saving dvd clip on the computer

[katb]

Does anyone know how I can save a dvd clip onto my computer so that I can send it in an email message. I've got Windows XP and I've so far tried using real player and windows media player but whilst the dvd plays OK, I can't save it to my computer. It's only 4 mins long and before anyone asks, it's an interview with Sean Bean on GMTV.(I know)

[Martin]

Kat

what format is the clip?

If it is a proper DVD then you can use something like DVDFab Express. you can find it here
http://www.dvdidle.com/download.htm it's a free programme.

[katb]

I don't know what you mean by format of the disk. It was recorded on my dvd recorder which I then finalized. It has other things on the disk in different chapters, but I only want the interview. I'll try downloading from the link you sent me to see if that works. Thanks, Martin.

[katb]

Thanks Martin, that worked a treat. I've sent the clip.

[katb]

oops spoke too soon. The email wouldn't send because my server said it was too big. It's only a 4 min video!! Would it help if I zipped it do you think?

[DavidBatty]

4 minutes of DVD quality video can be quite large, you could save it in another format or with more compression to reduce the file size. Your existing file might contain 8 Megabits of information per second of video which would make it a very large file.

Simply look at the file size in Windows Explorer to see what size it is. You will then know how much you have to compress the file to send it.

Zipping a file won't help much because the format the file is saved in is already a compressed file so the gains will be minimal, you will achieve more by changing the format of the saved file.

[katb]

Thanks, David, I've looked at the file and it is 128MB in VOB file format opens with Power DVD. What sort of format can I send it in so that the other person can open it?

[DavidBatty]

To give you an idea of how big that file is, you should be looking to reduce it to more like 4, 5 or 6 megabytes in total to ensure it passes through email systems. This is a massive reduction in size from 128MB to 5MB but it is needed if you are going to send it via email.

You could save it in Realformat or some other lossy format which will reduce the quality and the size, it is not possible to reduce the size of that file by anything other than slight without reducing the quality.

You might not be happy with the resulting quality when you have compressed the video enough to send via email.

Go to www.download.com and look for programs that convert video from one format to another, when you select the format to be converted to in these types of programs you will be given an estimated file size. You could also go to www.real.com and download their free encoder which will dramatically reduce the file size.

[katb]

Thanks, I'll try that and get back to you.

[MjO]

Kat,

DVD Ripping isn't I'm afraid for the 'Fainthearted' and your best chance if you must really do it the way you intend, is to convert the Video Object(VOB) to an AVI, this will provide excellent Video/Sound at a greatly reduced size (700mB ~= 2hrs, so this is about 6mB/Min, so in your case it will be about 24mB for your clip) you can then attach/encode to email(ISP's dont like this and will keep an eye on you). If it was me, I would pop it on a CD/DVD and send it in the Post! A Google Search will provide many such encoders with a search on 'VOB to AVI' you will get any number of VOB to AVI/VCD/SVCD/DivX encoders etc.
I wish you luck in your endeavours ...

MjO