Burning iDVD project files

I'm trying to free up hard disk space by bruning iDVD project files (.dvdproj) to a DVD-R.
When I tried doing this the files would not open. There was an error message that said - not writable.
I tried to first archive the files as Archived.dvdproj and I checked read/write permissions, but I still get the same error message.
Is there a way to burn these files to DVD-R and have them available to open in the iDVD edit window the same as they were on my hard drive.
Photoscene

I'll try to be more specific. This was an iPhoto slideshow that was exported to iDVD.
I was able to delete the 10 megapixel .jpeg files from the Finder, the images from iPhoto, the QuickTime file, the iDVD.img file, and the Audio.Sd2f file (Roxio).
The Roxio audio file was needed to combine three music tracks into one file so that iPhoto could export them to iDVD.
Deleting the project saved 3GB of hard disk space.
The only files left were the four .aiff files in iTunes.
After this the Archived.dvdpoj file still opened in the iDVD edit window and played all the way through. From there it was burned to a CD-R, saving 400 MB of space.
I double checked the CD-R by copying the Archived.dvdproj file on to the desktop a second time and it works as it should.
Photoscene
PowerBook G4 17 inch, PowerBook G4 12 inch Mac OS X (10.4.6) Tiger/Panther

Similar Messages

Using iDVD project file after deleting original iMovieHD

I've been using iMovieHD and iDVD to convert my home movies from miniDV tapes to DVDs. I've been putting two one-hour tapes together into one iMovie and then creating an iDVD project with themes, chapters, etc.
Each two-hour iMovie file takes up >20 GB. Before I burned my DVD, the iDVD project file took up only a few MB. After I burned the DVD, the file size grew to >4 GB, so I figured (erroneously, it seems) that this new file package contained all of the information needed to keep burning DVDs. Threfore, I deleted the original massive iMovie file and kept only the iDVD project file.
Now every time I try to load the iDVD file, the program lists all the missing files and, other than my themes and chapter titles, there is nothing left of the original project.
Am I missing something here? What's taking up all that space (4 GB)? Am I completely screwed? Is the only way to make new copies of my project to copy the DVD that I made?
Any help would be appreciated.

Hi Jay,
As John has said, you should have created a Disc Image of your DVD project before deleting the iMovie file. When working in iMovie/iDVD you must not delete ANYTHING that is in the project, not even the iMovie trash can, which often mysteriously fills up with "stuff", until you are sure you are finished editing and then have saved a Disc Image to burn further DVD's from. The files you deleted from iMovie were the reference for the file you were using in iDVD. Without that iMovie file, your iDVD project will only show what was created there, like your theme page.
Sorry that's bad news. Your options now are re-create your iMovies from your tapes, OR, rip the DVD you have back to your Mac to burn more DVD's.
Forest
iMac G5 20" 1.8 GHz - 400GB HD - 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) 300 GB & 160GB Ext drives, QT 7.1.5 Pro, Panasonic GS-500 3CCD miniDV cam

Problem burning iDVD projects using external LaCie burner

I recently purchased a LaCie DL d2 DVD RW with LightScribe 16x from the LaCie company (12/07/2007). The LaCie burner is connnected via Firewire to my iMac. The iMac is a little over a year old and I am running Mac OS X (ver. 10.4.11).
The primary reason for my purchase was that I wished to create/burn iDVD projects on my iMac computer. The reason that I needed this product was due to the fact that, when I purchased my iMac, I made an error in judgement , and ordered it with a combo rather than a SuperDrive. So, while I am able to create iDVD projects and iMovies, I am unable to burn DVDs with of projects on the Combo Drive that came with the computer.
Thus far, however, I have not been able to burn a DVD with any of my iDVD projects. I am running iDVD 6 (ver. 6.04). When I attempt to “burn” a DVD disk the “Creating your DVD menu” appears. When I put in a blank DVD+RW 4x 4/7GB, it appears to go through the process (Prepare,,, Process Menus... Process Slideshows... Process Movies and Burn procedures). The DVD is then ejected and a message says that it is done and is “cleaning up.” However, that message never leaves the screen and when I click on the “Cancel” button, nothing happens. The iDVD application seems to lock up and I have to do a “force quit.”
I have tried this with three different projects, all with the same result. When I place the supposed “burned” DVD in the Combo Drive, it spins for a while and then kicks the DVD diskn out.
I have also tried launching Toast Titanium 7 (software that came with the LaCie burner). However, I see no place where I can “drag & drop” an iDVD project to the “drop zone.’ The closest thing seams to be “movies.” However, when I select that mode and go to my iDVD folder, all of the files are “grayed out.”
Can anyone help me out? Should I be able to burn iDVD projects with this unit? If so, what am I doing wrong.
Thanks for any help/advice that anyone can provide.
Jeff White

