Extracting Video Clips from Your DVD

In this tutorial you're going to learn the most basic (and sometimes most daunting) part of vidding: Transforming files from your DVD into smaller clips which can be opened and edited in video programs like Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, and Ulead VideoStudio.

GETTING SET UP:

In order to rip clips from DVDs you will need:

A Mac or PC with at least 12 GB of free disk space. (If you're not sure how much disk space you have, this Windows tutorial shows you how to find out.) On the Mac, just select the hard drive icon on your desktop, press Apple+I (Get Info) and it will tell you how much space you have.
A DVD drive on your computer.
Windows 2000/XP/Vista (Win98/ME not confirmed) or Mac OS 10.2 (Jaguar) or above.
Quicktime Player 6 or above (recommended but not mandatory for PC, see details below.)

Getting the proper software (Mac and PC).

VIDEO CONVERTER:

For this tutorial, you will need to get the video software MPEG Streamclip to make video clips which you can edit in your video editing software. In additon to MPEG Streamclip, you will either have to pay $20 (around £11) to get Apple's MPEG-2 Playback Component, or uninstall Quicktime Player (for PC only) and install Quicktime Alternative. (Be sure to follow the instructions on MPEG Streamclip's page about configuring Quicktime Alternative properly so it will recognize MPEG-2 files.) It's not hard, but you have to follow the instructions. WINDOWS VISTA USERS: Be sure to install the "Beta" version of MPEG Streamclip.

(For the most hassle-free experience, I recommend getting the MPEG-2 component from Apple and keeping Quicktime installed on your computer.)

DVD RIPPER:

This is software that will automatically extract the digital files on a commercial DVD and place them on your hard drive. It will also remove "copy protection" that might prevent programs (like MPEG Streamclip) from making small video clips from the DVD files.

Mac the Ripper: The best DVD ripper for Macintosh. Very easy and of course free!

DVD Decrypter: One of many suitable DVD rippers for Windows. Also free!

Rip your DVD!

Windows: Follow the instructions on the DVD Decrypter page to learn how to rip the files from your DVD.

It looks like the simplest way is to rip all files on the DVD. When I used DVD Decrypter, I highlighted all files listed on the right menu, and then clicked on the green arrow icon (in between DVD and hard drive icons). This ripped all the files to my hard drive. I did NOT want to make an "ISO" file—just made straight copies of the files found on the DVD.

Macintosh: This page on the Mac Vidding tutorial gives a brief overview on how to rip a DVD with Mac the Ripper. Basically, you wait for it to scan the entire DVD, click the GO! button and let 'er rip!

RIPPING HOME MADE DVDs, Mac and PC: If you are only going to be ripping clips from your home-grown DVDs (burned on your own DVD burner), you do not need any special DVD ripper software. All you need to do is find the "VIDEO_TS" folder on the DVD, and drag that to your hard drive.

Scared? Not sure you want to rip a whole DVD at this time? Use these small samples to practice cropping and trimming DVD video files (VOB files) in MPEG Streamclip. These easily downloadable excerpts are in the exact same format as found on commercial DVDs.

VOB Sample #1 (25.6 MB)

VOB Sample #2 (16.9 MB)

VOB Sample #3 (4.2 MB)

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