Editing DVD-camcorder footage

If you own a camcorder that records directly to DVD, you will end up with footage that is stored in mpeg-2 format. This format is less suitable for video editing. This article will show how you can convert your material into DV-AVI format which is most widely used in video editing programs.

1. Required tools

• VirtualDUB-MPEG2 (free)
• A third party DV codec. For example: the Panasonic VFW DV codec (freeware), the Canopus DV Codec (free) or the MainConcepts DV Codec (not free).
• If the DVD was recorded with AC-3 sound: AC3filter

The free tools can de downloaded from our free downloads page.

2. DVD ripping

There are many ways to convert video footage on a DVD-Video to other formats. Many of these methods are well known in the area of DVD ripping. They usually convert DVD to formats like MPEG-1 for VideoCD or DivX. Some of them are very elaborate and also involve selection of audio tracks and subtitles. Here we will demonstrate a very simple way aimed at own-recorded footage, so without copy protection mechanisms, multiple audio tracks, angles, subtitles and menus. The original version of VirtualDUB is not able to read MPEG-2. For this purpose the person using the nickname fccHandler designed a VirtualDUB, called VirtualDUB-MPEG2 version which is able to open MPEG-2 streams.

3. The steps

1. Install the DV codec

MS Windows contains a built in DV codec, but this cannot be used by VirtualDUB. You therefore need a third party DV codec. Download the one from the list mentioned above and install according to the instructions as supplied with the codec. If your DVD was recorded with AC-3 sound, you also need to install the AC3 filter.

2. Copy the material to your hard drive

Although this step is not absolutely necessary it is recommended to copy the footage to your hard drive, because it prevents that your DVD drive will be heavily used during the conversion process. Simply put the recorded DVD in your PC’s DVD drive, open the file explorer and browse to the folder VIDEO_TS on the DVD. You will find a number of files with the extension .IFO, .BUP and. VOB. The VOB files contain the actual video and audio. If you want to look for specific footage, you can open a VOB file in the Windows Media Player or a software DVD player like WinDVD or PowerDVD and see what footage is in the specific file. Simply copy the required VOB(s) to your hard drive.

3. Open your footage

Start up VirtualDUB-MPEG2. Open the required VOB file through the menu File->Open Video File. After pressing OK, a message will appear saying ”parsing ….”. This process will extract the MPEG-2 video plus audio from the file. After this is finished the first frame of the footage will show up in the preview window in VirtualDUB.

4. Establish export settings

Both video and audio need to be converted, so you want to fully process the streams. In the menu Video, enable Full processing mode. Now go into the Video menu again and select Compression. This will bring up a window in which you can select the video compression that you want. If the third party DV codec was installed properly, you should also find that in the list.

In the menu Audio also enable Full processing mode and select Compression. Depending on where you live select DV Audio -- NTSC (e.g. for USA) or DV Audio -- PAL (e.g. for Europe).

5. Export the footage

You are now ready to start the conversion. Press File and select Save as AVI.... Browse to the location where you want to save the file and assign a name to it. After pressing Save, VirtualDUB will start processing. This may take some time depending on the length of the footage and the power of your PC. At the end you will have your video and audio in a DV-AVI file, which should be easy to edit in your favorite video-editing program.

If you don’t like the idea of having a third party DV codec on your system, you can safely uninstall it after the conversion. The DV codec incorporated in Windows should also be able to handle the DV-AVI files that you created.