Considering it; compared to iDVD?

I don't own DVD SP, but I've been considering it for some time and I have a few questions:
1. How does it compare to iDVD? How much customization of a DVD is there when compared to iDVD?
2. Can I purchase this separately from Final Cut Studio package?
Thanks!

1. iDVD and DVD Studio Pro are worlds apart:
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/dvdstudiopro/
2. No. You can only get it as a part of Final Cut Studio.

Similar Messages

  • Considering the jump from iDVD to Studio pro, business critical. new user

    Hi all, I will make this as short and concise as possible. I create DVD's for marketing leave behinds for restaurants, properties, etc. I have a wide range of consumers using a variety of different computers and DVD players playing the disks... and these are my most often complaints and problems I need to resolve, it is business critical, as my companies name and reputation are on the product. Thank you in advance for any help and suggestions.
    1. Can I easily bring in movies that I saved and rendered under the "Share" function to the media browser in imovie into DVD Studio pro, without recoding etc, just like I bring the movies into iDVD?
    2. MANY times the disks are recoginzed in a PC or a Mac as Video TS and Audio TS files and not as a movie(not autolaunching the DVD PlayeR)... I burn directly from iDVD, and have also tried saving as a Video TS, and burning in Toast under the Create Video DVD (I think its called UDF or something). Will DVD studio pro be more effective at the computer and more recent DVD players just playing the movie, instead of sometimes thinking it is a Data DVD. It is very frustrating, especially that even the mac gets confused and either recognizes it as DATA, or starts playing the movie in the middle.
    3. Autoletterboxing is very important to me, as I want the movies to play on full screen TVS with the bars on top and bottom, or on Widescreen TV's with little bars or no bars at all. My biggest problem is with iDVD even in widescreen setting, if the end user at home never set up their DVD player that it is hooked up to a widescreen, it automatically goes into Pan and Scan mode, which really confuses my client. Or vice versa I have used "My DVD Edit" to do auto letterbox, and it causes an opposite effect sometimes stretching and distorting the image on widescreens.
    Any tips etc to make my discs perform as close to a traditional movie you would rent at your local video store (and the most compatible settings) would be greatly appreciated. I thank you all, and understand this is a lot to ask of someone for this much help.
    I use Verbatim DVD-R's, and have tried varying my burn speed as well. I have my entire business riding on this, and my movies are very simple to produce, but they don't do anyone any good if they don't play.
    Thank you!

    I have my entire business riding on this, and my movies are very simple to produce, but they don't do anyone any good if they don't play.
    <
    You're either exaggerating or you're completely off your nut. Your business is based on price, service, and the quality of your products. The promotional piece you leave behind is nothing but a shiny piece of plastic. As Shawn has pointed out, there are only so many things you can expect to learn how to control when producing DVDs and one thing that is totally out of your reach is what your prospects do with your disks.
    You will want a good inkjet printer and a huge bulk supply of printable disks. A mutiple disk burner pays for itself within a few days if you are making five to ten copies of any single title.
    Before you jump, buy and read carefully the two or three books that are all about DVDSP4. If you know someone who has the FCP Studio suite, buy them dinner and a bottle of wine and ask them to show you how DVDSP4 works. The suite comes with a complete tutorial resource disk for DVDSP4.
    <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://">http://www.amazon.com/DVD-Studio-Pro-Authoring-Macintosh/dp/0071 470158/ref=sr12?ie=UTF8&qid=1244560947&sr=1-2
    http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Pro-Training-DVD-Studio/dp/0321501896/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&qid=1244560947&sr=1-1
    bogiesan

  • Slide Show from iPhoto to iDVD

    How do I transfer a slide show from iPhoto to iDVD? I like the effects in the show make in iPhoto, and I don't see anything comparable in iDVD. Thanks.

