I have a PC & a Tivo. I tivo'd a football game & burned it to a DVD. I
would like to know how take the DVD & burn it to my PC Laptop(Dell
Inspiron 1150-1gb ram-3.0 something processor-160 gb hard drive-). I
would then like to convert this game to an AVI or WMV & edit it from
there. I would like a step-by-step cookbook type guide to doing this.
How do I do this?

Dear dudester123,

I will try to deliver step-by-step instructions so you can convert
your DVD as you desire. My recommendations are based upon my own
practical experiences.

First, you should download DVDx. It is free (and legal) software, made
especially for converting DVD files to other formats. I use it myself,
and I must say that it is both reliable and easy to use. You can
download DVDx, version 2.5.1., here:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=72208

Once you have done that, install the software on the computer system
you are planning to use for converting and editing the video file.

Now insert the DVD which you'd like to convert into a WMV or AVI video
into the DVD drive of that computer.

Then, start DVDx. Click "File" in the top menu, and then choose "Open
DVD Root". In the window that opens, choose your DVD drive by
double-clicking, and then single-click the folder "VIDEO_TS" from your
DVD. Now, click "OK".

The "Select Title" screen appears. Most likely, there will be only one
title displayed, so simply click "Select".

Now, you get the "Input Settings" screen. Don't do anything here, just click "OK".

Once you have done that, define the output settings. Of the menu
buttons in the lower half of the DVDx screen, click the 3rd from the
right (the one with the image of a piece of film on it). You will have
to define several things here.

- Choose the output format for your file. In the upper left, there is
a pull-down box. Among others, you will also find "AVI" and "WMV" in
it.

- If you choose WMV, the next thing to define are the "Export
Settings" on the right. Enter the resolution of your choice. Higher
resolution brings better optical results, but conversion will take
longer (this is also true for conversion to other formats). I guess
you are located in North America, so you'd certainly prefer NTSC
resolution. Therefore, I recommend that you enter as resolution values
either 720 x 480 (for higher quality and a bigger file) or 352 x 240
(for lower quality and a smaller file).
For "Zoom", choose "Full". At "Max frame", click the "Full" button. At
"Volume don't exceed", choose "Infinite". Finally, click the "Apply"
button.

- If you choose AVI, most of the procedure is identical. However,
you'll have to take care of some things in the "AVI specific" box on
the left. In the lower pull-down menu in that box, choose "XviD MPEG-4
Codec". From my own experiences, I prefer that setting because it
produces AVI videos in good quality that are not too big. And in the
upper pull-down menu, choose "Use Lame", if that is not already set by
default.

Back on the main screen, click the 2nd button from the right (with the
yellow folder symbol) and enter a destination where you'd like to
store your new file. Confirm with "OK".

Then, press the button on the far right, with the big red point. The
conversion process will start. Warning: It may take quite a while,
depending on the length of your video and the quality settings you
chose.

That is all. After some hours, you will have a AVI or WMV file which
can edit as you wish.

I hope that these instructions will help. If not, don't hesitate to
ask for further clarification.

Best regards,
Scriptor

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Request for Answer Clarification by dudester123-ga on 25 Sep 2006 00:42 PDT

excellent, it worked, however, there was a problem with the video, it
moved too fast, like a black & white charlie chapin movie, but the
audio seemed fine. What causes this, is there a parameter I can
adjust?

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Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 25 Sep 2006 09:32 PDT

That is very strange. I never encountered this problem (and I have
worked on hundreds of video files), but I will see if I can find a
solution for this unusual problem.

Scriptor

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Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 25 Sep 2006 09:41 PDT

Here is a possible solution: When on the "Input Settings" screen, have
a look at the "Output Frame Rate" box on the right. Be sure to choose
"23.976 (NTSC)" (for North America, that is) from the pull-down menu,
and below it, click the "Force 24Hz" option. According to what I have
read, this solved the problem of videos being too fast in serveral
cases.

Scriptor

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Request for Answer Clarification by dudester123-ga on 27 Sep 2006 12:05 PDT

Okay, that worked. Now how do I edit the AVI file?

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Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 30 Sep 2006 09:08 PDT

Dear dudester123,

With all due respect: Your original question was about converting the
video, not about editing. Since I obviously answered the orginal
question at your satisfaction, may I suggest that you post additional
questions seperately?

Best regards,
Scriptor