Best quality exporting iMovie to DVD?

Hallo!
I have just finished a movie in iMovie HD 5, and now I am wondering how can I get the best possible quality when converting this project into a movie and then making a DVD?
Specific questions:
1. Which way to export the movie? Export it directly into iDVD, or make a quicktime movie, if so, use "high quality" option or try out the option "custom settings"?
2. When using "custom settings" - which option now? QT movie, MPEG-4?
3. If QT movie - which codec works best? DV, H.264?
3. With the QT movie finished, which program yields the best quality? iDVD, DVD Studio Pro? Toast?
Can someone please help me out here, or at least point me to a website where these options are explained?
thx a lot, Alexander
G5 2Ghz, PB G4 1,67, Sony HX 1000 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Hi Alex,
no conversion needed:
iM works with dv, a dvd has finally mpeg2 - any "inbetween conversion" means loss of quality!
in case, you have many stills in your project, many recommend here NOT to use the export button in iM, but simply drag'n drop the project (that file with a star) onto an open iDVD project, so rendering is done by iDVD......

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(Of course I'll have to first get iDVD to open without crashing...)

Which iMovie '08 option will make the best quality video on a DVD using iDVD '08?
1. Share-Media Browser-Large-Publish
2. Share-Export Using Quicktime
3. Or can you use an unpublished iMove in iDVD?
As always, this depends on a number of factors which you failed to cover in your original question.
1) If you source files are SD, other than an increased loss of time in converting you gain nothing in scaling the files up in iMovie '08 only to scale them back down in iDVD. On the other hand, if your source files are HD, then you will likely see a marginal increase in quality which may or may not be worth the price of increased processing time. In this latter case, you are allowing the MPEG-2 compressor to get the most it can out of your file at the P- and B-frame level.
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3) Since no physical file actually exists until the project (simply a set of instructions detailing how the final file will be created) is published, there is nothing to be physically sent to iDVD. basically you must create a physical file from the project in order to do anything at all whether sending it to a gallery, iTunes, YouTube, iDVD, etc.

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Best Quality Export From Final Cut Pro Into After Effects?

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We are using a Sony HDV-Z7U camera for acquisition. We recently recorded an event using the camera's non HD capabilities. We set the camera to record "DV SP" 16x9 settings on both Mini-DV tape and CF card.
To import the DV SP footage into FCP7 we chose the "DV NTSC anamorphic" setting in the log and transfer settings window. After a successful transfer from the CF card (the CF card held approximately 83 minutes) we checked the size of the file and found it to be 16 Gigs! Why so big? An 83 miniDV tape shot in SD should easily fit on a standard 4.7 gig MPEG2 DVD.
We need to burn DVDs of this show - we sent it to compressor and got horrible quality.
What is the best setting to use in FCP7's log and transfer settings window to import DV SP 16x9 standard def. footage and what is the best method for exporting for outputting this footage to DVD that preserves the original quality of the DV SP footage?? Anyone? Many thanks

> Why so big? An 83 miniDV tape shot in SD should easily fit on a standard 4.7 gig MPEG2 DVD.
No it doesn't. DV is 13GB per hour.
In any case, a Video DVD uses the MPEG 2 codec, not DV.
>What is the best setting to use in FCP7's log and transfer settings window to import DV SP 16x9 standard def.
DV NTSC anamorphic.
>what is the best method for exporting for outputting this footage to DVD...
Use the Compressor DVD preset "Best Quality 90 mins".
>...that preserves the original quality of the DV SP footage?
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Hi
I have few questions on Dan's method.
here is my workflow according to Dan's method:
On the Premiere CS4 end of things:
Download these Adobe Media Encoder CS4 presets for 100Mbps MPEG-2 I-frame 4:2:2
Export your 19220x1080 60i timeline using the corresponding preset from the ones above; this will create a (very large) .m2v file and .wav file
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video = "myfile.m2v"
audio = "myfile.wav"
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Import lagarith.avi into Encore for transcoding and authoring
Actually, I am trying to edit my mts files(1920x1080 60i) but it is running too slow on my computer if I edit those mts files directly in premiere. Therefore, I converted those mts files to m2v and wav. Should I try edit those m2v files in premiere and export the whole DVD version to m2v again. Then, use the DVD m2v file to convert that to avi file by using the VirtualDub ?
However, I tried to edit the m2v and wav files in premiere and send it to encore with the mpeg2 blu-ray with 1920x1080i 29.97 High Quality. It then burned it on the DVD. It turned out the same as the VirtualDub version. I think it is less time spending compare to VirtualDub. Let me know if I am wrong.
Another thing that I tried was using the lagarith.avi file but it is 720 x 480 then I imported to the premiere and edited it. My project's setting was AVCHD 1080i30 which my video camcorder setting is. After I edited my project in premiere, I sent it to the encore to burn on the dvd by setting to the mpeg2DVD option. However, I played it on my hd dvd player and the output was pretty small.
My goal is to use premiere to edit the files and use encore to add some features such as title pages or buttons. Then, burn it on the DVD with the HD quality.
Please help ! thank you very much guys !

