Importing from a DVD-RW

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Importing from a DVD-RW

I saw a similar question posed a few times previously about transferring video from a DVD into FCE and noticed folks saying it wasn't an option without downloading some sort of software.

However, I recall back in October of last year, editing a project for a friend of mine who gave me a DVD-RW filled with raw material. At least, that's how I remember doing itI. Am I mistaken? Can FCE import footage from a DVD-RW instead of a DVD or DVD-R? Or does it even make a difference?

I ask this because I'm about to do the same thing. My camcorder doesn't have a firewire port and I need to somehow get the footage off of an 8MM onto something that FCE can read. As I said, looking around at the posts, I noticed going with a DVD probably won't do me any good. So, could I do it if I moved things from the 8MM to the DVD-R, then from the DVD-R into FCE?

Any help is MUCH MUCH appreciated. Thanks a ton

Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Nov 21, 2008 4:17 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Bolin Author

Level 1

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Nov 21, 2008 4:21 PM in response to Eric Bolin

My apologies in that last paragraph I meant move from an 8MM to a DVD-RW, then from the DVD-RW onto FCE.

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Answer 2

Nov 21, 2008 4:23 PM in response to Eric Bolin

Hello and welcome to the forum.

FCE works with QuickTime files which can be stored on DVD media in the same way it can be stored on your hard drive. It does not work with DVDs created for playback on television. You need to transcode those MPEG files to QT with software such as DVDxDV. ( http://dvdxdv.com/)

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Answer 3

Nov 22, 2008 12:53 AM in response to Eric Bolin

What is an 8MM ?

Do you mean an 8mm cine camera or a Video 8, Hi-8 or Digital 8 camera?

If you are specific we may be able to help but at the moment we don't know what you mean.

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Answer 4

MartinR

Level 7

25,334 points

Nov 22, 2008 8:42 AM in response to Eric Bolin

Eric,

DVD-R and DVD-RW are simply different types of DVD media. It's what's recorded on them, and how the recording was done, that makes the difference. Your friend may have given you a DVD-RW that had QuickTime video files on it that would have imported just fine into FCE. Had it been a playable DVD (one you stick in a DVD player to watch) then you would have had to convert the video to DV or Apple Intermediate Codec before you could have used it in FCE (many people use MPEG Streamclip software to do this conversion).

When you say 8MM, if you mean that you have Video8 or Hi8 material (both are recorded on 8mm videotape) then you need to convert that to DV if you want to edit it in Final Cut. To convert it, you need either an analog-digital converter like the Canopus ADVC-110 or a miniDV camcorder that supports analog-digital passthrough (which you would use as the converter). You would connect your 8mm camcorder's analog audio/video out to the inputs of the converter; and connect the converter to your Mac via FireWire.

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