IDVD 6 Chapters

I have had this issue before in version 5 and can't recall what caused it or how I fixed it.
When I drag a movie that I exported from FCP (with chapters) onto iDVD it correctly creates chapters but when I go to the 'Scene Selection' window any one of the chapters (other than no. 1) can be initially selected.
My present situation is as follows. I created highlights from my son's basketball season and created 6 chapters in the movie entitled Game 1, Game 2 and so on thru Game 5, then Awards Ceremony. When I burned the DVD and chose the Scene Selection page 'Game 2' is the highlighted. When I navigate thru the chapters it jumps all over the place and not in a logical order.
It is irritating and embarassing since I am creating this for other parents (and I don't want to leave the Apple icon illuminated if I can't make it appear professional).
Please help.
Rick

When I navigate thru the chapters it jumps all over the place and not in a logical order.
If I understand, you mean that when you go to chapter menus, the highlighted chapters can vary: Chapter one on one menu then chapter four on another menu instead of chapter one on that new menu.
That happened to me, and many other people, in iDVD 5. It's still happening to me on occasion in iDVD 6.0.2...
I'm just living with it.

Similar Messages

Exporting From FCE to IDVD With Chapters How long

Exporting From FCE to IDVD With Chapters How long will the DVD hold??? if i have an hour and 40 minutes of HD footage all cut together with FCE and has been saved as a movie file, how many hours will IDVD let me burn to it?
if i run over the allowed amount will it say i need to drop quality, i am editing loads at the moment and dont want to get to the end and it come up with an error message. also will idvd include the chapter markers if i export with them?

Sure, no problem.
1. Go to Project > Project Info in iDVD.
2. Make sure "DVD Type" is set to a single-layer DVD.
3. Under "Encoding," choose "Best Performance." Is the arrow solidly in the green portion of the quality bar? If so, go ahead and burn your disc.
4. If not, choose "High Quality." Again, go ahead and burn your disc if the arrow is solidly in the green.
3. If the arrow still isn't in the green, select Professional Quality. If the arrow's in the green, burn your disc. If not, you'll have to delete some of the menus (scene selection, etc.) or menu content and check again. You should be able to burn up to 2 hours if you don't have a lot of other menu content.

Why won't iDVD create chapters?

Why won't iDVD create chapters?
I'm using iMovie "09" and iDVD.
I created an iMovie project with chapter markers. When I try to create a DVD project, selecting a Theme with chapters, the chapters do no appear...only the full movie.
Don

And I figure about - if there is a setting somewhere for minutes per Chapter as in Roxio Toast ?
Go into the Map mode, select the movie there
and select the Advanced ➙ Create Chapter Markers for Movie menu option
Then you can set the Chapter length in 1 minute increments:

Burning a Disk in iDVD and chapters not linking properly

Project Duration=57:00 DVD Capacity=3.1 of 4.2
Motion Menus=1:41 of 15:00 Tracks=2 Menus=3
Theme-Reflection White from 6.0 Themes, The preview of this DVD works perfectly.
There is a short :10 (autoplay intro) which leads to MainMenu. The MainMenu has two items 1=full playing video 2="scenes"
GoTo "scenes". Problem 1=chapter menu no longer animates in. Problem 2=only the first of four chapters works correctly; the other three re-start the DVD from the auto-play intro.
Using arrows to go to 2nd chapter page works. The page animates in correctly. The two chapters here work fine.
What can happen from a working Preview to a non-working DVD?
How can chapters link to something they shouldn't be able to see?

