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OK... Help me get started (Mac editing)

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I just bought a 17" iMac G5 1.6GHZ 1GB Ram 80 GB HD... I'd like to start toying around with some decent editing in the near future. (piecing new music, dialogue, cutting and inserting video type stuff)

As far as I understand I start by ripping a DVD using Mac the Ripper, Mux the ac-3 and m2v with ffmpgx... then what, editing?

How about some editing software advice? Expense is a huge issue considering buying expensive things incorporates spending money that I do not have.
Are there some cheap alternatives to Final Cut Pro or Premiere? Spending a thousand is out of the question, but maybe 200-300... pushing 400 will hurt. Any advice would be much appreciated!

...and please be gentle.

Galatians 2: 20: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

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Sup, DAYV? Long time, man!

I'd love FCP, but really is unrealistic for me. I'd really like to make this like a small hobby rather than that kind on investment. The bulk of what I would want to do is make some family friendly edits (mostly language), and maybe toy around with altering movies to my liking. I don't need many bells and whistles... just the ability to modify voice tracks and cut/paste video. Would something like Final Cut Express do that for me?

Galatians 2: 20: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

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Coov,

With your cost limits (I understand those), I would recommend Final Cut Express. It has the same interface as FCP but can only work with the DV format. That should be fine for you learning how to edit. FCE is really a great bargain. It's how I learned the Final Cut interface after outgrowing iMovie, before I ended up shelling out the $$$ for FCP. Try getting an educational version if possible ($$$ savings). I use Apple's pro apps now, but really started my understanding of true editing with FCE.

My suggested workflow (inexpensive or free):

MacTheRipper: Rip VOB from DVD (one big muxed file that contains audio and video)

MPEG Streamclip: Convert ripped VOB to DV format

Final Cut Express: Load converted DV files, edit away

iDVD or whatever else you like: Authoring/Burning

Good luck. At full retail, that's around $300. That's a nice machine you've got and it will do great with what you're wanting to do. And, I'm still working on those scans. I swear...

You can go about your business. Move along, move along.

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Thanks, MoveAlong!

Does FCE convert the DV audio into 5.1 channels so I can edit the center channel as a voice track? If so, that would be all that I really need. (Should I assume that Pro would?)

I am starting to wonder if I should just screw around with iMovie till I can save up for FCP if I would be limited with the audio editing. Ebay has sold some FCP very reasonably priced. Is there anything I need to keep an eye out for if I go that route (versions to keep away from, missing software, demo versions... stuff like that)? I have already had a very bad experience with evilbay.

Thanks for your help!!!

Galatians 2: 20: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

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If you want to edit the 5.1 audio from a dvd in FC, then it gets a little trickier. Use MacTheRipper to demux (separate) the audio (.ac3) and the video (.m2v) files. Use MPEG streamclip to convert the .m2v to whatever format you need to edit (in FCE, it would be DV). Use mAC3dec to split the 5.1 .ac3 into individual mono aiff's. There will be 6 files (C, L, R, LS, RS, LFE). If you're only wanting to edit the center channel with dialog, then just load that track into FC with your video. Once you've finished your cut, encode your video to .m2v and export your audio channel to aiff. Using Compressor or A.Pack (older versions of FCP), rebuild your .ac3 surround file with your new edited center channel and the remaining untouched files. Once you have your edited .m2v and .ac3, author away. If you're wanting to do work with 5.1 audio you're really going to need FCP, either The Production Suite (FCP 4.5 HD), or Final Cut Studio (v5). Your machine should run 4.5 just fine, but I'd really check to see if it will run 5. Just check out the hardware requirements at Apple. Good luck and be careful buying expensive software on ebay. If it seems too good to be true...... If you can work the educational angle, there are some good deals there.

You can go about your business. Move along, move along.

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The Story of Star Wars
The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker

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Thanks for helping me out, man. I really appreciate it! You rock!

Galatians 2: 20: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

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any tips on using MPEG Steamclip? would would be the best settings? I've managed to get a copy of MPEG2 Conver for apple QT but i'm trying to convert a PAL DVD into DV files but the results are a bit jerky

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Originally posted by: bigrob
any tips on using MPEG Steamclip? would would be the best settings? I've managed to get a copy of MPEG2 Conver for apple QT but i'm trying to convert a PAL DVD into DV files but the results are a bit jerky


I use Cinematize for this process. And it reaps pretty good results!

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Hey,

I was wondering how you put the settings on Mac The Ripper to remove the Audio as well as all I seem to able to remove is Vob Files and I cant get the Audio files separetly.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Kev

Keep a little sunshine on your face!
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In version 2.6.6, you'll want to be in either "Title Only Extraction" or "Title - Chapter Extraction" mode. Click the "D" button (stands for demux), then click "Streams" button. That will slide a sidebar out of the window which gives you the options of which streams to choose. Only check the ones you want to extract. This will give you only what you want. It's in the manual, but it's not obvious when you're in the program.

You can go about your business. Move along, move along.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4962/nowplayingbannermasterzc2.jpg
The Story of Star Wars
The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker

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Thanks for the reply going to try that today!

Keep a little sunshine on your face!
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I can now rip the audio track its coming out as an MPEG track but Final Cut wont recognise it.

How do I convert it to a format that Final Cut will recognise?

Thanks again for the help!

Keep a little sunshine on your face!
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Ive just checked it to see what type of Audio it is and its showing as - MPEG.audio
Now Im not sure If im doign something wrong when Im taking it of or not.
Is there any where I could find a step by step idiot guide to ripping the audio just so I make sure Im doing it correct?

Keep a little sunshine on your face!
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This is the audio extension I think ".MPA"


Keep a little sunshine on your face!
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Try seeing if Quicktime Player can play the file. If it can, export to AIFF or WAV. Final Cut should work fine with either one of those. If Quicktime Player can't open it, re-rip the entire VOB with MacTheRipper -> Open VOB in MPEG Streamclip -> Demux to AIFF.

You can go about your business. Move along, move along.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4962/nowplayingbannermasterzc2.jpg
The Story of Star Wars
The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker

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Originally posted by: MoveAlong
Try seeing if Quicktime Player can play the file. If it can, export to AIFF or WAV. Final Cut should work fine with either one of those. If Quicktime Player can't open it, re-rip the entire VOB with MacTheRipper -> Open VOB in MPEG Streamclip -> Demux to AIFF.



Worked a treat, thanks again for being so patient and helping me over the last few days!

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I've been trying to split an AC-3 file into 6 mono AIFF's with no luck (using mac3dec). I click "Start" but it does nothing. Maybe it is related to error message when I try to simply convert to AIFF/WAV/whatever, which is "Could not open Sound Converter"?

Does anybody know what the problem is?
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Cade Skywalker said:

I've been trying to split an AC-3 file into 6 mono AIFF's with no luck (using mac3dec). I click "Start" but it does nothing. Maybe it is related to error message when I try to simply convert to AIFF/WAV/whatever, which is "Could not open Sound Converter"?

Does anybody know what the problem is?

i'm having a similar problem to this, though i'm not even getting that error. mac3dec seems to have broken in 10.5 (with the error above) and broken harder in 10.6 (with no error). can anybody suggest a replacement ac3 decoder?

thanks