Dvd from tapes

What is the easiest way to make a dvd from vhs or dv tapes?

If you have VHS tapes, you need to run the output of a VCR through an analog to digital conversion box into your computer. If you have DV tapes, and your camera has a firewire output (or 1394 in Sony parlance), you may be able to feed it directly into your computer into iMovie.
I've used a Canopus ADVC-55 analog to digital conversion box, which plays well with macs. There are other vendors with similar products.

Similar Messages

Publishing to DVD from FCP instead of printing to Tape

How would I be able to put my finished timeline to a DVD from FCP rather than print to tape? as I am new to FCP?

Export > Quicktime Movie (using sequence settings)
Open iDVD
Import > Video (locate your QT file)
Burn

Creating a DVD from camcorder video tape

Hi all,
I am tasked with creating a DVD from some of my dads camcorder tapes. Can anyone provide a simple advice list. I assume that iDVD (which i have never used) will be the software to use?
Look forward to hearing from you helpful and intelligent people out there.
From a complete simpleton.
Kind regards,
Alan

The easiest way (if you don't want to do any editing)
buy a dvd player/recorder, connect the video out of the camcorder to the dvd recorder input.

Will idvd with a new MacBook Pro work with a DVCAM deck? I'm using firewire to burn a DVD from a DVCAM tape in a Sony DSR-30 deck but it isn't working.

Will iDVD with a new MacBook Pro work with a DVCAM deck? I'm using firewire to burn a DVD from a DVCAM tape in a Sony DSR-30 deck but it isn't working.

http://www.lafcpug.org/phorum/read.php?1,268296,268300
Bit of googling wouldn't go astray.

I just switch from tape to digital. The video has a little bounce when played on tv. I copyied the DVD to a folder

I just switch from tape to digital. The video has a little bounce when played on tv. I copyied the DVD to a folder, and burned it to a dvd.
I can see in bounce at the bottom of the screen.

David
Premiere Elements 11, 12, or 13 on Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 64 bit....
You could go back to the project and, in the Edit area, scale out the bouncing bottom edge. I am assuming that it will be visible there.
Then do another burn to folder, and then take the saved folder's VIDEO_TS to DVD disc with your 3rd party software, presumed ImgBurn.
If you want to scale width and height together, then leave the check mark next to Constrain Proportions in Applied Effects Tab/Applied Effects Palette/Motion Panel expanded. If you want to scale width and height separately, the remove the check mark next to Constrain Proportions in Motion Panel expanded.
Please let us know the results. We might consider the Crop Effect also. (fx Effects/Transform/Crop with edits of it int Applied Effects Tab/Applied Effects Palette/Crop Panel expanded).
Thank you.
ATR

RECORDING DVD FROM VCR

HOW DO I RECORD A DVD FROM A VCR? I BOUGHT A APPLE MINI-DVI TO VIDEO ADAPTER AND A S CABLE ADAPTER, IT ALL HOOKS UP, BUT IT DOESN'T SHOW UP AS BEING THERE. HELP! ANYBODY! I WOULD LIKE TO DUB MY CHILDS MOVIES OF WHEN SHE WAS YOUNG BEFORE THEY ROT AWAY ON VCR TAPE. ANY SUGGESTIONS?
imac G5 20" Mac OS X (10.4.5) just received

FYI.
I recently purchased the EyeTV 200 (Firewire).
A refurb direct from Elgato for $200.
(http://www.elgato.com/indexfr.php?file=shoponlinesh
opeyetv200refurb)
Yeah, I got the "200" because I'm transferring 300 training sessions from VHS to DVD. I use the RCA inputs (three wire plug type - white & red (sound) and yellow (video)). EyeTV200 does a fine job.
I also use our Canon GL2 to pass the video through the camera via firewire into my Intel iMac. I find EyeTV 200 easier (and I can watch and record TV!) while at work! (WaaHOO!)
This is for the analog signal. TEh EyeTV 500 is for
digital cable.
Didn't know that. Saw the "500" but thought it was for HDTV only. Thanks for the info.
Comes with EyeTV software which allows you to view a
TV guide (titantv.com) and click what you want to
record.
True! You can even schedule it to record like a VCR. I set it up to record "Amazing Race" before leaving work because the program comes on late and I wanted to see it. Got to work and there it was!
Has S-Video as well as Composite video and stereo
audio inputs.
So true. I also have a VCR with S-Video and it works just dandy with EyeTV 200.
I'm in the process of putting my videos onto DVD with
it.
Let's you save directly as MPEG 1, 2, or 4.
Also exports to DV, iPod, H.264, DIVX, HD720, HD1080.
etc.
Between this and iDVD and iMovie HD, it's some pretty
wicked stuff.
Ain't it so! Two happy EyeTV users playing on their Macs!

