Better quality DVD import

Hi,
I have some non-copyrighted home movies on DVD which I need to edit into my documentary project.
I'm trying to figure out how I could obtain the best image quality from these DVD's:
a. copy DVD from home DVD player to DVCAM tape via the S-Video input on my Sony DSR-11 deck. Then, log and capture into my Mac via Firewire from the DVCAM tape (which, I suppose, will become the new master).
b. import the Video_TS files on the DVD via software like DVDxDV or Cinematize
I would imagine both are viable options, but would choice A or choice B provide better image quality than the other?
Thanks for your help/advice!

I'm not kidding.
The hardware conversion by a good DV/Analog device
converted back to DV can look better than a software
conversion through DVDxDV or MPEG streamclip. Give it
a try - don't accept the our word on all this stuff.
The quality of the conversion through software
depends on the file, motion artifacts and a host of
other factors. Sometimes, the A/D converter will
smooth these out and you end up with a much better
looking file than you have a right to ...
Going up to 8bit from home made DVD's is a case of
GIGO. The closer you stay to the DVD format, the less
degredation likely. BEST case would be to cut in the
m2v format sections from the DVD into the timeline in
DVDSP.
Have fun.
x
Thanks--
I will try it both ways and try my best to compare. I need to edit lots and lots of this footage into a documentary, so would have to do it in FCP...
Your noting of the varying quality of software conversion (depending on the file, etc) is exactly what I was wondering about. So, yes, I will try it both ways!

Similar Messages

How to make better quality DVDs

Hi. I bought a Sony HDR-HC1 High Def 1080i camera. The quality from the camera is excellent. However, when I make a widescreen 16:9 format (not HD) DVD using iMovie and iDVD the resulting quality on my widescreen TV *****. It looks like I used a cheap camera and it's overcompressed with artifacts and blocky-pixels. The DVD is 60 min. long. I chose the Best Quality option in iDVD. Isn't there any way to get better compression out of iDVD? I don't mind letting my computer churn away for 48hrs. It beats a crappy looking DVD any day. I mean, maybe most folks would be happy with the result but I think it's ridiculous. Can I use Compressor and then import that into iDVD? Help!!!!

Can Toast 6 work with MPEG-2?
Only in the form of an already authored and encoded Video_TS folder. Otherwise, what it does is encode .dv or .mov
I don't want the million
choices that Compressor gives you (I don't even know
what to pick), and I don't want a simple fixed
setting either.
I'm guessing that this is a stand-alone. Got a url? My compressor is at metakine . c m.
Read http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=546615&tstart=0 and you'll find I'm thrashing around in the same small box. I think they're trying to get us to spring for $900 worth.
mrbl

Better quality DVD play? on pre8

I made a project in settings NTSC HDDV 720 30
and when I burn the DVD it takes up about 2.3GB of the disc (4.7 cap)
Is there any way to improve the output qaulity? I went highest quality but the biggest it gets is 2.3GB
I thought maybe saving it as HD 720p 25 as a file which says it will be 4,242.2GB and then starting a new project with new porject settings and then burning that???
I spent hours on the movie so far and just want it to look as good as possible.
thanks for the help
maarten

I think i get it. I saved to a folder the HD720p version and it was 5.1gb and
clearly better.
I then made a new project with that setting and recreated the menu's but all for nothing as it went back to trying to burn it to the DVD disc at the highest quality of 2.3gb in size.
Frustrating that I can't get it an better on the DVD. Some of the source footage is HD, some not...
That leaves me back where I started in think, as good as it gets. It's burning that 5.3gb file down to the DVD right now but suspect you are both right in that it wont improve it.
Any last suggestions?
thanks

Quality DVD?

What is the best way to create a quality DVD from a QuickTime file? I've tried some programs to convert the file to AVI first and then burn it, but the video never seems to be quite as nice as the original.
I also tried saving as AVI straight from QT Pro 7, then burning that with my authoring program, but the video quality was terrible! Are there settings in QT Pro 7 that will make it better?

