New to macs and forums

I need to know how to transfer a home movie on a DVD to my mac? I just used a Sony DVD recorder to transfer old VHS's to DVDs, but when I put them in my mac, the DVDPlayer comes up and I can't find where the movie is, to put it on my hard drive to edit it in iDVD. Can you help me with this? I have last years iMovie & iDvd, not 09's. I used DVD-R and they worked to view the movies, but I couldn't see them on the hard drive to select them to import to iDVD. I then thought, I needed to use DVD-RW dvd's but that didn't work either. If I need a converter, what free one should I use? And, will it be intuitive? Just work when a DVD is put in the slot. I'd really appreciate any the help you can give me. Thanks in advance. Gayle

2 Things:

1) This sounds like DVD ripping, and I'm not sure if we are supposed to talk about this on these forums

2) I don't know of a way to take DVD media into iDVD.

I hope this is where it is suppose to be posted, I was directed to post here by a moderator. Ok, If iDVD isn't what I will be using to edit my home movies then I can? use iMovie? But how do I get them into iMovie?

These are Home Movies. They can rip them without an issue. It's commercial movies/store bought DVD's that are against the law to rip.

You don't want IDvd at least not at first. I take it you have iMovie?

Also what format are the movies in?

Hi dtravis7, Oh boy, I don't know what format they are in. I used the Sony dvd recorder, here is a link to the unit I used. I had a bunch of 8mm home movies and used my old camcorder to play them and rerecord onto dvd's, then I put the dvd into my mac and the dvd player opened immediately. I was able to watch them on it but, my issue is, I would like to load them onto my mac and be able to edit out all the hours of waste, put some music over parts and just make them more enjoyable for us to watch. I don't know how to get the dvd loaded on to my mac....do I need a certain software that will stop the DVD from playing and give me an option to save to HD? You know, like a flash drive does?


VRD-MC5 | DVDirect® DVD Recorder | Sony | Sony Style USA

I Posted this after your post above mine, so you can ignore this part. I left it in for future readers.

The first problem is to understand if your Mac is reading the disc. Does the Sony device require a 'completion' step? If not, and it is advertised as creating DVDs playable in DVD players, then the Mac should be able to read it. DVD Player should be able open it up, normally automatically. If it isn't automatic, use the File menu item "Open DVD Media..." which will allow you navigate to the video folder of the disc.

Does the DVD disc appear in the Finder when you insert it?

Click to expand...

Try Handbrake or possibly MPEG Streamclip to convert the clips.

iDVD isn't an editor in the sense that you don't edit video with it. You edit how a DVD will look and act. You already have the video ready for it.

Video editing is done in a video editor such as iMovie or Final Cut. After editing is complete, you output to a file(s) for use on DVDs, the internet, or other output medium.

I downloaded Handbrake and tried to launch it and it says I don't have VLC. Should I download that too?

Oh, yes, it now needs VLC installed so it can read the DVD content. This is a recent change in the history of Handbrake.