FCE to iMov to iDVD = generation loss

The only way I have found to burn projects on the internal iMac DVD drive is to
a) export using QT
b) import into iMovie
c) burn from iDVD
It's so frustrating bec the newly burned DVD looks like it was all shot
on an ancient VHS camera and is fuzzier than a youtube video....
1. how to maintain clarity all the way through? OR
2. is there a way to burn right out of FCE?
thx, Hil

I don't know settings/codec of source footage;
I expect gen loss between old format tapes
transferred to DVD then off DVD into FCE.
What I'm talking about is the diff betw
FCE to finished DVD.
There are two options FCE offers for export:
export ---> QuickTime movie
---> Using QuickTime Conversion
The former, which I always use, never offers export settings
(once, as an experiment, I tried the latter,
gen loss was even worse).
Yes, burning SD.

Similar Messages

IMovie to iDVD quality loss?

When I try to burn a movie I made from iMovie through iDVD the quality of the picture is significantly low. How can I get this fixed? I want to have crisp movies on my DVDS??

Mike you are what I'd call trigger happy. People really need to stop doing that and just get on with helping people or discussing the topic at hand. If you haven't got anything worthwhile to say then don't say anything at all.
First of all I haven't hijacked anybody's post. You clearly have a problem with your reading ability because this post has absolutely nothing to do with a slideshow. It is clearly about 'picture quality' during movie playback which has nothing to do with pictures. Also you say that I said I state that my preview doesn't look all that great. What!?! I don't state that. Reading problem again? Or wait a minute... have you just replied to the wrong topic??? That's your only way out of this embarrassing situation. Otherwise you owe myself and the OP a major apology. We're both having the same issue. I'm an Apple Certified Trainer, been working with Apple for ten years now, and I'm just a little more technical perhaps than the OP. That's why my post might seem like it's going somewhere else to the untrained eye.
In any case, back to the topic... Last night I took the advice I saw elsewhere which said to export to QuickTime out of iMovie in the Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC). I also took off all the brightening effects I'd added with iMovie '08. Hey presto! Major progress. Ok so I got literally ALL of my quality back BUT... there's now a new problem I need to solve. There are now wavy lines appearing during rapid movement. Like some kind of interlacing problem. It has also chewed up my lovely cut scene logos which are fine in the QuickTime AIC source. So I'm not sure how to proceed. Re-encoding with deinterlacing set within the QT file??? There's no such options in iDVD. It may be a scaling issue. The AIC source is 960 and of course iDVD is bringing that down to 720... but I'm sure my other tries involved the same downscale. Hmmm. :-S
Anyway Liss14 I would try your project in AIC. From iMovie's Share menu choose Export to QuickTime... reconfigure the options for this to use the Apple Intermediate Codec leaving the audio settings as they are. It may take a while to export, but you should get a good result. Then bring that into iDVD and encode to a disk image which you can easily test without burning real DVDs. I'll come back if I crack my problem. If you could come back if you find this advice improves things and whether or not you see the wavy lines during rapid movement.
Cheers.