How to create a PAL DVD from a NTSC camera

Hi,
I have a Canon HF10 which I have bought in the US, so it is a NTSC camera. I am living in Europe, so I would like to create a PAL dvd from the footage which I have recorded.
The footage have been shot using 1080/24p and I have imported it into iMovie. Do I need to do something extra or can I just export it and burn an dvd from iDVD?
Best regards
Henrik.

Henrik Skak Pedersen wrote:
.. The frame rate is 30 which is a surprise because I recorded it at 24.
no surprise.. the ccd of you device is read-out 24p, but the camera records upsampled in 30i ..
24p on consumer devices is mostly marketing blabla..
in Europe, a 25p more is more interesting..
you have a NTSC device. full stop.
in iDVD, set prefs to 25fps (=PAL), relaunch iDVD, import iM project..
so, you record in 24p, got 30i on tape, anc convert again in 25i (=PAL) ... happy landing..
aside: better results in standards-conversion with free app JES Deinterlacer ...

IDvd - Onestep dvd from movie, not working?

I am trying to make a onestep dvd from movie - from an avi file... but every time I make one (I followed all the directions perfectly). It looks like it is burning and takes about 4 hrs. but nothing happens. it just says I have inserted a blank dvd. Why does this keep happening?

Hi
from an avi file
.avi is not the food for iDVD - it usually can not handle it at all.
.avi - is no codec but a container - so one must use another program to figure out what codec that's in there.
Then convert it to sometrhing iDVD can use.
My UN-Structured/sorted notes up till Yet ! (May be MANY Faulth ! be careful)
AVCHD
• need of Intel Mac and iMovie’08 or 09 or 11
• can be converted to AIC via Voltaic
Containers.
.mov.
.avi.
You can use MPEG-Streamclip to convert some of the AVI files so that QuickTime can play them
and then to streamingDV for iMovie.
True file formats (?).
.asf (from QuickTimeKirk)
Your product is based on Windows OS and the .asf files are designed for Windows Media Player.
Microsoft discontinued Mac support for Windows Media Player in 2003.
iv50 - old codec on window platform.
• Open on a PC-Window with Microsoft Movie Maker.
• Put into TimeLine
• Save on ”this Computer” as .wmv
move over to Mac and open with QuickTime Pro and save as StreamingDV
(if Flip4Mac is payed then no Waterstamp and time limit)
or
Open in FinalCut Pro as is = No Waterstamp or time limit.
Flip4Mac -- //flip4mac.com
is third party software that "plays" most WMP formats via QuickTime Player. They also sell upgrades that allow conversion from WMP to QuickTime formats.
These upgrades are supported in iMovie version 6 but not for version 7 or 8 (iLife '08 and '09).
So. What to do?
Purchase one of the Flip4Mac upgrades.
Copy the files from the SD card to your Mac and convert to QuickTime formats (DV Stream would work best).
Import the new .dv file into iMovie (any version).
.dv
streaming DV    imports directly it is the same as from miniDV (tape) Camera
.wmv
iMovie is by concept meant to work with miniDV camcorders . . any other 'imports' need a conversion or are not supported... a quick solution would be purchasing a plug-in from www.flip4mac.com, 49$, which allows the conversion of .wmv (a PC format) into something useful for iM (dv-stream) ...
or, ask the emailer to send it in some other codec .. mpg4 for example .. which will be converted by iM 'out-of-the-box' ... and, to work with iM, the video should fulfill a few standards .. 720x480 pixel resolution, 30 frames per second ... otherwise, you will experience a dramatic loss of quality ..
.mp4
container not to be mistaken for .mpeg4 which is a codec - and it’s most often could contain a H.264 encoded material (PS3 and AppleTV)
.m4v
found in iMovie project folders - imported into iDVD without any problems
.mov
found in iMovie project folders - imported into iDVD without any problems
.ram     real-movie by Real-player download
Both Real Networks (.RM, .RA, and .RAM video files) and Microsoft (.ASF, .WMA, and .WMV video files) makes it VERY difficult to import footage encoded with these formats. Especially on a Mac.
.mpg
.mpeg
.vob
.vro
.m2v
.m2a
.m2s
.mts
.m2ts
.swf files are Flash files. You need Perian
.flv Awkward timing in your choice of software as QuickTime 7.4 has dropped support (we hope it is temporary) for Flash Video formats (.swf or .flv file extensions).
MPEG-1.          VideoCD
MPEG-2.             DVD
MPEG-4.         cell-phones to satellite TV - scalable
//danslagle.dvmix.com/mac/iMovie/qt_plugins/3002.shtml
Mpeg Streamclip. Supported formats.
• MPEG, VOB, PS, M2P, MOD, VRO, DAT, MOV, DV, AVI, MP4, TS, M2T, MMV, REC, VID, AUD, AVR, VDR, PVR, TP0, M2V, M1V, MPV, AIFF, M1A, MP2, MPA, AC3...
MPEG Streamclip converts from mpeg-1 to whatever you like (within reason).
MPEG-2 Playback File Types.
.mpg, .mpeg, .vob(2), .vro, .m2v, .m2a, .m2s
QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component
Recording types.
DV                        standard miniDV (tape)
DV Widescreen    16 X 9 on standard miniDV (tape)
HDV 1080i            Full HD quality
HDV 720p
MPEG-4
iSight
From Mac to PC - convert to .avi or .wmv
• Transport problem and 2?Gb limit on DOS/UNIX formatted hard disks - You need a
hard disk formatted on a PC in NTFS format
FAT 16 has a 2 or 4Gb file size limit
FAT 32 should be able to handle larger ones
• Rather copy back to miniDV tape (Camera) and use this
QuickTimeKirk. You don't format the drive using a Mac.
Use the PC to format using NTFS and avoid FAT 16 or FAT 32.
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Movie_Maker
Yep. They want DV-AVI as the format. Same thing but in an AVI container.
Export from iMovie to AVI (Expert Settings) and click the "Options" button to set DV as the codec.
Yours Bengt W

