Compression question for iDVD 6

Hi: I've got a avi file at 1.4 gig that I need to compress onto a single iDVD: can it be done, and if so, how do I do it?
Many thanks

It may not be necessary to import the AVI file into iMovie, but that does often fix some problems.
AVIs, just like .MOV, are containers that can use many different codecs. iDVD likes some better than others, and hates any that have 12 bit audio. Going though iMovie (or QT pro) to convert to DV can fix this sometimes.
So the real questions are:
1) how long in minutes is that AVI file? If less than 2 hours, it should fit on on single layer DVD-R
2)what codecs are used inside that AVI file? If QT can read them, iDVD should be able to use them, unless they are muxed/or 12 bit audio.
If your AVI is less than 2 hours, try just dragging it into iDVD. USe "Save as Disk Image" to test it. If it works, then burn it! If not, then try converting first.
Realize that iDVD will re-compress anything it can read to MPEG2.
john b

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Compression question for the SSL-C module on CSS

Does anybody know what the newline format file type the the SSL-C module supports? I have a .js file and if I set the newline format of the source file to windows the CSS displays/delivers the last portion of the file. The moment I change the newline format of the source file to UNIX the problem goes away.
Also, if I convert all the tabs in the file to spaces (while still using windows newlines), the problem goes away as well.
Can someone please provide some insight?

Weird.
The newline format should have no impact.
This seems like a bug.
Have you tried the latest version ?
If yes, open a service request with the TAC for follow up.
Gilles.

Which compression is the best for iDVD?

I have about 9 footages ready to export to quicktime format
in order to create an iDVD, however, I need to know which compression method produces the best quality of video for iDVD?
I've been using MEPG4 so far but I have no idea if there's anything better than MPEG4 for DVD creation.
THanks in advance folks!

Export as a QUICKTIME MOVIE>Self Contained>Using Sequence Settings. Then import into iDVD and let it compress it to MPEG-2. That really is the way to go about it with iDVD.
DVDs are all MPEG 2, not 4

After making a movie and wanting to burn a DVD, I go for iDVD in the 'DEEL' menu. Then I get the question ' where is iDVD? What is the problem?

After making a movie and wanting to burn a DVD, I go for iDVD in the 'DEEL' menu. After couple of seconds I get the question ' where is iDVD?
What is the problem? I cannot find iDVD in the programs map.
regards Tonl

The current Apple thinking is that the entire world has access to fast broadband and wants to distribute home movies to friends and relatives via download (iCloud) rather than mailing them a DVD. The fact that nothing could be further from the truth has so far had no effect on this policy. If you scream and shout loudly enough down the phone Apple may send you a free copy of iDVD. That worked for some, but is now said to have been withdrawn by Apple. Also, you can complain bitterly here, perhaps suggesting that Apple could have provided a choice between using iCloud and burning DVDs:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/
Whilst Macs with a Superdrive continue to be able to burn video DVDs, the software for so doing, iDVD, is no longer included in the iLife bundle that comes with OS 10.7 Lion (which also omitted iWeb) or will come with OS 10.8 Mountain Lion. And it is no longer included in the iLife 11 from the online Apple Store: http://www.apple.com/ilife/. Your only solution is to look on Amazon or eBay and try to get an older version that includes iDVD.
However, the vastly more expensive FCPX can burn a DVD without iDVD or DVD Studio Pro involvement, but lack the themes etc of iDVD.

Need high quality compression for iDVD but don't want letterbox

I have a FCE project which has moving stills, lots of titling and graphics (from Photoshop) and want a high quality compression to get rid of the interlacing, etc. I need to get this to iDVD.
If I export as quicktime, it's just ok quality. If I use Sorenson or Animation (as recommended by the Apple creatives), the resulting project looks great but I have letterboxing on the top/bottom in iDVD, which I don't want. I'm using a 4:3 aspect ratio and my FCE project is 720x480.
What am I doing wrong? I don't have the "preserve aspect using letterbox" checked but get the letter box anyway. (I tried it with this and have a thicker letterbox!)
Thanks.

