IDVD Finished Quality on DVD is as bad as 1st generation VHS

I'm exporting DV to Quick Time 6.5 "Best Quality Full Size. After exporting the file it looks great in Quicktime playback. The QT file is very large which means very little compression. Then I import the QT file in iDVD4 and author it. Total project is 54 mins. After I encode/compress to DVD and play it back on DVD player the quality is as poor as VHS. WHY ? Do I need to use DVD Pro ? Get a newer MAC or what ?
G$ Dual Processor 800 Mac OS X (10.2.x) G4 Quick Silver 800Dual

I think the question being posed was whether you were looking at a full-screen playback of the Quicktime file? (smaller windows can fool the eye).
Re your Big Question: DVD Pro comes with Compressor, which is a more sophisticated encoder and which is supposed to yield higher quality, smaller sized DVDs. But something else seems amiss, because iDVD normally yields decent/very nice quality results. Have you burned any DVDs with your computer that you felt were good quality?
I'd make sure your versions of iDVD and Quicktime are compatible. Also, since you're getting close to the 60 min limit, if you have complicated or space-intensive menus, I suppose it's possible that iDVD is using its higher compression setting to fit everything onto the DVD.
John

Similar Messages

DV camcorder to iMovie / iDVD - Why does my DVD look so bad?

I have an SD DV camcorder (a canon opt-40 model which is quite decent for SD)which when I hookup directly to my TV puts out a pretty decent picture.
I have imported the video from this camcorder into iMovie and done the assembly. I then put it through iDVD to burn a DVD. Many hours later I get my 1 hour long DVD and put it into my DVD player and play it and see a significantly degraded poor picture (youtube quality).
Somewhere along the iLife chain I must have lost resolution but I can't seem to find settings to increase the quality or resolution.
What am I missing? What can I set to retain better quaility for my imported video?

Somewhere along the iLife chain I must have lost resolution but I can't seem to find settings to increase the quality or resolution.
You can't.
What am I missing?
iMovie 06.
For faster editing iMovie 09 uses single-field processing. This means every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage.
Your primary workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, iMovie '06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels, same aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie 09, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 08/09 is a "lossless" combination.
You can get iMovie 06 in a number of ways. You cannot download it FROM APPLE any longer. You can also find iMovie 06 on the iLife 06 install disc. You can buy iLife 06 on Amazon or eBay.
But be prepared to pay about double the cost of iLife 09 (but well worth every penny). Seller's are becoming aware of its value.
I use iMovie 06 and iDVD 09 and my DVD's look like they came from Hollywood!
iMovie 09 is a wonderful program assuming that you're using it for what it was designed to do, assemble simple videos to share on the Internet.

Idvd (professional quality) vs DVD Studio pro quality difference

The Short question:
I understand DVDSP gives you much more control on menus on your dvd, but if I'm not concerned about additional controls, and only about preserving video quality, is it worth using DVDSP and possibly compressor or am I getting the same quality on less then one hour dvd's using 'professional quality' encoding with iDVD?
The long question:
I know this has probably been talked about many time, so I apologize.
I'm creating home movies with FCP from SD DV footage. Being Standard definition, I would like to preserve as much quality as I can when putting my movies onto DVD. Most of my movies, as well as DVD's are less then one hour.
I just went through the excellent Lynda.com tutorials on DVD studio pro by Larry Gordon. I understand DVDSP gives you much more control on menus on your dvd, but if I'm not concerned about additional controls, and only about preserving video quality, is it worth using DVDSP and possibly compressor or am I getting the same quality on less then one hour dvd's using 'professional quality' encoding with iDVD?
Thanks for your understanding.

Thanks guys for your reply. After finishing the tutorials on both DVDsp and Compressor. I think I'm sold. The flexibility is worth the extra effort. Actually after learning the interfaces, they aren't as daunting as I first thought. Compressor is dead easy and DVDsp is fun due to the control you have over your dvd. ALSO, using DVDsp over idvd has fixed a VERY annoying aspect ratio issue I have ever since using idvd. Where my DV 16:9 footage is being cropped to 4:3 on certain dvd players. I've battled that issue with no resolution for way too long. No problem when the DVD is made from DVDsp. I will miss the beautiful canned templates supplied in idvd, but I'm sure there are templates for DVDSP I'll be able to find. I'm sure templates are limited due to they expect you to create your own. I can deal with that.
Thanks again.
DVDsp is the way to go!

