuff like this, but the age disparity between the new HDTV and the older stereo system is giving me a headache.

What's the best, cheapest, most reliable way for me to get the highest-quality picture from the DVD players onto the TV, and still get the room-shaking audio through the stereo?

Should I just buy a new multistandard, HDMI-out DVD player? If I did, I could connect it right to the HDTV, but I'd still have the audio problem that I detail above.

*****
Related questions, for masochists and/or AV geeks:

- Let's say I solve this problem above. I'm still left with an LD and a VHS, both of which I still use occasionally, that will be unconnected. Is my best bet with these just to run A/V to the receiver, and thence to the HDTV via component cables?

- I'd like to minimize the number of A/V component switchers. Ideally, I'd still like my receiver to be the one and only device that switches between ALL a/v components. And what's nice is that I can split the audio and the video signals -- that is, I can listen to the CD player while watching the signal from the VHS, if I so desire. Is there some way I can use this functionality to refrain from buying any further switchers?

What is a great Biblical animation for kids

lynnie-the-pooh — Sat, 30 May 2009 22:39:10 -0800

Looking for a good animated Biblical DVD for my five year old. My daughter loves a DVD called Prince of Peace by Vision Video and it was made in the year 2004. Are there any other good videos or DVD's from that company or another company that make great animated Biblical stories for youngsters?

Thanks,
Lynnie-the-Pooh

Back up some old videos?

toastchee — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:07:38 -0800

Best way to get analog 8mm videotapes to digital format? Hi green gang - I would like to finally finish a long standing todo. I have approximately 15 8mm analog video tapes that I would like to have digitized (is DVD best?). My camera no longer works so I can't play 'em back.

Also some of them may have some audible hum that would be nice to be filtered out.

What's the most straightforward way to preserve these memories?

Why won't certain DVDs play in my DVD player?

KevinSkomsvold — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:20:13 -0800

Our Kia Sedona has one of those built in DVD players, An Audiovox PROV710. For the life of me I can't get DVDs to play in it. In the manual it says:

Types of Discs your DVD will play
• DVD discs – DVDs discs which contain video.
• Audio discs – Audio CDs contain musical or sound content only.
• MP3 discs – A disc that contains audio files (for example, a CD-R with downloaded MP3 files).
Loading and Playing Discs

Before you load a disc, make sure that it is compatible with the player.
Note: the following Discs CANNOT be used with this player :
• MiniDisc
• Laserdisc
• CD-I, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM

So it won't play DVD-ROM disks but it will play DVDs. I'm confused.
Ironically, I found a DVD of "Dawn of The Dead" that was all scratched and popped it in. It started right up.

I took a stack of my daughters CDs and of all of them, only Lion King and Nemo worked like a champ. I can't tell what the difference is between the ones that work and the ones that don't.

Compressing whole DVDs for playback on a Mac.

odinsdream — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:04:50 -0800

How can I store DVDs for use in a media library and get the benefits of compression without losing the menu structure and special features? I store DVDs on a Mac for playback with VLC or most recently Plex. Both of these programs will read directly from VIDEO_TS folders and display the normal DVD navigation screen so you can access special features, subtitles, all the audio tracks, etc.

I currently do one of two things: Use MacTheRipper to create a VIDEO_TS folder from a physical disc, or use Handbrake to extract only the main title and compress it into a single H.264 file.

The first method is good because it preserves the entire disc and all of the features on it. The second is good because it takes up only about a quarter of the space.

Is there a way to compress all the video on the disc and write it back to a VIDEO_TS folder, thus preserving all of the features of the disc but getting a smaller size?

I don't need these folders to be readable by standard DVD players.

