EZ, FREE, VOB. TO FINAL CUT METHOD! [HI QUALITY]

[TEKnician]

For those who don't want to risk buying stuff online or just hate buying stuff online period, this is for you.
For those who want HQ footage from your DVDs without paying for several more apps, this is for you.
For those who have a Mac and use Final Cut, this is for you.
For those who want to know how to train your dog to play the piano while howling "My Humps", this is definitely not for you. In fact, why are even on this site?

Getting started:

FREE DOWNLOAD: MacTheRipper
FREE DOWNLOAD: Drop2DV You shall receive a folder inside the zip. that contains two orange apps. You might want to use Drop2DV-NTSC.

That's it, no more apps. I'm assuming your Mac still has the already-installed Terminal app on it

1) Follow the MacTheRipper guide by JudgeHolden to rip the VOB. from the DVD. Just pay attention to what he's telling you to do.

2) Open Drop2DV-NTSC, message pops up, ignore, quit, drag VOB. file over the app icon. Terminal shall open and run a script. Let it be. Go read a book or something

3) Wen dun, you now have a DV stream video in your movies folder. Don't freak out , open your movies folder on the sidebar of the finder window. And pay no attention to the quality. Remember, Final Cul has De-interlacing abilities.

4) Import the DV stream video into Final Cut. Double click the file, go to Video Filters>Video>De-interlace. Set it to max. Then...

DONE! YOU NOW HAVE HQ FOOTAGE TO USE FOR YOUR AMVS! AND YOU DIDN'T SPEND A DIME! WELL, MAYBE YOU SPENT LOTS OF MONEY ON YOUR DVDS, BUT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SPEND ANY MORE! PLUS, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT GIVING PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFO OVER THE INTERNET AND GETTING SCREWED BY PHANTOMS OR SHARKS! NOW USE THAT FIFTEEN-THOUSAND DOLLAR COMPUTER AND MAKE SOME THING GOOD!

[TEKnician]

If Drop2DV link doesn't work, just Google it. You'll find it eventually.

[Kionon]

No. Just no.

Not only is this the wrong forum (as it should be in the Mac Forum), but this is an absolutely horrid methodology that flies in the face of years of research. Final Cut's processing abilities suck. Please don't tell people to use them. You may accept the minor quality loss in the encode to DV from a preprocessed lossless clip, but going to DV directly before preprocessing may introduce contributing factors that may make it harder to clean later.

[TEKnician]

Don't knock it till you try it

And what's wrong with DV? If Final Cut has de-interlacing properties, why not use them? Remember, the AMV will move fast and people may not even notice that one pixel is out of place. Not only are you taking my post the wrong way, but you are judging my method without seeing the product it produces. I'll admit that this was in the wrong forum, but I won't admit that this isn't a good idea.

Especially when people want to make videos for fun and not just for contests, this process will make it easier for them. To me, this is acceptable quality

[Kionon]

Don't knock it till you try it

Don't shake your finger at me, young man. I was most likely editing while you were still reciting your ABCs for the first time. And as a matter of fact, I have done it. The first time was in 2005, and I have subsequently tried it every time a new version of FCS comes out. The results are... subpar.

And what's wrong with DV? If Final Cut has de-interlacing properties, why not use them? Remember, the AMV will move fast and people may not even notice that one pixel is out of place. Not only are you taking my post the wrong way, but you are judging my method without seeing the product it produces. I'll admit that this was in the wrong forum, but I won't admit that this isn't a good idea.

What's wrong with DV? It's not so much that there is anything wrong with DV inherently. The issue is that DV is not an appropriate vehicle for our end goal. Using iMovie, you have no choice, but using Final Cut, you most definitely do have a choice.

Let me explain how professional editors, like I was, use DV. The DV cams film interlaced. That footage is loaded via firewire onto an editing platform. It is then edited (still interlaced) including titles, transitions, and effects which are also interlaced. It is then put out to DVD or broadcast out over cable still interlaced. There's very little, if any processing involved. Things like white balancing are done on the camera prior to filming. Corrections are annoying, costly, and usually involve your boss yelling at the cameramen for screwing up.

Final Cut is not intended to do heavy duty processing work, and I would not suggest doing any on it to begin with. It is an editing suite, and traditionally editing suites are for cutting and moving clips and adding transitions. Processing (and effects) capabilities, although now included to a degree, are really just not powerful enough to deal with third party content like the anime we take from DVDs. We do things the designers never considered would need to be done, and as such, for our end goals, those limited capabilities are fairly worthless.

Especially when people want to make videos for fun and not just for contests, this process will make it easier for them. To me, this is acceptable quality

Your "acceptable quality" != "high quality" which I expect on any distribution copy just as much as I expect it on a convention contest copy.

I've been evaluating and reevaluating processing on the Mac now for five years. Trust me when I tell you that this is, indeed, a "bad idea." And I will continue to be clear that I think it is. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, and nothing worth doing can be done without effort. Remember that.

[TEKnician]

I'm just sayin' that there's always gonna be more than one way to do stuff. It sounds like I've offended you, so I'm gonna suck it up and sincerely apologize. I had no intention of ruining your

evaluating and reevaluating processing on the Mac now for five years

reputation. I just thought that this method works for me and I thought others might want to test it out and see if it works for them.

And to all who are reading this, well, do what you want. Whatever makes you happy.

[TEKnician]

Damn, how the heck do I lock this mother?

[Kionon]

I'm not offended. You don't need to apologise. You just need to be willing to recognise that perhaps you should do more research before suggesting a course of action that might already be discussed and either supported or found to be flawed. When you write a guide, new people are going to assume you know what you're talking about. As such, I feel compelled to step in so that misinformation does not spread.

You can't lock threads. Only mods can.

[TEKnician]

MODS! PLZ LOCK!

[pemberly]

I'll have to try this method.

I have a few questions about why it is so, so horrible.

First, editing in DV is "native" for Final Cut Express. So I don't see anything wrong with recommending that Final Cut Express users edit in DV. Sure, it might not be the absolutely bestest way to do it, but it's acceptable.

Second, there are people who are too cheap to buy Apple MPEG-2 plug-in and use MPEG Streamclip to convert their VOB files. With this method, at least they'll still get DV.

Though I do have a few concerns. Does this method make sure the aspect ratio is "set" in the DV files? With MPEG Streamclip you can do this, and it seems to stick. If this method doesn't do that, then you end up with 4:3 DV clips which you have to squash back into shape within Final Cut if your project happens to actually be 16:9.

I agree that if you have Final Cut PRO, that editing in some other codec is better than DV. But I get "acceptable" quality with DV and haven't converted all my DVDs over to ProRes yet. I do tire of the interlacing issue with DV, which is why I like ProRes. (But I have this feeling that there's going to be some comment about how ProRes is not "acceptable" enough either. Oh, whatever!) LOL