open up Toast 7, click on Video tab, click on Image File and drag your img. file to Toast.
John,
That's not correct. In Toast 7 you must use the Copy tab to burn a disk image to writable media. See page 94 of the Toast 7 manual.
(The procedure is slightly different for Toast 6 and Toast 8 but always involves using 'Copy')

Broken Link to iDVD Project File

I created an DVD from iMovie just fine.
However, when I try to use the iDVD Project file, it cannot find the shared file. This means I have to redo the iDVD opening screens whenever I make changes in iMovie, and want an updated DVD with the latest changes.
I have moved both the iMovie file & the iDVD Project File to my external firewire drive. Both open fine, but won't link.

Thanks, good advice. I'm up to date on OSX and iLife 05.
My iBook only has 40G free, so I'm creating & storing my imovies on the external HD. What if I create iDVD project from the external drive and leave it there? Will it link, or does it have to be on the startup (internal) HD?

Burning iDVD projects with external LaCie burner

I recently purchased a LaCie DL d2 DVD RW with LightScribe 16x from LaCie (12/07/2007). The primary reason for my purchase was that I wished to create/burn iDVD projects on my iMac computer. The reason that I needed this product was due to the fact that, when I purchased my iMac, I made an error and ordered the iMac with a combo rather than SuperDrive. So, while I am able to create iDVD projects and iMovies, I am unable to burn DVDs with my project.
Thus far, however, I have not been able to burn a DVD with any of my products. When I attempt a “burn” the Creating your DVD menu appears and when I put in a blank DVD+RW 4x 4/7GB, it goes through the process (Prepare,,, Process Menus... Process Slideshows... Process Movies and Burn procedures). The DVD is then ejected and a message says its done and is “cleaning up.” However, that message never leaves the screen and when I click on the “Cancel” button, nothing happens. The iDVD application seems to lock up and I have to do a “force quit.”
I have tried this with three different project, all with the same result. When I place the supposed “burn” DVD in the Combo Drive, it spins for a while and kicks the DVD out.
I have also tried launching Toast Titanium (software that came with the LaCie burner). However, I see no place where I can “drag & drop” a iDVD product to the “drop zone.’
Can you help me out. Should I be able to burn iDVD projects with this unit? If so, what am I doing wrong.
Thanks for any help that you can provide.
Jeff White

"Should I be able to burn iDVD projects with _*this unit?*_"
Which "model" & "generation" G5 iMac do you have?
Need this info so that the knowledgeable users can provide you with the proper troubleshooting solution(s).
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301724-en How to identify your iMac
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh355.html Getting information about your computer
You can have this info displayed on the bottom of every post by going to 'My Settings' which is located in the column on the right under your name, and filling in the information asked for.
Thank you
Have you contacted LaCie Support?

