Cinematize 3 Pro

Introduction

Cinematize 3 Pro is a DVD extractor program that lets you rip a clip (or part of a clip) from your DVD. You can also rip just the audio track, the video track, or subtitles -- and convert the extracted content into various video and audio formats. Cinematize 3 Pro has the ability to batch-extract any number of segments, and you can save your favorite settings as presets, to be used in future. Cinematize 3 Pro is available for both Windows and Mac -- also it comes in two versions. The regular version is less featured than the Pro version -- this review is for the Pro version but we will mention later in this review features that the regular version lacks.

Cinematize 3 Pro is the newest release of a product reviewed earlier -- you can read my review for Cinematize 2 Pro. This new version sports a better interface to include everything necessary to get started on DVD extraction and conversion projects. You'll find new output formats including H.264, iPad, iPhone, and 3GP Phone movies -- and the ability to save select the Output Type -- this narrows down the output format to meet your extraction goals, whether for high-quality output, for TV and presentations, or for web or mobile devices. Of course, this process also saves you so much time.

Cinematize 3 Pro is from Miraizon, a company based in California, USA. You can learn more about their products from their site. My contact at Miraizon for this review was Naoko Miyazaki - thank you, Naoko.

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Using Cinematize 3 Pro

Download the installer from the link given above, run the setup routine, and follow the instructions. Be sure that you have a movie DVD in your drive before using the application. This DVD must be unencrypted or decrypted -- and most commercial movie DVDs are not! Miraizon does mention that Cinematize can work with DVD discs that are decrypted using decryption programs -- but Cinematize itself won't do that for you. Follow these steps to extract a movie clip from a DVD using Cinematize 3 Pro:

1. Launch Cinematize 3 Pro to bring up the program interface, as shown in Figure 1.
   
   
   Figure 1: Cinematize 3 Pro interface
2. From the File menu, select the Open option (or use the Ctrl+O shortcut) to open a dialog box from where you can select the files within the "VIDEO_TS" folder in your DVD disc, as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: Open dialog box
   
   All video data files for the DVD reside inside a folder named "VIDEO_TS" -- select any file in this folder, and click Open. Cinematize will find all the video content automatically, and load the selected chapter of the DVD -- which could take a while if your selected chapter is long.
3. Thereafter, you will see the DVD content loaded within Cinematize 3 Pro interface, as shown in Figure 3. Note that the interface has 5 tabs.
   
   
   Figure 3: DVD content loaded within Cinematize 3 Pro interface
4. Note that you can choose a segment to render as your output, rather than select an entire chapter off the DVD. Before you choose any segment on the Segment tab of the interface, you must make choices in all the other tabs. If you intend to use the movie clip on a PowerPoint slide, make these following selections in the tabs mentioned below (thanks to Naoko for this info):
   
   
   • Video tab: Decoding = MPEG-2 Program Stream (Ignore other settings)
   • Audio tab: Decoding = MPEG-2 Program Stream (Ignore other settings)
   • Subtitle tab: Subtitle Stream = No Subtitle Stream
   • Output tab: Output Type = High Quality Output | Output Format = MPEG-2 Program Stream
     
     Basically select MPEG-2 Program Stream for both the Video and Audio decoding options, and Output format. Ignore the Subtitle tab unless that's something you want to play with.


Tip: You can save the settings you choose as presets so that you can conveniently re-use these same settings again in the future. Since we tend to use the same settings (as mentioned above) for all video clips we need to use in our PowerPoint presentations, we can create a PowerPoint settings file -- to do that access the File | Save Settings menu option. To load previously saved settings, choose the File | Load Settings menu option.
5. Now get back to the Segment tab, which provides all the main options which are explained below(all these areas are referenced to in Figure 3, above):
   
   
   1. Preview shows the preview of the frame you have selected using the navigation buttons and a slider bar right below the preview.
   2. Title and Angle: Title allows to select the title you want to work with. A DVD can have more than one title as in a different episode, an extra bonus feature, an alternate ending, etc. Angle is for selecting multiple camera angles. Some options will work only if the DVD being used provides these features.
   3. Start Point enables you to select the start point from where you want to extract the clip.
   4. End Point allows you to set the end point for the clip you want to extract. As you select the start and end points, the slider below the preview window also moves -- and the scene itself can be seen in the preview window.
   5. Extraction List allows to do a batch extraction. You can add as many segments as you want to extract to the Segment Extraction List, and then you can extract them all are by pressing Extract Data.
6. Once the selection is made, click the Add button located right at the bottom of the Extraction List (highlighted in red in Figure 3 above). Now click on Extract Data button, highlighted in red in Figure 4.
   
   
   Figure 4: Extract Data button

Select the location to save the extracted file -- Cinematize 3 Pro will start processing the extraction. Depending upon the length of the segment and extraction option settings you choose, this process can take a while.

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Pricing and Support

Cinematize 3 Pro for Windows costs $129.95 for the download version, whereas the boxed version costs $149.95.

Cinematize 3 for Windows is a scaled down version with fewer options -- it does not allow you to preview subtitles, adjust output audio volume level, do batch extractions, etc - you can see how the versions compare on the Miraizon site. This non-Pro version costs $59.95 for the download version, and the boxed version costs $69.95

Support options for both versions include e-mail and phone support, and an online FAQ.

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Conclusion

Cinematize 3 Pro is probably the easiest way you can rip off content from a DVD -- and the program does lead you step-by-step. It's a great investment if you regularly need to extract clips from DVDs.

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