Hello,
Couple of questions on the below:
1) Does this work for converting .MTS files?
2) If so, I download the Encoder presets, but where do I place them? (I didn't see any .epr files in the root of /encoder
On the Premiere CS4 end of things:
Download these Adobe Media Encoder CS4 presets for 100Mbps MPEG-2 I-frame 4:2:2
Export your 1440x1080 60i timeline using the corresponding preset from the ones above; this will create a (very large) .m2v file and .wav file
Now some freeware tools to get the conversion done properly:
Download and install the Lagarith lossless codec
Download and install VirtualDub
Download and install AviSynth
Download and install my hd2sd() conversion package for AviSynth (instructions for installation are in the .zip file)
Create a new blank text document in notepad, like such, and save this file as premiere.avs, and save it to the same folder as your .m2v and .wav file (edit the video and audio parameters to match your filenames). This is your "script" file for AviSynth:
video = "myfile.m2v"
audio = "myfile.wav"
FFMpegSource(video)
(audio == "") ? last : AudioDub(WavSource(audio))
hd2sd(OutputColorSpace="YUY2", OutputBFF=true)
Run VirtualDub
Open your premiere.avs file in VirtualDub
In VirtualDub, go to Video : Compression and select the Lagarith lossless codec
Also set VirtualDub to use Video : Fast recompress mode
Save your output to lagarith.avi
Import lagarith.avi into Encore for transcoding and authoring

Best quality export to DVD Studio Pro for HD

Sorry if this has been resolved before but I am totally confused.
I am using FCP with a Sony HVR-Z1E. I aim to make the highest quality clips on my dvds prefering to have many short high quality dvds than having fewer long low quality ones. I would be very grateful if someone would sujest the best setting for this or to create a new one.
Thanks for any help
Regards Alf

Compressor has some presets for making high quality DVDs, I'd start with those. Take a short sample of your footage that you feel best represents the visual quality of the piece, and start testing different configurations. There is no one magical setting that is going to work for everyone. You'll also probably reach a point where you really can't tell the difference between one high bitrate and another higher bitrate. This can be a good indication that you've found the best quality option.
Using CBR encoding will give you the highest, consistent quality, but larger filesizes. Using VBR will maximise your quality to filesize ratio.
Do be aware that DVDs do have a bitrate limit of 9000 Kb/s. This includes both your audio and video. If you're audio and video bit rates add up to a sum greating than 9000 Kb/s, DVD SP will throw a weird error when you try to build your project.

Best quality to burn a dvd for duplication

Looking for the best way to get the best quality burning a dvd for duplication for resale.
I have iLife09. Its about a 33min video shot with a mini HDdv

Hi
My list on DVD Quality.
*DVD quality*
1. iDVD 08 & 09 has three levels of qualities.
iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality (movies up to 120 min.) - BEST
• Best Performances (movies less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6) (movies up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
2. From
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not selfcontaining, no conversion)
• iMovie x-6 - Don't use ”Share/Export to iDVD” = destructive even to movie project and especially so
when the movie includes photos. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.
• iMovie’08 not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.
3. I use Roxio Toast™ to make an as slow burn as possibly eg x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with (Apple) Disk Util tool.
4. There has to be about or more than 25Gb free space on internal (start-up) hard disk. iDVD can't
use an external one as scratch disk (if it is not start-up disc).
5. Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW)
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
8. Don’t burn more than three DVD at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while befor next batch.
iDVD quality also depends on.
• HOW much free space is there on Your internal (start-up) hard disk. Go for approx 25Gb.
less than 5Gb and Your result will most probably not play.
• What kind of movie project You drop into it. MPEG4 seems to be a bad choice.
other strange formats are .avi, .wmv, .flash etc. Convert to streamingDV first
Also audio formats matters. I use only .aiff or from miniDV tape Camera 16-bit
strange formats often problematic are .avi, .wmv, audio from iTunes, .mp3 etc
Convert to .aiff first and use this in movie project
• What kind of standard - NTSC movie and NTSC DVD or PAL to PAL - no mix.
(If You need to change to do a NTSC DVD from PAL material let JESDeinterlacer3.2.2 do the conversion)
(Dropping a PAL movie into a NTSC iDVD project
(US) NTSC DVDs most often are playable in EU
(EU) PAL DVDs most often needs to be converted to play in US
UNLESS. They are plabacked by a Mac - then You need not to care
• What kind of DVDs You are using. I use Verbatim DVD-R (this brand AND no +R or +/-RW)
• How You encode and burn it. Two settings prior iDVD’08 or 09
Pro Quality (only in iDVD 08 & 09)
Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)
Best / High Performances (most often my choise before Pro Quality)
1. go to iDVD pref. menu and select tab far right and set burn speed to x1 (less errors = plays better) - only in iDVD 08 & 09
(x4 by some and may be even better)
2. Project info. Select Professional Encoding - only in iDVD 08 & 09.
Region codes.
iDVD - only burn Region = 0 - meaning - DVDs are playable everywhere
DVD Studio pro can set Region codes.
1 = US
2 = EU
Yours Bengt W