Imovie iDVD finished but DVD does not Play in ALL DVD players?

I have made several DVD movies over the years and sometimes when i go from imovie> idvd> finished DVD
1. it does not play in ALL dvd players? why?
2. or sometimes plays in some DVD players?
3. sometimes plays in computer( apple) dvd but not always?
Is there something i have to due before, after or during rendering so that the finished DVD plays in all DVD players
thanks

Hi
*I do put paper labes on discs --*
NEVER DO THAT - The ability to get them perfectly centered is near to impossibly
DVDs are many tims more sencitive to missaligmement by 1/100 or 1/1000 of a millimeter.
CDs often can handle this - but still not advicably.
I do.
• Use only Verbatim (Taiyo Yuden - also recommended by many - no own experience)
• DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW)
• Burn at an as slow speed possibly eg x1 with iDVD08 or higher or Roxio Toast™
or Apple Disk Util tool
• NEVER under 25Gb free space on internal boot hard disk (others not important)
• I use a Cleaning-DVD from time to time
• I burn max 3 DVD at a time then cool for 20min
• I use the Cleaning DVD on my other players as well
On Quality.
*DVD quality*
1. iDVD 8 has three levels of qualities.
iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality (movies up to 120 min.) - BEST
• Best Performances (movies less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD
• High Quality (in iDVD08) / Best Quality (in iDVD6) (movies up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
2. 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 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 this can also be set)
This can also be done with (Apple) Disk Util tool.
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. Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. 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:
• 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.
• 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 iDVD08
Pro Quality (only in iDVD08)
Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)
Best / High Performances (most often my choise)
1. go to iDVD pref. menu and select tab far right and set burn speed to x1 (less errors = plays better) - only in iDVD08
2. Project info: Select Professional Encoding - only in iDVD08.
Region codes:
iDVD - only burn Region = 0 - meaning - DVDs are playable everywhere
DVD Studio pro can set Region codes:
1 = US
2 = EU
Yours Bengt W

The SOLUTION to bad iDVD Photo Quality

I have been a fairly silent member of this forum for a long time now, and have seen many supposed "solutions" with the known issue of how iDVD compresses, and ultimately destroys, image quality in DVDs. Granted, much of this compression is normal, considering a full-quality photo from iPhoto looks quite different after being smashed into the standard NTSC 720x480 format of a DVD and compressed to a variation of MPEG-2. That being said, this workaround has been well-tested, and will give you a very high quality slideshow that you can play on your TV. (take note that low quality TV will come into play in making the final product look bad, not the slideshow itself!)
NOTE: I only tested this in iPhoto 6/iDVD 6 on a 10.4.8 PowerMac G5. I would love to get confirmation it works on Intel Macs and other machines.
1. Select an album or group of pictures in iPhoto
2. Go to File > Export and click the Quicktime tab
3. You will have several options...
- Width/Height: Defaults to 640x480 (4x6 image). This will result in about 100kb per image file, which gives you over 90 pictures for a 10 MB slideshow that you can e-mail to your friends.
- Display image for: Obviously controls how long each image is displayed in the slideshow.
- Background: Can be an image or a color. This is what you will see as a border if the slideshow image is smaller than the window.
- Music: This is actually kinda complicated. What is the "currently selected music?" When you select an album and press the "Play" button to do a quick slideshow, there is a tab for Music. Whatever is selected here will be added to the slideshow when you export it.
4. Click 'Export', choose the filename and location, and then save it.
The resulting Quicktime file will be quite small, while still retaining the quality of your images. It uses a default crossdissolve transition that can't be changed. It keeps this quality when you drag the Quicktime file into iDVD and burn a disk/save a disk image.
Downsides...
- no ken burns
- can't use different transitions
- no other advanced slideshow options
But it gets the job done! If you're wondering why this works while other methods don't, it's all in the .Mov container that's created. If you open the file in Quicktime and got to Window > Show Movie Info, you will see that it lists each JPEG within the package, along with a transition component. It doesn't compress the images into a video file, but rather references the original images within the .Mov package! Cool huh?
Let me know if this works for you guys. I've offered this advice to many people with good results, which is why I'm posting it here.
smi1ey =)

