Help with importing dvd's I saved to harddrive

[sheana]

I'm not a tech person, but I want to make a movie out of all this material I have that I transferred from VHS to DVD.
Okay, so then I learned I could save the DVD to my harddrive using DVD Shrink, which I did.
Then I thought now that I have saved digital data, I could edit it with windows movie maker.
But when I try to import it says the file is not supported my windows movie maker.
So, how does one take DVD they've copied on their harddrives and edit them?

[megamachine]

You probably need to provide more info about what you want to do in terms of editing, to get a more adequate response. If you want a simple compilation of scenes from different DVDs, you can use DVD Shrink to do that. Here's a guide. If you want more complex editing, you need to import the VOB files (which are in the DVD folder on your HDD) into an editing program that can handle them. There are several choices in this regard, some perhaps requiring a bit of conversion, but it depends on what you want to do. See if the DVDS compilation is enough; if not, then write back with more details and we'll do our best to help your work.

[sheana]

More information

Thank you. I checked out the guide you sent and realized it's not what I want to do. I want to be able to take sequences from a dvd, say one scene, or even one frame, and use that to create a new movie of my own making. Then take another sequence from a different DVD and add that to the movie I'm making, etc. . . See, I have material and it's all on DVD. And I want to use all that material to make a trailer-type presentation (trailer as in movie trailer) to upload to my website, which is ultimately to advertise the book I"m writing on the subject. Does this make sense?

[megamachine]

There are several ways to do what you need, and it depends on whether you want complex editing (effects, transitions and such) or just placing one scene or set of frames after another. For the latter, there are three basic steps. First, use DVD Decrypter to get the DVD material onto your HDD. Second, import those files into MPEG Video Wizard and do your editing. Third, convert the resulting video to the format you need for your website. The procedure for step three depends on a few factors, such as the final video size and format (e.g. Windows Media, RealMedia, QuickTime, etc.) needed for your website. Hope this helps.

EDIT: As a free alternative for step two, you can use Cuttermaran. Have a look at this guide.

[sheana]

Followed your directions

Thank you. I downloaded Decrypter and Cutterman which also asked that I download something called .NET framework. So I did all that and opened the Decrypter and ripped (I guess a DVD). One question I have is does Decrypter replace DVD Shrink as a medium for getting the material from teh DVD to the harddrive?

So, then I had to unzip Cuttermaran and I did, but still nothing opens. IT just keep asking me do download when I click the icon that says "Cuttermaran, windows installer package" Do you know what I"m doing wrong?

Sheana