Novice. Creating a DVD from camcorder - help please..

Hi all,
I am tasked with creating a DVD from some of my dads camcorder tapes. Can anyone provide a simple advice list. I assume that iDVD (which i have never used) will be the software to use?
Look forward to hearing from you helpful and intelligent people out there.
From a complete simpleton.
Kind regards,
Alan

Hello, Alan,
First, you need to determine if these tapes are digital or not. If they are not digital, you will need to convert them into a digital media format that your version of iMovie can accept. (For example, iMovie 6 can accept only DV footage).
Does your dad have the camcorder that he used to record the tapes? If his tapes are not digital, you can connect his camcorder to a digital camcorder and record each tape to digital miniDV tape. I think it is easier to use iMovie 6 for your movie-making, especially if you are thinking about editing this footage, cropping out bad parts, adding titles, effects and/or audio clips. That is why I am recommending recording to miniDV tapes.
Having the original footage on miniDV digital tapes is also a good way to store the originals, takes up very little space.
If his tapes are some other format, post back for info regarding how to proceed,
What version of iMovie do you have? I am assuming that you have iMovie08 since you are posting in iDVD08. As stated, I recommend that you do this project in iMovie 6. If you don't have it on your computer, you can download it here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html
And, I recommend viewing this tutorial: http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/tutorial/
Once you have the footage on the miniDV tapes, you can connect your digital camcorder to your computer's Firewire port, open a new iMovie project and import the footage. You should limit each iMovie to about an hour and a half, if possible. A single-layer DVD can hold about 2 hours of content maximum. It doesn't matter what the size of the iMovie is in GB, only its length matters for iDVD.
After you import the footage you want, you can edit the clips and place them on iMovie's timeline in the order you wish. You can choose to add titles, transitions, effects and audio. iMovie has one video and two audio tracks so you can easily see what you are doing. If you want to have different chapters(scenes), you mark them in iMovie. Another advantage of iMovie 6 over iMovie 8 is that you can put chapter markers where you want them, not just at specified intervals.
After your movie is finished, close iMovie.
Open iDVD, create a new project in which to place your movie.
You should do this tutorial before you begin to work in iDVD:
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#idvd-create-63
Once you get your first iDVD project ready to burn, do a 'save as disk image' and then burn the actual DVD from the disk image using Disk Utility. You will need to use a good brand of DVD-R disks, such as Verbatim or Maxell. Memorex has been problematic for many, and don't use a cheap store brand. Select a slow burn speed, 4x or less.
That's a brief summary.....
Post back if you need further information! Good luck with your task!

How much loss in capturing from tape?

