Borrowing video clips from DVD

[callstreet]

And then add to or overlay with other videos with a video editor, and then make a DVD. I thought it would be simple but I got many problems.

Cut the VOB and then demux: Chopper XP don't take large VOB's. A few don't have video preview so too troublesome. MPEG Cut can do it and probably one other that I don't remember. Then I use TMPGEnc and VOBEdit to demux. The demuxed file got lots of problems. I think all video are rejected by Scenarist (not that I want to use the clips directly on DVD). PowerDVD and Window Media fails in many occasions. Can't load into an older video editor Ulead 6. The problem is, some clips went through and so I haven't got a clue. AC3 file is OK in all cases but I have yet to find an AC3 editor or converter to wav etc.

Demux and then cut: Again the only demuxed files that are accepted by Scenarist are those by DVD Decryptor (and therefore DoItFastForU). There's no video preview so it's hard work to find the right VTS or chapter that contain the clips. Cutting the video has enough problems. Usually too large for Ulead to handle. TMPGEnc trial expires. Easy Video Splitter can do and probably several others. But the problem is then cutting/converting the AC3 and synchronizing with the video.

I have enough problems and confusion for a day. Anyone have suggestions?

[jel]

hmmm....just a suggestion (i have never tried it and have no idea whether it will work or not), but you could try using the start/end cutting feature of DVDshrink. it allows you to set the start/end times of any DVD and reauthor the joined clips to a compliant DVD.
from what i understand it then authors each clip into a separate titleset, so you wont get seamless play between the clips, but your resultant files should be in synch - plus you get the added bonus of full video/audio preview to make the cut with.
i see no reason why you could not then demux the dvd that shrink has authored for you and import this into a high end authoring tool, such as scenarist (or you could try the trial version of dvdlab) and manipulate the assets to achieve your desired result.
link for dvdshrink and start/end functions:
http://www.dvdshrink.info/reauthor_intermediate.php
and here is a link to dvdlab: (i believe it accepts .vob files so you might not have to demux?!?!?!
http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/index.html

hope that helps

j

[callstreet]

Thanks, DVDshrink works well. VOBedit can demux the VOB's produced by DVDshrink. Ironically that's the software I used most often - for 'backing up' my DVD collection. It was in my mind but I forget about it because I forget that it has the start and end feature. Though the latest version dropped all those manual features.

As for DVDlab, I made one DVD with it, and was almost about to buy it when I went for Scenarist instead. As with other VOB tools, DVDlab can only deal with 'some' VOB files. I didn't even think about it.

Now, insert these borrowed video clips into other vidoes is easy. The other thing I want is to cut out a, say, dancing cartoon character, and overlay it on the original video. Now it doesn't look good. At most it looked like picture in picture with a cartoon in it, semi-transparent.

[maa]

The other thing I want is to cut out a, say, dancing cartoon character, and overlay it on the original video Thats not the job of an authoring app.
You need a good video editor (NLE) for that.