IPhoto Slideshows: major loss of quality when passed to iMovie or iDVD

Problem: Slideshows created in iPhoto and exported to a Quicktime movie lose quality when exported from iMovie or iDVD.
I've read through many threads in both the iMovie and iDVD forums, and I've done a lot of testing to find the source of my frustration. Now I want to spell out my findings and see how they compare with what others know of this process. I'm posting the thread in this forum because iPhoto seems to be the common denominator.
I create slideshows in iPhoto, adding Ken Burns effects to each photo individually. I then export the slideshow as a Large (640x480) movie. The resulting movie looks good when played in Quicktime.
I import the Quicktime movie into iMovie, add some music and themes and then export it. No matter how I export it, the quality greatly suffers.
I try bypassing iMovie and import the iPhoto-created movie directly to iDVD. I burn the project and the quality of the video suffers.
As a final test, I create a similar slideshow in Photo to Movie, using pan and zoom effects and music, just like the iMovie project. I export the slideshow to a Quicktime movie and it looks great. I send that movie to iDVD and burn the project -- the quality is much better.
All this testing tells me that iPhoto's exporting of the slideshow creates some problem when running the movie through iMovie or iDVD. At first I thought it was just the conversion of the video to Quicktime movie and then it being encoded again by iDVD. The thing is that Photo to Movie also creates a Quicktime movie and the result after iDVD is still good. I don't have a real technical explanation for what's going on, but surely somebody does!
Sorry for the length of this post, but I needed to lay out all of my findings to try and get a good discussion going. Anyone have some insight into all this?
PowerMac G5 1.8 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Running into the same problems with video books. I created some video books (using iPhoto's book feature and exporting to iDVD) and the Quicktime files don't look good.
However, I have created some slideshows prior and didn't run into any quality issues. I used the Share - Send to iDVD, but that shouldn't change anything.
If you hear how to resolve video quality issues, I'd love to know. I haven't yet burned my video books to DVD (just exported to QT), but I'm hoping on the TV from 10+ feet away it will look fine.

Will not share Imovie with Idvd. Gets so far and then a box saying Unable to prepare project for publishing because an error occured (-41)

Cannot SHARE project from IMovie to Idvd. Gets so far and then a box with a message saying Unable to prepare project for publishing because an error occured (-41).

Bengt is as always entirely correct, but another meaning of error -41 is that you have chosen the wrong encoding setting for the length of video you have:
iDVD encoding settings:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1502?viewlocale=en_US
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

Are there glitches in iMovie or iDVD that would create problems with viewing a finished project on a standard dvd player?

Everytime I render a new project in iMovie and share it with iDVD to produce a video, there always seems to be glitches in the finished project. I have gone back and tried to recreate the slideshow, but have not had a whole lot of luck. I am wondering if I need to delete the iMovie and iDVD applications from the computer??? If I do that will it fix my problem or will I even be able to redownload the programs without having to pay for them again? I have spent more time and $$$ trying to get a viewable disc to burn and am ready to get rid of the computer altogether. Hopefully that will not have to happen, but this is a constant issue that I go through everytime I work on a project. Any suggestions???

Hi
Yes and No.
There are Bugs and ways to make better or Worse DVDs - see if this can help.
There are two "Bugs" (or at least one)
• In iDVD - do not go back to video editing program - if You got Chapters set in Your movie - if You try - then now back in iDVD it will ask You to up-date ==> all Chapters will point to Chapter one. Medicine - create a brand new iDVD Project.
• There MUST NOT BE any Chapter mark set in very beginning of the Movie - or in any transition or within 2 seconds from them.
DVD quality
1. iDVD 08, 09 & 11 has three levels of qualities. (version 7.0.1, 7,0.4 & 7.1.1) and iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - BEST (but not always for short movies e.g. up to 45 minutes in total)
• Best Performances
(movies + menus less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD (Can be best for short movies)
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6)
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
Menu can take 15 minutes or even more - I use a very simple one with no audio or animation like ”Brushed Metal” in old Themes.
About double on DL DVDs.
2. Video from
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not self-containing, 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 and the Ken Burns effect NOT is used. 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 are not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser ( AND AS MEDIUM - not HD etc as DVD then will suffer in quality ) or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.
3. I use Roxio Toast™ to make an as slow burn as possibly e.g. x4 or x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with Apple’s Disk Utilities application when burning from a DiskImage.
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). For SD-Video - if HD-material is used I guess that 4 to 5 times more would do.
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) - DVD-R play’s on more and older DVD-Players
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
(I use JES_Deinterlacer to keep frame per sec. same from editing to the Video-DVD result.)
8. Don’t burn more than three DVDs 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-Player.
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 play-backed 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 play-backed 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 this to work I
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
• Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
• Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
• No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
• and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
• and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project
• Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
• Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
Try to break the process up into two stages
• Save as a DiskImage (calculating part)
• Burn from this .img file (burning stage)
To isolate where the problem starts.
Another thing is - Playing it onto a Blu-Ray Player. My PlayStation3 can play BD-disks but not all of my home made DVDs so to get this to work I
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
• Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
• Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
• No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
• and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
• and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project
• Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
• Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
TO GET IT TO WORK SLIGHTLY FASTER
• Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up hard disk
• No other programs running in BackGround e.g. Energy-Saver
• Don’t let HD spin down or be turned off (in Energy-Save)
• 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 screen-saver 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
• No File Vault on - Important
• NO - TimeMachine - during iMovie/iDVD work either ! IMPORTANT
• Lot's of icons on DeaskTop/Finder also slows down the Mac noticeably
• Start a new User-Account and log into this and iMovie get's faster too - if a project is in a hurry
• And let Mac run on Mains - not just on battery
Yours Bengt W