Kirk's method will work; however, you will still incur a 2-generation loss in the conversion: MOV->AVI, AVI->MPEG2-PS
Making sure the AVI is the highest possible resolution will result in a better quality DVD (higher than 640x480, if possible).
If you want to do a straight conversion, without the generation loss, there's free software that'll do it. It takes a little more setup, but this what I use for converting to broadcast video:
http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm
go to the main website for more guides and software information.

Better than DVD-quality on .mac - but which size?

Hi, that was what Steve Jobs said that there is the possibility to have better than DVD-quality movies on .mac Is this only with HD-cameras and material because they can´t be burnt at that resolution onto a DVD? Or is it also true with standard cameras? And which file sizes are we are going to expect while up- and downloading such movies? Are they even playable for the average internet user?
Thanks in advance for clarifying - Christoph

Steve may have left out the word "current" when he mentioned better quality than a DVD.
DVD's (currently) use MPEG-2 format and only the newest players can handle high definition.
Your Web based files can use high definition formats. Just like those HD trailers at http://apple.com/trailers
You can also publish larger dimension SD video.
Obviously the file size of these larger dimensions would require a fast Internet connection and a very patient viewer.

Low quality DVD outcome.. need help for high quality result ASAP!

Hi every 1,
(This is my first post, as I only got my iMac 2 weeks ago.. so please be gentle with me :P )
I have just been asked to turn a Microsoft powerpoint (PPT) into a DVD for "induction training video" purposes with voice overs and backing music. I have a professional music studio so providing high quality audio is fine, but trying to turn the power point into a high quality DVD file is my problem. This powerpoint has timing transitions (fade ins etc) for the timing of voice gaps. When using Microsoft PPT, you can turn the PPT into a Quicktime file which I was going to drop into iMoive then add the music and voiceovers.. this is when my problems started. Microsofts powerpoint doesn't add the transtiions and effect into render Quicktime movie, so I thought as my new iMac has iWork (KEYNOTE) I'd give it a try and to my surprise it all worked and the final mpeg4 quicktime movie result work great _when you look at it on the MAC_.
1) Problem
I then exported the file into iMovie and then my first Problem arose.... (grr). I movie lost it's sharpness and the images started to have pixelation.. that seemed to pulse in 1 seconds gaps.
I hope this was just an issue with the iMovie preview window and thought once I put it into iDVD and burnt it... the final result may be fine.. but I was wrong and the quality was crap... with the pixelation still there.
2) Problem
The other problem that came up was the about 25% of the edge of the total screen was cutoff. When i did the original file, I choose 4:3 ratio, and watched it on this..so where did the image size go wrong.. I also choose the "high quality" Quicktime file, but didn't go into the settings in the iMovie in the export section (which I should off), but after check the compression type was H.264.. and I also didn't change any settings in the 'export file' section in KEYNOTE.. this is where I think I must have gone wrong..
So in closing. my questions is:
-What's the best way to turn a PPT into a _high quality file_ so it looks professional once it goes through iMovie and iDVD.. or
- Should I just redo the whole production using iMovie ( by re doing all the work eg wording, transistion inside iMovie seems like a lot of extra word ) and so not use the PPT at all... and if I do this, then
- What's sizes, and ratio and compressions should I use for 4:3 ratio TV purpose (eg. whats size should a background image be that I do inside Photoshop, so I can put the transition wording over the top, so I see it on the TV screen and the edge doesn't get cutoff etc.?
I was very impressed with Keynote and would be happy to use this for most of the production.. but am I banging my head againist a wall...re fixing quality problems when exporting files into... can someone shed some light on this for me?
Sorry this is such a big post.. but I thought if I gave you most of the background you would have to ask so many questions.
Look forward to any help any 1 can provide..
Michael
Message was edited by: sycosingo