    Export the slideshow to QT and then add the QT movie file to an iDVD slideshow. This will scale the movie file to the TV safe area like it does with still photos avoiding the approx. 10% image loss due to TV overscan on older TV set.
    Another slideshow application to consider is PhotoPresenter which offers over 25 animated themes, some of which are demostrated here.
    OT

  • Making more complex dvds in iDVD

    I have a lot of short animations that I want to use to create a dvd for the students who made them.
    They are on different topics (some are stop motion projects, some are Flash animations, some are Monty Python-style animations, etc.) so I want to create a dvd where the main menu screen has 4 or five main headers (chapters? directories?) and each one of those can then be clicked on to reveal another page with a menu list of individual animation projects, and then each animation could be clicked on and played as desired.
    Is this possible to do with iDVD? If so, can anyone please advise me on how to do it or where to search for instructions on making a dvd with such a structure?
    Thanks a lot for any advice.

    Something is very wrong with your iDVD! Your experience is certainly not the norm!
    I cannot speak to how iDVD works with Snow Leopard, but since iDVD has not been updated since the 08 version, I doubt that Apple focused on making sure it would be ok in SL.
    The difficulties you describe with adding audio clips and changing fonts should not be happening if iDVD is working properly. If you are using audio that is not AIFF, you might try changing to that, but you still have the problem with the fonts.
    The themes are set and you cannot change the way they work. Themes that have submenus within them are designed to give consistency to your DVD's look. You cannot have a main theme and then select submenu themes that are different.
    If you use themes from earlier versions of iDVD-- that have just the one main screen design, you may be able to select another different theme that does have submenu options for your submenus.
    If you are going to go ahead and try again to get iDVD to work for you in 10.5.8, you might consider creating a new iDVD project. I recommend that you delete iDVD's preference file before opening iDVD: Home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.idvd.plist
    Drag the plist file to the trash. iDVD will open a new one when you reopen it.
    I would also do Repair Permissions on your computer's drive, using Disk Utility.
    If you are satisfied with the iDVD project itself, either your original one or a new one, I recommend that you create a disk image file of it before burning to DVD disk. Creating one looks like the burn process and the encoding takes just as long, but the end result is a disk image file, not a burned DVD disk.
    You now have a self-contained file of your iDVD project. You can safely move, change, rename, or delete any/all of the media used in the projects without losing the ability to burn DVDs of this iDVD project in the future. A disk image file can be moved to an external drive or another computer. It is a backup for DVDs, and it saves drive space (if you delete the original media).
    Once the disk image file is successfully created, you can use it to test out how your project will play. By clicking on the file to mount it, and then opening the application DVD Player, you can see if it plays correctly. This is not the same as iDVD's Preview function, which will not always show you if there are problems.
    If the disk image file plays fine, then use it to burn your DVD disks via Disk Utility.
    These disks should play on most set-top players, as well as on most computers.
    The brands of DVD disks usually recommended here are DVD-R Verbatim, Maxell and Taiyo Yuden. I think Sonys are ok, too. I have used them without problems. Burning at 4x or less is the recommended slow speed, but burning at 1x or 2x might be better for you.
    Yes, DVDSP has a steep learning curve, but in the end, it might give you the options you want to do, if you are willing to spend the time and effort to learn how to do all of it.

  • IDVD 6 vs. Toast 7

    I have both Toast 7.1 and iDVD 6 installed on my Intel MacBook. I've been using iDVD happily for a year or two (on another computer) but am noticing some quality issues and compression artifacts when I play my created DVDs on the MacBook. This is even when using iDVD's "Best Quality" setting with just 1 hour of video.
    So my question is this: can I get better results with Toast 7.1 Universal Binary? Can I still burn widescreen DVDs preserving Final Cut Express HD chapter markers? How do the menus compare to iDVD?
    Is anyone familiar with both products to tell me the advantages/disadvantages either way?

    iDVD's themes are a lot better, for sure. But one thing I wondered about is that I heard that Toast allows one to compress the audio in Dolby Digital format so as to save space, allowing for more video at full quality. I don't think iDVD does that. So it seems that Toast would still be better for movies between 60 and 90 minutes. Or is iDVD's compressor still just that much better.
    I'm also wondering about Final Cut Express projects. Last I knew, Toast had trouble importing chapter markers.
    Black MacBook 2 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2 GB RAM

