Let’s say for sake of example that there’s some piece of video that can’t be downloaded or ripped, but you still gotta have it. Well, of course there’s an app for that (really, Apple trademarked this too?). Anyway, let’s take an unrippable DVD like ‘Great Escape’, put it in your DVD reader and go to the place where Steve jumps over the fence on his (borrowed) motorcycle – you know the scene (and you can even turn on close captions if needed):
To capture this segment, I’m going to download and install a program called OBS Studio. Once installed, I’m going to use specific settings recommended by this guy:
There are several videos on Screen Recording, so watch a few to get the best advice on preferred settings. One that I watched recommended recording in .mkv format, which I do. Once recorded, I use OBS’ ‘remux’ function to convert the file type to .mp4:
And once I have the segment I’m looking for, plus some extraneous bits at the beginning and end, I want to clean the file up a bit with a simple video editor. The solution I found that does this with little fanfare is LosslessCut (ver. 3.23.7). Here’s a short tutorial that covers everything you need to know to use LosslessCut:
In summary, using OBS and LosslessCut together will give you great results with little fuss, and the initial recording file size won’t grow out of control as it would if you passed the original file through a traditional video editor like OpenShot (which I love BTW, but it has its place) or DaVinci Resolve (which I’m still learning).
Update: A note about Handbrake…
Why, you might ask, am I writing about Handbrake? The fact is, when you’re screen capturing with OBS Studio or editing video with a program like OpenShot, you’re likely going to end up with a fairly large .mp4 (or .mkv) file. Handbrake gives you the option to compress the bejeepers out of your video file, making it easier to view, upload, email, or otherwise share your file. As an example, I recently loaded a 510.8mb .mp4 file into Handbrake, and using its ‘Web Optimized, Gmail Medium 480p 30fps’ setting, got a 16.8mb output file and the video and audio quality is still really good!
Of course, your mileage may vary, but if your video file is is too large, using Handbrake (which is free by the way), you might be able to reduce your file size considerably.
Enjoy!