VH to iMovie to iDVD?

Hello,
I will put this as simply as I can..
1: I have is a recording from satellite which I put onto DVD.
2: I have then opened/added the disk within VisualHub and and chose the DV option.
3: Then I opened it within iMovie to edit it and then the finished project is then shared to iDVD.
4: Within iDVD I then create the add a theme etc and then choose burn to disc which actually works fine.
5: Playback on the dvd player is fine but the picture is very grainey and looks like a VHS type of recording. Is the big loss of quality to do with extracting via VH and passing it from iMovie to iDVD?
6: The original was recorded from some of my sky+ recordings and is pin sharp.
Any ideas?
Cheers
Oh one other question is how would I transfer the video from iDVD to USB for playback on my DVD?
Message was edited by: macbookair

+can I still download iMovie 06 and is the 09 part of iDVD ok to import the finished movie?+
You can no longer download iMovie6 from Apple, but you might be able to get it elsewhere, buying iLife 6 on ebay or something. You can try here: http://www.macrumors.com/2009/01/27/imovie-hd-6-no-longer-available-for-download /
Yes, iDVD versions 8/9 (the same thing, different numbers) works great with iMovie 6.
If you do extract the footage, you have to expect a quality loss. If you don't have iM6, you can still do it for iM9, You might try it this way, recommended by AppleMan, who is pretty knowledgeable about iMovie 9:
+I have found I get the best results when I use MPEG Streamclip (which is free). You also have to install the Apple QuickTime MPEG2 Playback Component which costs about $20. Once you install the QuickTime MPEG2 Playback Component, you don't have to interact with it, but MPEG Streamclip needs it.+
+Insert your DVD in your drive. If DVD player runs automatically, shut it down. You should see your DVD as an icon on the desktop. Open it is a finder winder. You should see a folder which has VOB files.+
+Open MPEG Streamclip and drag these VOB files into Streamclip. If it offers to fix timecode breaks, say yes. You can do the VOB files one by one if you want to deal with shorter clips. Or, you can drag all the VOB files at once and create one long clip, or use streamclip to separate them into smaller clips.+
+In Streamclip, select File/Export using Quicktime and choose Apple Intermediate Codec. You may want to check "Deinterlace" in this step. Try deinterlacing and see if you like it. It depends on your final target media as to whether this will help.+
+Now you should have MOV files in Apple Intermediate Codec which can be imported into iMovie.+
+If you want, you can create a folder under iMovie Events and export these clips from MPEG Streamclip directly to that folder. The next time you open iMovie, it will generate thumbnails.+
Hope this helps. I don't know how to get iDVD projects to play in a DVD player via USB connection. You probably should post that as a new topic. Do a search first, as I think someone else has asked that same question. Simpler solution? Burn a disk and play that.
Message was edited by: Beverly Maneatis

IMovie to iDvd chapters not showing up?