Export iMovie to dvd

Is it possible to export/copy productions in iMovie to DVD or blue ray
Thanks
Mick

Hi
If You have a new Mac - Then No - as Apple don't supply iDVD any more and they don't sell it either
If Old Mac - then You've got iDVD program on this to Author material as a Video-DVD.
• in iMovie - Share to Media Browser - and as Large or Medium - Not HD as the resulting DVD will lose in quality.
• in iDVD import Your movie from the Media button / Videos
Else
If there is no iDVD on Your Mac (and it's not on newer Macs as Apple discarded it) then You need a program that can do this.
Your Mac can burn CDs and DVDs - BUT DVD as Data-DVDs not as Video-DVDs - they need a program to be encoded and STRUCTURED as such.
• iDVD is part of the boxed version of iLife'11 and can only be bought outside Apple as on Amazon and e-bay
• DVD Studio pro - Part of FinalCut Studio Pro bundle - this to has expired and can only be bought second handed. (High price and tough learning Curve - but best ever done.)
• Roxio Toast™ - Not as elegant as iDVD - but has many other positive additions (I like it as 10-Pro incl BD-component) (now version 11)
• Burn - only free alternative I know of on internet. Very simple - Just for doing a plain Video-DVD
Burn http://www.digital-digest.com/software/Burn.html
only You can buy from Apple is
• FinalCut Pro-X which also can burn to DVD but without any nice themes.
AppleMan1958
You can also buy Compressor from Apple for $50 US. It will also create DVD and BluRay but without the nice themes.
Yours Bengt W

I can't make a video.avi with best quality in Imovie 11

I'm trying to make a video with extension.avi. in Imovie 11
I click in the opcion of export with Quick Time Player. Then I click in the option button to change the quality parameters and I put the best quality.
After working during 1 hour, aparently the video is finished, but I can't watch any video.
Apologizes for my poor english

While we all have MacBooks in this forum not all of us use iMovie. There's a iMovie Support Community where everybody uses iMovie. You should also post this question there. https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/imovie

NEED THE BEST QUALITY QUICKTIME MOVIE FOR DVD! THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE.

I just finished a three minute piece that will be shown on DVD and projected to a sixteen foot screen. I usually just output a self-contained quicktime movie with current settings and then compress with bitvice. While I'm happy with those results, because of the size of this screening, I'm curious whether there might be better options for output to quicktime, such as uncompressed, etc?
I've also heard that I could output as a Jpeg, or a PNG file, but I'd love some advice on what works best and the workflow, as I need to get this done fast and can't really afford the time to experiment.
Any advice would be HUGELY appreciated. THANKS1

I usually just output a self-contained quicktime movie with current settings and then compress with bitvice.
That will provide the best quality ... the quality won't improve over what you had in FCP. Depending on your source media type(s), you may have had a better quality export IF you had edited and rendered with another setting.
-DH

Best Quality too big for DVD. need help

Hi,
I just completed a movie using iMovie. I compressed the movie as a Quicktime file at best quality and it is 6gb. I understand that this is too big for the 4.7gb dvd-r's i have.
I wanted to know the best way to get my movie to fit while still mainting the best possible quality. This project is very important and i need it to be able to play on a home dvd player tomorrow.
I'm using iDVD.
Can somebody please help me out.
Thank you so much

Hi Karl,
first of all: on this forum, my guess is, you are the one with the deepest insight in iMovie (one word: corrupted projects... oops, that was two).
BUT...
My job for more then 20 years is communication, advertisement as an example. make the message in less then 8 words...
Apples says: 60/120 minutes of an iM project fit on a dvd-r.Full stop.
that is from my p.o.v crystal-clear..HOW is this done? easy: make project, click "iDVD" - BOOM! done... to quote the CEO of a small computer company...
people buy cars without ANY idea, what ABS, EPS, etc is, besides HOW it works. they use it. full stop. anyone any idea, what happens, when you push the pedal...? ... when the car DOESN'T accelerate, you realize, you have NO clue...-
funny enough, this forum is CROWDED with people, who don't own a driver's license, but try to explain, the car manufacturer has done big bugs, lots of mistakes, should fix that & this.- you CAN use a car, to boil eggs, iron your shirts and create a painting... but THAT would need a better understanding of how a car works.
topics which are/can not understood lead to what the behaviorism calls "superstitious behavior" - you do some really weird things, because you believe it has any effect....
so, sometimes, less knowledge leeds to better results
(from a communicator's point of view)
I agree, maybe the "help" files should offer an "expert" mode....

Best quality exporting iMovie to DVD?

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