How to edit a DVD movie with Windows Movie Maker

If you want to edit a DVD movie with Windows Movie Maker or import several DVD clips into Mac iMovie to build a new DVD, but you get frustrated with the DVD format, this guide may help you solve the problem.

Before you get started, it will be helpful if you learn something about the DVD, WMM and iMovie.
General DVDs have CSS copy protection in MPEG-2 or VOB format.
(Windows) Windows Movie Maker supports WMV, AVI and MPG video files.
(Mac) iMovie accepts MOV and MPEG4 video files.

This guide includes three parts;

1. How to put DVD movie into Windows Movie Maker.
2. How to add DVD clips to Apple Mac iMovie
Tip: How to convert MSWMM file to other video formats.

Part1. How to put DVD movie into Windows Movie Maker

Step1. To put a DVD movie into Windows Movie Maker, you have to rip your DVD to WMV or AVI video first, and then you can load it into Windows Movie Maker. I’d prefer using Aimersoft DVD Ripper to do this. You can get this program at: http://www.aimersoft.com/dvd-ripper.html Then install and run it, put your DVD disc into your DVD drive, click “Load DVD” to locate your DVD file and import it, or load it by clicking “Load File” to add DVD IFO file. (This DVD Ripper can rip copyright protected DVD movies, but you should remember that it’s illegal rip DVD for any business purposes)



Step2. Select output format and subtitle
After you load the DVD files, click the format drop-down list to select “WMV – Windows Media Video (*.wmv)” or “AVI – Audio Video Interleaved (*.avi)” as the output format. A regular DVD movie has multiple subtitles and audio tracks, and you can select the right one for you. If you just want a certain part of the DVD movie, you can click “trim” to cut the DVD movie. Just drag the timeline bar to set the start and end time, and then blue line will be the captured parts.




For advanced user, if you want to output higher quality video, click the “Settings” button to open the panel, here you can customize video bitrate, audio bitrate, resolution, framerate, etc. Higher bitrate will result in bigger file size.

Step3. Start to convert
After the above steps, you just need to click “Start” and wait for the conversion to be finished. It takes about 40 minutes to convert a common two hours DVD movie.

Step4. Edit DVD with Windows Movie Maker (optional)
Run Windows Movie Maker, in the “Movie Task” bar, click “Add Video” to browse your computer and located the converted files, and then you can start to make personal movies.



Tips: Many users may wonder how they can convert Windows Movie Maker file (*.MSWMM) to other video format. Actually, A *.MSWMM file is not a video file. It is a project file of Movie Maker (more like a record file). You have to open this file in Windows Movie Maker and save the movie to your computer: Go to Movie Tasks bar > Finish Movie > Save to my computer. After that you will have a WMV file which can be converted to another video format or burned to DVD.


Part2. How to add DVD clips into Apple iMovie
iMovie is similar to Windows Movie Maker, it supports MOV and MP4 video, so you just need to convert your DVD movie to the right format. Aimersoft DVD Ripper has a Mac Version which supports both Mac OS Tiger and Leopard; you can download it for free from here:
http://www.aimersoft.com/dvd-ripper-for-mac.html
The operation steps are similar to the windows version, so I will not bother to repeat everything here.



When the conversion is finished, you can run the iMovie, build a new project, and then drag the converted files to the work space to make personal files.



When the task is finished, In the Menu bar, Click "File" -> "Export" and save it as QuickTime video, then you can convert it to other video format or burn it to DVD. If you need detailed info, here is a step by step guide about how to export iMovie project to QuickTime.

New iPod touch 2G guide

A big surprise turn up at 9th Sep for all iPod fans – the new iPod touch 2G andNano 4G released. It’s really lucky and exciting to get a new iPod Touch 2G. And in orderto help iPod users to learn more about it, I collected some information for this newiPod touch 2G guide. And it also includes how to enjoy mulitmedia on you new iPodtouch 2G such as download free video to iPod, convert DVD to iPod andtransfer music video from iPod to iPod and iPod to computer.

Prize:

As expected, the biggest news with Apple's second-generation iPod Touch is its drasticallyreduced price. The 8GB version of the iPod Touch 2G is now $229 (down from $299), the 16GBis $299 (down from $399), and the 32GB is $399 (down from $499).

Size :

The new iPod touch 2G is smaller and lighter than the original, 3.5 inch touch-screen,measuring 4.1 by 2.4 by 0.33 inches and weighing 4.05 ounces. With its rounded edges,flush display and curved, more compact design, the iPod touch 2G is promised to be morecomfortable to hold and more portable than ever.