Looks like the days of tape are numbered. If they haven't already, everyone will be using tapeless formats before too long. I have a large library of HD (miniDV format) tape. When clients want raw footage, I copy tape-to-tape using two camcorders and send a copy of the raw footage. That will soon be impossible, because no one will be able to play the tapes. What's left is to use CS4 to capture the tape footage directly to a hard drive or memory stick and send that. I have no idea how much loss of data there is doing that, and hope someone might have some numbers to share.
Thanks.

A Firewire transfer from tape to computer is a copy operation... so there is no loss of quality
Of course, those files are "about" 13Gig per hour for DV (I don't know the size for HDV) so sending a file to someone is going to mean several DVD's to write the files, in 4Gig segments, or copying to a USB hard drive and sending that back and forth

Low-quality DVD from SD files

I'm new to Premiere Pro CS5, and I'm having difficulty creating a good-quality DVD from my SD footage. It may be because my video is too long (2 hr. 14 min.), but I thought maybe I was doing something wrong.
I've done similar things (DVDs from plays I've recorded, with the same camera) using different software, and the final quality was better. However, for various reasons, the old software isn't working well any more and I'm making the switch to PP.
I've included some technical details below. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jon
Original footage:
Shot on Panasonic DVX 100B, SD: 720x480 (0.9091), 23.976 fps (24p)
Captured as .avi files using Premiere Pro
Edited in Premiere Pro CS5 64bit (ver.5.0.3)
Total video length: 2h:14m
Sample of .avi footage, original size:
400% magnification:
Dynamic linked to Encore (ver.5.0.0.5)
Added 2 menu screens with a small jpg on each
1st try: Transcoded using Automatic settings
(DVD Transcode in Properties dialog). Quality was awful -- faces very blotchy.
2nd try: Changed DVD Transcode to:
NTSC DV 23.976 Hi-Qual 7Mb VBR 2 pass
Quality didn't improve.
3rd try: Specified a 2-sided DVD to give it more room. (I don't have a 2-sided DVD, but I thought I could burn it onto 2 DVDs). The transcoded file size increased (6.89GB m2v file), but the quality didn't really improve.
Sample of m2v footage, original size:
400% magnification:
It's a 3-act play, and my next thought was to try to do Act 1 as one file, on one DVD, and Acts 2 & 3 (shorter) as a separate project on a 2nd DVD. Blu-Ray isn't an option, unfortunately.
Thanks!

Jeff,
As I just posted, it turns out that Dan's instructions about HC Encoder were the ones that basically got me what I needed. However, I really appreciate your suggestions, and I wanted to post my test results and procedure, in case it's helpful to anyone (or if I need it again).
Regarding your test scenarios, I started on two different sequences: one set up as DV 24P, and the other as DV NTSC. My detailed notes are below -- too much to read, unless you're interested how it all turned out.
Thanks again,
Jon
Test 1: Playing in the Premiere Program Window
A. On DV 24P sequence:
   1. Leave Interpret Footage parameters at current settings. Quality OK
   2. Change just the "Remove 24p DV Pulldown" setting. Quality Terrible
   3. Change just the Field Order setting to Progressive. OK
   4. Change both the Remove and LFF settings. OK, but w/ interlace combing
B. On DV NTSC sequence:
   1. Leave Interpret Footage parameters at current settings. Quite bad
   2. Change just the "Remove 24p DV Pulldown" setting. Worse
   3. Change just the Field Order setting to Progressive. Quite bad
   4. Change both the Remove and LFF settings. Lots of combing
So, after this round, DV 24P sequence was best, either w/ default settings, or making field order progressive.
Test 2: AVI export
Created a split-screen test clip, on DV 24 P sequence, with no change on left, and change of setting from LFF to progressive on right (A1 & A3 above, which were the best after the first round).
Exported to avi files, using:
1. NTSC DV 24P preset, DV (24P Advanced) codec
2. Lagarith codec, progressive
3. Lagarith, LFF
Played avi file on Media Player Classic and Windows Media Player.
Not a lot of discernible difference among the three files.
Test 3: HC Encoder
Created *.avs fils for each of 3 test files (using Dan's directions), plus original avi (captured directly from the camera)
(Note: HC Encoder doesn't like file names with spaces or underscores,apparently.)
1. NTSC: couldn't open
2. Input for encoding OK
3. Input for encoding OK
4. Original avi couldn't be decompressed
So, the lagarith-encoded files work fine with HC Encoder, but I still have interlace combing artifacts - throughout Act 2, and at the curtain call for Sat (when the background is lighter -- is that significant?), and throughout (but not completely) Acts 2 & 3 for Fri (all on one tape). Act 1 either night doesn't appear to have a problem.
Looking at the original captured footage (in MPC and Win Media Player), there is no interlacing problem, so it appears to be an issue with PP.
Previewing the files in PP (before putting them in a sequence), there is no interlacing problem.
When creating a new sequence, I tried: New Sequence, General, Playback Settings button, choose "Repeat Frame (ABBCD)" rather than "Interlaced Frame" (the default).
This sort of fixed the problem -- no more combing, EXCEPT at the curtain call -- the very end of tape 3. The other footage that was combing is now a little softer -- kind of annoying, but I applied an Unsharp Mask filter (default settings), and it helped. (I also tried Auto Color, to see if it would quickly help the color. Not a good move: the color changes sometimes frame by frame, and all black becomes gray static. Obviously, I need to understand what that does next time I try to use it.)
I decided to live with the combing at the end. (It was "good enough" at that point -- not a commercial project.) At least I've learned a lot.
I put the .h2v and .aac files into Encore, created some menus and built it to a folder, to test the files one more time before committing them to plastic. It all looked good. Then, for one more hurdle, Encore didn't like my DVD burner ("unknown error"!) It worked last week! However, I used a different burner, since I had the DVD files already, and it worked fine. Phew!
I'd love to know what the interlace combing at the end was about. My only guess it that it may be because I was using a sort-of-cheapo DV tape, recording over it for the third time. Maybe the tape was a bit stretched or something and the frames got out of synch at the very end. (?) If anyone has ideas, I'd be interested.