If the material is 4:3 edited in a 4:3 there is no reason for iDVD to letterbox it, unless the iDVD preferences are set to widescreen.
It's hard to tell where you're going wrong because there are so many variables along the way, and you haven't spelled out what you're doing, format, frame sizes, export settings, etc.
Whoever told you to export to Sorenson or Animation is completely wrong. You should export to QuickTime Movie. iDVD only accept a couple of formats DV material and HDV in Apple Intermediate Codec, and HD is always widescreen. The HDV 720p format has no interlacing. These formats export from FCE with interlacing unless you switch it off in FCE. You can do this in Item Properties for the sequence. Set the Field Dominance to None.

Best compression for iDVD authoring and DVD playback?

I have some DV footage that I had captured into MPEG-2 files on my old PC, then recently got a Mac and I want to be able to edit the footage on the Mac software I have and put it onto DVD for standard playback on a TV.
I've got the latest Quicktime Pro with the MPEG-2 playback component, and MPEG Streamline that allows me to convert the MPEG-2 files into MOV files. I want to be able to edit them in iMovie and Final Cut Express, and then I want to drop them into iDVD.
I would like to know what the best compression to use would be in converting the MPEG-2 files into MOV files or other format that's compatible with iMovie and Final Cut Express that will result in the best quality for DVD playback. I don't have Final Cut Pro so I don't have Compressor, which I understand, already has a preset compression optimized for DVD authoring and playback later on.

So you have some already mpg-2 compressed files you want to edit in FCE. Using MPEG Streamclip, I suggest you convert them to DV video (which runs about 13 GB per hour) to work on them in FCE.
As far as recompressing the edited video, I really doubt the mpg-2 encoding mode used will make much difference since you took the real quality hit when you initially mpg-2 compressed to content.
If you want to take the additional time required, you can try the new 'Professional Encoding' option in iDVD 7, but I seriously doubt it will improve anything. (You know the old 'silk purse out of a sow's ear' thing...)

This is is simple question I hope regarding Apple stores for iDVD...

Hi all, I have looked over the Apple site and have not come up with a totally concrete answer. What I would like to know is does Apple have a store for iDVD similar to what they have for iPhoto (calendars, books, et). I would like to make some DVD movies but have them look professional. A nice looking case for them and the DVD printed.
If anyone knows a for sure yes or no please post back.
Thanks
Steve

Nope, no such 'store'.
You are free to use your own creative juices!
But this may be useful:
A good guide to iDVD 7 can be found here:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/idvd_07stone.html
Message was edited by: Klaus1

Compressions too big for iDVD?

I'm trying to create my own "Play All" button for iDVD but I was told that I had to combine all the video clips together into one iMovie and then put chapters at each end of the clip to essentially create a "Play All" button with the option to select different chapters.
I have imported two files (174MBs, xvid.avi format) but the two clips turn out to be 4.5GBs each. However, with just two files combining to be over 2 single-sided dvds combined, how will I be able to put it in iDVD and successfully burn it into one dvd? Is it not possible? What am I doing wrong?

It's the duration of your movie that's the determining factor for encoding a DVD. Don't worry about file size.
Matt

Question for Mike - LaCie FireWire & iDVD5

Mike - Can you help please ? John Beatty suggested I post this to you :
I have just bought a LaCie Double Layer bus-powered Firewire DVD. It is an NEC DVD+-RW ND-6550A device. The drive came with Toast 6 Titanium, which is now installed.
I also have an internal Matshita DVD reader/ CD writer as part of the original G4 setup.
When I attempt to burn a project in iDVD5.0.1, the internal drive opens up and I get a message telling me to insert a DVD, even though this is not a DVD writer. I've tried Control-clicking the Burn icon, but nothing different happens. There is no option for drive selection in the iDVD menu structure either.
I don't really want to spend ages writing Disk Images, then writing to the LaCie, and I've searched this forum for a similar issue - but 'fraid I can't find anything similar. Does anyone have any suggestions that will enable iDVD to recognise the external LaCie ?
Appreciate any advice
Paul
G4 AGP 500Mhz; Mac OS X (10.4); 768MB RAM
RE: How do I get iDVD5 to recognise my external DVD Drive ?
Don't skip this route - the amount of "extra" time is almost zero - in effect iDVD is doing this anyway behind the scenes to some degree. And separating encoding from burning makes a lot of sense. I always "Save as Disk Image" and burn separately.
And there is a guy that works for LaCie that frequent this forum:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?224@@[email protected]/7
I think you just need the proper disk burning profile from LaCie. You could probably e-mail Mike at the address on his profile. Or post a new thread titled "Question for Mike - LaCie Firewire and iDVD5"
John B.

