A couple of years back there was a useful exchange about how best 
*technically* (i.e., copyright concerns aside) to rip clips from DVDs for 
incorporation into lectures using Powerpoint etc. Lazily I've never got 
round to trying this myself but with a paper due at SCMS in Chicago in 
March and likely problems over playback of Region 2 DVDs etc. (to say 
nothing of wanting to minimise time spent loading discs, enduring studio 
idents, browsing menus, etc., in the middle of a 20-minute talk), it's 
clearly time for me to bite the bullet.

The earlier discussion (headed "a basic question" if anyone's interested) 
directed users to resources such as doom9.org etc. Having looked at this 
it was to me at least (as a technical dunce) dismayingly tech-savvy (the 
first recommendation under "learning the basics" was to build your own PC 
from components and install Windows from scratch! yeah right...). So I was 
wondering if the intervening years have made this task at all easier. Is 
there a user-friendly programme for simply copying a few minutes of a 
commercial DVD to one's hard drive, whether shareware or for purchase? I 
would imagine almost everyone bar me has been cheerfully doing this for 
years so I'm happy to humbly accept whatever guidance I'm given!

Many thanks

Barry

Dr Barry Langford
Senior Lecturer in Film Studies
Department of Media Arts
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX

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