Game:

iPod touch 2G users can choose from hundreds of gaming titles such as "Spore Origins" and"Scrabble" from Electronic Arts, and "Real Football 2009" from Gameloft available oniTunes or directly through the App Store application on the iPod touch. The App Storeworks over Wi-Fi, enabling users to browse, purchase and wirelessly download applications.

Battery and “Genius”:

The new iPod touch 2G promises up to 36 hours of music playback or six hours of videoplayback on a single charge. It also works with the new iTunes 8 Genius feature, allowingusers to automatically create playlists while on the go. These playlists can also besynchronized with iTunes 8 servers.

Others features in new iPod touch 2G:

Build-in accelerometer for casual listening; more convenient volume controll button on theedge; the newest improvements “Nike+iPod” which can help you track your workouts byslipping a Nike+iPod sensor into you Nike+ shoes.

Then, Let’s talk about how to enjoy multimedia on your New iPod touch 2G

Part 1: How to free download video to your new iPod Touch 2G

I always download free video and music from Youtube and limewire. Youtube streaming videos are all FLV formats, so you need to play the video with aflash player programe on your computer, and if you want to put them on your new iPod touch2G, use a iPod video Converter to convert FLV to MP4 format.
I got this totally free Youtube downloader, just enjoy.

http://www.flash-on-tv.com/free-youtube-downloader.html

Limewire is a fast and popular freeware working on Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
Through the P2P (peer-to-peer) network, you can free download various video and audiofiles by keywords searching. Most of its video formats is MPEG, so convert them andtransfer to your iTunes then iPod touch 2G. http://www.limewire.com/

Part 2: How to convert DVD to iPod Touch 2G

The new iPod touch 2G can only play MP4 and H.264 video, but DVD movie is MEPG, MPEG-2video and CSS protected, so you need an application to convert DVD to MP4 video, then syncit to iPod touch 2G via iTunes.


To complete Part 1 and Part 2 I recommend you iPod studio pack
which include a DVD to iPod converter and video to iPod converter.You can get familiar with the apps by using this detailed step by step guide:

http://www.aimersoft.com/tutorial/download-dvd-pdf-youtube-videoto-ipod.html

Part 3: How to convert files back to your computer and transfer between iPod

Because iTunes prevents you from copying music or video from the iPod touch 2G back tocomputer, so you need a special tool to do that. Here are the free applications that cando the job:

Aimersoft: http://www.aimersoft.com/ipod-copy-manager.html

Sharepod: http://www.sturm.net.nz/website.php?Section=iPod+Programs&Page=SharePod

iDump: http://www.download.com/iDump/3000-2169_4-10407429.html

and then re-add it to your iTunes library and sync it to other iPod touch 2G.

How to convert DVD to other video formats and edit DVD

This article will show you how to convert DVD to other video formats and edit DVD; it includes the following four sections:
1 How to convert DVD to AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4, MP3, FLV, MOV, etc?
2 How to edit, combine and crop DVD movies?
3 How to rip audio from DVD to MP3 for iPod nano, shuffle and other MP3 players?
4 How to put DVD clips on Youtube, Myspace?
5.How to put DVD to Windows Movie Maker

What you need is Aimersoft DVD Ripper; you can download it for free here:
http://www.aimersoft.com/dvd-ripper.html

If you want to rip DVD to AVI/MPEG/MP4/MOV/FLV/MP3 on Mac OS X such as Leopard, you can use Aimersoft DVD Ripper for Mac, it fully supports Intel processor and Power PC:
http://www.aimersoft.com/dvd-ripper-for-mac.html

Part 1. How to convert DVD to iPhone/iPod/PSP/Zune/Apple TV/Phone/Xbox/Zen/AVI/MPEG?

Step1. Insert your DVD disc into your DVD-Rom, then run the software, click "Load DVD" button and add the DVD file. You can also add DVD/IFO from your hard disk by clicking "Load File”



Step2. This software can convert DVD to various video formats such as MPEG-4, AVI, WMV, FLV, 3GP, VOB, etc. Click the "Format"drop down list to select a format. If you want to copy DVD to computer in 1:1 lossless quality, please select "Lossless DVD Copy (*.vob)".



