DVD ripping/copying/editing in 2018
April 24, 2018 1:35 PM   Subscribe

It has been a few years since this has been asked AFAIK. I need to play portions of a DVD documentary in a court proceeding and have those excerpts entered into evidence. What do I need to do to get the data to my hard drive and, from there, to create video excerpts? What would be the best file format to save to Cd-r or a thumbdrive (i have to have extra copies available to give to the other side and for the court). I’m a Windows 7 user. Thanks!
posted by DB Cooper to Computers & Internet (4 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Not legal advice:

You really have to talk to your IT people. The court is not going to look at your clips on your laptop screen, so you need to understand via IT and the court clerk what technology the court uses to project video, so you can successfully interact with it. Depending on the court, it may be possible to use your laptop to drive the video, or you may have to provide the court with the film in the format and medium of its choice.

(Additionally, unless you want a huge headache, you should attempt to obtain a stipulation from the other parties in advance that the clips are authentic, and to find out from them if they are intending to play additional clips...)

Also, not to teach your gramma to chew cheese, but, just in case you haven't thought about it, everything in that documentary will be hearsay and thus inadmissible unless an exception can be established.
posted by praemunire at 1:44 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Best answer: For DVD Ripping, DVDShrink does a good job. Windows Movie Maker might be and ok solution to stitch the clips together.
posted by WizKid at 2:17 PM on April 24, 2018


Best answer: Handbrake is great at ripping and encoding. I think MP4 is a good default compression and format.
posted by Pronoiac at 2:26 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Best answer: So what you're doing is DVD Authoring. That's your search term. You'll create a DVD with separate tracks for each segment.

Start with the classic: DVD Decrypter [sic] to rip the DVD to something with a high bitrate, something close to the 8000kbps which DVD can use.

I use Freemake Video Converter; it'll let you chop up the video into segments. Convert to MP4 or MKV at high bitrate (6000kbps) so you don't lose quality from the original. Save all your segments.

After that, use the same program to create your DVD from the segments.

I do all of this on Win10, but I've been using the same applications since Win7.

Also, I'm not speaking from experience but from what I've read of other people who bring in dashcam video and such to court: bring the same thing on as many forms of media as you can: CD, DVD, USB drive, and be prepared to donate them to the court. Seconding the above advice of calling the Court Clerk or the judge's clerk for advice on how they can display the video.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:34 PM on April 24, 2018


« Older I need this for nefarious karaoke purposes   |   Am I being paranoid about this early lease renewal... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.