Matti,
Thx so much for your help.. it's really appreciated. This is by far the best result quality wise, (but I really am a perfectionist and personally are still not overall happy with the final product) but if my client is happy.. then I will continue down this track for this job.
ie Create TIFF;'s>Quicktime PRO>iMovie (transistions)>iDvd
You've been a great help and I hope it good enough for the client.
I find the images and wording lose their sharpness only after being imported into iMoive. I could still be probably enhance the quality level of the TIFF's once more, as I did the test slides in Keynote, then exported the 5 slides a individual as TIFFS out of Keynote, then imported the into QuickTime Pro as you suggested then followed your instructions all the way to the final burning of the CD. I also tried doing this in Photoshop using your suggestion of 720x576 images (for PAL) .. pixel aspect ratio to ~1.094 so you can see the correct proportions for 4:3 video output. When creating the new slide in Photoshop there were a few extra settings other than the ones you gave me... _so I would real appreciate what every setting should be when creating the NEW TIFF file in Photoshop for PAL 4:3._ I noticed when I did this the image crispness on the fonts was shithouse pixelated and shadows, even while looking at it from inside Photoshop )
As I tried mutliple ways of importing into iMovie (yours being the best suggestion) I really believe when dragging a TIFF or movie turns to blur on the way into iMoive. You can see the image is blurred from that point on.... _do I need to buy final cut pro or express to get a better image quality result?_
I also tried iMoive7, which I found was great to use video editing wise, but Apples has definitely stuffed up there by not give users a 'time line' to work with in the Audio section... but everything else in the video area was great to use.., but in my situation trying to line up the narration to slide, while having also background music is now impossible sadly.
Also I really like the 3D transitions in KEYNOTE, plus iMovie 7.. do you know if there are available for HD6 or if there's a 3rd party company that has smilar versions
Thx again,
sycosingo
Message was edited by: sycosingo

Poor quality when importing from sony dcr-sr58

Dear All
I've got a sony dcr-sr58e video camera, and for ages the quality has been poor, once i've, a) imported the footage from the camera into imovie then b) from there to idvd then c) watching it back on a tv
I thought it was just me being fussy, but friends and colleagues have noticed that its quality is comparable with an old vhs video camera!
I put all the settings to the max (high quality etc....)on the camera but to no effect, and have checked the settings on imovie
The sony support have stated that its probably a problem with imovie (which it doesn't seem to be)
Fot the record i'm running OSX 10.6.8 with imovie version 9.0.4
If anyone else has had a similar problem and solve dit i'd be very grateful to hear
Thanks
Kelly

Hello kellyfromkenley, Depending on how you move the video or share the video from iMovie to iDVD it can make a big difference. One way is to go to the Share Menu > Share to iDVD. But the better is to Share to Media Browser instead. Try this:
Go back to iMovie and open your Project in Project Library.
Go to Share Menu > Share to Media Browser
Choose the Large size and let it run until it finishes
Quit iMovie and open iDVD.
In iDVD click on the Media Button, then click on the Movies button and look for your project under the iMovie star icon in the Media Browser itself.
Drag that project icon into the iDVD project window and burn another disk
I think you'll see an increase in the visual quality using this method.
The reason this has an effect on the visual quality is there's a whole different set of operations performed on the video when you first Share to Media Browser. The side effect of those changes in steps is a much better looking DVD from your iMovie project.

What's the proper workflow to combine multiple video types and turn them into one high quality DVD?

I'm trying to combine 1080i (29.97fps), 1080p (29.97fps), and 720p (24fps) video files into a single Premiere Pro project, and end up with a high quality DVD.
There are a few problems I can't solve:
1. There seems to be interlacing and clarity issues any time I export it to DVD dimensions (720x480), and on some TVs I'll get a bouncing motion on the 720p footage (slideshow). Yet everything seems to look perfect when I export it something like an HD MOV file.
2. If I use Final Cut X to make the DVD, I'll get audio popping and decent image quality. Yet if I use Encore, I'll get horrible interlacing, but good audio.
I don't have any training in video workflow let alone how to properly diagnose and solve problems that arise. So I need someone to lay out the proper workflow and settings from start to finish to get these three different types of footage to look great on a DVD using Premiere/Encore.
I've attached sample images showing the types of footage I'm using and the kind of problems I'm running into for reference.

