I have a Mac...Now what do I do?

[MoonCosmicPower]

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2002 10:37 am    Post subject: Help needed MAJOR!
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I am a mac user and I am interested in making AMV's. I have a 2 G4's to my dispose. one with OSX and the other OS9.2. Both have DVD ROM, and I know I have to rip the footage off the DVD's. i have not idea how to do this, let alone if i can do it for free. I am a student, still in high school, and not quite old enough to get a full fledged job. I need some serious advice, software, and tutoring, but I assure you that if I am able, I will make some AWESOME music videos for you guys. i am at an arts magnet school in my city and I want to put my creativity to use. I have tons of programs, like Adobe Premire and stuff like that. I use my dad's comp, so they are all his. Sorry I talk too much ^_^

Sincerely,
Melissa, Age 15
A.K.A. MoonCosmicPower

[jbone]

I need some serious advice, software, and tutoring, but I assure you that if I am able, I will make some AWESOME music videos for you guys.

OK, everyone, meet the 2395264th person who - with advice, software, and tutoring - will <I>definitely</I> make AWESOME music videos.

(You don't know me, so I'll state outright that this is a joke, and not a personal attack. Whether or not you have the skills to make something good, I don't know, but we get an awful lot of similar posts here on the forum...)

[GAlbright]

Greetings, fellow Mac user!

Paul Quinell, AKA Red_Wolf7 (if I recall correctly), is in fact currently working on a FAQ for making AMVs on the Mac. I've been helping him out with it a bit. I don't know if/when he'll be done, though...

Yes, you can in fact rip DVDs for free on the Mac. And the FAQ will show you how, as soon as Paul makes it available.

[GAlbright]

Here's Red Wolf's site, BTW. Go tell him to hurry up and get that FAQ done.

[Nightowl]

Finally... at least there are SOME Mac users on this site after all. If you guys need any help at all with that Mac guide, I would love to help - gotta support fellow Mac users, eh?

-N

[Rheinhard]

I am very pleased to see this topic. I have been using Macs almost as long as they have existed (college roomie introduced me to them in 1985), and several months ago halved my bank account getting my video editing dream machine - dual 800MHz G4 with Superdrive, dual 80Gb hard drives, and thanks to a friend still in college, Final Cut Pro 3 at the student rate.

However I also need to learn the info under discussion here - how to capture video from DVD for use in video work. I have no idea how to do this with the internal DVD drive. I figured that as a last resort, I can run an external DVD player into my digital video camera and then into the firewire port to capture video (as I must do for footage for which I only have LaserDisc source).

I have some specific ideas for about a half dozen videos that have been in my head for years in several cases (there is a "Legend of Galactic Heroes" video I've had storyboarded in my head since at least 1993...) I have made videos in the past as well, back in the misty days before A-Kon 3 in 1992, when I had access to a tape-to-tape editing suite using Hi8 and 3/4" UMatic tape. But I lost access to that system, and never had the wherewithal to try editing on home decks or computers until now.

Fortunately Brad deMoss pointed me to this site in discussions after Anime Expo last week (where I was the emcee of the masquerade, BTW, in case anybody saw that). I am glad to meet fellow Mac AMV people and look forward to sharing ideas. And I hope the FAQ mentioned above comes out soon! I want to try to put together a simple video before Anime Weekend Atlanta in September!

[Red Wolf]

Better late than never to a topic, I guess

I am working on an AMV guide for Mac users. Currently the guide (which will be in the form of a web site) is about half done (the second version anyway, thanks again for the first draft help, GAlbright). It even has pretty screen shots to help you along

The guide will be done by August, maybe sooner. I've had to hold work on it for the next week or two while I try to get an AMV done for AWA which has a deadline of August 2. Once that video is done I'll work totally on finishing the guide and posting it. The guide will be designed for Mac OS X users but much of the information is useable in OS 9 and OS X and I'll release an OS 9 suppliment shortly after the main guide is posted.

The guide, as it stands now, will cover video and audio capturing on a Mac (main focus on DVD capturing), getting started with iMovie (you'll want to get a commercial book for all the details on iMovie or simply play with the program, it is real easier to learn), and compression and online posting options available to the Mac.

Anyone with any suggestions is more than welcome to contact me via email at red_wolf@mac.com. When done I'll announce the guide in my journal and all over this board. I might even annoy Phade about it once I get mass input.[/url]

[GAlbright]

You know what?

I think it'd be cool if Mac AMV editors had their own forum...

If Phade won't do it, I could set one up on <i>my</i> site, <a href="http://www.anre.org/">Animation Republic</a>, as it already has a forum system all set up... And it doesn't use this ugly and annoying phpbb...

[Red Wolf]

I don't know if we need our own forum. That would be like having a forum only for Premiere and then another one for other editors. These forums aren't exactly swamped at this point and this thread has had no anti-Mac postings thus far. I think as long as people with Mac questions but Mac in their title the rest of us will find them.

Besides, I have so many other forums to hit during the day I don't need one more on my bookmark list

For anyone who does want pure Mac (but not pure AMV) forums I suggest http://forum.macnn.com. I'm on there as Red Wolf as well and they have a handy Multimedia forum on there.

[Art Smoke]

I started making AMV's in January this year, and I use a PowerMac 4 with Imovie. I can capture VHS and DVD using a Samsung combination DVD/VHS player that is connected to the Mac Firewire port through a "Hollywood" digital converter. It does well, I did have an AMV screened at AX this year, (Adagio for Fireflies), and it looked fairly good on the big screen. I'm not happy with exporting to VHS tapes, they don't seem to be very good, even after I splurged $100 on new cables. I still have not been able to burn a DVD on the Mac, the DVD program seems to be in a file that Imovie doesn't interface with, or maybe my ignorance with Macs, (I've been a lifelong PC User), is the reason. I'm looking forward to anything the rest of you can offer on using these fine machines.