What are the best programs that can convert almost ALL kinds of video files and vice-versa?

omaralarifi — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:59:44 -0800

What are the best programs (paid/shareware/freeware/open source) that can convert almost ALL kinds of video files and vice-versa? All sort of video files such as : MJPEG · Motion JPEG 2000 · MPEG-1 · MPEG-2 · MPEG-4 ASP · MPEG-4/AVC · H.120 · H.261 · H.262 · H.263 · H.264 · AMV · AVS · Bink · Dirac · Indeo · Pixlet · RealVideo · RTVideo · SheerVideo · Smacker · Snow · Theora · VC-1 · VP6 · VP7 · VP8 · WMV · 3GP · ASF · AVI · Bink · DMF · DPX · EVO · FLV · Matroska · MPEG-PS · MPEG-TS · MP4 · MXF · NUT · Ogg · Ogg Media · QuickTime · RealMedia · Smacker · RIFF · VOB · AIFF · AU · WAV · FLA · Flash · and others

Note: It does not concern me if it a paid software or free.

Also are there programs that can rip VCD, SVCD, so the I can burn the files into DVD?

Thanks

Video Converters

Mave_80 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:37:02 -0800

Video Conversion to store DVDs on computer (PC) and play them on xbox 360, iphone etc - what's the best program to do so? From what I've read online, it seems that DVD Shrink is a good program to rip DVDs to a hard drive in combination with AnyDVD. This enables the storage of VOB files which can act as a basis for converting files to iphone, Xbox 360 etc. I then have the following questions.

1. DVD Shrink recommends keeping file sizes under 1GB - therefore it will create multiple VOB files. Thus what is the best program to join VOB files together? Alternatively is it better to create multiple WMV files and then join them together? If so, what is the best program for this?
2. According to this article, WMV files seem to be best for xbox 360 since this will enable files to be both streamed and played from an external hard-drive (see FAQ #10) What is the best program to achieve this? Programs I've seen so far include (mostly from this article). Bonus points if they join files as mentioned in Qu 1.

a) Handbrake
b) Format Factory
c) Super
d) Mediacoder
e) Videora

Any help gratefully appreciated!

Which version of "Totoro" should I buy?

lynnie-the-pooh — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:19:35 -0800

My Neighbor Totoro...........I want to buy the DVD, but on Amazon a lot of people are saying certain versions are not good. There is a 2006 Walt Disney widescreen version; and then there is a 2002 full screen version that is not Disney. What do you think the best version would be for me to get? If it makes any difference, I want to hear it in English.

Also, I've heard that the film maker of this movie has made even better movies, but I have a four year old that does not watch violence, so do you think this is the "best" movie she could watch from this film maker right now?

Thanks so much for your help!

Why can't I get DVDs to play properly?

ODiV — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:08:48 -0800

How can I get DVDs to play smoothly on my computer? Whether from a disc or an ISO file on the hard drive I cannot get a DVD to play without it skipping on my computer. As far as I can tell it's just audio skipping. The video might be skipping as well, though. It feels like it could be, but I might just be reacting to the audio.

I've rewound and rewatched sections when they skip and they don't skip in the same place or at all the second time around.

I'm using VLC. I'm running an AMD X2 3800 (dual core 2ghz) with 2 gigs of RAM on XP. I'm not overclocking. My DVD drive is PATA and the hard drive I'm currently using is SATA over USB.

I've recently replaced my RAM with no improvement (memtest gives me no errors). I upgraded my sound card from the onboard to a Creative X-Fi to fix video game sound issues, but that hasn't fixed it. I reinstalled XP recently partly because of this and I'm all patched up.

I've tried shutting else everything down. I shouldn't have to do that though, really. My CPU is usually around 4%. Every once and awhile it'll spike to 11 or 15%, but the spikes don't seem to correspond with the skipping.

Any suggestions would be great. I'm getting really annoyed.

Efficient video editing workflow starting from a DVD.

jedicus — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:46:46 -0800

How can my video editing workflow be more efficient and avoid time-consuming conversion between formats? Part of my job involves taking videos of presentations and uploading them to our project website. My current workflow (on a unibody MacBook) looks something like this:

1. Rip DVD to mpeg-4 using HandBrake. This typically takes twice realtime.
2. Import mpeg-4 into iMovie '08. This typically takes 9-10x realtime.
3. Perform minor edits, almost always just removing silence or presentations that are not ours.
4. Export to mpeg-4. This typically takes 11-12x realtime.
5. Convert to FLV using ffmpegx. This also takes a pretty long time.