Smiley,
What you suggest isn't really a SOLUTION to bad iDVD photo quality, because you aren't creating a DVD that can be played back with a DVD player.
You are simply suggesting an alternate approach for distributing slideshows which requires the receiver have a computer. iPhoto/iMovie give you several options on prepairing slideshows/movie for various methods of distribution (CD, email, etc).
Some DVD players will also play jpg files from a CD or DVD and that avoids the mpg-2 compression quality loss, but a TV set image is still a TV set image.
which gives you over 90 pictures for a 10 MB slideshow
A lot of email programs aren't happy with a file that size, and of course, since you have created a QuickTime movie, your PC friends will also need to install QuickTime. The Flip4Mac Studio application will let you convert your QuickTime movie to a WMV movie for those with PCs.
I'm glad you found an approach that you are happy with.
If you open the file in Quicktime and got to Window > Show Movie Info, you will see that it lists each JPEG within the package, along with a transition component. It doesn't compress the images into a video file, but rather references the original images within the .Mov package
BTW, there are several different CODECs that can be used in the .MOV file container - Photo JPEG is just one.
QuickTime Pro offers more saving options than the standard version, so I recommend you invest in QuickTime Pro. You will be able to create your slideshow directly in QuickTime Pro.
F Shippey

I burned my first iDVD andpicture quality is not good. Originals are excellent. My photos are shot in raw or jpeg, both are not sharp when I view my DVD. I viewed it on my 1080 dpi tv and my new apple computer.

I burned my first iDVD andpicture quality is not good. Originals are excellent. My photos are shot in raw or jpeg, both are not sharp when I view my DVD. I viewed it on my 1080 dpi tv and my new apple computer.

There are many ways to produce slide shows using iPhoto, iMovie or iDVD and some limit the number of photos you can use (iDVD has a 99 chapter (slide) limitation).
If what you want is what I want, namely to be able to use high resolution photos (even 300 dpi tiff files), to pan and zoom individual photos, use a variety of transitions, to add and edit music or commentary, place text exactly where you want it, and to end up with a DVD that looks good on both your Mac and a TV - in other words end up with and end result that does not look like an old fashioned slide show from a projector - you may be interested in how I do it. You don't have to do it my way, but the following may be food for thought!
Firstly you need proper software to assemble the photos, decide on the duration of each, the transitions you want to use, and how to pan and zoom individual photos where required, and add proper titles. For this I use Photo to Movie. You can read about what it can do on their website:
http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
(Other users here use the alternative FotoMagico: http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/homevspro/ which you may prefer - I have no experience with it.)
Neither of these are freeware, but are worth the investment if you are going to do a lot of slide shows. Read about them in detail, then decide which one you feel is best suited to your needs.
Once you have timed and arranged and manipulated the photos to your liking in Photo to Movie, it exports the file to iMovie as a DV stream. You can add music in Photo to Movie, but I prefer doing this in iMovie where it is easier to edit. You can now further edit the slide show in iMovie just as you would a movie, including adding other video clips, then send it to iDVD 7, or Toast, for burning.
You will be pleasantly surprised at how professional the results can be!
To simply create a slide show in iDVD 7 onwards from images in iPhoto or stored in other places on your hard disk or a connected server, look here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1089

How can i improve burning quality of dvd.looks fine in preview on idvd,but final burn quality is poor/

how can i improve burning quality of dvd.looks fine in preview on idvd,but final burn quality is poor.

Had same problem with iPhoto pictures and poor burn quality. Went back to original picture file and dragged images into idvd project from there. Set encoding at professional quality and burned at slowest speed. Got very good result with high quality slideshow when played on TV.
Also tried Old Toad's Aug 30, 2011 advice to get a slideshow into iDVD with transitions, music, etc. from iPhoto.
Again the quaility of the burned CD was very good.