New - Burning iDVD projects using External Lacie Drive

My current eMac only has DVD-R capable drive and I a Lacie Firewire DVD External Drive with ability to burn DVD Double Layer.
Question how do I get iDVD to use external drive instead of internal drive to burn iDVD Projects?
Current option I can come up with is to save projects as a finished DIsc Image and then burn finished project with the Lacie.
Open to any help...
Thanks

Hello Cseijisan,
does your burner show correctly in System Profiler? If so iDVD should recognize it.
When you hit burn, iDVD should give you a little drop-down menu where you can choose your burner.
Current option I can come up with is to save projects as a finished DIsc Image and then burn finished project with the Lacie.
That is in any case a recommended procedure. Not only can you preview your DVD that way before actually burning, but it also helps eliminating burn errors, which might result from iDVDs inability to let you control the burn speed. Disk Utility or Toast are much more reliable burn apps.
hope this helps
mish

How do i burn idvd projects in a dvd format to an external hard disk

I have an iDVD project but it is too big to burn to a dvd (11GB!) so I was wondering if I can save the proejct like a dvd onto my External Hard Disk. This is really urgent and important for a school project.
Thanks in advance.

iDVD does not care about file size (it compresses a movie file by about 4:1 o the standard mpeg2 format), only about length.
A standard DVD will hold up to 120 minutes of video, but this includes titles, transitions etc.
iDVD encoding settings:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/7.0/en/11417.html
Short version:
Best Performance is for videos of up to 60 minutes
Best Quality is for videos of up to 120 minutes
Professional Quality is also for up to 120 minutes but even higher quality (and takes much longer)
That was for single-layer DVDs. Double these numbers for dual-layer DVDs.
Professional Quality: The Professional Quality option uses advanced two-pass technology to encode your video (The first pass determines which parts of the movie can be given greater compresson without quality loss and which parts can’t. The second pass then encodes those different parts accordingly) , resulting in the best quality of video possible on your burned DVD. You can select this option regardless of your project’s duration (up to 2 hours of video for a single-layer disc and 4 hours for a double-layer disc). Because Professional Quality encoding is time-consuming (requiring about twice as much time to encode a project as the High Quality option, for example) choose it only if you are not concerned about the time taken.
In both cases the maximum length includes titles, transitions and effects etc. Allow about 15 minutes for these.
You can use the amount of video in your project as a rough determination of which method to choose. If your project has an hour or less of video (for a single-layer disc), choose Best Performance. If it has between 1 and 2 hours of video (for a single-layer disc), choose High Quality. If you want the best possible encoding quality for projects that are up to 2 hours (for a single-layer disc), choose Professional Quality. This option takes about twice as long as the High Quality option, so select it only if time is not an issue for you.
Use the Capacity meter in the Project Info window (choose Project > Project Info) to determine how many minutes of video your project contains.
NOTE: With the Best Performance setting, you can turn background encoding off by choosing Advanced > “Encode in Background.” The checkmark is removed to show it’s no longer selected. Turning off background encoding can help performance if your system seems sluggish.
And whilst checking these settings in iDVD Preferences, make sure that the settings for NTSC/PAL and DV/DV Widescreen are also what you want.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1502?viewlocale=en_US

Difficulty burning iDVD project to disc

Help - My first try, and I'm tossing wrecked discs like frisbees! I've put together a lovely set of slideshows with soundtracks and set up an iDVD project to my liking (using a supplied theme), but can't get it to burn to DVD. I've checked out the burner by burning a DVD with a few BG's of compressed movies from iTunes (I needed to make some room anyway). I also managed to save my project as a .img file, which plays fine on the DVD player.
When I attempt to burn the project in iDVD, it goes through the whole process of rendering, encoding, inspecting, folding, spindling and mutilating (OK, I've forgotten all the steps), and it starts into burn mode: says it's burning the lead in, then a couple of seconds later it ejects the disc and says done. However, the process doesn't actually quit (even though it says done and nothing further happens), and when I press the cancel button it says "cleaning up" and then that's it ... seizes up and needs force quit to go on. No error messages are given when the disc is ejected. When I insert the disc back into the mac it recognizes it at first as an empty DVD, but shows up on the desktop as an empty CD-R not DVD. It is unreadable in a DVD player.
I looked through the troubleshooting section in support, and moved non-Apple files from the Library/Quicktime folder, and wasted yet another disc, not to mention the time it took to try to burn it.
Besides the obvious (DVD-RW would save a bit of plastic now, wouldn't it!), any thoughts??
Many thanks for any hints!

