how to import DVD in PE 8 without media downloader

[fparisot]

Hello,

A friend of mine got Adobe Premiere Elements 8 installed on his computer.

He has Nero software installed too.

He is able to import the DVD directly into Premiere Elements without using the media downloader. I guess Nero (or some other software on his computer) has installed some kind of codec so he can import DVD like that.

What kind of codec does he uses? I don't want to install Nero, since it's a bloating software, and I don't really need it. (My thumb of rule about software is: if you don't use it, uninstall it).

I, currently, use MPEG Streamclip to read and convert DVD files into AVI files so Premiere Elements can import and read them without any rendering. The only problem with the MPEG Streamclip is it takes a long time to convert DVDs.

What do you think?

Regards,
Frantz Parisot

[Steve Grisetti]

It's hard to say, without knowing how your friend got his DVD video onto his computer. If all he did was copy the VOB files over, he's doing essentially the same thing as he'd be doing with Adobe's media downloader. The files are unchanged in the process. They're just copied over as is and, when using the Premiere Elements project setting for DVDs and hard drive camcorders, he won't need any additional codecs. Though he will need to do a lot of rendering as he works.

However, it sounds like you're using our recommended method: Converting the DVD files to DV-AVIs before you bring them into Premiere Elements. Although your conversion may take a long time -- ultimately, it doesn't cost you any more time since, if you use the DVD files directly into the program, you'll have to wait for Premiere Elements to assimilate and convert the files internally -- and that can take as long or longer than doing it with MPEG Streamclip.

So, ultimately, although you can work with the raw VOB files, you're not really saving yourself any time -- and you're challenging the program more.

In other words, in my opinion you're ahead of the game doing the conversion first, as you're doing. And either way, you won't NEED Nero on your computer. It has no effect on either workflow.