Best bet is to use the Delete Encoded Assetts command in iDVD to throw out everything and force reencoding of your project from scratch. Sometimes junk can be left in the cache and temp files that effects later projects because they were not properly cleared out.
My standard list of things to do first for these weird sort of problems, but I also tend to run these before I go to burn an iDVD project just to be safe. Keep in mind this list represents the programs I tend to use. I am running Panther (10.3.9) so Tiger users might want to check the below list for compatibility. There are several alternate programs that do the same things with some combining the functions of some of the ones below. So everyone has their favorites, but here are mine...
Run MacJanitor (free download) to do all the Unix Cron Maintenance scripts.
Run Disk Utility (Applications -> Utilities) and repair disk permissions on your start up drive (typically your internal drive). Also verify any other drives mounted on the system, especially any external drives that you use for iMovie and iDVD projects.
Run Preferential Treatment (free download) to check for corrupt/damaged application and system preference files.
Run Cache Out X (free download) to clear all system and application caches.
Reboot your Mac (after running Cache Out X you are given the option to restart the machine).
Patrick

FCE to iDVD (w chapters created in FCE)

Hello,
I've searched old threads on how to Export your FCE project to iDVD. Most of the posts said to "export to quicktime movie", then load your movie into iDVD.
I tried that, and it worked - however, I created my chapters in FCE and they did not carry over when loaded into iDVD.
Is there something I missed in the exporting process so that iDVD recognizes my chapters??
Thank you.

http://www.fcpbook.com/Misc2.html
The important thing is follow the chapter marker rules. Make sure they're applied to the timeline, not the clips. No marker at the beginning of the sequence. No marker within one second of another. That the chapter marker code <CHAPTER> is untouched.

16:9 in iDVD with chapters...

I'm exporting a clip with chapter markers with *QuickTime Movie...*. The I put the movie into iDVD. Voila, the chapters all make auto-menu systems and stuff and it's all good.
BUT, when I preview the video, it doesn't fill the screen. I get gray bars on the right and left.
So, I thought about it and I tried opening them in QuickTime. They looked kinda similar there, so I went into the properties and picked production. That made things look right in QuickTime, but it still doesn't fill the 16:9 frame in iDVD's preview mode.
It looks right if I export it to DV, but then it loses the chapters! I want the chapters! I want chapters and the right aspect ratio! What am I supposed to do?

http://www.fcpbook.com/Video9.html

Goal: Burn iDVD w/Chapters & 2 Audio Channels

I have 10 songs each with video and two audio channels. I want the dvd to go from one song to the next, but also want to have chapters so that I can quickly get to #8 from #4 (for example). What I've tried:
1) Export individual songs via QuickTime - the two audio channels flattened into one. Gotta have 2 discreet that can be controlled via mixer.
2) Exported all 10 as one sequence with a chapter marker for each song via QuickTime Conversion - got 2 stereo channels - poifect - but only one long 'chapter', the only way I can move thru is via FastForward - not good.
Manuals say just add chapter markers (not at beginning, >1 second apart from each other, only 99, etc), but I can't get them to function in iDVD.
SHOULD QuickTime keep two audio channels, if so, how do I do it?
SHOULD I be using QuickTime Conversion - does it toss the markers?
Help and Thanx

I've found the articles on Ken Stone's site about chapter markers and preparing Final Cut materials for iDVD extremely helpful. I would suggest you check them out and try the suggested workflows. The site address is www.kenstone.net
Best of luck.

IDVD export - chapters

Hi,
need help with chapters exported to iDVD. When i export Keynote project to iDVD it creates chapters, submenus etc. and everything works great when i check it in preview mode. But afer burning the dvd when i go to submenu and try to start any of the chapters the whole presentation starts to play from the beginning. What do i do wrong?
PowerBook G5 DC 2,3GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Pressing M twice will set a marker and call up the Marker Editor. As mentioned above by Ian, choose "Chapter". Also, make sure your finished piece is exported with Chapter Markers selected (controls for this are in the Export dialog window).

IDVD & ending Chapters

Is there a way to have a chapter return to it's menu at the end of it's play. I have read that it is normal for a chapter to go onto the "next in line", but also that some individuals are having just the opposite issue; chapters ending and then returning to originating menu. That is what I wish to happen.
Thanks in advance

Hi Arthur C. Wiese, Jr.
Welcome to apple discussions.
Q: Is there a way to have a chapter return to it's menu at the end of it's play.
A: There is within DVDSP but iDvd is a bit more problematic. I don't normally advocate going back into your original iMovie project once an iDvd has already been burned/completed since this has the bad habit of rendering your current iDvd project useless in terms of pointers to all QT reference movies. You could however go back to the original iMovie project in this particular case and export that one segment / scene as a separate QT movie unto itself then add that one chapter as a separate QT movie within iDvd (use export selected clip/s only within iMovie). That would cause it to return to the main menu upon completion of playback for each individual movie added to the main menu in iDvd.
Keep in mind you'll need delete encoded assets from the advanced menu tab in iDvd (within your current iDvd project) or start a completely new iDvd project file if you should opt to use the above approach.
Other options / apps include using QT Pro to edit the movie/s and then add those particular segments / scenes right back into iDvd.
A third option is:
http://www.mydvdedit.com/
If you opt for the latter you may also want to consider making a copy of the original prior to performing any modifications whatsoever.
Hope this info is useful but if not just come on back. Good luck.

IDVD with chapters

Are there real clear instructions somewhere to create an iDVD project using a Final Cut Express movie with chapter markers? I is easy with iMovie, but not sure how to do it with a Final Cut Express. I think I need the instructions to start from how to put chapter markers in Final Cut and all the way through iDVD.

Here's how I do it, and I've been getting good results every time:
TO GET A FINAL CUT EXPRESS PROJECT READY FOR iDVD:
Make sure the Easy Setup has DV-NTSC chosen (or PAL if that's your format), not NTSC DV Converter or anything else. Otherwise, the movie that you export and drop into iDVD won't work--it won't have its chapter markers, or the buttons won't work, or both.
TO ADD CHAPTER (SCENE) MARKERS FOR iDVD:
Don't put a Chapter Marker at the start of the FCE movie--iDVD does that for you. Anywhere else, put the playhead where you want the chapter marker to be and hit the M key twice. On the box that appears, click Add Chapter Marker. FCE will then put <Chapter> into the comment box. Leave it exactly that way, or it won't work. Give the marker a name (you can change it later in iDVD) in the Name box. Click OK. You can have 99 chapter markers.
EXPORTING YOUR FCE PROJECT FOR iDVD:
Before exporting your FCE project, in the Timeline, first Select All, then choose Sequence > Render All > Both. Next Sequence > Render Only > Mixdown, which merges all the audio. Now you're ready to export the project as a QuickTime Movie: File > Export > Quicktime Movie (and NOT a self-contained movie, unless you have good reason to do so), and at the options, choose Audio-and-Visual and Chapter Markers. After FCE exports, drop the resulting Quicktime movie into iDVD (not into a drop zone, into the background of whatever "Theme" you choose). Your FCE project's title should then appear in the iDVD theme along with a Scene Selection button for your Chapter Markers. That button will lead to other Scene Selection screens (six scenes per screen).
CUSTOMIZING YOUR PROJECT IN iDVD:
Any digital photo or other image file (Tiffs preferred) that you drop into an iDVD Theme's background will become the new background image, and you can also replace a theme's music with a music of your own. In this way you can customize and personalize any iDVD theme.
BURNING YOUR iDVD PROJECT TO A DVD
After you get everything looking and working the way you want it in iDVD, I advise burning it as a disk image first, so you can examine and test it with DVD Player before burning it to a DVD. If you're satisfied with it, you can use Toast in its Copy mode to burn the disk image to a DVD.
Tom B.

Chapters for iDVD 7.1.1

Hello everybody...
Got a question regarding chapters in iDVD. I edited a movie in FCP and created a serie of chapter markers on it and also export them as chapters markers as well. If I understand correctly when importing the movie into the iDVD menu the program should automatically create 2 buttons. One for the movie itself and another one as a selection of scenes that would link to a menu for selecting the scenes. At least that is what the iDVD helpmenu says...
It´s not happening.. So what should I do to make the chapters markers that I created in FCP work in iDVD?
Thanks a lot

Hi
I edited a movie in FCP and created a serie of chapter markers on it and also export them as chapters markers as well.
I understands this as that You actively select to Export with Chapter Marks ? OK ?
Many forget to do this in the Export window - or select Export with Marks - Not with Chaper Marks (important)
I do from FCE/P do like this.
(Copy from earlier answer to others)
*FCE/P to iDVD*
Several things
• How to go from FCE/P to iDVD
• Free space on Start-up hard disk
• Encoding
• Brand and type of DVDs used
• Burn speed set
• iDVD BUG
• Chapters
*How to go from FCE/P to iDVD I do*
• Disable Screen and Energy saver
• IMPORTANT --> FIRST in FinalCut - Mix Down Audio under Sequence Menu / Render Only / Mixdown
• Export out as a QuickTime .mov file
• Select with Mark - Chapter Mark
• Not as Self-Contained (not important but saves time and space)
• NO QUICKTIME CONVERSION (IMPORTANT)
This QT.mov file I import into iDVD from within iDVD.
*Free space on Start-up hard disk*
I set a minimum of 25GB (for Mac OS and iDVDs temp files)
Encoding
• I use Pro Quality encoding
*Brand and type of DVDs used*
• I use Verbatim
• I use DVD-R
*Burn speed set*
• I set down this to x4 (or x1)
*iDVD BUG*
• One can not go back to movie-project for any alterations and then go back to
the iDVD project. It will notice and ask You to either Up-date or Cancel. Neither
of them will work.
Medicine - Start a brand new iDVD project.
*Use of Chapters*
• I only use a to z and 0 to 9 in naming them. NO other symbol/letter !
• NO Chapter-mark at very beginning - iDVD NEEDS TO set this by it stlf
• No Chapter marks in or within two seconds from a transition
(Way around this last one - Export movie as QT full quality and NO Chapter marks
Import this into a new Movie-project and now You are free to set C-Ms where You want
them except at very beginning - still)
*Material used to build movie*
• video - I use streamingDV (or convert all other to this eg .mp4, .avi, .wmv etc)
• audio - I use .aiff 16-bit 48kHz or from Audio-CD (44.1kHz) - no .mp3 or direct from iTunes
• photos - I use .jpg - no .bmp etc
Trash iDVD pref file and run Repair Permissions - and have a re-try.
from post ??
May not be relevant, but I had the same problem with iDVD, where burned DVDs showed a green screen. It was cured by quitting Quicksilver and Quickeys as well as disabling sleep and screensaving
Yours Bengt W

Using WindowsDV .avi files in iMovie and iDVD

I'm about to buy a Mac after using PCs for many years. I'm still deciding whether to buy an iMac 20", upgrade the Ram and use an external firewire drive or to get a Mac Pro and use internal drives. Initially I'll use iMovie and iDVD and I have some questions regarding using files I've already created on my PC. Up until now I've mainly been using Ulead Video Studio 10 and Ulead DVD Workshop. DVD Workshop does not do 16:9 menus and has now been discontinued and I've been impressed with iMovie and iDVD when I've seen it in Apple stores.
I have some unedited 16:9 .avi files that I've captured from my Panasonic GS-400 camcorder as well as some already edited .avi and .mpg files. Will iMovie and iDVD recognise .avi DV files when accessed through my network or copied onto the Mac hard drive? I'll load unedited clips into iMovie for editing but anything that's already edited I'd like to put straight into iDVD, add chapters and make a menu etc.
Is this going to work easily or will I have to convert the files to an apple compatible format?
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Ken
Windows XP Pro

Hi Ken and welcome to Apple!
You should not have a major problem. The AVI files should (repeat should) be recognized by iMovie. If not, conversion should (I love the certainty of that word!) be easy.
An iMac will do all you ask, but I recommend not less that 1GB of RAM.
At this stage, go get your iMac, and try to import the AVI files into iMovie. If that is not successful post back!
Remember: iMovie expects to be 'fed' by digital video through a firewire connection.
Any more questions, we are here to help!

Building iDVD project - white flashes at the beginning of each scene during playback?

I am building a DVD project with multiple movies. I used the Bronze Wedding in the "old themes" menu, which was less problematic than the 7.0 themes. When I click on the segment to play, there is a moment (probably just 1 frame) of white that flashes before the segment starts playing. This is not in my original Final Cut Express movie, and it happens in every segment, not just at the beginning of each movie.
I used Final Cut Express v.4.0.1, iDVD v.7.0.4 and the entire amount of footage on the project (3 separate movies) lasts a total of 1 hour and 17 minutes.
Any ideas what this flashing white screen is?

Hi
How did You go from FCE/P to iDVD ?
I do
FCE/P to iDVD
Several things
• How to go from FCE/P to iDVD
• Free space on Start-up hard disk
• Encoding
• Brand and type of DVDs used
• Burn speed set
• iDVD BUG
• Chapters
How to go from FCE/P to iDVD I do
• Disable Screen and Energy saver
• IMPORTANT --> FIRST in FinalCut - Mix Down Audio under Sequence Menu / Render Only / Mixdown
• Export out as a QuickTime .mov file
• Select with Mark - Chapter Mark
• Not as Self-Contained (not important but saves time and space)
• NO QUICKTIME CONVERSION (IMPORTANT)
This QT.mov file I import into iDVD from within iDVD.
Free space on Start-up hard disk
I set a minimum of 25GB (for Mac OS and iDVDs temp files)
Encoding
• I use Pro Quality encoding
Brand and type of DVDs used
• I use Verbatim
• I use DVD-R
Burn speed set
• I set down this to x4 (or x1)
iDVD BUG
• One can not go back to movie-project for any alterations and then go back to
the iDVD project. It will notice and ask You to either Up-date or Cancel. Neither
of them will work.
Medicine - Start a brand new iDVD project.
Use of Chapters
• I only use a to z and 0 to 9 in naming them. NO other symbol/letter !
• NO Chapter-mark at very beginning - iDVD NEEDS TO set this by it stlf
• No Chapter marks in or within two seconds from a transition
(Way around this last one - Export movie as QT full quality and NO Chapter marks
Import this into a new Movie-project and now You are free to set C-Ms where You want
them except at very beginning - still)
Material used to build movie
• video - I use streamingDV (or convert all other to this eg .mp4, .avi, .wmv etc)
• audio - I use .aiff 16-bit 48kHz or from Audio-CD (44.1kHz) - no .mp3 or direct from iTunes
• photos - I use .jpg - no .bmp etc
Trash iDVD pref file and run Repair Permissions - and have a re-try.
from post ??
May not be relevant, but I had the same problem with iDVD, where burned DVDs showed a green screen. It was cured by quitting Quicksilver and Quickeys as well as disabling sleep and screensaving
Yours Bengt W

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

Crappy quality in iDVD...

I tried to make a DVD containing some pics and a movie, all from our holiday. But the quality of the final product, especially the pics, was really bad... The pics didnt scale out on all the tv-screen neighter. Its better to just show them from the PS3...
Why is this? Anyone?

Hi
Yes that's a correct observation and due to many things
• DVD is as standard only - Interlaced SD-Video when at it's best (whatever DVD authoring program used)
• Feeding iDVD - HD or Progressive material will not give a better result - but a worse one as Downscaling is done badly
• Feeding iDVD alient Video-Codecs - also can result in bad DVDs or other strange Errors
• Using iMovie'08 to 11 - will be even more degrading as when material goes from Event's to Project's it drop every second line - resulting in a big quality loss and this can not be repaired on Export (any way chosen)
But by assembling the SlideShow in
• iMovie HD6 - or -
• FinalCut any version
• FotoMagico™
Will keep 100% Interlaced SD-Video quality over to iDVD
And if Higher quality is of need then
• Blu-Ray
• Or as You do - USB-memory ---> PlayStation3 - The way I do too
• OR I use my MacBook and connect this to HD-TV or Projector
Else
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 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 DeskTop/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

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