Thanks, F Shippey -
I tried burning the .img file, through the Finder (is that the same as doing it through Disk Utility? Probably not, but D.U. was not interested... see below) - didn't want to even start. So I found a DVD-RW disc - at first D.U. wouldn't erase it (unspecified error). Stubborn soul that I am, it finally worked the third time (ok I also rebooted in between). A direct burn of the .img file went through, but wasn't readable as a DVD (the player knew there were some mp3's on it somewhere...). So I erased it again, and tried a burn direct through the iDVD again. Success! And when it got done, it asked if I wanted to do another, so what the heck, I threw in one of the DVD-R discs - a new one off the spindle - and that worked too.
When I look at ANY of these discs on Disk Utility they all seem to say they're not writable when I choose the Information tab, even if they're identified as DVD-RW (Locked: Yes, Writable: No"). And yet, then they go on to be writable after all. That isn't right, is it?
I am starting to wonder if my superdrive is a little wonky. Either that or this spindle of DVD-R's is funky (Memorex - I'd have thought they'd be pretty reliable?). At any rate, I've been able to make it work this once, so, well, I'm not sure what. I'll keep plugging along.
I'll leave the thread as unanswered for a little bit, in case anyone has any other thoughts.
Thank you all.
L.

Burning iDVD Projects on a Windows Box

Is it possible to burn an iDVD project to a DVD-R (Sony DRU-510a) that is internal to my Windows XP machine?
I was in the Apple store the other day and noticed you can "burn" a project to disk, and wondered whether I could simply move the resulting file (I believe it was an .img file) to my Windows machine and then burn it to the DVD-R.
Many Thanks.
Reza

Hi Reza,
Welcome to the Discussions.
You need to "Save as Disk Image" of your DVD project, transfer over to the Window PC, change the file extension from .img to .iso, then burn, see another thread: http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=205201

Burned iDVD project has terrible interlacing

My son and I produced two QuickTime MOV files from the current Final Cut Express that look excellent on playback with no interlace artifacts. We subsequently put them into an iDVD project, with just those two MOV files and one image for the menu that uses the standard Revolution template. I created a disk image with the Professional quality output. I burned the image to DVD and the resulting movie segments show terrible interlacing artifacts when the movie pans.
These artifacts were not present in the source video or the produced MOV files. The MOV files were created first with no deinterlacing and then a second version of the MOV files used deinterlacing. The resulting DVD's produced identical interlacing artifacts.
What is the cause of the interlacing artifacts that iDVD introduced?
What can one do to eliminate these interlacing artifacts?
Do we need to use a third-party DVD authoring tool?
Thank you.

my penny is on - Ripped from a pre-existing DVD
To What ? .mp4 ?
I would choose StreamingDV .DV - best result in my exp.
Shot by a Prof. - May be as a pro on DVPro or 1080p60 or something that also
needs to be converted to what iDVD, Studio Pro or Toast™ can deal with.
Else - my list on 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.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) 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. 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.
• 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
*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
Yours Bengt W

What format's best for burning iDVD project?