By far the best way to get the quality of encoding is to use Compressor and not DVDSP. You can set Compressor up to do the AC3 (which DVDSP can't do). Alternatively, use a better encoder than Compressor, such as BitVice or MegaPEG.X... but remember that these do not do AC3 encoding.
Keep the encoded assets all in a single folder on your mac, then drag that folder into the DVDSP 'Assets' tab. This will import them all and keep them in the folder, which is a neater way of doing things. Select all of the clips within the folder (or simply select the folder itself) and drag them on to the track - they will go on in alphabetic or numeric order (whichever you have used as your names). If using numbers, remember to use '01', '02', etc otherwise clip ten, eleven, twelve and so on will follow clip one... clip two will come after clip 19.
Drop them all on a single track. You can then point a menu button at the track and all of the clips will play one after the other. If you want black in between then you will be better adding this in a NLE such as Final Cut, then exporting the entire sequence of clips as a single file. Alternatively, create a black .pict file the correct dimensions for the video format you are using and manually add it in between each clip on the timeline. Or, create a series of black .pict files and name them 011, 021, 031 and so on. Place them in your folder of clips with the MPEGs named 01, 02 and so on. When you select all and drop it onto your timeline within DVDSP a black clip will go in between each piece of footage (sequence will be 01, 011, 02, 021, 03, 031 ). This is probably the quickest way to do it. You can reuse the same black .pict files for every project like this and as long as you follow the same naming convention it will always work.
Like anything you want to automate, the first couple of times take longer to set up. After that it is a lot easier.

IMovie DVD Import

So here is the dilemma...
New MAC User, with Canon Elura 100 MiniDV Camcorder. I am trying to make a vacation video DVD to send to family. I imported about 5 minutes of a hike we took into one iMovie Project, imported about 8 minutes of an event we attended into another iMovie Project, and I have one slideshow exported from iPhoto with about 700 pictures.
All told, my 4.7GB DVD is full already. Is this correct? Only 13 minutes of video? How in the world am I supposed to create DVD's from my DV tapes? I'll need 4 DVD's per tape at that ratio.
I did NOT import the entire tape and then clip, I only imported the specific sections, so this is not a clipping issue.
Please help the newbie! Thanks!

Hi Brian,
the German nightshift again...
reading the whole thread again brings me to a point, I probably missed before.
you're writing, quote:
... I'll need 4 DVD's per tape at that ratio...it is almost 100%....
maybe just my bad english abilities and I don't catch it, but:
iDVD uses the best possible "bitrate" (= the math, to convert video to videoDVD) per project... means: a 60min iM project fills a whole disk... a 90min project fills a whole disk... as 120min project.. you got the idea ...
"almost..." - does that mean, it fits? => burn!
sure, iDVD tries to fill ANY disk a 100%... less content = better quality (benchmarks/"switchpoints" are <60/<90/<120min)
and don't care for your next projects with more pictures, more video, more excitement, more special effects... oops... ;-)
just because your 72min fill a disk, does NOT mean, you can not get more onto it... length, not bits.... did I now got your problem?
rule: stay <120min =>fit.
helpful? maybe solved??

