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Aug. 6th, 2004 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickIt's all about having the right tools. Experimentation with my existing tools suggested to me last night that most people wanted to use their DVDs to make *more* DVDs. Can't say as I feel that particular need, since my laptop won't burn them anyway. No, skipper, what I'd really like to do today is NOT reorganize my contacts or add a bulleted list to my document. What I'd REALLY like to do today is take some perfectly good DVDs and turn them into watchable (but not stellar) .avi files that I can burn to CD. I do not particularly care how bloody stupid this is.
While it is possible to use DVDx to make .avi files out of DVDs, it looks like hell. I've twinked with the options until I was bored and finally I figured there had to be a better way than the way I was using because the nice subtitling people make very pretty video/audio footage out of HnG and PoT. It doesn't *have* to look like hell and it should not be rocket science. An episode should encode to .avi format at around 180, 200 meg. This is possible -- the buckets of stuff sitting on my hard drive do not lie.
It was at that point that I figured I was probably using a claw hammer to kill mosquitoes. (While it can be done that way, most people find a flyswatter more effective...) So I turned to people who have experience taking anime footage off of DVDs and twinking with it -- the folks who make anime music videos. We will NOT be discussing how freaking dorky it makes me to even know that this hobby genre exists. LA LA LA -- I can't hear you.
The anime music video websites (after a couple of false starts and an upgrade to one of the initially-suggested software combinations) offered what appears to be actual progress towards success, so I'm happy.
Our Story So Far, for the Folks At Home
Taking things OFF of a DVD: DVD Decrypter works nicely and is nearly idiot-proof. I found that out yesterday. It's also free. I like free.
Taking those file thingies (.IFO and .VOB files) and making them into something reasonably sized instead of eight gigs... DVD2AVI (free) makes .d2v files that are not overly huge... unfortunately, for whatever reason, I cannot get files made this way to do what they are supposed to do further down the line (with AVISynth, the version I have). Fortunately, there is an updated, revised version of this thing or a thing very like it, said thing being called DGIndex. Its .d2v files work dandily, and it's also free.
The .d2v files then have to be thrown through a utility called AVISynth (free) to make them pretend to be .avi files for programs that handle .avi files. There are some plugins involved and some scripting is required of you, the user. Many good examples exist online, though, so a careful reader should be able to swing it.
I've gotten this far today. I can take the DVD .VOB files and make them into .d2v files AND I can get the .d2v files to play in Windows Media Player if I use a .avs script to load them. The video quality is lovely. (I'm testing, so have turned off sound and am only doing one track for now. Also not yet worrying about subtitle overlays.)
Research continues. I'm told there is a free program that lets me edit these video files. I have downloaded same and will investigate that this evening.
Unintentional lesson for today: Video piracy is educational as all hell. Ask me about interlacing!!
While it is possible to use DVDx to make .avi files out of DVDs, it looks like hell. I've twinked with the options until I was bored and finally I figured there had to be a better way than the way I was using because the nice subtitling people make very pretty video/audio footage out of HnG and PoT. It doesn't *have* to look like hell and it should not be rocket science. An episode should encode to .avi format at around 180, 200 meg. This is possible -- the buckets of stuff sitting on my hard drive do not lie.
It was at that point that I figured I was probably using a claw hammer to kill mosquitoes. (While it can be done that way, most people find a flyswatter more effective...) So I turned to people who have experience taking anime footage off of DVDs and twinking with it -- the folks who make anime music videos. We will NOT be discussing how freaking dorky it makes me to even know that this hobby genre exists. LA LA LA -- I can't hear you.
The anime music video websites (after a couple of false starts and an upgrade to one of the initially-suggested software combinations) offered what appears to be actual progress towards success, so I'm happy.
Our Story So Far, for the Folks At Home
Taking things OFF of a DVD: DVD Decrypter works nicely and is nearly idiot-proof. I found that out yesterday. It's also free. I like free.
Taking those file thingies (.IFO and .VOB files) and making them into something reasonably sized instead of eight gigs... DVD2AVI (free) makes .d2v files that are not overly huge... unfortunately, for whatever reason, I cannot get files made this way to do what they are supposed to do further down the line (with AVISynth, the version I have). Fortunately, there is an updated, revised version of this thing or a thing very like it, said thing being called DGIndex. Its .d2v files work dandily, and it's also free.
The .d2v files then have to be thrown through a utility called AVISynth (free) to make them pretend to be .avi files for programs that handle .avi files. There are some plugins involved and some scripting is required of you, the user. Many good examples exist online, though, so a careful reader should be able to swing it.
I've gotten this far today. I can take the DVD .VOB files and make them into .d2v files AND I can get the .d2v files to play in Windows Media Player if I use a .avs script to load them. The video quality is lovely. (I'm testing, so have turned off sound and am only doing one track for now. Also not yet worrying about subtitle overlays.)
Research continues. I'm told there is a free program that lets me edit these video files. I have downloaded same and will investigate that this evening.
Unintentional lesson for today: Video piracy is educational as all hell. Ask me about interlacing!!