  • [solution inside] Poor quality of DVD created with iDVD '08 (jerky movie)

    Hi everyone !
    I have a problem with the export of iDVD, the result is jerky.
    Here's what I done
    - filmed (cam sony 42E, DV)
    - imported to iMovie '08, exported to the media navigator
    - taken in iDVD and burned on a DVD simple layer in professional quality
    And it looks like the movie is 15 images/s (but apparently no problem of sound)
    I checked everything's in PAL (I'm in Europe)
    I checked with another DVD
    I checked the large selection in the navigator (720 * 540, H.264, 25 fps, 4Mbps)
    I tried with "best performances"
    I tried to cut the movie : 72 min -> 35 minutes
    I exported just an image disc
    Nothing fixed the problem
    Finally, I exported from iMovie in .dv then integrated the file in iDVD and, this time the result was the same as in the preview (thanks to SkyDrinker for the tip)
    So this is a solution, but this is strange :
    or my iLife is corrupted, or the way Apple say to work (with conversion in h.264) is not good.
    Did anyone else had the same problem ?
    Thank you for your feedback.
    Take care!

    I had the same problem with jerky pans and dancing pixels particularly when using Ken Burns on stills.
    Here is a solution. Save the 08 movies in Quicktime using AIC encoding then burn using Toast 8 with the quality slider set to best. The improvement in quality is substantial.
    There is some improvement(not as much as using Toast) using Quicktime AIC encoding then burning with iDVD with Professional Quality and dual layered DVDs just to make sure the quality indicator is well into the green.
    The disadvantage in using Toast as compared to iDVD is that the cool menus are lost.
    PS: All my burning is done using NTCS but it should not make a difference.

  • Premiere Pro project burned in iDVD very pixilated

    I'm stuck! I'm posing this question in both Adobe's forum and Apple's because I can't figure out were the problem lies.  I shot & edited a wedding video recently in Premiere Pro CS4. For wedding video I normally export to at QuickTime NTSC 29.97 SD file then use iDVD 7 (only because they have nice DVD menu templates for wedding videos) to burn to DVD. The draft file I exported and burned in iDVD 7. The video looked good.
    After the customer requested a few changes I then exported from Premiere again and burned in iDVD 7. But this time the video is noticeably pixilated. I exported the movie again, again and again (maybe 15 times already) and the same thing. I've tried exporting shorter versions of the video, different scan options, everything. Funny thing is I still have the original draft file and when I burn that one its still looks good. That's the only one that works. I then bought a software called Media Inspector which analyzes video files and shows all the settings and I'm showing that the original file is identical in it's settings to the ones that don't work.
    Anybody have any ideas? And yes I did export the video in Premiere as an MPEG2 for DVD and burned in Encore and it looked good to. It's just that the customer is expecting that DVD menu know and I'm not knowledgeable in creating one in Encore from scratch yet.
    Thank You

    As a test, it might be interesting to launch Adobe Encore (included with PrPro, as of CS3, though you might not have installed it), and then see how it handles that MOV file. I would do a simple AutoPlay (no Menus), and Burn to either Disc, using a RW media, or to Folder, and test on a DVD software player. How does that look, compared to iDVD?
    Good luck,
    Hunt

  • Having trouble with iDVD 7.1.2

    I recently installed Lion on my computer and the new ilife to have idvd. Idvd open fine. When I add the avi files (movie, videos) the file added is completly white. even when you burn the dvd its just a white screen, does anybody know whats going on????

    What other software compares to idvd for macs

  • Is DVD Studio Pro More Reliable Than iDVD?