Poor photo quality when importing slide show into Elements 10

Hello,
I'm using Elements and Photoshop Elements 10 on Vista.
What I'm trying to do is import a slide show I made in Photoshop in to a movie I'm making so that the slide show appears as a menu item and I don't have to include a separate disk for the pictures. I've sucessfully imported it, added the menu marker and the disc works, but the photo quality is really crappy. When I play the slide show on its own, the pictures are fine. What am I missing?
Thanks in advance!
Mary

Welcome to the forum.
They work on several levels:
A subscriber comes with a problem/question, and then, hopefully, someone will have an answer
A subscriber comes with a problem/question in mind, and then finds other threads, very similar, and hopefully gets the answer
A subscriber comes to read, to pick up ideas, etc.
In your case, it appears that # 2 worked, just as it should.
As for your question, PrE can produce SlideShows for display from DVD-Video, as good as it gets. Where commercial DVD-Videos enter a different realm, is with Video footage, with motion. There, Hollywood uses special Transcoding software, that allows for many, many more passes to identify the areas of motion, to Transcode at just the right Bit-Rate, for best results. PrE does that with but two passes, unlike the US $ 500,000 programs, staffed by highly-trained experts, who do nothing but Transcoding, all day long. PrE is limited in that respect, but with SlideShows, it will be able to apply the highest Bit-Rate (the DVD-specs. are strict here, so, though higher Bit-Rate = higher quality, DVD-Video can ONLY go so far.) Also, Hollywood uses DVD-9's (DL) so that more Duration can be authored to disc, at the highest-allowed Bit-Rate, for each segment of the Video. With a SlideShow, the Bit-Rate will be as high as the DVD-specs. allow, and per the Duration of the SlideShow vs the capacity of the disc.
Now, there are some other considerations, such as the limited Color Gamut (and Gamma) of DVD-Video vs display on a calibrated computer monitor, or a calibrated Broadcast monitor. One needs to study that limited and different Color Gamut, and perhaps adjust the colors first, in Photoshop. PrE is not designed for Broadcast output, so lacks many of the Tools, that PrPro has. Also, very few PrE users have a calibrated Broadcast monitor hooked up for Color Grading. Last, even if one has produced the ultimate output, with full understanding of the Color Gamut, and used a perfectly calibrated Broadcast monitor, there is no telling what the calibration of the client's monitor (computer, or TV) will be. What is perfect on a calibrated Broadcast monitor might look great on the client's setup, or perhaps not. A Broadcast Engineer can only adjust to standards, and hope for the best, when the disc hits the public. Same for Audio. Who knows what "Aunt Marge" has to play back the DVD-Video?
For ultimate results, I would create a Timeline with a few Still Images, but with each adjusted in slightly different ways in Photoshop. Add a Title, like a Lower-Third, with the Color and Gamma settings over each version, maybe 5 variations, that are slightly different. PS allows one to adjust Colors and Gamma in many ways, so explore. Then, author that Timeline to DVD-Video, using high-quality media, and test on their DVD player/TV setup. See which version looks best, and note the specifics from that Title. Use that to process the actual Still Images for the DVD SlideShow.
Also remember, if one has set things up ideally, they will have calibrated their system and Photoshop. As Photoshop is a Color Managed Workspace, things will be, as good as it gets. DVD-Video, and TV's are NOT Color Managed Workspaces, and most consumer TV's are out of general calibration, having just the generic setting from the factory. Nothing can be done about that.
As mentioned above, if the playback is for a computer (not a DVD player and TV), then better Color and Gamma might be achieved by doing an AV file, and then burning that to a DVD-Data disc, for delivery. However, one still has the variables of the client's computer, its monitor and even the software player used. All play a big role in how that AV file will play for them.
Good luck, and I wish there was an "iron-clad" answer, as to how to achieve the ultimate results, but there are so very many variables involved.
Hunt

Settings for best quality DVD

Hi,
I'm hoping someone can help me to get the best quality DVD for home movies.
I have been editing and putting the movies to DVD for a number of years and the quality has been excellent. but over the last year something has changed and the quality of the final DVD is quite poor (pixalated)
I have tested different settings in both imovie HD and idvd but it hasn't made any difference so far.
I am using the following:
Sony HDR-HC9 handycam (Recording in HDV1080i)
imovie HD 6.0.3
iDVD 7.1
Thanks for any insight you can give me!

