[sparx]

I want to be able to take vob (mpeg-2) files from my home-recorded DVDs and from my Tivo! (also mpeg-2), edit out the commercials and save the edited mpeg-2 files to DVD for later. So far I can't find a way to do this with my Mac (iMac G4, 1.2 GHz with 512 M RAM and running 10.3.9).
iMovie won't play or edit MPEG-2 files, not even with the QuickTime MPEG-2 player add-in. And I've found that the QuickTime mpeg-2 player won't actually play mpeg-2 files. For some files it plays a few frames of video and then freezes, continuing to play the audio but without updating the picture. For other files it will play the video but without any audio.
So far I've tried Adobe Premiere, Adobe Premiere Elements, QuickTime (with MPEG-2 player add-in), iMovie and iMovieHD. Nothing works right. Can anyone recommend something reasonable that actually does work?
Please don't recommend that I go out and purchase Studio--I shouldn't have to pay $1300 for a piece of software to do something I can do for free with a Linux or WinX box. Moreover, now that I know Apple's $20 mpeg-2 player doesn't play mpeg-2 files I'm not about to fork over that kind of money on blind faith.
- Mike

[Jon Seff]

In general, it's diffiicult to edit MPEG files because they have audio and video muxed in to a single track. Natively editing MPEG-2 files--with no transcoding involved--is not a simple thing to do (and even the new version of Final Cut Pro won't do it with the files you have, only with HDV MPEG-2 files).
In my experience, the Apple MPEG-2 Playback Compenent will play back most MPEG-2 files--including VOBs--but it doesn't work with transport streams or anything with AC3 audio. The reason Apple made it was so that people using Apple's MPEG-2 encoder (late Compressor) could preview the files they'd encoded before burning to DVD with DVD Studio Pro. It's not really meant for just watching MPEG-2 files. For that, you can use MPlayer OS X or VLC.

[Nap]

If you purchase the $20 Apple mpeg2playbackcomponent then this freeware will allow some editing of mpeg-2 (including those with AC3 sound) and perhaps more importantly will export both the sound and video to DV stream so that you can edit it in iMovie:
http://www.alfanet.i...streamclip.html

[Macpaul]

Truely the easiest way to do what you want is with a Vider recorder. I use a Pioneer VR to record shows from my Tivo & edit the commercials as I'm doing it. Much simpler! Also makes nice DVD's of home movies from my ancient camcorder & old VHS tapes. Computers are valuable tools, but sometimes we have to look at the easy way to do things. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif