I repeatedly get "error during rendering/encoding of menus/slideshow" message. This process is the same on my iMac, MacBook and another iMac. I have been burning dvd's int he same way for the past 12 months using the exact same steps successfully.

Question

I keep getting "error during rendering/encoding of menus/slideshows" message.  I have been burning DVD's in exactly the same way for the past 12 months and mostly on my MacBook which is 3 years old.  Obviously I'm using iDVD.  I purchased an iMac about a year ago and moved to use this for dvd burning without problem.  A few months ago (approximately) I started to experience problems with burning with the error message above.  I tried everything including starting the whole process from scratch right down to capturing the movie clips from my video recorder into iMovie, then using them in iDVD.  Still the same message came up.  I lost count of how many times I repeated the process with different clips and variations and the same thing happened.  This was also the case with my MacBook and my husband's iMac.
After taking both of mymac's tothe service centre, having new optical thingys put it and even a new hard drive on my iMac along with a new DVD burner the same thing happened.  They told me it must be the process that I am using that is incorrect!
I took my 27" iMac to an apple shop and asked them to assist me while I use the same technique as I always had.  The same message came up so they tried using my clips in one of their mac's.  The same message. They tried it with different clips and the same message.  The only way we could get theirs to work was with a magic DVD which did not produce what I needed and was limited with only one page. 
I now cannot use any of my Mac's for the intended purpose that I bought them for - to produce good media for my work!  It was suggested that I purchase some non Mac software to burn DVDs which defeats the object of having a mac with iDVD in my opinion.  I have a book on iDVD which is very informative and have followed the process to the letter and checked all the trouble shooting and still no remedy.  It was mentioned that an up-date may have caused the problem on all my macs.
I feel that this issue should be addressed by Apple as a matter of correctness.
I now find that on the net there are many posts in forums and such like with exactly the same (almost word for word) problems.  Please Apple, keep/regain your good name and sort this out.
Jayne Connelly

Answer 1

Thanks Bengt W for your attention to this matter.  So much appreciated.  And thanks for putting me right on the aim of forums (new to this).  Although, you may regret asking for more information.  I've added everything I can below.
The process I used is as follows:
Import recorded clips of between 5 and 15minutes each from my video recorder into i
Edit the clips (remove unwanted start and endng)
Add title to front of clips
‘Share’ them to ‘movie’ (export using QuickTime)folder in .mov format individually
Open iDVD and ‘create new project’
Select ‘favourite’ theme that I have set up forall my work dvd’s (this has been used successfully many times and I’ve triedwithout using the favourite them).
Add 2 submenus for each group of clips
Select submenu  - drag and drop between 3 – 6 clips in each of the twosubmenus
Change title colours on clips
Dragand drop image into drop zones where required
In‘map’ view I check for any yellow warnings before burning to disc
In an attempt to remedy the problems I’ve tried the following:
Try new DVD discs
Try different themes (favourites and standardones)
Change images in drop zones
Start whole process again even from importingfrom camera again
Two other completely different computers (iMacand MacBook) with iDVD
Go to apple shop and use their computers to doin iDVD
Try with one clip and no menu pages added
Use a clip that I already have that did notoriginate from my camera
Turn computer off and restart
New hard drive
New optical lense (thing)
New DVD burner
Saving to disc image rather than dvd disc
Other points:
I also have a ‘flip’ and ‘iPhone’ whereI’ve imported footage camera which, although limited, records and makes videoclips and burns them to DVD through iDVD without problem.
For example, I have just gone through steps 5 - 11 using some clips that were already imported from my iphone to iPhoto and dragged across.  I used a theme that I've used before which has failed and added one sub menu page where the clip went.  It burned to disc image successfully.
The startup disc, I believe will have no space issues asit’s a new hard drive with no use apart from this.  That could have been an issue before (I didn’t check it) butnot now.
Other technical stuff that I don't understand but you may:
I have…… Mac OS X Version 10.6.7 with all updates onit.  Processor 2.8 GHz Intel Corei7.  Memory 4GB 1067 MHz DDR3.
iDVD version 7.1.1
HardwareOverview:
  Model Name: iMac
  Model Identifier: iMac11,1
  Processor Name: Intel Core i7
  Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
  Number Of Processors: 1
  Total Number Of Cores: 4
  L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
  L3 Cache: 8 MB
  Memory: 4GB
  Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
  Boot ROM Version: IM111.0034.B02
SMC Version (system):            1.54f36
OPTIARCDVD RW AD-5680H:
  Firmware Revision:     3AHB
  Interconnect:    ATAPI
  Burn Support:   Yes (AppleShipping Drive)
  Cache:    2048KB
  Reads DVD:    Yes
  CD-Write: -R, -RW
  DVD-Write:   -R, -R DL,-RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
  Write Strategies:  CD-TAO,CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
  Media: Toshow the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose View > Refresh
If you can solve this you are better than the 'apple geeks' in the shop and the service technicians in the service centre (and of course me but that's no achievement). 
Eagerly awaiting your reply.
Jayne