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June 27, 2007

geekery

QuickTime+HandBrake=one happy Kate

Posted Jun. 27, ’07, 11:30 AM PT by Kate Marshall
Category | Geekery

QuicktimePlayer.pngAs a Mac-owner who uses a PC for work, there are times when I have wished that whatever I was doing on the PC, I could do on my MacBook instead. This week, when I started a project that requires me to transcribe or outline the content of several DVD-Rs. Each disc contains 2-4 video interviews (30-45 minutes long) but they’re dumped onto the dics as one big chapter.

PowerDVD doesn’t recognize the spacebar for pausing playback. Both it and Windows Media Player lack a graphical slider, found in iTunes, that lets you jump to different scenes. Because I have to watch some interviews before others, this is a necessary feature. It was increasinly obvious that my MacBook could somehow make this whole process easier.

The discs can play in my Mac’s DVD Player but I decided that a little work now would save me valuable time later. I ripped the videos via HandBrake so they’re now QuickTime-friendly. Now I can pause playback with one hand while taking notes with the other and jump to random points. Also, these files are iPod video-friendly, in case I need to take my work home with me. Even if I had just watched the movies in DVD Player, I think I’d still be better off.

This exercise also reiterated how great HandBrake is: Insert DVD, select the “HB-iPod” preset, and click “start.” Before long, I had a collection of MP4 files on my Mac’s hard drive, so I could watch/outline one interview while ripping another. I am crazy like a fox that way.


6 Comments

P said:

How about VLC? DVD playback with a slider bar. No need to rip.

June 27, 2007 12:53 PM
Michael Long said:

Handbrake is a great tool, but it's really too bad that Apple can't let us use iTunes to rip DVDs to our hard drive much the same as we do CDs.

The movie industry needs to realize that the piece of plastic that we call a DVD is nothing more than a semi-convenient delivery mechanism. The MOVIE is what I want to watch, and it shouldn't make any difference as to how I want to watch it--be it on my home theater, my subnotebook, or my iPod/iPhone.

June 27, 2007 1:44 PM
Kate Marshall Author Profile Page said:

re: VLC
The original discs wouldn't play in VLC either. Yeah, it was like that.

June 27, 2007 3:25 PM
Patrick said:

How long does it take to rip a whole DVD to your harddrive and which Mac do you have?

Thanks in advance

June 28, 2007 1:29 AM
tayker Author Profile Page said:

"Both it and Windows Media Player lack a graphical slider, found in iTunes, that lets you jump to different scenes."

I don't know what version of Media Player Kate used, but all the ones I've used have had graphical sliders. It also has a dual function "Next" button that will skip to the next scene or you can hold it down to FFWD through the current scene, if a person didn't want to use the slider directly above it.

June 28, 2007 2:57 AM
Jack said:

Very useful info

June 29, 2007 7:17 AM

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