Quality of DVD+R burning suddenly bad

I use Parallels to run DVD Shrink, DVD Fab and Nero 6. I noticed the last few movies, quality wise, are not too good. I'm not sure how to really describe it but the screen randomly displays like squares stretched out (pixels?) and the audio doesn't sound right. I opened a brand new spindle of Sony DVD+R and had the same issue. Also tried Kodak, same thing. Older movies on my external HD that I had burned a few weeks ago using the same media that turned out just fine are now looking bad. Not sure if this is a sign of a DVD drive going bad?

I use Parallels to run DVD Shrink, DVD Fab and Nero 6. I noticed the last few movies, quality wise, are not too good. I'm not sure how to really describe it but the screen randomly displays like squares stretched out (pixels?) and the audio doesn't sound right. I opened a brand new spindle of Sony DVD+R and had the same issue. Also tried Kodak, same thing. Older movies on my external HD that I had burned a few weeks ago using the same media that turned out just fine are now looking bad. Not sure if this is a sign of a DVD drive going bad?

I produced a film in iMovie and send it to iDVD to make a DVD with a theme. When everything was ready it starts at my mac-computer. But at the TV the theme always comes at the end of the film not at the beginning. What have I to change, what´s wrong?

I produced a film in imovie and send it to idvd to make a dvd with a theme. After finishing all the dvd starts in my mac-computer and first comes the theme and then the film.
But when I start it with a dvd-recorder at tv first the film comes an at the end of the film the theme comes. What did I wrong? Where is my mistake?

Hi
A. Do not Use - Share to iDVD - in any iMovie version at all !
B. Start a BRAND NEW iDVD project
C. in iMovie'08 to 11 - Share to Media Browser and as LARGE - NOT HD or other resolution as quality will be even worse
- in iMovie HD6 - just close it and from within iDVD import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it)
- FinalCut - Export as QuickTime Movie - NO QUICKTIME CONVERSION - AT ALL !
D. When in iDVD - see to that in the Lay-out menu (when it looks like a box-plott) there ARE NOTHING in the upper left most box (Auto Start box). As this overruns any Menu.
E. Save as a DiskImage - TEST this first - befor burning any DVDs
Yours Bengt W

Quality of dvd on a computer monitor

Is there any way to use idvd to author a dvd that will look good played on a computer monitor? All other projects I have done look pretty good on the TV but when I put my disk into computer to play with the dvd player it looks really bad.Can anyone explain why? The reason I ask is because I am videotaping a wedding for some friends, will be editing in FC express, then authoring dvd in idvd. This couple does not own a TV (they watch movies on a wide screen computer monitor) and want to watch the wedding video the same way. Any suggestions?
macpro Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2.66 ghz dual-core Intel, 2gb ram

You can use iDVD6 to create a DVD from FCE but eventually you will need to compress into mpeg 2. (unfortunately all compression involves some loss of quality).
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/6.0/en/22.html

IDVD picture quality is poor

Regardless of method chosen, (professional, best or whatever the third option ius) all DVD's I create, the pictures are blurred, cannot be ceaned up, and look bad.
Meanwhile, burning pictures to a CD, are fully pixeled, mainain the original resolution and look great on a monitor or TV screen.
Why must this be?
If I can take full resolution pics from iPhoto and burn them to a CD, or for tht matter, play them as a slide show, with music, they are knock dead gorgeous.
Why would iDVD degradation, be so evident?
Documentation to this issue is so confusing or off-point, I'm now as confused as I am puzzled,
Ken

iDVD encodes media to video standeard definition which is 640 x 480 pixels for NTSC. It's always going to be less that a full sized image viewed on a Mac's high res monitor. It's not iDVD but the accepted DVD video standards that dictate that size.
How are you adding the photos to iDVD? If you're creating the slideshow in iPHoto and then sharing to iDVD that converts the iPhoto slideshow into a moive file and imports that.
I've found that creating the slideshow entirely in iDVD, using only the transitions available in iDVD and the standard "classic" theme I get the best final image quality. The downside to that is there are no alternative themes to use nor the KB effect.
If you create the slideshow in iMovie use the Share ➙ Media Browser menu option istead of the Share ➙ iDVD option. This will give you a much better quality movie exported to iDVD.
Also follow this workflow to help get the best quality final iDVD disk possible:
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 and launch DVD Player and play it. If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding was 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.
OT

IDVD output quality

I'm trying to create a slide show with music using iDVD ver 7.1.2 running on Mac OS X ver 10.6.8 and the output quality is very poor. I'm using high quality jpg files some from Lightroom and others from Photoshop CS5. Both are highest quality when saving or exporting. I've tried all thee encoding settings in iDVD with no noticable difference. I've tried to drop the photos directly into iDVD and also tried to put them in iPhoto and export them to iDVD...nothing works for me. What am I doing wrong?