I have a great film of a relatives wedding that I edited in iMovie I then sent it to iDvd figuring I could chapter it when it got there. I was wrong. You have to enable an advanced menu then chapter the movie in iMovie. I did this then decided to Export at 640x480 so that I would have a real video file to import into iDVD incase something went wrong. (when I had sent the movie to iDVD the first time it showed up in the DVD menu but I did not have a real file anywhere so if I deleted it from the project I would have to spend another two hours to add it back in.
When I added the exported 640x480 movie to a new iDVD project it found no chapter markers. Ok fine so I went back into iMovie and sent to iDVD. This time I let it run over night and when I checked it in the morning it had an error and could not complete. I dont wish to waist another two hours on something that isnt going to work. I have searched all over the internet for how to add chapters between iMovie and iDVD but all of the articles are outdated and all apple has to say is that they both provide support for chapters but no help documentation walks you through the process. Can someone please explain to me the best way to go from iMovie to iDVD and have my chapters? Do I need to use a special project that supports a scene selection or something? I need to make a 4:3 DVD.

Ziatron wrote:
Use iMovie 06 with iDVD 08/09, why?
I don't like editing style of iMovie HD. It is painful to follow the subject and change camera angle. iMovie 09 gives freedom of creativity.
Ziatron wrote:
iMovie 08/09 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is _thrown out_, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 08/09 is a "lossless" combination.
With iMovie HD you are right up to the point when you need one project at disk. As soon as you need several clips to be present at one DVD disk this approach is not working anymore.
If you export projects to DV stream by QT _both iMovie HD and iMovie 08/09 do the same bad trick with you - single field._ The workaround of this issue - using FCE for final rendering of DV.
Captured DV is the same quality (both fields) for all 4 of above.
Message was edited by: Serhij

I'm trying to burn an iMovie in iDVD and at the end of the whole burn process it says "Multiplexer Error" "there was an error during formatting". How do I fix it so that it'll burn?

I'm trying to burn an iMovie in iDVD and at the end of the whole burn process it says "Multiplexer Error" "there was an error during formatting". How do I fix it so that it'll burn?