The presentations are usually about an hour long, which makes this process take about a full day. Clearly the conversion times are killing me. What techniques or different programs do I need to make this workflow go faster? Note that I have no choice but to start with a DVD video and end with FLV, but the intermediate steps are open to change.

Many video formats: success or desperation?

TheManChild2000 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:39:26 -0800

Does a movie studio releasing many, many different video formats (multiple SDVDs, HD DVD, UMD, VOD) of a particular movie indicate that this movie performs well at retail? Or is it more likely a desperate attempt to recoup from a disastrous theatrical run?

How can I play videos and charge admission?

shipbreaker — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:01:42 -0800

Can I get some kind of license to be a motion picture theatrical exhibitor, which would allow me to dust off my VHS copy of "E.T." and show it to kids downtown for 25c each? ((For free??))
At the beginning of every Macrovision-protected movie on my shelf, there's usually a bunch of words about "intended for home viewing only" and how many FBI fines I am about to be charged and how many laws I am about to break... ... ...

I know there is legal fine-print hidden somewhere in my BLOCKBUSTER rental agreement and on my BEST-BUY-purchased DVDs, and even in my stack of old VHS videotapes --- --- laws that prevent me from getting a projector and a big screen and showing movies to people and charging $$ per person.

When cities have "Free Movies In The Park" nights, how do they get around such laws?

Does anyone have relevant anecdotes or stories about modern "entrepeneurs" who have tried to charge admission for playing DVDs out loud?

Finally, if I do decide to "go for it" and start up my own little rogue movie theater, how soon should I expect to see Sigourney Weaver from "BE KIND REWIND" show up with her steamroller to flatten me?

An easy way to rip DVDs in per-chapter MP3s?

indyz — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:52:35 -0800

Is there an easy way to rip a video DVD to MP3, so that each chapter on the disc is a separate MP3 file? I have a bunch of DVDs of live music performances that I would like to turn into MP3s. I can get the audio out of the VOBs no problem, but splitting it into one-song chunks is a pain and I still have 20-30 DVDs to go through. Since the DVDs are (mostly) divided into one chapter per song, I was hoping MeFi might know of a Windows program or process that could automate at least the splitting and preferably also do the ripping and encoding.

I want to hear great commentary from directors or other people

0xFCAF — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:20:17 -0800

What movies have great director's commentary? I've listened to Joss Whedon's director's commentary of Serenity (and Objects in Space and The Train Job) over and over and over again. I could listen to these again, but what other movies have commentary that speaks interestingly about either film-as-art or film-as-moviemaking? Kurt Wimmer's commentary on Equilibrium was also enjoyable just from the down-and-dirty aspect of making an actual movie. Conversely, Brad Anderson's commentary of The Machinist and Aronofsky's commentary of The Fountain were excruciatingly boring and uninteresting commentaries of otherwise interesting and thematic films.

DVD player that isn't hostile to end-users?

odinsdream — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:54:31 -0800

Can you recommend an upconverting DVD player with component output that ignores region coding and allows me to perform any action at any time? Can you recommend an upconverting DVD player that doesn't treat me with active hostility? I'm specifically looking for a player that:

1. Ignores region coding, or can be easily set to ignore region coding without installing new firmware.

2. Never, ever restricts me from fast-forwarding previews/warnings/anti-piracy tirades or skipping to a particular menu.

I can work around these issues by ripping the discs and then re-burning them but this is highly inconvenient.

It would also be nice if the player had all of the usual standard cool things, like digital audio output and some nice pulldown detection, and didn't sound like a jet engine.