Hi
There are several layers to this
• DVD - is as Standard (whatever program used) - interlaced SD-Video - and can not be anything better than this.
• How material was created to iDVD matters
iMovie'08 to 11 - is not the tool of choise if quality is of importance - as they can not export interlaced video any way known to me - but does this by discarding every second line resulting in a sever quality loss
iMovie HD6 and FinalCut are so much better - as they can deliver 100% interlaced video over to iDVD
• How material is sent to iDVD matters
Share to iDVD - I NEVER USE as this makes iMovie any version to render (badly)
iMovie'08 to 11 - Share to Media Browser and as Large (NOT HD or other resoultion as this too degrades final quality) - forces iMovie to NOT RENDER and iDVD to do this (and so much better)
iMovie HD6 - just close it and import the movie icon into iDVD and iDVD renders.
Else my notes on DVD Quality
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 speed 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 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
Yours Bengt W

Poor image quality after DVD is burned.

Hi,
Project is fine in FCP and in iDVD before burn but when the burned dvd is played some of the images have lines or large pixels. The large pixels are very obvious in bright or white shots. Haven't had any other problems with the Mac for 4 years.
Any suggestions or solutions?
Thanks

Hi
a. Can it be so that Your movie is in PAL (25fps) and iDVD in NTSC (29.97fps)
No good way to do it - I use JES_Deinterlacer to convert
b. I do from FinalCut Pro 6
• Export out as a QuickTime .mov file
• Not selfcontained (not important but saves time and space)
• NO QUICKTIME CONVERSION - IMPORTANT !
This file I import into iDVD
Else read my list on DVD-Quality
1. iDVD 08 & 09 has three levels of qualities.
iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality (movies up to 120 min.) - BEST
• Best Performances (movies less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6) (movies up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
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 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) Disk Util tool.
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.
• 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.
• 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
Yours Bengt W

IDVD low quality slideshow

Hi There,
I start a new project slideshow of a wedding I shot with my Canon DSLR and decide to make a slideshow DVD with iDVD. I shoot my pictures in RAW and convert them to JPEG in Adobe PS the RAW image is 24MB each and when convert to JPEG they go to 7.9MB. The Issue is I make the presentation and it looks fabulous in my iMAC but when i view the final product in my dvd player the photo's looks out of focus like if the convertion decrease the quality a lot,also i burn the disc in professional quality and Best performance with the same results,i little lagy using Best performance. Anything else i should try? Any advice?
Mike

Hi
And here is my "un-sorted collection of thoughts about DVD-Quality" read if You can take it - It's long !
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 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

Quality Portable DVD Player

The iDVD slideshows I've made look great on my television, but when I play them on my portable DVD player they look really bad. The picture quality just isn't there on the portable screen.
Can anyone recomend a quality portable DVD player that works well with iDVD.
Photoscene

Hi P
Don't think it is Your portable.
How to test ? Try a commercial DVD movie.
Still bad - You got a bad player
Good - You observed the diffrernce of play-back a DVD on a CRT-TV resp LCD (flat) screen. Nothing easy to do but:
- Make Your movies less than 60 min and select - BEST PERFORMANCES -
- Best quality is for > 60 min and < 120 min movies and the quality is
not as good as above.
To get even better quality You might first:
- make a disk image and burn it with Apple Disk util tool at lower speed (x1 - 4)
- I have observed that the quality degrades if You have less than 20Gb free space
on the internal hard disk (where this work should be done)
or
Buy DVD Studio pro ($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$) Huh !!
Yours Bengt W

IDVD Finished Quality on DVD is as bad as 1st generation VHS

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