Hi
Multiplexing error is a very complex problem due to many things (long long list following) - one common but not obvious reason is that material on the iDVD menu goes outside the TV-Safe area (or just touching it).
So first - turn on TV-Safe area and move any object well inside of this.
Wide screen stretched - usually (as I think) it is due to making a 4x3 movie in a 16x9 wide-screen project OR the other way around. This forces one to on flat-screen TV (or other) set the presenting view right - My has 4x3, wide-screen, zoom and auto-wide-screen and I have to switch this by my remote for some DVD I've made "wrong" way.
Now my long long list on Multiplex Error
LONG LONG LONG LIST
Multiplexing Error
PART One.
Use of strange video/audio material e.g. .avi, .wmv, .mp3 etc.
I only use.
Video - StreamingDV (miniDV tape via FireWire) and
Audio - .aiff (as on audio-CDs) (else converted to this .aiff 48KHz)
Photo - .jpg (.bmp known problematic)
Chapters !
A. Using strange letters in video project name e.g. +,/; etc. keep to a-z and 0-9 strange letters in project name e.g. +
as described by Donnyboy69. Does the title of your project have any symbols or decimal points in it. If so, that is why you are getting the error. I had a project that had a + sign which caused the same problem. I renamed it without the symbol and low and behold, it worked.
B. Location of Chapters
• Can’t be at start or end of movie (Skip first/start one - iDVD sets this by it self. At the End - no need)
• Not in a transition (or within 2-3 seconds from it)
Important when from iMovie HD6 or previous - Now also observed when using FCE 4
PART Two.
from Robert Modero.
"Multiplexing Error. Problem during initialization of tracks"
Simply remember to add subtitles to your Quicktime files and menu buttons.
Once I did that, I was back in business.
from Boise Jim
Do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on gray background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
I always makes a DiskImage first and test this so that it runs OK
I use only - Verbatim DVDs
I use only - DVD-R
I burn at an as slow speed possibly e.g. x1
This gives good DVDs
PART Three.
Multiplex Error
Chuck, Chicago 2/7/2009.
Back again. Here is what I have found to work. I also have and use a LaCie DVD-R/RW DL external drive and a LaCie external hard drive as well. Since yesterday I have tried a few ways to burn a themed iDVD project having four 56 minute movies on it, amounting to 226 minutes onto a DVD DL disc, capacity 240 minutes. Apple tech support really didn't know what to do but gave me a very good tip. I had two options left. Apple tech support's tip was to try disc image. One of the replies on a thread with this subject said not to, but my experience today is good. Put your project onto "Burn to disc image," under "iDVD, file." Yesterday encoding took me 23 1/2 hours. Overnight for iDVD disc image, encoding took 21 1/2 hours (again) while I slept. This morning I tried to copy/burn disc image to a DVD with Roxio Toast 7, and it stopped near the end of the burn with some kind of "error" message. So then I tried Utilities> Disc Utility> Burn icon, and followed it through. Be sure to click the DVD DL drive in the window "Burn disc in.". I had one other problem though. At the end of a 46 minute copy, it started to verify, and at the end of verify it rejected the burn. So I tried again, and when "verify" appeared, I clicked on "Skip." The disc finished burning and is doing fine and well. A long and tortuous process, but at last something works. I made several additional copies using Disc Utility. Best wishes. Chuck, Chicago.
2. Disconnect any other external devices not absolutely needed.
e.g. external USB/USB2 hard disks, other FW hard disks etc.
3 Chapter marks in transitions - minimum 2 sec from
FROM Bev.
(Not a 'guy' but I will answer!)
First, I do not think that mixing wide-screen and standard makes a difference in iDVD.
Second, you should use a better brand of DVD disk. Also, many of us have experienced fewer problems on playback with DVD-R disks. Recommended brands here are Verbatim, Maxell and Taiyo Yuden. Memorex and TDK are not consistent and may not give you a correct burn. They apparently have fewer layers in the composition of the disk. I have always used Verbatim DVD-R disks and have not had any burn problems.
Also, choose a slower burn speed, 4x or less.
Third, to determine if the iDVD project will burn properly, create a disk image file (from within iDVD, go File->Save as Disk Image) and test it. Mount the disk image and then open DVD Player (in Applications) and view your project. If it plays correctly, you can then burn the actual DVD disk from the disk image file using Disk Utility.
From. Boise, Idaho
I did everything I've seen suggested, but a friend (who used to be an Apple Genius) suggested that I do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on gray background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
It worked, and I got a clean burn from iDVD.
Hopefully this can help other people.
by dheb0422
Well, I finally got it, and it was odd enough to post here incase anyone looks this topic up again. Many things were tried, including burning the unedited film, the edited film without titles and chapter markers, abbreviating the chapter markers in case length was the issue (remember the old iMovie used to truncate them when moving to iDVD?). In the process, I noticed that one, and only one, chapter marker was on the same line as the title marker. All the others were on the line above. The only way I seemed able to change that was to clip a few seconds of film. After that last clip, the offending marker took a place on the line above, as were all the others. That run published, compiled completely and burned. That's one for the books.
One user more writes
To add my experience with Multiplex Errors using iDVD (7.0.4), I recently created two iDVD projects
Video from both passed from FCE 4.01 with chapters
One project worked fine in creating disk image file
The other gave Multiplex Errors
I tried suggestions to remove special characters and no chapter marks at beginning, but nothing worked
Note that I've used iDVD for dozens of projects and this is first time I've run into Multiplex Errors
Anyway, for problem project, I tried an experiment where I removed all chapters in FCE and passed to new iDVD project
This time multiplex errors gone
So had something to do with chapters
So now I tried numerous experiments to remove individual chapters and try again creating disk image with new iDVD project
After numerous tries, I was able to narrow problem down to 1 "Bad" chapter mark
That is, when I left the "bad" chapter in my FCE project and passed to iDVD, iDVD gave multiplex error
When I removed "bad" chapter mark (and others in), no multiplex error
As a final experiment, I moved "bad" chapter mark about 5-10 sec's beyond original point and passed to iDVD, the multiplex errors now magically went away and I was able to finally create my disk image.
I have no idea why this worked, but thought I'd mention here in case someone else runs into similar problem.
Rich839
In addition to Bengt's fine advice, burning errors can occur if you have located any of your menu buttons wholly or partly outside of the safe TV viewing area. Go to your main project menu, then click on View/Show TV Safe Area, to check. Drag into the safe viewing area any buttons that are outside the safe viewing area.
Russ One - suggest this
Multiplex Error-There was an error during muxing preparation
One thing that worked for me was to export the video w/o chapter markers as a self contained movie (thereby not loosing the edits & etc). Then make a new FCE project and import that movie into a new sequence and add the chapter markers. I've used "-", "&" and "," with no problem in the chapter names. Removing the markers or exporting without them did solve the problem but renaming them with just numbers 1,2,3....5, did not solve the problem and since this problem seems to happen with with iMovie as well, it would suggest the problem is in the video or audio and in combination with the chapter markers iDVD just can't handle it. The only other possibility is that both iMovie and FCE share the same or similar chapter marker code that some how is corrupting the markers.
Summary - What to try
1. Chapters
• Only A to Z and 0 to 9 in chapter title
• No Chapter mark at very beginning of movie
• No Chapter mark in or within 2 seconds from any transition in movie
2. TV-safe area for buttons (no one outside this)
3. Safe re-boot
4. No other external devices connected - that are not needed
SDMacuser adds to this
• On #4 ... No ext. devices. Some think this applies mainly to ext. FW. Not the case. Also applies to ext. USB2 as well (not to mention flash drives too).
Do not leave 3rd party devices / camera / camcorder plugged in unless it is being used with iDvd's One Step process. Certain web cams can trigger this also (especially ones with added features like LED light/s that draw additional power from the FW or USB bus).
5. Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-up hard disk
6. Make a DiskImage first - reduces where problem originates
7. Trash iDVD pref. file
8. Make a new iDVD project
9. Movies in project with same aspect ratio e.g. 4x3 or 16x9
10. No other programs/applications running during iDVD process. e.g. Internet, screen & energy savers
Yours Bengt W