Best ripping and editing software choices

libraryman — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:29:17 -0800

I need to copy a series of scenes from several commercial DVD's and then edit snippets into a single video (with narrations videos I make between the scenes). What software is best to get the actual rips and then what editing software can handle this best without requiring me to be a video editing professional? Is AnyDVD + CloneDVD+??? the answer? You are going to say I need to buy a Mac, aren't you?

Recommend a hip hop dance instructional dvd.

roaring beast — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:02:19 -0800

I'm looking for an instructional DVD for hip hop/urban dance. Not looking for stuff about breaking or bboying. Not trying to figure out how to dance in clubs. Not trying to perform or anything (like developing routines). Just getting a better feel for the basic coordination of expressing myself through hip hop dance for someone who doesn't have much experience dancing.

Help me help my videos!

damiano99 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:03:05 -0800

VideoFilter: I have a ton of .mpg video files out of my camcorder. I would like to join them together as one file. It doesn't work using the copy command, I'm assuming because of embedded file data that messes up the indexes within the video footage. Is there a program that will take them and join them together quickly? I don't want to edit them, just join them. So far the only options I've found is to import them all to Avid or Vegas and let it re-render it as a whole which takes forever. The second option was some cheesy software I found that did it but it also took 30 minutes for 10 minutes of footage to join, which seems ridiculous. Does anyone in out there have a blackbelt in video-fu and can help me?

VOB>Google Video.... How?

Izzmeister — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:55:23 -0800

Easiest Way To Put DVD>Google Video ? This shouls be a pretty easy thing to do, but i am having trouble.

I have DVDs which I own the copyright to. (for example, old home movies converted to dvd.)

I want to upload to google video. (why there? because all the other places seem to have a 10 minute limit on uploads.)

is there a single piece of software that i can use to do the job for me? and if not, what is the best way to go?

rpping the dvd to my hard disk seems to take hours and hog my CPU... so to upload 50 DVDs like that is not practical...

(or is there a way to upload a .VOB to google video by chaning the extension to .mpg or something? :lightbulb:)

How do I share videos with friends?

Northwest — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:03:00 -0800

How do I get YouTube to computer to DVD to TV? I have actually been able to copy three youtube videos to my computer in the flv format. I want to play them to a group on TV via a DVD. iTunes will burn a DVD, how to get flv to iTunes? This needs to be easy and hopefully free. These videos are legal to copy for personal use.

You Know Who Else Used Subtitles?

fandango_matt — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:20:54 -0800

How do I make my own subtitled Hitler clip from this scene in Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich? I have three questions:
1. Does someone out there have this scene without the subtitles? I have a fast connection and I will set up an FTP site so someone with the clip can upload it.
2. Failing that, how do I get this scene from the DVD?
3. I have a Mac equipped with AfterEffects. Will this software work for adding my own subtitles?

Mefites with experience in such things are encouraged to contact me by emailing matt at fandango dot net.

Thanks, everyone!

Video capture on a ThinkPad T42?

stleric — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:03:03 -0800

Is my ThinkPad laptop capable of video capture? I've got a ThinkPad T42 laptop that's getting a bit long in the tooth, but since I've got a DVD+/-R drive, I've been curious if it could handle video capture well enough to convert some old VHS tapes to DVDs without having issues with dropouts, poor frame rates, or errors.

It's a Centrino (Pentium 4-M) 1.6 GHz processor, currently 512 MB of memory (I'll probably upgrade to 1.5 GB soon), 5400 RPM 80 gig hard drive (I've got an external 7200 RPM 250 GB that I'd probably store the video on), Radeon 7500 video card (32MB), two USB 2.0 slots, but no built-in Firewire ports.

So my main questions are:
1. Can my computer handle TV/DVD-quality video capture, or would I just be disappointed attempting it?
2. Are there any worthwhile USB 2.0 video capture peripherals with RCA plugs (and possibly others) available, or should I stick to Firewire peripherals?
3. If I'm stuck with Firewire, would video capture through a PCMCIA card with Firewire ports be a reasonable solution?

Thanks, everybody!