Burn DVD from video

Somewhat a rookie so go easy on me. I produce a 30 minute TV show in Final Cut Express. I print to video for my media that I give the TV station. I'm often asked to present one of my episodes to a club, etc. A DVD is most convenient for this. I've never had luck printing a good DVD from FCE...I'm sure it's my technique. So, I got the smart idea of using my edited and finished video that I would send to the TV station and use iDVD OneStep (iLife 09) to produce a DVD. Everything seemed to go fine until I put my new DVD in a DVD player...no sound. The image quality is very good and very happy with that...but no sound. What have I done wrong or is iDVD simply not made for this purpose?

Hi
There is a lot to this. Some basic.
DVD - is a standard in it self - CAN only do SD-Video (as old CRT-TVs at it's best)
Neither iDVD, Roxio Toast™ or DVD-Studio Pro - can do anything better.
(Roxio Toast 10 (11) Pro incl BD-component - Can burn to Blu-Ray and even small movies
as this on Standard DVDs - BUT they NEED a Blu-Ray Player to be viewed)
*DVD quality*
1. iDVD 08, 09 & 11 has three levels of qualities. (vers 7.0.1, 7,0.4 & 7.1.1)
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
About double on DL DVDs.
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 or 09 or 11 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 x4 (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

How do I produce the highest quality DVD from MOV exported from iMovie

What is the best method in iDVD11 for burning to DVD, an imported HD 720p or HD 1080p MOV file exported from iMovie11?
I have successfully exported a 5.5GB (66min) HD 720p MOV file from iMovie. I then used iDVD to import this MOV file and burn it to DVD. When I played the DVD the quality was nowhere near that of the imported HD 720p MOV file as played on QuickTime. The DVD also shows captions at the edge of the 16:9 TV screen instead of further inside as per the QuickTime screening of the HD 720p MOV file.
How can I improve quality and maintain borders in iDVD for the DVD output?

Hi
How can I improve quality and maintain borders in iDVD for the DVD output?
Quality.
• Use iMovie up to HD6 or FinalCut - as iMovie'08 or 09 or 11 - just delivers every second line to iDVD = less resolution
• There are no HD-DVD in real life - DVD is as standard SD-Video
• If You must use iMovie'11 then do not use "Share to iDVD" BUT "Share to Media Browser" and as Large (Not HD or other resolution - as result will suffers)
Border
• May be turning on TV-Safe area in iDVD can help a bit. ?
• If this is IMPORTANT - Then You have to re-do Your movie in FinalCut and here turn on TV-Safe area and shrink the movie area to within this. Now it will show all on an old CRT-TV - but with a black frame due to that no two CRT-TVs show exactly the same area and then TV-Safe must be less than this.
My - Un-specific notes on DVD-Quality. If You are interested.
DVD quality
1. iDVD 08, 09 & 11 has three levels of qualities. (vers 7.0.1, 7,0.4 & 7.1.1)
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
About double on DL DVDs.
2.Video from
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not self-containing, no QT-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 before 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 short-lived 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 playback
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 record 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 JES_Deinterlacer_3.2.2 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 playbacked 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 choice 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

