Ah yes, as the saying goes: “If I had a dime for every time I got asked this question.”

And I certainly understand the frustration.

Prospects and clients think they are doing the right thing to get their video assets transferred DVD, to a safe permanent digital format.

And they have.  But the issue gets complicated when they also want to then edit the footage on that DVD further.

The calls usually center around the prospect or client wanting to import the mpeg2 files into a non-linear editing system.

When answering, I like to use the following analogy: Think of a video DVD being like a wedding cake.

And think of the native mpeg2 files being the layers of the wedding cake underneath.  When asking whether you can access the mpeg2 files for further editing, it’s like asking the chef to take the wedding cake back into the kitchen and delivering to you clean cake layers.

It just ain’t gonna happen.

The only way you can use the video on the DVD as source material is to play it out again from a DVD player as an analog composite or component signal and re-digitizing it into a non-linear editing program.

But that of course if not ideal because you’ve gone from analog to digital to analog to digital — unnecessary extra compressions that will degrade the signal.

Here’s why you can’t just drag the mpeg2 files from your video DVD:

If you click on the directory of a video DVD, you will see there is a video-TS folder.  This is the finished “wedding cake.”  (the audio-TS file you may see is a dormant file structure from back when it was thought DVDs would be used for music, but that really hasn’t evolved.)

Yes, dig further and you see .vob files, which yes, are a type of mpeg2 format file, but even these are not clean “cake” layers. These are mpeg2 files with other data wrapped with them.

So bottom line, a DVD-video has files that contain a lot of other embedded information that allows the video DVD to work as more than just a data storage disc.

Now, with that all said, ok, ok, I know, yes, there are indeed ways of pulling out the mpeg2 files.  Doing so involves that somewhat shady term, “ripping.”

There are indeed ripping programs out there, some legitimate, and some not so.

Understand that as a licensed replicator, we at Video Labs are very reluctant to utilize ripping software.  Such programs are often used by “hackers” to violate copyright restrictions, and anyone who has worked with us knows that we do our best to protect copyrighted material from being “ripped off.”  (Also, check out this link about the legal repurcussions of ripping under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act http://tinyurl.com/6u7hf)

The other thing about ripping is that the mpeg2 video files taken are indeed already compressed.  So, if the source material (i.e. SD or HD tape or high-end digital file) is still available, (which it should be if rights are truly clear) we suggest that it’s better to just go back to the original for further editing.

So there are exceptions of course, but you can understand our skepticism when we hear that the original material or the edited sequence, is not available.

Hmmmm . . .

So, let’s review the options when considering transferring video material to digital:

If you are transferring a final product that will not require more editing, then making a DVD video is an excellent way to go.  And we can certainly do that for you.

But if the material is likely to used as source material for further editing, then we suggest having it be converted to a Quicktime or .avi file (uncompressed or perhaps slightly compressed, depending on the eventual future need) and stored as data either on a DVD-R or a portable hard drive.  Using the above analogy, what that does is make basic clean “cake layers” which can easily be loaded into a non-linear editing program.

As always, I welcome your comments below.

(Thanks also to Hugh Robertson of our Video Labs’ multimedia dept. for the fact-checking and input he provided for this article.)

If you found this article of interest, you might also like to read: The Challenges with Captions and Subtitles for DVD http://tinyurl.com/5vgp9m

Remember to contact me dryan@videolabs.net or 301-217-000 x104 for all of your media replication and related multimedia needs.

Follow me on Twitter www.Twitter.com/DRMediaSolution for steep short-term discounts and other news and info.