As an editor, we're constantly looking for high quality footage to work with. Well, high quality movies and deleted scenes, which are hardly ever HD but we make due. Some people download torrents or download videos directly from YouTube. Others (like me) rip them from DVDs/Blu-Rays. Which way is better? Well, in terms of quality, I highly suggest ripping them from Blu-Rays. It's safer than downloading them from shady websites and possibly giving your computer a virus. Not only that, some websites either had to shut down or take down the film you're looking for due to copyright claims, and it's illegal to download films even though I never heard of anyone getting into trouble for it (yet). So to be a bit safer, I just rip mine from Blu-Rays or DVDs. If you wish to know to do this, read the step-by-step article below:
Download MakeMKV
Obtain an external Blu-Ray Player that can connect to your computer. example
Open the MakeMKV app and insert the disk.
Use this link as a guide to start ripping your disk (online help)
PLEASE TAKE NOTE on the times of each file MakeMKV reveals. Find the file that has the same time frame as the movie itself (roughly an hour and a half). You can also rip deleted scenes, but you have to watch the DVD first and see the length of the video and find that file in MakeMKV. This prevents you from ripping the entire DVD and waiting all day (not kidding) for your footage. If you just rip the movie itself you'll only wait maybe an hour or two. I know this sounds tedious, but this will save you more time in the long run.
After you get the footage you want from MakeMKV, it's possible you might need to convert them for your editor to work. Before you do this, open your editor and try to import your MKV footage. If it fails to be imported, then you would need to convert it so it could be accepted into your editor. To do this, download iSkySoftiMediaConverter or iSkySoftVideoConverter (you may have to pay to register it and get full access but I promise you it's worth it).
You can choose any codec you want (,avi, mp4, mov, etc.) but make sure you choose the settings that doesn't resize the footage or lower it's quality. Check out this link for more details about the program and how to use it. This process will take more time (maybe 30 min to an hour) depending on which settings you choose
Check the quality of your video. If it's to your satisfaction, you can delete your MLV file to save room on your computer or hard drive, and start editing with your new video file!
Bear in mind that not ALL videos will be HD. The quality depends on your DVD. All Blu-Rays come out beautifully, but others such as Sinbad won't come out like that because it's not Blu-Ray. Always take note on your DVD's resolution settings (HD, 720p, 1080p) before you start ripping them. Now, if ripping them seems too long and a waste of time, you can always fish for torrents and download them. I use Torrent RT Free from the Microsoft store. It's really helpful when looking for torrents, and you can even find Blu-Ray files on there. Again, not all videos are perfect because they have been converted before you download them, but a lot are still good enough to edit with. So there you go, two different ways to get the movie files you want. Any questions can be addressed below or you can email me. Until next post, later!