Hi
As written - dust on lens - first thought
If You made a lot of DVDs in a row (>3 at a time) then there is a risk to burn out/harm the laser.
my list on DVD Quality - read or keep. It's long !
*DVD quality*
1. iDVD 08 & 09 has three levels of qualities.
iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality *(movies + menus up to 120 min.)* - BEST
• Best Performances *(movies + menus less than 60 min.)* - High quality on final DVD
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6) *(movies + menus up to 120 min.)* - slightly lower quality than above
2.Video 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’s Disk Utilities application.
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. I use Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. I use 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.
• DVD is a standard in it self. It is Standard Definition Quality = Same as on old CRT-TV sets and can not
deliver anything better that this.
HD-DVD was a shortlived standard and it was only a few Toshiba DVD-players that could playback.
These DVDs could be made in DVD-Studio Pro. But they don’t playback on any other standard DVD-layer.
*Blu-Ray / BD* can be coded onto DVDs but limited in time to - about 20-30 minutes and then need
_ Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl BD-component
_ BD disks and burner if full length movies are to be stored
_ BD-Player or PlayStation3 - to be able to plyback
The BD-encoded DVDs can be playbacked IF Mac also have Roxio DVD-player tool. Not on any standard Mac or DVD-player
Full BD-disks needs a BD-player (in Mac) as they need blue-laser to be read. No red-laser can do this.
• 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.
• How it was recorded - Tripod vs Handheld Camera. A stable picture will give a much higher quality
• Audio is most often more critical than picture. Bad audio and with dropouts usually results in a non-viewed movie.
• Use of Video-editor. iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not the tools for DVD-production. They discard every second line resulting in a close to VHS-tape quality.
iMovie 1 to HD6 and FinalCut any version delivers same quality as Camera recorde in = 100% to iDVD
• 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
*unclemano wrote*
What it turned out to be was the "quality" settings in iDVD. The total clip time was NOT over 2 hours or 4.7GB, yet iDVD created massive visual artifacts on the "professional quality" setting.
I switched the settings to "high quality" which solved the problem. According iDVD help, "high quality" determines the best bit rate for the clips you have.
I have NEVER seen iDVD do this before, especially when I was under the 2 hour and 4.7GB limits.
For anyone else, there seem to be 2 places in iDVD to set quality settings, the first is under "preferences" and the second under "project info." They do NOT seem to be linked (i.e. if you change one, the other is NOT changed). take care, Mario
TO GET IT TO WORK SLIGHTLY FASTER
• Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up hard disk
• No other programs running in BackGround eg EnergySaver
• Don’t let HD spinn down or be turned off (in EnergySave)
• Move hard disks that are not to be used to Trash - To be disconnected/turned off
• Goto Spotlight and set the rest of them under Integrity (not to be scanned)
• Set screensaver to a folder without any photo - then make an active corner (up right for me) and set
pointer to this - turns on screen saver - to show that it has nothing to show
Yours Bengt W

MPEG-2 vs. mini DV - Which is better quality?

I want to transfer video from VHS tapes into iMovie. Which is going to give me better quality?:
A) Copy VHS to mini DV tape on my camcorder and then import into iMovie.
or
B) Copy VHS to DVD with my VHS/DVD recorder combo player and then transfer the DVD to iMovie using Apple MPEG-2 Player.
Thanks!
David