This is my first time using iphoto, I am trying to make a slide show that I can then burn to a dvd. The slide show is complete, but I'm not sure where to go now. Can I burn the slide show from iphoto or do I have to export to imovie or idvd?

I have completed the slide show i am making, but not sure what to do now. I want to burn it to a dvd, but not sure if i can do that from iphoto or do i need to export to imovie or idvd? If i need to export, will iphoto save a copy in iphoto? This may be really stupid, but I don't see an obvious way to save my slide show in iphoto. Please Help!

Export the slideshow out of iPhoto as a QT movie file via the Export button in the lower toolbar. Select Size = Medium or Large.
Open iDVD, select a theme and drag the exported QT movie file into the open iDVD window being careful to avoid any drop zones.
Follow this workflow to help assure the best quality video DVD:
Once you have the project as you want it save it as a disk image via the File ➙ Save as Disk Image menu option. This will separate the encoding process from the burn process.
To check the encoding mount the disk image, launch DVD Player and play it. If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding is good.
Then burn to disk with Disk Utility or Toast at the slowest speed available (2x-4x) to assure the best burn quality. Always use top quality media: Verbatim, Maxell or Taiyo Yuden DVD-R are the most recommended in these forums.
If iDVD was not preinstalled on your Mac you'll have to obtain it by purchasing a copy of the iLife 09 disk from a 3rd party retailer like Amazon.com: ilife 09: Software or eBay.com. Why, because iDVD (and iWeb) was discontinued by Apple over a year ago.
Why iLife 09 instead of 11?
If you have to purchase an iLife disc in order to obtain the iDVD application remember that the iLife 11 disc only provides themes from iDVD 5-7. The Software Update no longer installs the earlier themes when starting from the iLIfe 11 disk nor do any of the iDVD 7 updaters available from the Apple Downloads website contain them.
Currently the only sure fire way to get all themes is to start with the iLife 09 disc:
This shows the iDVD contents in the iLife 09 disc via Pacifist:
You then can upgrade from iDVD 7.0.3 to iDVD 7.1.2 via the updaters at the Apple Downloads webpage.
NOTE: If you're running iPhoto 9.5 the export options will be different.
OT

Follow-up question to FCE vs. iMovie

When I asked yesterday for a comparison of FCE to iMovie, and how they were different, I realized what I really I want to know is why FCE is considered better than iMovie. And what can FCE do that iMovie can't do? Thanks.

