How to make a DVD montage

[mehrdad]

How would I go about accomplishing the following:
1. Insert a DVD in my computer's drive
2. rip several scenes of the movie as seperate files
3. Take out unwanted portions of each scene
4. burn the resulting files to a DVD-R disc so it can
be played on any DVD player

Thanks.

[admin]

Do you have a budget where you're willing to buy new software, or must this be accomplished completely with freeware?

What software do you already own or otherwise have available to use on your computer?

My thought process is as such (rough notes):
- DVD Decrypter to extract video (free)
- Womble MPEG Video Wizard or another Womble product to edit, maybe even author the new disc (MPEGVCR or MVW-DVD). ($35-100, depends on the one product). Trials may be fully functional, would need to check.
- MPEG Streamclip (free), as an alternatve to Womble, but not as friendly or easy to work with
- Authoring software, if not using Womble MVW-DVD, and again have some choices between free and not-so-easy and cheap-and-easy (TDA, SVCD2DVD -- $39-90 range). More advanced ones are also available for higher cost. Some of these may even have fully-functional trials that would get you through a single project for free (30 days after install is all you'd have), and I can check on those.

Once we figure out what software to use, based entirely on your budget, I'll go over the finer points of accomplishing this task with easy-to-follow instructions.

Welcome to the site, thanks for joining.

[mehrdad]

Thanks for the response. My main objective is to get everything done with the most user friendly and the least glitchy software(s) as possible.

To that end I am willing to spend up to $150. At this time I don't have a lot of related software on my computer. So lets start from scratch using the above criteria. Thanks again.

[mehrdad]

It has been 5 or 6 days since I posted last. Did I answer all your questions? Have you had a chance to look at my posting? Thanks.

[admin]

Are these commercial DVDs, or homemade DVDs off a DVD recorder? They have different needs, must plan for this with the software chosen and the instructions given.

[mehrdad]

There are going to be commercial DVDs

[mehrdad]

Are there any other considerations or questions before you can give me some instrucitons?

[admin]

No, I've been testing 3 different methods for you. If you're going to spend money based off my advice, I want to be 100% sure that it's going to work with the most current versions available (there have been a lots of software upgrades released in the past 2-3 months for a lot of programs -- sometimes changing and removing features).

I should have a final list of suggestions and instructions for you within the next 72 hours (no later than midnight Monday).

[mehrdad]

I appreciate all your efforts. If takes a few extra days to come up with the right combination, then it is time well spent. Thanks again.

[admin]

One more question. What processor does your computer have? Or is it a brand new computer (within 1-2 years old). Some of the software I'm using requires a CPU with SSE2 features, meaning an Intel or an AMD64 (no Athlon XPs allowed). Let me know so I can further drill down what you'll want to do.

[mehrdad]

My laptop is a DELL Inspiron with Intel Pentium M processor 1.6GHZ running XP Service Pack 2.

My desktop is a newer computer with AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3600+ 1.9GHZ, and it runs on VISTA which may or may not be a problem. I am sure you know better about that.

[admin]

Download Adobe Premiere Elements 4 trial version and install it. Let me know when that's done.

http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/

[mehrdad]

Hi. Before I get started let me ask a question. Based on my last post about my laptop and desktop, do you forsee any advantages or problems using one or the other as the platform for this job?

They both have DVD rewritable drive. As I mentioned I tend to have my doubts about VISTA. Although it is supposed to be good with multimedia applications.

To make a long story short, if you were deciding between these computers, which one would you pick?

[admin]

Personally, I prefer the XP operating system. But given the software being used for this task of creating a montage, either OS should work fine. You may want to install these demos on BOTH systems, and try it in each place, to see which location works better -- and they might work equally well.

Just download the Adobe Premiere Elements ONCE -- it's about 3GB file download, huge by most standards, will take several hours one day. Burn it to a disc to share with the other computer. If you're unsure how to burn a data disc, ask.

[mehrdad]

Yes i agree with the XP as the main pc for this job. I'll download the Adobe software and report back.

[admin]

My test machine where I had installed Premiere Elements 3 for your test is the one that bit the dust recently. Hopefully I'll have it back up before you're ready for the next phase of this lesson. It's not been too cooperative so far, but I've not given up yet.

[mehrdad]

I have looked for the Adobe Premiere Elements downloads but I have only been able to locate trial versions and others for purchase at $99

Also the file sizes are nowhere near 3 gigs. I guess I should ask what you had in mind when you said to download it.

[mehrdad]

Hi. haven't heard from you in a couple of weeks. Everything ok?

[mehrdad]

Hi there. I've beem real busy lately and haven't check this for about a month and it seems like there is no new activity.

Can you please post a reply and let me know if you are still receiving these messages? Thanks.

[admin]

The forum will be upgraded here in the next two weeks, and at that time I'll have to re-look at the posts, and then resume finishing all answers. Hopefully that'll be okay with everybody.

One of those necessary downtimes.