Cinematize 2 Pro -- there's also a non-Pro version, but more on that later -- lets you extract audio and video clips off of any unencrypted DVD and save them in formats compatible with applications such as iMovie, QuickTime, Final Cut (Pro and Express), PowerPoint, and iTunes. Note the "unencrypted" adjective; it won't work with commercial DVDs so you can't grab scenes off of No Country for Old Men and insert them into your home movie. Cinematize 2 Pro also works with the iPod. You can extract clips as short as fraction of a second or as long as a complete movie.

And as of version 2.0.1 it adds support for Apple TV movie file output, which makes it even sweeter. The update also includes such new features such as full MPEG-1 audio decoding capability, the ability to save still images directly from Cinematize 2 Pro, and various user interface improvements as well as some fixes.

So why is the software so handy? I don't know about you but I've got LOTS of home movies saved on DVDs (and about a zillion videotapes I need to transfer before I die). In most cases, I haven't saved the QuickTime, iMovie or iDVD files used in the creation of the videos since they take up so much space.

What if I need to work with some of the footage on the DVDs again? With Cinematize Pro I can do just that -- and easily. The software lets you extract the video and audio and convert them to an editable format.

You can do the same thing with the free HandBrake (my favorite app for moving commercial DVDs to my iPod), but that software, though great, is really geared for handling an entire video, not sections or snippets. Cinematize Pro is. It's elegant, easy to use and has a solid, friendly user interface.

There's a "lite" version of Cinematize Pro for $89.99, but I'd fork out the extra $30-$40 for the high end edition. Why? The Pro version lets you extract images and video that appear on the DVD’s navigation menus. You can extract subtitles. Cinematize Pro lets you define sections on a DVD and batch extract 'em. You can synchronize audio and video streams. You can extract just audio or just video. And more.

There's very little to dislike about the Miraizon product, though you can't set up individual segments for different encodings in a single session. And Cinematize Pro doesn't give you any estimated time or estimated needed space notices, which would be helpful. Especially since extracted movies are one frame longer in video at each end to (conveniently) work with QuickTime's tendency to add a blank white frame if the audio and video start and end synchronously.

Cinematize Pro costs US$149.95 plus shipping and handling, for the box version. The downloadable version is $129.95 .Existing Cinematize 2 users can upgrade to Cinematize 2.1 Pro starting from $89.95. Free updaters for existing Cinematize 2 Pro users and free demo versions are also available [url=http://www.miraizon.com/support/downloads.html]here[/url].

Macsimum rating: 9 out of 10