First, why I needed to know this.

I have clients from time to time who have self produced videos on a DVD they would like to add to their websites, either progressively streaming off of their hosting server or through one of the myriad of video sharing sites (ala YouTube, Blip.TV, Vimeo etc.)

In the past, when we were a PC only web shop it frankly was easy.  Rip the VOB file you need as an AVI (with something as simple as Pinnacle), convert to FLV and that was it basically.

However on the MAC (Specifically MacBook Pro with Mac OS X 10.5.6) I found it a bit more of a challenge without investing in more apps for a purpose that doesn’t come up all that often.  Let’s face it, I’m cheap.  It shouldn’t be that hard.

Let me be clear, I’m not talking about commercial, copyrighted material. These are in-house production quality videos that my client,  XYZ company, shot of someone using their auger system, of making a cappuccino, or whatever.

That said, I found this solution in bits and pieces on a various forums  and was able to create my own work-flow that I will now share.

The Problem

Basically with DVD video you have files called VOB (video object files).  You may have several VOB files on the same disc if you have chapters of several smaller videos on the same disc.  OK, that said,  the problem is getting iMovie, let’s say, to recognize a VOB.  It won’t.  Hence you cannot import it. The image to the right show these files.  Notice the dark color of the files.  When you look at them in iMovie they will be grayed out, meaning they are not a valid file type for iMovie as such.

The Solution

The key then is simply getting the VOB file in a format iMovie will import.  It’s actually very simple.  You just need to make a disk image (.dmg).  Here’s how.

1. Insert your DVD
2. Open the Disk Utility (Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility)
3. Your DVD should show up in the upper left hand corner under yo other drives (HDD, any external, etc.)
4. Highlight it and choose New Image from the toolbar.
5. I used the default settings in the drop down and save it to the desktop (or wherever you choose)
6. Click SAVE.

Let Disk Utility chew on that a few minutes and presto-chango you have a disk image (.dmg) of your DVD.

Now, with iMovie open, you have to “mount” the disk image by double-clicking on the .dmg file (the disk image file) you created.

Next  iMovie’s IMPORT window will pop-up and you will notice that the disk image is recognized as ….a camera!  How about that.

Now choose IMPORT ALL and get to editing once it is in iMovie.  That’s it!

Assuming you know how to export, you’ll end up with a .M4V file that can be uploaded and let  YouTube, Vimeo, et al, do the rest.

One note: Occasionally  you may get errors when importing and from my experience this is most often because the disk I am working from is a bad/damaged copy.

Hope this is helpful in getting you going the right direction.

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DISCLAIMER: Note that this is relating my own experience using iMovie 08 and this process.  This may or may not work with other versions of iMovie.  Be sure and check the comments as several others have tried other solutions with other versions of iMovie and found work-arounds.  The idea for this was a collaborative place to share ideas.

As with 99% of what I know about technology, here is a great tutorial from my own learning experience on how to convert  .MOV audio to an .MP3 file.

First why did I need to do this?

I’m using a program for recording Skype phone calls called Call Recorder by Ecamm. The options for saving calls is either Uncompressed, 2:1 Compression or AAC Compression. The default is AAC which produces a file with the extension .mov. The initial tests using AAC Compression produced very clean recordings of my phone interviews and I was pleased. But there was one issue.  To include them into a podcast series I am developing along with another new web project (IAMA), I needed the Call Recorder files in MP3 format.

So I began looking at how to get the MOV converted to MP3.

Option one: purchase QT Pro or other conversion programs for $29.00+.  That may be where you want to go.  But I also found another way.

Option two: using an available AppleScript and the built in QuickTime AppleScript tools I could convert the .mov to .mp3 for free and get the same results, albeit one or two extra steps.   Plus I learned something new.  So here goes. It’s very simple, really.

1. Get the AppleScript

Here it is:

set saveRef to (choose file name with prompt “Save audio track as AIFF” default name “untitled.aiff”)
tell application “QuickTime Player”
export movie 1 to saveRef as AIFF
end tell

Copy the script.

2. Open your .MOV file in QuickTime

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3. Choose QuickTime Player/Services/Script Editor/Make New AppleScript

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4. Paste the AppleScript into the window like so:

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5. Choose RUN then follow the prompts to name the file and pick a location then SAVE.  Next choose RUN in the top window.

Pick a place you can find it easily like Desktop.  You’ll be importing it into iTunes.

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6. Now it will export the .mov  file as an .aiff file to the location you chose.

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7. Now open iTunes, import the file to your music library and then choose Advanced/Create MP3 Version like you might normally.

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Now you have two versions in your iTunes library, one .aiff and one .mp3 and you saved $29.00!

Hope this helps you along the way!

Last year when I switched to the Mac platform however the options were slim to none in this arena. I tried several apps that were supposed to work but again, I got wonky results.

But, finally I have found a recording app that really does what it says it will, and it is called simply Call Recorder from a company called Ecamm.

Wow.  It is SIMPLE to use.  When you log onto your Skype account it starts up in a little side window.  When you are ready to start recording just click on the record button and that’s it.  When you’re finished, press stop.  The result is a very nice, crisp, natural sounding .mov audio file.  I’ve only tested it a few times but one conversation was 20 minutes and there was absolutely no out-of-sync issues.  FWIW,  I chose Medium Quality setting and the quality was superb!

However what makes this even better is the ability to also record video chats via Skype with PIP option as well.  Haven’t tried that yet, though.

They give you a fully functional 7 day trial which is also great (for those like me that’ve been burnt a few times with these type apps).

How much?  That’s even better: $14.95.  Wow again!

Thank you Ecamm for this great product!