DVD to MPEG Convertion.

[frk76]

IS there an easy way to take a "specific scene" from DVD and convert it to a MPEG file?

I don't want to convert the whole movie, just a specific scene.

Thanks.

[echooff]

Dvd is already in mpeg.

[The Geek]

But he wants to cut out a specific scene.
There are tools that can cut VOB files. Just google for them and that should be all you need.
I've never done that, so I can't name such programs. But you can also first demux video and audio, and then load them into Cuttermaran to cut out the scene you want, and multiplex them to an MPEG program stream.

The Geek

[jggimi]

Welcome to the forum, frk76.

You have not given us enough information to answer your question. For example, "MPEG" can mean different things: MPEG-1? (.mpg) MPEG-1 is often used as a "cross-platform" video, particularly because every version of Windows since W95 can display it without added software.

MPEG-2? (.mpg) Yes, DVDs have MPEG-2 video streams. But the audio streams may not be compatible with the .mpg container, and, not every PC on the planet can decode MPEG-2.

MPEG-4? (.avi, others) There are a wide variety of MPEG-4 video formats as well, such as DivX, Quicktime, and XviD.Until we know what you're actually trying to accomplish, we may just end up misdirecting you.

[frk76]

I'm a public speaker who gives talks mostly to youth. I speak on different subjects. Most of the time I will use a Powerpoint presentation to incorporate multimedia elements to enhance my speech. Some times I find a movie that contains a scene that can help me make a point or that illustrates something that I am addressing.

I would like to be able to take that portion of the movie and make it into a file that can be played back by Porwerpoint.

MPEG1 I guess.

Thank you all for your willingness to help.

[zilog jones]

It appears PowerPoint (well 2000 anyway) uses Windows Media Player to play back videos in PowerPoint presentations. So whatever Media Player can play should work. Any sort of MPEG2 video is probably out of the question then.

Converting to MPEG1 video is probably the easiest way. DivX or XviD (MPEG4) would produce better quality, but unless you're using your own PC I wouldn't recommend it as it's possible other PCs won't have the suitable codecs to play these files, especially if they're in schools or whereever.

[Mug Funky]

MPEG-1 is the safest bet for sure. if you're just using snippets, it'll be fine.

try either TMPGenc or QuEnc to make it, and resize to a square-pixel format because most likely powerpoint isn't going to correct the aspect-ratio for you.

try 320x240, or 384x288 for NTSC and PAL respectively.

[frk76]

I know this is not the way that you guys do it, but can you tell me of any good DVD/VOB to MPEG converter that I can buy. I googled "DVD to mpeg" and I got way too many choices now. Is there one that you guys like and have some respect for?

[zilog jones]

TMPGEnc (http://www.tmpgenc.net/) is probably the simplest solution, and for MPEG1 encoding it's free (MPEG2 encoding is a 30-day trial only).

Edit: Oh wait, it won't take VOBs...

[markrb]

If you use DVD2SVCD with TMPGenc you can cut and encode into mpeg1.
Just use and rename the Pulldown_encoded_video.mpeg (if NTSC) to whatever you want.
Follow the DVD2SVCD guide on Doom9 for VCD.
Should do it all and with freeware.

Mark

[frk76]

When it comes to quality, should I be converting my clips into MPEG or AVI?

[Mug Funky]

"avi" isn't a codec, it's a container. if you mean dixv/xvid/x264/etc codecs, then yes they'll be better than mpeg-1. but only do it if you're 100% confident you can get it to work at the critical moment.

there's no bigger turn-off at a lecture than technical difficulties - if you're going to use technology in a talk, make double (triple?) sure it's going to work on the day, otherwise you'll feel a damn fool afterwards :)

[tigerman8u]

You stated it's a dvd. Why not simply do this and it involves no re-encoding.
1. Open the dvd with Dvdshrink
2. Click re-author
3. Cut out the part/s
4. Back-up to hard drive.
You can burn the back-up to a dvd (it will be dvd compliant) or
You can use Tmpgenc dvd Author and load the back-up in it and save the output as mpeg.
This allows you to go either route you want to go with no re-encoding = no loss in quality.

[zilog jones]

He wants to embed it into a PowerPoint presentation, which can only play what Media Player can. I know you can get an MPEG-2 decoder, but if it's going to be an issue that frk76 will have to show these on PCs that aren't his I'd say that is going to be out of the question.

Are you using your own PC or others for these presentations?

[frk76]

I'll be using my own PC

[jggimi]

Oh, well, that changes things dramatically. You need not worry about specialized software being pre-installed and working on some other PC somewhere, outside of your control.

When I've done PowerPoint presentations with embedded video, they've not been from DVD sources.

Where I had my own laptop plugged into a projector -- I've used XviD or DivX (.avi) encoding. If using DVD or other MPEG-2 sources, AutoGK is an easy-to-use tool.

When I've done the same thing with PC's I *didn't* control, I've used MPEG-1 (.mpg). For DVD sources, DVD2SVCD in "DVD2VCD mode" can produce MPEG-1 output files. They're intermediate in VCD creation, but IIRC you can prevent them from being erased.


----


I will admit to once getting away with presenting a DivX video via a USB stick on a PC I didn't control ... but I was able to install ffdshow -- an MPEG-4 decoder -- on that PC from the USB stick some 10 minutes before the meeting began, and then remove it immediately after the meeting. I did have my laptop with me as a backup, but the room wasn't set up with any easy way to plug it in to the company's projector, which is why I resorted to presenting both the poewrpoint and the video from the stick.

[ukb008]

I've found out, working in WinXP, PowerPoint 2002, and WMPlayer 10, that anything other than mpeg-1 isn't supported, yet. Although mpeg-4 would give a clearer picture and sound at a lesser file-size, there's no way it can be used in PowerPoint.

Regards.

[jggimi]

Hmmm. Well, I've done it, more than once. I have those .ppt files and associated .avi files off the laptop and on another PC; I'll go take a look at them and see what I'd done to make it work. IIRC, it was a W2K laptop w/O2002, but forcing the use of WMP 6.4 (mplayer2.exe). I'll get back to you once I've had a chance to get to that PC ... perhaps tomorrow.

[ukb008]

.avi files can be read by WMP 10 just as well as by WMP 6.4. It's not clear why 6.4 played it in PPT and not 10. Also, we'd all like to know how you forced mplayer2, I'm sure...

Regards.