Tools for cutting scenes and muting sound on DVDs for kids

[Taliska]

Hi all,

When Harry Potter IV comes out on DVD, I'd like to cut a few bits of the video out and mute the soundtrack every now and then - just to make it more suitable for a younger audience.

What tools and procedure would you recommend to do this.

Many thanks,

Taliska

(Can already use DVDShrink - a most excellent tool!)

[blutach]

Welcome Taliska

VobBlanker (see link in my signature) can do what you want regarding cutting DVDs. Guides on site for cutting bits out of it.

Muting soundtracks requires quite advanced audio editing techniques, which might drive you mad.

Regards

[setarip_old]

Hi!

If you think audio editing (muting certain words or phrases) is something you may have to do more than once in the future, you might want to look into the following hardware solution:

The TV guardian ( www.tvguardian.com )

[Taliska]

Thanks! Will have a look at the tools - may try cutting "The Blues Brothers" down as a first attempt!

Taliska

[blutach]

Bear in mind VobBlanker cutting is an iterative process. One cut at a time. But it is freeware.

DVD Remake Pro can cut blocks and more than one at a time IIRC - however it is not free.

Regards

[Taliska]

Just downloaded VOB Blanker and I couldn't see a preview window or anything to easily see where I could cut it.

Couldn't I turn the VOBs back into an mpeg file then decompress and use 'standard' video editing tools e.g. MS MovieMaker?

Thanks,

Taliska

[blutach]

Check this out Taliska - it's in the guides section

http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/guides/VobBlanker/prevcut/index.php

Regards

[charleski]

Hi all,

When Harry Potter IV comes out on DVD, I'd like to cut a few bits of the video out and mute the soundtrack every now and then - just to make it more suitable for a younger audience.
Wildly off-topic, perhaps, but as a matter of interest, which scenes would you cut? I thought the scariest parts were the maze scenes with the hedges closing down (latent claustrophobia I suppose, but the one part that surprisingly managed to improve on the book IMO), the rest was just 'Gosh, look, scary monster!' stuff.

[mikecito]

I've been editing movies for years, and I use a really simple, maybe complex method.

1) Rip the dvd to the hard drive, extracting the ac3 to a seperate file (very easy in smart ripper)
2) decompress the ac3 to wave files, using besweet.
3) Import the video and audio into premiere, with a track for each channel of sound, and one for the video. Edit all the language, violence, sex, or whatever else you want out. To edit mpegs smoothly, you should use avisynth and frame serve it in with mpg2dec (do a search to find out how)
4) Encode back to dvd. If you want to keep the 5.1 intact, you'll have to use a 5.1 encoder after exporting each track individually, or find a way for premiere's encoder to do it. I suggest either ac3machine with besweet for a free alternative.
5) Burn to dvd.

I have edited about 35 titles this way, and people can rarely catch where I edit. Premiere allows you to do more than just a simple chop. You can fade, mute certain channels, mosaic, etc. It's very handy, although expensive.

[Taliska]

Check this out Taliska - it's in the guides section

http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/guides/VobBlanker/prevcut/index.php

Regards
Thanks, now I can see what is going on, but it doesn't seem to produce any audio output which would be kinda helpful...

Cheers, Taliska

[Taliska]

Wildly off-topic, perhaps, but as a matter of interest, which scenes would you cut? I thought the scariest parts were the maze scenes with the hedges closing down (latent claustrophobia I suppose, but the one part that surprisingly managed to improve on the book IMO), the rest was just 'Gosh, look, scary monster!' stuff.
Hi there,

I wasn't particularly keen on Ron telling Harry to "piss off" and a small cut here wouldn't damage the film. The scene where Voldemort kills off Cedric was maybe a touch too graphic for very young audiences.

Taliska

[blutach]

VobBlanker doesn't change the audio unless you uncheck the audio streams. It simply cuts frames away (and the resultant audio).

So it's kinda helpful :)

Regards

[Taliska]

VobBlanker doesn't change the audio unless you uncheck the audio streams. It simply cuts frames away (and the resultant audio).

So it's kinda helpful :)

Regards

When I've got the "Preview and Cut" window open and I press "Play" - I can hear nothing from the PC's speakers.

Now either I'm missing something (like being able to find a volume control) or it doesn't produce any audio when previewing.

How can one possibly make cuts based on what is being said in the film without being able to hear it?

Please enlighten me... :-)

Regards,

Taliska

Update: Maybe this isn't the right tool as I can't seem to be able to cut to a frame - or am I again missing something?

[blutach]

Now either I'm missing something (like being able to find a volume control) or it doesn't produce any audio when previewing.Sorry to take so long to respond.

VobBlanker's preview has no audio. Sorry.

Regards

[setarip_old]

@Taliska
Please disregard my earlier suggestion about the hardware "TV Guardian". I hadn't noticed that you indicate that you're in England, a PAL video country. The product presently only works with NTSC format...