    Is DVD Studio Pro more reliable than iDVD?
    Because my needs are simple, I thought I'd just use iDVD to burn DVDs. I created a movie in Final Cut Express, exported it as a Quicktime movie with chapter markers, and created an iDVD project around it. The iDVD project recognizes the chapter markers and it all plays just fine from within iDVD, but I haven't been able to successfully burn a DVD of the project.
    The video is a little over an hour long. When I start the burn process a box tells me that it will take something like 3 hours and 45 minutes, and the clock starts ticking down. Fine. Then somewhere around two hours later, iDVD quits and I get a message saying only that iDVD "quit unexpectedly." (As if I didn't know that.) The same thing happens when I try to save as a disc image instead of burning directly to a DVD. I've got plenty of hard disk space, have repaired permissions, etc.
    This leaves me wondering whether DVD Studio Pro might be a more robust program. This is a very simple project -- one video, 13 chapters -- so it's very disappointing that iDVD can't seem to deal with it.
    So -- is there any general consensus about how DVD Studio Pro compares to iDVD in terms of stability and reliability?

    I do not think there is a clear answer on that one. I use both and find iDVD has less issues than DVD SP (not that DVD SP has a ton of issues, but enough that eventually you will probably run into something that will throw things off and will need to know the workaround.)
    If you look at the boards you will see people that have problems with both applications. Not that either one is bad, but since boards are designed to help with issues, it is rare that you get someone saying "Wow this has been rock solid for a year" so it is always a grain of salt.
    DVD SP does give you more control over things, but by the same token it may not be the application you need. In other words since it is now part of the Final Cut Studio you would need to take a look at the Studio and see if it is something you want. The iApps overall, IMHO, do quite alot for many things and I use them often depending on what I am trying to do. Your project should work it sounds like and there may be something going on (well yes there is of course) You may want to take a quick look at these threads where people have quit issues with iDVD and see if any of the details in th workflow, computer etc are similar and if there are solutions.
    QUit iDVD Issues
    Hope this helps a bit

  • OS Upgrade = iDVD Problem

    Hi,
    I have been using iDVD for four years or so; when I recently upgraded my OS to Leopard, iDVD won't open, saying "you cannot use this version of the application iDVD with this version of Mac OS X".
    When I downloaded iDVD 7.0, it would not install as it could not find an "eligible" version of iDVD in the applications folder.
    What can I do?
    Thanks!
    Ben

    You have 2 choices essentially (Go forward to iLife'08 upgrade/purchase OR go backward to Tiger while retaining iDvd5). Usually it's best to go forward.
    A third option to consider is upgrading to iDvd'08 only (custom install provided you have iLife'08) and once that's done download iMovie 6 from apple's web site an no additional charge. Your choice.
    http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html

  • Os x yosemites 10.10.3 vs os x mavericks 10.9.5

    Hi mac people,
    I still on mavericks 10.9.5 and I happy with it, few day ago apple released 10.10.3 with photo, and I think I would like to give it a try, but first I need some real user's opinion, does it faster or slower compare to mavericks? and in yosemites dark mode, does it faster or still slower than mavericks?
    most post or video on youtube are overwhelm by the new photos but they forget to compare the system speed, no one ever do that! so I have to ask it here!
    please let me know what you think! I using a macbook pro 15 inch mid 2012 i7 2.3-3.3ghz quad core ,512mb 650m gpu, 4gb ram, does this enough to have a smooth yosemites experience?
    I use my mac for design and video editing stuff, so I need a stable system!
    thanks fellow mac user! have a nice day!

    Well, here are the specs for your machine:
    http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i7-2.3- 15-mid-2012-unibody-usb3-specs.html
    As I said, I do not know anything about the RAM you are considering; I can tell you that Macs are extremely sensitive to the right and high quality RAM; personally, I would not buy any RAM other than at OWC (macsales.com) or Crucial. There is a place mentioned on above site in southeast Asia (simplymac.sg) you might want to check. I would only buy from a vendor that sells Mac memory, not PC memory - the specs may be the same, but there might be minor differences in the manufacture which will make a difference.
    Now, you also asked about video editing - for that, you need both a fast processor and a fast hard drive read/write speed. Your hard drive is 5400 rpm, which is about 30% slower than the hard drive in a 27" iMac (7200 rpm) which is still considered slow compared to an SSD. So, even if you get more RAM, you will still have a slower photo/video rendering/editing speed because your hard drive can only write at a slower speed. All in all, I'd probably stay with 8 GB at this point. Make sure that you don't have too many apps open when you are working with photos or video.

