Mpeg streamclip and handbrake will not properly export hdv source
 

Hello,
I'm trying to export video files shoot from an hdv camera that were put onto a data dvd.
Neither handbrake nor mpeg streamclip have been sucessfull in doing so.
I'm only trying to take out chapter 1-3 in an 8 chapter dvd.
When I export the video files, I cannot open them in quicktime, for all I see is a blank screen and hear no sound.
On handbrake I was exporting to avi. Should I try a different codec?
Please help!
I'd really like to export from this dvd and not have to logg and capture!
Thanks, Katie

If it is a DATA dvd (which has files copied to it like a hard drive) and not a VIDEO dvd (the kind you put in your dvd player) then export isn't necessary, the files just need copying to your editing system, where you can edit them and drop out whatever you don't want. That assumes the editor recognizes the file type, of course, but if not there are lots of conversion programs....

My puzzlement is files shot from an hdv camera and copied to a dvd...they must have been captured somehow and saved as something...since mpeg2 is native to hdv, that might be a clue..if capture was in Final Cut, the capture files are .mov files...

More info on what kind of file you have and what you want to make of it would be helpful...../Battle Vaughan /miamiherald.com video team

Hi Battle Vaughn,
I made a mistake. It is not a data DVD because when I put it into the computer, DVD player pops onto the screen.
when I open the dvd outside of the DVD player I see .VOB files. I "got info" on the .VOB file and its says MPEG program steam.

In that case, you just need to remux (re-join the video and audio files) and export...mpegStreamclip should work fine, that is its primary function. (As you may know, on a video dvd, the audio and video are separated and are separate files. MSC will recombine them)

It's pretty simple. Forget about "the files are mpeg", you just work with the vob files as such.
Look at the video folder on the dvd and pull the vob files, one at a time (it doesn't batch) and drop them on the mpegStreamclip window. If they don't drag, file > open and navigate to the file. You can also simply select Open DVD and it will start with one of the files; I don't use this but it works ok.

You can export in a variety of ways and convert also (file > export or file > convert) . I don't know what you want to do with the file, but if you want to edit it in an editing program, dv stream will work with almost anything. Big files, though. When you export, a window opens with a lot of codec and setting choices. Probably the defaults will work fine, but if your system doesn't read the codec that msc selects, try another that you know is on your system. If you are in Final Cut, as I think you mentioned elsewhere, quicktime export should work...since it doesn't, either you are doing dealing with the files as mpegs -- don't---or you need to select another setting in quicktime output...

/ Battle Vaughan

PS looking at a previous thread from you, this isn't hdv anymore, it is sd for dvd....you might possibly have HD DVD, which Final cut (I notice you are using) can still make, or more accurately, DVD Pro, although that is a dead format. In that case your files will be something like hd_vob, as I recall it. I don't know if mpegStreamclip will handle those, but they probably would open in DVD pro, which is part of your Final Cut suite. If mpegStreamclip opens your vob files, you are good to go.....

Depending on what you need to do with the video afterwards, you might be better off simply copying to mpeg instead of transcoding.

Go to your in point, then hit Ctrl+K (on a PC, not sure how to do it on a Mac) to get to the nearest keyframe and hit I, do the same with your out point and hit O.

Then Click File > Convert to MPEG and you're done! Absolutely no transcoding, no loss of quality.

Hey, great tip, thanks! I think she is having trouble ripping the dvd and saving it to an edit system, as she has .vobs to work with. We do this all the time in mpegStreamclip, which she is having trouble with for reasons I'm trying to figure.../bv

Thanks, I'll read through your comments and try it out again.
Can you recommend a good book I can read to learn more about files and formats/ sd and HD capabilities type thing?

Wish I could suggest a one-stop tutorial, but as I have learned (as I suspect most of us do, in this complex and changing specialty) from experience and hard knocks as I went, I can't think of a single-source for this.

I have gotten a lot of useful help right here, and if you use the search function, you will turn up past threads on almost any topic you can name. That said, Wikipedia and the books that come with Final Cut have a wealth of quick information.

Again, to your current problem, mpegStreamclip should be able to parse your vob files. If you can't see them or if the audio is missing, it is almost always a codec problem. Hope you are successful in converting your project! / bvaughan

A while back the official Adobe website had some very useful articles ("white papers) - unfortunately as far as I can tell, they are all gone. Among them, there was an excellent "Compression Primer", that explains all the different video formats.

Fortunately, I have a copy saved on my computer - let me know if you would like to have it. I can e-mail it to you or post it right here as an attachment.

I can't help with this particular problem (I thought maybe you were on a Windows machine, which would explain Quicktime not decoding MPEG 2, but then I saw the words "Final Cut Pro" and that theory went right out the window), but as far as reference material I have some suggestions that may prove useful.

The primer I got most of my compression info from is Ben Waggoner's "Compression for Great Digital Video". The specifics on various formats are naturally now a few years out of date, but it's still a great source for the basics if that's what you're after.

If you really want to get into details, though, I've heard wonderful things about Charles Poynton's "Digital Video and HDTV", though I can't speak for it personally.

For freely available, exceptionally technical information, don't overlook the Snell & Wilcox Knowledge Center. Lots of white papers and "engineering guides", most of which I can make neither head nor tail of, but that offer boatloads of detail on all sorts of compression related topics. In the Engineering Guides section, check "The Engineer's Guide to Compression" (I don't want to link the PDF directly, in case it ever moves) for some real down and dirty compression training.

One last quick note, as Battle said Wikipedia has all sorts of great articles about these subjects, in particular you may like to see this container format comparison chart, detailing all the different feature sets of the various video file types in use today.

email.
 

Hi Ervin,
I would love to read it.
could you send an email to khm237@nyu.edu

Email with attachment sent.

more Mpeg Streamclip Questions
 

Talking your ears off with mpeg streamclip
So I opened the VOB source files in mpeg streamclip and tried to export them to a dv stream.
I have 5 VOB files.
4/5 of the files are labeled like VTS_0_1,VOB, VTS_01_2) and then fifth is chapter VTS_02_1.

Now, I know when this dvd plays on dvd player the length of the movie is 45 minutes.
When I export the VOB files to to a different destination they only play up to 16 seconds.
I'm confused...
When I go into handbrake I'm able to export to mpeg 4 and I can select multiple chapters which are roughly 10 minutes...

I feel like I'm missing the point here or something.

Start MPEG Streamclip, then > File > Open Files, navigate to the DVD drive, in the Windows Explorer window all the way to the right switch from "list" to "details".

Click the first LARGE vob file. Next Streamclip will ask you if you want to open the whole DVD or just that one file - choose "whole DVD" (or something like that, I don't have a DVD right here to check).

This should append ALL video files in the right order - see what the length of the video is now as reported by Stremclip (the "out" reading at bottom right).

still did the same thing. do you think eliminating timecode breaks will resolve anything?
I'm working on a mac.
-k

also didn't see windows explorer list vs. details.

Yes, give it a try, I always do that and it seems to work. BTW, what is "the same thing", I know I'm still missing a clue to the problem.../bvaughan

Well, if the Mac handles Stremclip some other way... I'm sorry, I can't help, this is what works for me on a PC.