Please don't start another thread on the same topic when you have one that you haven't responded to.
The question is mostly answered in the thread that was linked in your original post. What about the discussion in that linked thread is not clear?
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13175828#13175828
x

Updated to iLife '08 and now iMovie and iDVD won't Start

I received a copy of iLife '08 for Christmas and finally got around to upgrading today. The new iPhoto works just fine but when I try to start iMovie, it crashes (I have included part of the Problem Report below). I have tried restarting and it doesn't help. Then I tried to start iDVD and it flashes the "Welcome" / "Open" screen and then quits before I can do anything -- no error report. Any ideas on how to:
1) Fix both programs so they will launch -OR-
2) Restore the old versions of iMovie and iDVD
Thanks!
Process: iMovie [345]
Path: /Applications/iMovie.app/Contents/MacOS/iMovie
Identifier: com.apple.iMovie7
Version: 7.0 (471)
Build Info: iMovieApp-4710000~2
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [104]
Date/Time: 2008-01-02 15:53:31.019 -0500
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.1 (9B18)
Report Version: 6
Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 0
Application Specific Information:
* Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInternalInconsistencyException', reason: 'Creating more than one Application'

Run Software Update (under the Apple menu) and update that software.

I keep getting the following error message while sharing my iMovie to iDVD. "Unable to prepare project for publishing" error (-2125).

I keep getting the following error message while sharing my iMovie to iDVD. "Unable to prepare project for publishing" error (-2125). I'm running iMovie 09 v. 8.0.6 on a iMac with OSX v 10.6.8, 2Ghz core duo, 1GB 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM. Any ideas why?

That particular error comes up for a number of reasons, sometimes it's the size of the movie you're trying to export. Bengt Wärleby a longtime contributor to the iMovie Discussion Group has advised a number of people on this error code, so I am going to link to his latest advice he's given to anyone trying to export to DVD from iMovie: Bengt's tips for great DVDs.
Specifically, try bypassing Share to iDVD by using Share to Media Browser instead.
In the Share to Media Browser dialog box choose the Large Size.
When(If?) it gets through that process, quit iMovie altogehter then go to iDVD.
Create a new project and click on the Media button near the lower right hand side of the Project Window.
Then click the Movies button in the Browser window just above that.
Under the iMovie star icon you should see the name of the project you shared out from iMovie.
Drag that into the project and burn the DVD.
If it's still to large or you get the same -2125 error code trying to Share using the Medium size instead. But again if you really get stuck consult Bengt Warleby's User tips:
Bengt's tips for great DVDs

I can not see Aperture in the media brower of iMovie and idvd since I have upgraded my iphone 5

I have Aperture 3.4.2 (most updated version I could find). Now when I look to make a movie or dvd with my photos. I can not find any of my recent photos in imovie or idvd via their respective media browsers. Aperture and iphoto are both working fine and great (ie: I can adjust my photos accordingly and print them out). I was able to successfully make both an imovie and then burn it on idvd (added photos to the idvd screens via media browers too), last week.
The only thing I can think that is different with my computer is that I upgraded my iphone from iphone4 to iphone5.
This is what I have looked into already:
Aperture>Preferences>Preview is set to share and set to always>photo preview set to Don't limit (no change)
Tried alt+cmd when opening Aperture and reset Aperture (as well with iphoto). (no change)
Itunes>Advanced>choose photos to share> then a window pops up stating Aperture could not be found open Preferences in Aperture (My first step already proved that it should be fine)
My question is why all of a sudden is Aperture and most of my iphone photos not showing up in imovie or idvd all of a sudden? Does the recent Iphone5 updgrade have anything to do with it?
Any help would be great since I have been looking all over the web for an answer with no success.
Thanks in advance for your help.
TOM