  • Slide show with 198 slides

    I've read there is a limit in iDVD to 99 slides per slideshow.
    I have 198 slides and can not cut anymore.
    I don't need fancy transitions, titles, etc. - so is there an easy way in either iPhoto, iMovie, or iDVD to create a slideshow with the number of slides I have?

    That's true but with iDVD 08 that has changed. The standard for DVDs is 99 chapters per slideshow or 99 menus per DVD, etc. Each still photo is considered a chapter in iDVD.
    Apple gets around that restriction by renumbering chapter 100 back to zero. The same goes for the 199th chapter. This way you can have more than 99 slides in an iDVD slideshow using still photos.
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    It's recommended that iDVD projects be first saved as a disk image so they can be played with DVD Player to check the encoding process. This separates the encoding process from the burn process.
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    But with the iPhoto slideshow a QT movie file is created when you export to iDVD. However, you must be in the slideshow mode and not just an album which you've used to create a slideshow on the fly. If you use the Share ➙ Send to iDVD from an album you will just export the still photos to iDVD.
    OT
    TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier versions) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
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    NOTE: The new rebuild option in iPhoto 09 (v. 8.0.2), Rebuild the iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup" makes this tip obsolete.

  • 500GB TC Hard Drive Failed: What Model Drive Do I Use To Replace Old One?

    Dear Fellow Mac'ers:
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    2. How to info would be great - I'm hoping it will be easy.
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    Sorry, it's been well over a year since I swapped out my drive. I believe there was an Hitachi drive in the device when I pulled it and I took it to an electronics / computer store to to get a drive that was physically the same size with more hard drive capacity. I used a Seagate drive for the replacement.
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  • ITV Catchup TV picture too big

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    I will check out Photoshop Elements 6.0, but I have solved my problem. If, after Sharing a iPhoto 16:9 slideshow with iDVD, opening a new iDVD 16:9 file, creating a slide show, and under media/movies, drag the .mov file to the left, and be sure to select, "scale slide to safe TV area," the resulting disc will play on our 16:9 and show the entire contents of each image. The picture does not fill the TV screen, small black bars all around the picture, but at least all of the image shows. I can live with the black bars. One thing, maybe THE thing, I was doing wrong was I was making a movie in iDVD and not a slide show.
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    Thank you for all your help and support.
    Jim

  • Best application for Standard Def DVD creation?

    I have a bunch of MiniDV tapes shot in standard def that I want to make into DVDs for my family. I want to preserve as much picture quality as possible during the process and will be using transitions, overlays, and credits.
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    From reading the reviews of iMovie 09 I am pretty confident that I would be happy with it functionally, but not if it costs me in picture quality. I noticed on my first effort using iMovie HD 6 and iDVD, that the DVD picture was not as sharp as the video viewed directly from the camera. Did I do something wrong, or is that a "feature" of iMovie? Would FCE be better?
    My only concern with FCE apart from spending money that I may not need to spend, is the talk of a steep learning curve. With two little kids at home I don't have a lot of spare time. That said, I'd rather spend the time and get a sharp looking DVD than get a mediocre one quickly.
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    skalicki` wrote:
    What do you mean by "dynamic chapter markers"?
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    In any video application, for Chapter markers you simply place them in the application, then edit them in iDVD, DVD Studio Pro, etc.
    Not in iMovie 08/iDVD, but now that you mention it, how does DVD Studio Pro compare to iDVD? I'm mostly focused on picture quality.
    Do you mean better animated titles that you could use within the program? For this FCE is much better, because you don't need to work with the premade things, you can create and animate your own from the ground up.
    That will be fun. Not what I was talking about, but a nice feature. I know that FCE will have lots of capability that iMovie doesn't (by design), that's just gravy.
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    In my opinion, FCE is definitely worth the investment and once you learn it you will never want to go back to iMovie!
    Thanks, just the fact that the output is higher quality is a big pull for me. I think I'm going to take the plunge.
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