Mike
Thanks. I tried burning a disk image for a 48min video in iDVD. That worked fine when previewed. I then burnt it to DVD in Toast 6.1 using the Copy (Image File option) Tab.
The resultant DVD will not play in either my internal Drive, nor my normal DVD player - which is a multi region player. The DVD is only recognised in the external LaCie. BUT, playing the movie only shows chapter 1 of 12, and there is no sound at all. (despite the preview showing it to be ok).
As a test, I burnt the movie in iDVD5 using the Pfurz & Hurz plugins. It burnt ok, but I got the same result - chapter 1 only and no sound.
My supplier for the LaCie rive suggested I also try and export the movie from iMovie to a Quick Time compression at full DV quality to make sure that worked. It doesn't - despite a 35Gb spare capacity on the Hard Drive, I either get a complete system hang with hard restarts required, Error 36 or the occasional short clip compressing OK. I'm at a loss - the fact that I get a decent image file from iDVD indicated there's nothing wrong with the video files...
Any suggestions ??!

Best settings to use when preparing HD source material for iDVD?

I realize iDVD is effectively abandonware, and that it was never really designed either to run on Lion nor to import high definition content...but nevertheless here I am (somewhat unavoidably) trying to do both and constantly getting the dreaded and mysterious "an error occured during movie encoding" result when I try to burn or export my project to a disc image.
If it matters, I am using a Mac Pro (1,1) with a 5770, running 10.7.5 with 8GB of RAM and oodles of free diskspace. All of my software is fully up to date, including iDVD 7.1.2 build 1158. Several utilities report nothing erroneous with my drives or their filesystems. I have made sure Perian is not installed. I have tried to create and export this DVD using both my primary user account and a clean dummy one I made for testing purposes.
After considerable trial and error experiments, each taking several hours to attempt, I've decided that I'm never going to easily figure out exacty which of my many various source files for this project (holiday videos for family) may be giving iDVD hiccups. Instead, I've decided to take another approach, making all of my content as easy to "spoon feed" to iDVD as possible. Hopefully then I can get this project done.
My question is what, ideally, does iDVD like to be fed?
For starters, I am in the process of transcoding and repackaging all of my content through MPEG Streamclip to be AIC video and uncompressed audio inside MOV containers. In each case I am scaling the video down to be 480 lines tall. Just guessing, but that seems like it would give iDVD the least possible work to "think" about and get confused. Does that sound about right to folks?
Should I be doing something drastic and old school like trying to create DV files? My content is all wide aspect, intended for a 16:9 iDVD project and that seems like it would get tricky (also, this would involve more quality loss than using AIC files).
I am totally open to suggestions here. Just please don't say "dude, use Toast" or something because while I have plenty of other tools that I know would work more easily and reliably, I really want to mimic the holiday discs from previous years that I've created using the same iDVD theme.

I haven't had to wrestle with this problem, but I've followed some of the discussions and here are several ideas and resources which seem reasonable. As background, have you read about better results from using iMovie6? Also, as you imply, DV Stream (.dv) was the native format for iDVD.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16296991#16296991
http://blog.progravix.com/?p=456
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5432
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1611?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
...and don't forget David Pogue's "Missing Manual" series for iMovie and iDVD are excellent resources.
John

Anyone get a huge "Problem Report for iDVD" with hundreds of lines of information?

