I am looking to capture a short clip off of a DVD or VHS for a
powerpoint presentation.

This requires a ".mov",".avi" or ".mpg" file format.

How can I do this?  I have both an apple with OSX and a WIndows XP
machine

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Request for Question Clarification by rico-ga on 02 Sep 2002 09:30 PDT

Hi r2,

I could you a general overview, but it'd probably be more
helpful/useful for you in the long run if I ask you to clarify a few
things first...

- Does your PC (the Windows XP system) currently have a video cature
card installed? What's the make/model?

- Ditto on the Mac. 

- Are you going to need to edit any video clips you capture?

regards,

rico

Hi r2,

Rico asked you a couple of key questions, they will make a difference
if you want to create a full professional video presentation. If you
just want to include short video clips in a PowerPoint presentation
there are some workarounds that will let you do that. I will focus
here on the Windows XP system as that's what I am familiar with.

As you are using PowerPoint you should look at Microsoft's new(ish)
tools. Microsoft Producer is a free tool for PowerPoint 2002 users
(note it's an 11.8Mb download). Microsoft Producer includes the
ability to capture audio and video from your PC. If you have a
recognised Video capture card it will use this. If you don't then you
can use the 'Screen Capture' capability to play your DVD and capture
the screen image. The resolution may not be too good but it will be
good enough for use in a PowerPoint presentation.

Microsoft Producer will also allow you to build time sequenced
presentations using images, HTMP pages, PowerPoint slide, audio and
video. It may be a better tool for your purpose than using video in
native PowerPoint.

Note that Microsoft Producer requires PowerPoint 2002, thought the
capture files can, I believe, be used as avi files with earlier
versions of PowerPoint. You might also want to look at the Microsoft
Windows Media Encoder as a way of capturing video in Windows Media
format (I have not yet used this so can't comment).

If screen capture doesn't work for you and you don't already have a
Video Capture card then you'll find an excellent introduction to Video
capture at http://www.videoguys.com/started.html and an up to date
comparison of current cards at http://www.videoguys.com/vidcap.htm I
found this source and lots of other material using a Google search
with keywords: video capture dvd.

Sources:

Microsoft Producer
http://www.microsoft.com/office/powerpoint/producer/

Microsoft Windows Media Encoder
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/wm7/encoder.asp

VideoGuys
http://www.videoguys.com/

Have fun with your presentation

bobjanes-ga

My fellow Researcher bobjanes has, as he notes, given some good
"workaround" information that should help you out if you prefer to use
Producer or want to use still image screen captures from video.  You
may also find the following links helpful...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/howto/movies/starting.asp

A 3-page "How To" article for Windows Movie Maker

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/officexp/video.asp#action

Step-by-step instructions for importing video into PowerPoint
presentations

http://www.ulead.com/learning/video7/page3.htm

A general tutorial about getting video into a computer.

I try not to give customers information that they weren't looking for
:-), but a couple of other comments that you might find useful, since
I'm in the business of creating "multimedia" presentations for clients
and video-enhanced PowerPoint is one of the things I do.

If this is a one-shot deal for you, you might find it as
cost-effective, faster, and certainly easier, to hire a professional
in your area to do the work for you. Most video production houses can
quickly and easily transfer video to digital format for you. Even many
photo shops offer the capability (look for vendors offering video
transfer services in your Yellow Pages).

And finally, not knowing what clips you intend to use, or for what
purpose, I should still note a caveat I regularly give to my clients.
Commercial DVDs and/or VHS tapes are copyrighted, and using clips from
commercial works may violate that copyright (in fact you may find it
difficult, if not impossible, to extract a clip from a commercial DVD
in any case) This is less of a legal --while still an ethical -- issue
if the clip will only be used for internal presentations. From
experience, I can tell you it can become a major legal issue if the
presentation is intended for a trade show, seminar, or other public
presentation. Again, only advice. Please take it in the spirit
intended.

regards,

rico