If you don't know much about mobile players, just select a format according to the name of your mobile player. For example, if you want to copy DVD to the coming iPhone, just select "iPhone Video MPEG-4 (*.mp4)", and the default setting works great. If you want to customize the output video, you can click the "Settings" button next to the format field to open the Settings window and set video resolution, frame rate, bit rate, encoder, etc. See the figure below:



Step3. Select Subtitle and AudioRegular DVD movies usually have several subtitles such as English, French, German, etc. You can select one you prefer. You can also delete the subtitle by selecting "No Subtitle". Selecting Audio is the same.



After the above steps, click "Start" to start conversion.

Tips:If you want to copy DVD to iPod, this software has a free iPod Copy Manager; it can help you transfer the converted video to iPod directly without iTunes. Just connect your iPod to computer, click "Tools" -> "iPod Copy Manager", then you will see a pop up window (See the figure below), the left pane is the video and music list on your computer, the right pane is the file list on your iPod (you also can copy files from iPod to computer, it's useful if your computer crashes or you lose iTunes library), select the files you want to sync and click the right arrow button to finish the transfer.



For PSP, this software also provides a PSP Video Manager, click "Tool"-> PSP Video Manager, it fully supports all PSP firmware version (former 3.0 or 3.0 later), and the steps to transfer files to PSP is very similar.

Part2. How to edit, combine and crop DVD movie?

After you load the DVD file. If you want to cut the black edges of the DVD movie, you can click the "Crop” button, and then you will see a pop up windows (See the figure below). There is a frame in dashed line around the movie video; you can drag it to cut the black edges.



More over, you can click the Crop drop-down list to select a Crop model you prefer, for example: "Cut off top and bottom black edges". You can even type the number in the box to cut off black border accurately.
If you want to combine several DVD chapters into one file, on the main interface, there is a check box "Merge into one file", select it, then you will only get one output file instead of several files by chapters.
You can click the "Effect” button and customize the brightness, saturation, contrast, volume, etc (See the figure below). You can even apply special effects such as "Emboss", "Negative", "Old film" and "Gray" by selecting an effect from drop-down list.



Part3. How to extract audio from DVD to MP3 for iPod nano, shuffle, Zen and other MP3 players?

This software can extract and rip DVD audio track to MP3, WMA, WAV, AC3, AAC, M4A and so on, if you want to rip the music from DVD to your MP3 players such as iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, Creative Zen, Zune and so on. After you load your DVD movie, in the main interface, select the output format as MP3, and then start conversion. If you want to get better music quality, you can select a higher audio bit rate and sample rate in the settings window.After the conversion, drag the audio file to iTunes library, connect your iPod nano or iPod shuffle to your computer, and click iTunes "File -> Sync iPod", OK. If you don't have iTunes, you can download it for free from Apple official site
http://www.apple.com/itunes

For PSP, just copy the music to the "Music"folder on your memory stick.For Zune, drag the music to the Zune software, and click "start sync".

Part4. How to put DVD clips on Youtube, Myspace?

This software can convert DVD to FLV format for Youtube, Myspace and other video download sites. So you can share your own DVD clips with friends. After your movie is imported, select FLV as the output video format. Then log in Youtube, Myspace upload your video. But a whole DVD movie might be very large. By default, this software will convert the whole DVD to one file; if you just want several chapters of the DVD, you can just select the chapters you want to convert (you can preview the DVD clip before converting it). Or you can click "Trim" button to open the trim panel, drag the trim bar to set start time and end time to convert a clip from your movie. You can also type the exact time values in the Set Start Time field and Set End Time field to trim video.



Part5. How to put DVD to Windows Movie Maker?

To put a DVD movie into Windows Movie Maker, you have to rip your DVD to WMV or AVI video first(Windows Movie Maker supports WMV, AVI and MPG video files.), and then you can load it into Windows Movie Maker. I'd prefer using Aimersoft DVD Ripper to do this. just load the DVD files, click the format drop-down list to select "WMV – Windows Media Video (*.wmv)" or "AVI – Audio Video Interleaved (*.avi)" as the output format. select the suitable subtitles and audio tracks then click "Start" to start conversion
Then Run Windows Movie Maker, in the "Movie Task" bar, click "Add Video"to browse your computer and located the converted files, and then you can start to make personal movies.



Tips: Many users may wonder how they can convert Windows Movie Maker file (*.MSWMM) to other video format. Actually, A *.MSWMM file is not a video file. It is a project file of Movie Maker (more like a record file). You have to open this file in Windows Movie Maker and save the movie to your computer: Go to Movie Tasks bar > Finish Movie > Save to my computer. After that you will have a WMV file which can be converted to another video format or burned to DVD.

Note: Rip official DVD movie is illegal, so make sure you are authorized before you rip them.