Can't get a decent SD DVD from DVCPRO HD material

We made the jump to HD and started shooting in DVCPRO HD (1080i60). We still deliver all of our final shows on standard DVD. I've been trying all week to come up with a workflow that will make a decent DVD from DVCPRO HD timelines, but I just can't get a decent image. First i tried just using the 2 pass best 90 minutes setting, and the dvd looked awful. Lots of heavy artifacting everywhere. Surfed the forums a bit, and someone recommended that I first convert the DVCPRO HD movie to SD 8 bit, then make the mpegs from the 8 bit movie. That helped a little, but still had artifacting in shoulders, hair, etc... So then I turned frame controls on and used the best setting for the resize filter when going from HD to SD 8 bit. This made further progress, but is still a lot worse than other SD dvd's I make with DVCPRO 50 footage or even mini dv footage. Anyone have a workflow out there that will give me a decent looking DVD? I can't seem to crack the HD to SD code.
I'm using Compressor 3 on a G5 quad.

I still haven't found a way to make this work in compressor, but I have found a workaround for those of you with a Downconverting capture card and a tape deck. I use the component out of my aja card which automatically does a hardware downconvert of my 1080i material to SD anamorphic. I print to tape using my DVCPRO 50 deck, digitize the tape as DVCRPO 50 anamorphic once the tape has finished recording, then use SD DVD presets in compressor as normal. MUCH MUCH better looking DVD's. It's a pain, but the hardware downconversion in the KONA card seems to be light years ahead of anything compressor can produce using software.

Trying to create new DVD from selected portions of existing DVD

I have a DVD I created of my son singing from a video we copied into the Mac several months ago. I can't find the file on the MAC and I'm not sure it would help with my objective if i found it. The video tape has been taped over.
I want to capture selected portions of the old DVD onto a new DVD.
Using a camcorder and a different tape, I learned tha I-movie lets me capture clips directly from the camcorder.
How do I create clips from the old DVD and import them into iMovie like the camcorder allowed me to do. Once I create the clips, is it difficult to create a new DVD from the clips. This is a new process to me. It may be an easy step I'm missing, but missing that step is a show stopper. Can someone help. -- thanks

Hi
Tapeing over an old tape - has it's major disadvantages. You'll never get that
same good quality again. The DVD disc has a very much lower quality than the original
what ever way You choose.
Easy: Connect Your Camera to a set-top DVD player and copy to a new tape.
Best quality I've got.
More elaborate (read pricey) use a video-bridge (some Cameras can do this)
Lazy and not that expencive: Buy Roxio Toast™ and let it convert back to streamingDV
that iMovie can handle. Probably about the same quality as copy to tape.
And don't put a mini DVD disc into Your Mac. You need a trayloaded DVD to do this.
or *Read what Karsten collected* (not all apply to You - please be selective):
DVD back to iMovie:
.. and here the complete 'full 9 yards' ... :
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3822853&#3822853
DVDs are in a socalled delivery format (mpeg2), which isn't meant and
made for any processing as editing... or, as honorable forum member
QuicktimeKirk stated: I use the analogy of the old Polaroid
"instant" cameras. Push the button, wait for the print to develop and
show it off. ..
for using the iLife apps, you have to convert'em first, in
recommended order, choose one of the following tools/workarounds:
• DVDxDV (free trial, 25$, Pro: 90$)
• Apple mpeg2 plugin (19$) + Streamclip (free)
• VisualHub (23.32$)
• Cinematize >60$
• Mpeg2Works >25$ + Apple plug-in
• Toast 6/7/8 allows converting to dv/insert dvd, hit apple-k
• connect a miniDV Camcorder with analogue input to a DVD-player and transfer disk to tape/use as converter
• Drop2DV (free) a free tool claiming to convert DVDs into dv-stream...
• Use iSquint for your conversions : www.iSquint.org
from: Bobby Keene
none of these apps override copyprotection mechanisms as on commercial dvds...
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6010.shtml
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6018.shtml
be nice to copy rights ^-^
... and, next time, try the forum's search-feature...
from Beverly M.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42724
Yours Bengt W

Dvd from tapes

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