Hi Greg,
VERY good question! I think, we have three groups:
* the poor guys who have bought a "dvd camcorder"...- I don't have a clue, why I should record on a mini-dvd instead of a cheap tape...- the compression codec used on such machines is by definition! no editable format, so you allways need workarounds...
there should be a warning on that boxes "for playback only!"
(besides: the mpeg2-format allows to store video that way, you can edit it later, has to do with i-Frames etc... but that is not the way, Sony & Co goes...)
* using "older" homebrewn dvds...- ok, maybe somewhere are the old tapes... but where? and on that tape where do I find THAT scene? isn't it easier, to throw the DVD I made and copy that into iM?..... again: people see the fantastic pic quality of a DVD made with iDVD and think, "press play and record!".. THAT would be nice
* re-edit commercial DVDs... you made your personal version of StarWars, Episode XVII, and you are not that good in CGI as ILM... so, you want to copy a few frames from the disc on your shelf...- or, "forget all that plot, I want all Bruce Lee fighting scenes on ONE disc!" (<< ... "favorites", as we do in iTunes with playlist!)
you could make BIG Bucks with a 49$ tiny, shiny white box, analogue-in >> firewire out, which is recognized by iM....- ;-))

Best quality HD importing from FCE

I'm using a Canon Vixia HFM41 with FCE. The video quality in FCE is amazing. My question is how do I retain that same stunning quality when importing video into iDVD?
Thanks in advance!

You'll see lots of discussion in the forums about maintaining the best quality, and there are workflows which result in better quality... but iDVD creates standard definition DVDs and these are unlikely to match high quality original footage.
To have widely compatible DVDs, standards were created for the video and audio DVD formats. The video format is mpeg-2 for all standard definition DVDs, no matter if I use iDVD or a Hollywood company uses custom software. Even though all DVDs have video in the same format, there are lots of tricks to improve quality. Better software (eg, DVD Studio Pro) use better compression algorithms, and Hollywood uses the services of companies who painstakingly squeeze high quality productions onto fixed-size DVDs.
Look around the forums for tips; look at Apple's tutorials; and get the basics right for standard definition. High-definition? Blue-ray discs could be in Apple's future, but for now, you'll need a Blue-ray burner and special software (eg. one of the Roxio Toast versions).
John

Quickly create 8 minute highest quality DVD with no menus from Motion 4?

What's the fastest/simplest way to create a high quality DVD without any menus that just plays from Motion 4?
I set quality to best.
I just tried using Share, and I can see one of my processors working at 100%, but I've got no indication of any progress - or even that it is working, except I can see a few files in the directory I told it to create them in.
I told it to create a DVD (there was a checkbox), so I put a DVD in the drive.
I have no idea how long I should wait until giving up? I'd generally avoided trying to send anything to Compressor from motion, as it would take 10x longer.

Heya Les,
For the quickest method at the highest quality I would export a self-contained movie from Motion and take the self-contained QT movie and bring it into Compressor. Because SD DVD is compressed to MPEG-2 video format you will want to have control over how the file is compressed at the target bitrate of compression in order to achieve the best quality. You would want to duplicate and edit one of the DVD settings in Compressor then set the video bitrate to about 7.5/mbps because anything over that bitrate may cause playback errors on certain DVD players. I may receive compensation from my link. Make sure the audio is set to 192/kbps AC3 in Compressor.
You can setup distributed processing with Qmaster to enable multiple processor cores in a cluster and take advantage of multi core processing in Compressor. Additional info if necessary (more on the web by searching).
Then after Compressor is finished compressing the self-contained QT file take the compressed MPEG-2 file and .AC3 audio file and import them into a DVD Studio Pro project and follow these instructions to make the movie autoplay without any menus. I'll throw up some screenshots on the linked page soon to provide a visual reference of how to use DVD Studio Pro to create a DVD that autoplays without a menu.

Which yields a better quality slideshow?

Which yields better quality images?
If I "send" my slideshow from iPhoto to iDVD? Or if I start in iDVD and import a slideshow from iPhoto?

It's probably more a matter of personal preference than anything else. Allegedly, a track ripped at aac 128 sounds "better" than a 128 mp3. You should rip a track with which you are familiar in both formats (and perhaps at different bit rates) to see which you like the best.

Better quality DVD import

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