I have a two hour documentary I'm hoping to burn in iDVD.
Using Quicktime Pro and/or Mediaclip I created files in these formats: .dv, m4v, mov.
Given the length of the film, what format file should I import into my iDVD project?
Thanks very much.
Bohdan

First recommendation is to not exceed 2 hours of QuickTime playback (120 mins) for SL media (and twice that for DL). It's actually smart to keep it a few mins. shy of the stated duration/s.
Secondly, here are the files which work best:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/7.0/en/6655.html

Can't burn iDVD project

Hello,
I created a set of movies in iMovie and then created a project in iDVD (v7.0.4).
I imported the movies that play just fine when you click on the buttons in iDVD.
I checked and there are no errors in the hierarchical view and am ready to burn the project to a DVD.
I clicked the round DVD button and it requested that I insert a DVD. I inserted a DVD and it started to burn the project. After about 4 minutes (after it burns the drop zone pictures and begins to burn the movies), I get a dialog box saying "You inserted a blank DVD. Choose and action from the pop-up menu or click ignore." I've tried numerous options but continue to get this dialog box.
At the same time the above message appears another message appears in iDVD which says "Error during rendering/encoding."
I have found no error icons when viewing the project in hierarchical view. I have tried restarting my Mac. What could be going wrong?
Please help. Thank you!

Please disregard this post, I solved the problem. Basically, I just created a brand new project in iDVD and re-imported all the movies. I don't know what problem there was in the earlier version but it's been resolved.

Problem when burning idvd project

hi,
im using imovie 06hd and idvd 06 with the latest up dates.
im trying to put a video film together of my little cousins christening.
everytime i try to burn my idvd project it goes through all the process of encoding the video and audio which takes a long time. then when it gets to the burn section it stops and it says error multiplexing and burning.
the duration of the film is 74 mins. i tried it on best performance and best quality but still no luck
is it really that hard to burn a dvd project. this happened to me 4 years ago on an older mac and older imovie. this time i thought they may have sorted out there issuse with burning dvd.
i have over 40gb of space left on my mac
am i missing anything.
i tried to burn it in toast but after the encoding an error appears.
is there anything i can do to get my project on dvd
cheers
lib

hello,
i created Disk Image last night and everything was ok. iv got over 40gb space left. plenty.
i then opened toast and tried to burn it. again no joy. iv got toast 9. under the video section i select VIDEO_TS FOLDERS. it still wouldnt let me burn it.
iv just ordered some new blank dvd verbatim to see if these work. iv been doing some research and alot of people say these brand are good. so ill give them a try but i have my doubts.
my content is 3 audio tracks from my itunes, about 20 photos and 70mins worth of video.
please could you ask me if there is anything else you would like to know.
thank you so much for your help. just hope i can get this to work

External DVD burner to burn iDVD projects

I purchased an iMac about six months ago to replace an older Mac that I've had for about 10 years. I made the mistake of not getting a Super Drive when I made the purchase. I have spent some time learning about and creating iDVD projects but, of course, can only play them on my iMac and am unable to burn them to a DVD disk. Can I purchase an external DVD burner that will allow me burn my iDVD projects and, if so, can anyone suggest a reliable product?
Thanks.

Use an ext. Lacie FW Burner or make your own like i did from a pioneer 110D and a standard FW400 enclosure. Pioneer 111 and 112 will also work. Nice thing about making you own is that it requires no additional FW drivers.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5153595&#5153595
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5177208#5177208

Music dies out on burned idvd project

I am creating a simple slide show with music using idvd and it plays perfectly on the computer but when i burn it and play it on the tv it has a few spots where the music dies out for a few seconds. any ideas?

Hi baldguy
Welcome to apple discussions. May be a media issue. May not. The way to find out though is to burn a disc image to the desktop of your mac of the iDvd project in question. This will help us narrow things down to either the media or your computer. Use apple's dvd player app to open the video_TS folder of the image you created on the desktop to see if it plays as expected. If it does, then this will tend to point toward media selection or the rate at which it was burned dvd-r.
Also, what brand of dvd's did you use? I recommend Verbatim (at least while troubleshooting this issue). Did the burn exceed 4x? if so, this tends to increase the number of read or write errors to dvd-r. Lowering the burn speed to 4x may help in such situation.
Hope this info helps but if you need further clarification, just come on back and we'll walk you through step by step.
Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software / products that may be mentioned in this topic. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information above at your own discretion.
Message was edited by: SDMacuser

Burning iDVD project files

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