Anyone get a huge "Problem Report for iDVD" with hundreds of lines of information? This happens right before the DVD would be finished burning but instead crashes and leaves the long report your have to scroll down several times to read. I had to take several screen captures of the screen to get the WHOLE report. Here is two:
(If there is another thread on this - just answer the question or refer me to it. I'm past due on a big project. Don't have time to read all 21,000 discussions in the iDVD thread. Be kind. Thanks )

Some things to try first:
1. Disconnect any and all 3rd party devices that didn't ship with your mac directly from apple (both FW and USB included).
2. Restart your mac without any 3rd party devices attached whatsoever. That includes ext. hard drives, blue tooth devices, and any third party memory product/s. Basically, anything that doesn't come directly from apple has to go (at least while troubleshooting).
3. Need you to dispose of the plist for iDvd also. Go to you Home folder, the one that looks like a house > Library > Preferences > com.apple.iDvd.plist and drag and drop this file/s to the trash. Make sure to first quit iDvd prior to disposing of this pref. file/s.
4. Run apple's disc utility and repair permissions. Applicantions > Utilities > Disc Utility > Repair Permissions.
5. Restart your mac yet again, and try iDvd one more time.
6. If it's still at issue then please open iDvd from a separate user account and try your project one more time. If you don't know how to create a separate user account then just come on back and one of will show you how.
Good luck.
Message was edited by: SDMacuser

Basic questions for a self-taught re: HDV for SD HDV (yes again)

ok - like many others posting on this topic, I am apologising for going over what seems to be one of the most covered topics out there, that still isn't clear!
I am trying to teach myself DVD SP4 in the same way I did with FCP5 (trial, error and lots of forum searching). I am by no means a pro on FCP - but have certainly got enough understanding of it to have cobbled together 7 23 minutes episodes to broadcast! I have gone thought the DVD SP4 Manual and forums and lots of it just makes my brain ache - what mostly lets down my understanding are formats/compression/codecs.
So - my main questions (for now....)
-In DVD SP I couldn't import my QT movie into my assets list as it was an "incompatible format" - is this because it was HDV to a SD DVD Project? Doesn't the process of DVD SP encoding it as Mpeg 2 make is SD anyway?
-I read a post from someone in a similar situation, who advised exporting a HDV sequence as Uncompressed 8 Bit, and bringing that to DVD SP. So am doing that now (6 hours or so for a 23" sequence) and am hoping it gives a great looking picture, but I have seen from its preview icon that its a 720 x 576 frame - why is it not exporting in 16:9? or will it squeeze that down to normal once it's in DVD SP?
Really appreciate any understand you can help me with.
cheers
Hugh

Hughey wrote:
Going back to my original questions - could the problem be a HD file in an SD project?
No. If you followed the workflow process from the above post you would have a SD mv2 file. The file should be playable in Quicktime and it should be 16:9.
EDIT: Yes. Reading back on your OP this question ->
In DVD SP I couldn't import my QT movie into my assets list as it was an "incompatible format" - is >this because it was HDV to a SD DVD Project? Doesn't the process of DVD SP encoding it as Mpeg 2 >make is SD anyway?
I believe that importing a HDV file into a SD project would give you that error but if you follow the above steps and import the mv2, AC3 files you should not get that error.
The reason you got three files is because that is how the preset group is made up. To be completely truthful I duplicated that preset, deleted the AIFF part and renamed the group. I now use that as my default settings when I bring any asset into Compressor.
As far as bring video assets (quicktime SD/HD, or other) into DVDSP in general you can do this but, what is happing is that in the background DVDSP is going through the steps from my above post and creating the mv2, AIFF, AC3 files for you (based on your preference setting in DVDSP) and then replacing the video files you brought in with the compressed files.
Can you play the mv2 file in quicktime? If not then something else must be going wrong.

2 movies AVI (each 600MB) = too large for iDVD? 6+ GB? Whats going on?!?!

Bottom line, two avi files, I add to iDVD and it starts encoding but somehow makes it larger than it is.
I go into PROJECT and I see now its a whopping 6+GB!
Is there something better or is there a setting I am missing? I just want to make a DVD with the existing AVI files and don't want it at 6GB.
Am confused.
Thanks

There could be whole host of issues here. It could be as simple as trying a different blank disk (Verbatim is one of the "preferred" discs). I imagine however that the answer will be a bit more elusive. It all starts with your source material... which at this point we don't know what it's format is. Once you know that, I would do a Google search on converting that format to a DV file- this is what iDVD expects. Depending on how compressed the original file is, determines what kind of quality you will get when it's converted. Once you have the "proper" file for iDVD, you can try to burn another DVD and see how successful that is.
In general, compression is achieved by throwing away redundant frames. By converting and re-compressing, we are tossing out frames, inserting new frames and then tossing them back out again.... not the best scenario!
To troubleshoot further... the DVD itself, via Apple's DVD player plays successful on you Mac but not on a tabletop DVD player? If so, have you played ANY home burned DVD movie on the table top player?
Mike

