View Full Version : DVD Rippers & FLV (Better Work Flow)


Scott Routt
May 11th, 2009, 07:44 AM
I think there has to be a faster way of doing what I'm doing with DVD copying/conversions.
First of all, we're not talking about copyrighted material. Its about working with other people's home movies that are given to me on DVD. I need to embed timecode in thier movies, convert them to flash, upload them to my site where they can chosse the poritons of their movie using timecode that they want me to edit for them.

Below is what I'm doing now.

1) Make a copy of customer's DVD using Apple's disk utility program.
(Is there a faster way of making a DVD copy?)

2) Use a very old version of DVDxDVPRO to capture the DVD footage and export to FCP for timecode insertion.
(Is there a faster way of capturing DVD footage?)

3)Insert timecode in FCP and export as a reference movie.

4) Use an older version of On2 Flix Standard to convert to flv
(This takes a real long time- about an hour and a half for a 30 minute movie).

5) FTP flv movie to a web site.
Thanks!

Mitchell Lewis
May 11th, 2009, 07:57 AM
I do something similar, but with a different work flow:

1) Copy DVD using Roxio Toast (any version) and save the VIDEO_TS & AUDIO_TS folders to my hard drive
2) Open the VIDEO_TS folder with DVDxDVPRO and convert to Final Cut Pro
3) Import file into Compressor, turn on Timecode filter in Compressor and render as a Windows WMV file
4) Upload to our website

We have purchased Flip4Mac (now Telestream) WMV Studio Pro HD ($159) which allows you to convert to WMV using any Quicktime application.

If you need more speed, you might consider converting to H.264 using Elgato's Turbo.264HD ($129 on Amazon). I've read that it makes the conversion MUCH faster.
Elgato Turbo .264 HD (http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/elgato_turbo_264_hd_douglas.html)
You can then publish to YouTube all in one step if necessary.

Shaun Roemich
May 11th, 2009, 08:34 AM
2) Use a very old version of DVDxDVPRO to capture the DVD footage and export to FCP for timecode insertion.
(Is there a faster way of capturing DVD footage?)

Not sure if it's faster but I use MPEG Streamclip to break out VIDEO_TS files to editable QT formats.

Scott Routt
May 11th, 2009, 11:10 AM
Mitch: I'm stuck with FLV because of a flash jukebox player that lets me display multiple movies so WMV probably won't work. Does Roxio Toast copy DVDs faster than Apple's Disk Utility?

Shaun: I have MPEG Streamclip but I've never used it. What kind of compression do you use for SD video? There's a lot of choices in that drop down box.

Mitchell Lewis
May 11th, 2009, 11:21 AM
Sorry, I've never used Disc Utility to copy a disc.

Actually, now that I think about it, you can simply create a new folder on your hard drive and drag the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders into it. The Finder will copy them in and everything will work fine.

I don't know why I said to use Roxio....sorry.

I don't have much experience with it, but supposedly you can create H.264 videos using Compressor (which allows you to use the Timecode filter) and the latest version of Flash will play those H.264 videos. You just need to change the extension from MOV to FLV. But I've never actually tried it.

Shaun Roemich
May 13th, 2009, 09:46 AM
Shaun: I have MPEG Streamclip but I've never used it. What kind of compression do you use for SD video? There's a lot of choices in that drop down box.

The EASIEST is probably just to use the DV setting appropriate to you. I can't remember off the top of my head if MPEG-SC supports Animation; if it does, I often use that (or some other less compressed format). Sorry, so much of what I do daily is muscle memory...

Christopher Drews
May 17th, 2009, 01:55 AM
Mitchell's workflow is spot on. The only thing I'd change is Sorensen Squeeze 5.
1. Copy Video_TS
2. DVDxDV to QuickTime
3. Timecode filter in Squeeze and Output directly to FLV.

The second best workflow is DV Kitchen (if you can't afford Squeeze 5).

1. Copy Video_TS
2. DVDxDV to QuickTime
3. Timecode filter in Compressor - exoporting as QuckTime Ref.
4. Import Ref. into DV Kitchen, create FLV - automatically uploads to your site.

I love DV Kitchen for the automatic FTP command but the timecode makes it an extra process.

-C