Did you try this link: -> Images or Animations do not load
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Images_or_animations_do_not_load
If NO, then check it first. If YES then bummer !! I was hoping that would work :-( Anyway here's how you can Downgrade to a previous version.
Uninstalling Firefox
* https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Uninstalling%20Firefox
* DO NOT SELECT THE OPTION TO REMOVE YOUR USER DATA AND SETTINGS
Downloading Firefox 3.6.19
* http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html
Installing Firefox on Windows
* https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Installing%20Firefox%20on%20Windows
Check and tell if its working.

Sound problems when burning a film made in iMovie in iDVD

PLEASE HELP!!!
I have upgraded to iLife 09 and for all the bad that people have to say, I actually like it a lot. Anyway, it gave me the encouragement I needed to play with some old home movies I had stored with the aim of producing DVDs to give to my friends, and hopefully showing off the slick production values I have come up with.
So after spending a week getting to grips with iMovie and editing an old holiday film with all the cuts, transitions, chapter markers and music etc that I wanted, I ended up with an hour long movie that I was happy with.
Then to iDVD. After trying out all sorts of ways to go from iMovie to iDVD to ensure the best quality, I have finally given up trying to replicate the on screen quality of the movie in iMovie with the finished DVD, and just opted for the easy to use 'share to iDVD' option. The quality is not great, but then the footage is old anyway so not too much of an issue.
Then I spend another few days playing with and learning iDVD and again end up with a finished product that I am happy with, with nice looking menu's and a slideshow etc.
So I come to burn the final DVD, for which I pick the 'Professional burn' option which takes 4 hours but I am happy to wait if it means the best quality possible, and my DVD is done.
I then play the DVD to discover my problem - the sound in the movie is not right. To explain further, in my movie I have reduced the sound of some of the film clips to nothing and placed music over the top. When played and previewed in iMovie it works fine - the music plays and the sound that is attached the the video does not. When previewed in iDVD it works fine - just as I had edited it in iMovie. But then when I burn the DVD, some of these sounds are present again which completely wastes all my hard work at the editing stage.
I have searched and searched for help on this but am unable to find any.
Sorry for the very long description and story behind my issue, but it is massively frustrating. Basically, at some point during the 'burn to DVD' stage in iDVD it decides to completely ignore most of the sound edits I have made on the movie in iMovie.
If anyone can help it would be much appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.

Further to this, I have just sat and watched the whole final DVD on my TV and it would seem to be that the sound issues may be something to so with the transitions added in iMovie. Some of the sounds have even slipped in time! I get the sound from the next clip coming in early and then a blank patch of sound where it should be. All of this is always just before an iMovie transition.

How do I move from iMovie to iDvd?

I am new user to both iMovie and iDvd (both in iLife 09). I have made my first movie in iMovie and it is 1 hour 49 minutes. How do I get the movie to iDvd? I tried Share, iDvd, and it worked away for an hour, then gave me an error message that the movie exceeds maximum content duration? Huh? I saw some postings about that and to change encoding settings, but do not know where those are.
If I go to iDvd, I thought if I went to Media and iMovie, it should show all movies in there, but my movie does not show up in that area. It is in iMovie in the Project area in both an original and duplicate form. How do I get my movie into iDvd for best quality, what kind of settings do I need, and where do I do that?

I think I found the answer to my question. According to a message I got in iDvd when attempting to open the movie I was told that I should choose Share, Media Browser. Seems like it should be Share, iDvd, but that is what it says. Also, I found the setting in Preferences for encoding and see I need to make it Professional. Guess I had a misunderstanding of encoding, too. I thought that would not be relevant until burning a cd, but evidently it is involved when taking the movie from iMovie to iDvd.

FCE to iMov to iDVD = generation loss

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