Inserting Chapter Markers for iDVD

I have a few simple questions about inserting Chapter Markers in FCE, and what exactly is happening. I've looked for the answers in two books, and the Help files, but still have my questions:
In the "Edit Markers" box, the first field is "Name." Is this the name of the Chapter Marker that gets exported?
The next field is "Comment." Is this for my info only? Or does this have something to do with the Chapter Marker getting exported correctly?
If I press the "Add Chapter Marker" button, it adds <CHAPTER> into the Comment field. Is this necessary for the marker to be a Chapter Marker?
Why is there a space in front of " <CHAPTER>"? Is this necessary?
If I add a comment to the Comment field, should it go before or after <Chapter>, or does it matter?
I rarely have used Chapter Markers, and these should be easy questions for someone. Thanks for your help.
Terrell

First of all, this is the Final Cut Pro forum but the following works the same for both programs
When using iDVD and you create chapter markers, dropping your QT export into iDVD, using one of the provided themes, will create a main screen with Play Movie and (something like)Chapter Menus. The Menu page(s) follow your chapters, including any Name you assign: So, If you backspace "Name" and type Scene One, that will appear in your chapter page
Far as I know, Comments is for your eyes only. I've never really used it but I don't see anywhere in iDVD where it shows up; not 100 per cent sure
<CHAPTER> is where you assign a number. Do not delete <CHAPTER> it will not show up in your menu. But if you type Chapter One, that shows up with the Chapter Name
Most iDVD themes automatically create a first chapter for you, called Begin. You can change that inside iDVD
You do not have to assign your chapter a name. That is your call
Other things to note: Create chapter markers in the Timeline. Export as Quicktime Movie, not any version of Quicktime Conversion. In the Export menu, select Chapter Markers.

Many questions on iDVD '06...

Hey guys,
I am a heavy Windows user but with one Mac at home and now considering moving my personal stuff to a new Mac Pro with a MacBook on the side.
So I have some questions about iDVD that I would love to find answers. Here we go:
1. What kind of camcorders are supported? miniDV only? Or can I use DVD based cameras (DVD-R, DVD-RAM) and even Hard Disk based ones (seems like the industry is moving towards HDD based cameras as we can see on the latest high definition 1080i cameras from Sony - HDD and DVD only, no miniDV anymore). Is there a list of supported cameras somewhere on the Apple website?
2. Can I import MPEG files to iDVD? I have tons of MPEG files I got off my DVD-RAM based camcorder that I can use with no problems on Windows apps like DVD MovieFactory. Can I do the same with iDVD?
3. Does it support external burners? Any? If not any, is there a list of supported ones?
4. If I export the my iDVD project, can I export in .ISO format so I can burn on any machine, Mac or PC? Or it exports as .DMG only?
Thanks guys!

Thanks for the quick reply Sue.
The main thing is I do not intend to use iMovie at all. All I want to use is iDVD as I will not be editing anything. I just want to copy whatever files are on the camera (could be in MPEG format) and use them as source files for an iDVD project. Again, there is no editing at all on my case.
From what I understand iMovie is for editing and that is something I do not do at all.
And for iDVD, it does not support USB2.0 burners at all? Am I stuck to firewire?
And again, is .ISO a format iDVD can export to or it always export to .DMG?
Thanks!
Hi Claudio:
1. iMovie was made to work with miniDV cameras. It is
possible but not good to convert files form a DVD
camera or a Harddrive camera to iMovie. There is a
list that is outdated from Apple. Read this from Dan Slagle. It also contains the
link to the Apple Camera list.
2. To import your MPEG or DVD files to imovie, read
this
3.It does support external burners via firewire. Youo
acn look here and decide which
one for yourself.
4.If you have the proper software, you can export the
file to be burned on the PC or the Mac. I have never
used this but you can try.
Sue

Compression question for iDVD 6

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