Hello,

I need to capture some footage on a DVD into Final Cut, but am not sure how to go about it. Do I need a special capture card (black magic?), or can I capture straight from the DVD drive on my MacPro?

Can anyone describe their process?

Thanks,

James

While you could capture directly into FCP using various methods there's a far easier way that doesn't require any special hardware. MPEG Streamclip. Download that free app from Squared-5 and use that to copy-off the entire disk or just a segment.

This assumes of course that the DVD isn't copy-protected and/or you have permission from the content owner to rip it's content.

I archive multicamera live switched convention video feeds to a DVD recorder. When I'm called upon to deliver keynote speaker DVDs, I do as Robert suggests and break out QuickTime compliant files for editing in FCP using MPEG Streamclip. Do a Google search, it's a free download (and worth millions of times what it costs... <wink>)

I'll also vote for Streamclip. Just last week our PR dept received a DVD they wanted to pull some clips from. I just exported the whole disk as DV and went on my lunch break. Afterwards it was really simple to pull the clips they wanted and do a quick edit.