IDVD picture quality

Just wondering I just made a dvd from tape on my camcorder which is min dv. The picture quality of the dvd is not as good as when you play the tape onto the TV using the camera. In other word the dvd picture quality is not as good as the mini dv is this normal even when the encoding quality is set to prof. Thanks Rob

.....is this normal even when the encoding quality is set to prof.
The DVD is highly compressed data. so yes the the .dv (or minidv tape) will always look somewhat better than the compressed version.
Hope this helps and good luck.

Similar Messages

  • 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 picture quality poor

    When I burned a movie of photographs in iMovie06 to play on both computers and TV my movie looked lovely. Now in iMovie09 it looks bad. What am I doing wrong?
    Once I burn the movie onto a DVD the picture flickers. I am frustrated by poor quality movies that I no longer want to share with friends and family. I love the new map features and enjoy using the Ken Burns effect but I am not proud of my finished projects anymore. Does anyone have a suggestion about this problem?
    I will appreciate your help.

    kathydenise wrote:
    When I burned a movie of photographs in iMovie06 to play on both computers and TV my movie looked lovely. Now in iMovie09 it looks bad. What am I doing wrong?
    Once I burn the movie onto a DVD the picture flickers. I am frustrated by poor quality movies that I no longer want to share with friends and family. I love the new map features and enjoy using the Ken Burns effect but I am not proud of my finished projects anymore. Does anyone have a suggestion about this problem?
    I will appreciate your help.
    Kathy,
    I assume you're talking about SD video? If so, download the free application MPEG Streamclip. Load your source video file there first, and do and "Export to Quicktime", which will create a Deinterlaced source file for iMovie 09 to work with that has the original quality from the source. iMovie 09 does throw away data on import. It is something I have reported to Apple and provided them with all the information to show what's happening. Until and unless they come up with a fix, you have to use either an older version of iMovie, or provide a different source to iMovie '09. The extra step through MPEG Streamclip is pretty painless and I can provide you with the parameters I use when setting up SD footage to be edited in iMovie '09.
    Jay S.
    There's also an excellent PDF file available called "The Ins and Outs of iMovie '09" which does an excellent job of explaining how to get the best out of iMovie '09. It also talks to the issue of iMovie '09 throwing away every other line of data.

  • I am attempting to convert 8mm video cassettes to dvd using a video cassette player, elgato video capture with rca/usb connections to the mac, editing in imovie and burning on idvd. The picture quality is awful. What can I do?????

    I am attempting to convert 8mm video cassettes to dvd using a video cassette player, elgato video capture with rca/usb connections to the mac then editing in imovie and burning dvd-r using idvd. The picture quality is awful. What can I do??????

    At what point is the video quality bad?  Is it bad on capture?  I would recommend using an s-video 1394 firewire converter instead.  They capture the video at a higher bit rate.  If you have a lot of 8mm tapes to capture, invest in a stand alone DVD recorder.  They capture and compress in one shot.  If you need to rip it back from the DVD into iMovie again, I would recommend using DVDxDV.

  • How to get good picture quality on a burned DVD slideshow using IDVD?

    After producing a slideshow on IDVD from either jpg or psd photos, it looked great when I played the project. Picture quality was excellent. When I burned a DVD to share the slideshow with a friend and when I played this on the same computer, it had lost resolution and looks awful. I am using best quality but this made no difference. On a hdtv using a standard player, the quality is mediocre. Is there any way to get a decent picture quality. I have also burned a DVD and CD from the IPhoto album, and the quality is better. IPhoto will not burn a slideshow or at least I do not know how to. Can you produce decent quality DVD using IDVD or is there a better application to produce decent DVD of photo slideshows?

    ....or is there a better application to produce decent DVD of photo slideshows?
    Yes. It's called DVDSP (apple's top of the line DVD Authoring application). It has a much longer learning curve than iDvd and is more $$$ but it does work well. The Help Menu alone is over 640 pages long. However, is this app significantly better than iDvd solely in terms of visual quality?.... No.
    But it does offer many more tools to address visual artifacts on the finished DVD, more audio control, much better control of durations per slide, audio, buttons that work as expected, among other things. (for additional examples of this see chapter 12 of the DVDSP Help Menu / starting on p. 373).
    Short of DVDSP, and much less money, you can also try these 2 third party apps which come highly recommended on this iDvd Forum:
    http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
    http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/overview/
    At the moment most macs do not yet support burning to Blueray (which does offer much better results). Once this technology is more commonplace, then I believe we will see a significant improvement in what you are trying to do above.
    Hope this is helpful but if not just come on back.
    Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software products that may be mentioned in this topic. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information above at your own discretion.

  • How to get best picture quality using iDVD to burn a movie from iMovie?

    I would appreciate any guidance on options to choose and approaches such that I get the best picture quality when I view an iMovie product on a wide screen HD TV using a DVD burned with iDVD. Choose wide screen or standard format in iMovie? Best Performance or Prof. Quality in iDVD? ...

    Good Morning,
    My computer is using Snow Leopard 10.6.5 and has ilife 09 installed on an imac. I have been reading it is better to use imovie 06. When I tried to do a custom install from the 06 disk imovie and idvd were grayed out but had a checkmark. It would not let me deselect idvd. Not really knowing how to do this I quite the process. Can you or someone please advise me on how and what exactly to do in order to accomplish a custom install of imovie 06? Should I delete imovie 09 first? If so how is this accomplished. Perhaps it would be less complicated to purchase photo to movie? Really do not want to spend unless it is necessary since I only know a little about what I'm doing but enough to be dangerous to my computer
    Thanks,
    reverseimage

  • Computer vs. TV picture quality for iDVD

    I'm making about a 10 min sequence using nothing but still images (jpegs mostly) and edited text using FCX to make a slideshow displaying my artwork. My question(s) are when I burn the dvd how does a computer display the movie? when I display my movie while working on my tv the images are cropped about 10% all the way around while on the computer its being displayed the way I want it to be. Also on the tv the images are good quality but on the computer they are not. When all the data from the movie goes on the dvd will it look good as far as picture quality AND NOT be cropped? the cropping on the tv pretty much ruins most of the images since they are perfect on my computer. Thanks

    "I suppose I'm slightly screwed if anyone wants to view it on a tv... "
    More or less.
    "If I want people to view it on a computer since thats whats typically going to happen (color is better, etc) is it going to be cut off or will it look like it does in the canvas? and it will be good quality right?... like looking at the photos through photoshop or something but simply fitting the screen at max. ?"
    FCE is a video editor designed to output to interlaced TV/Monitors as opposed to non-interlaced computer displays.
    There are big differences in how they work and display images.
    In short, if a computer has a decent DVD player (hardware and software) you should pretty much see what you had in the Canvas.

  • Significant loss of picture quality in iMovie, what are my other options???

    Hello All,
    I am new to the Mac world moving over from windows.
    Hooking up my dv camcorder (non high-def) to my TV gives a pretty good picture.
    If I use iMovie to import from my camcorder and then iDvd to burn a dvd and play the DVD the picture quality is significantly reduced (looks worse than VHS!).
    I am reading that this is uncorrectable through any settings available in iMovie or iDVD. This to me is unfathomable!
    Being a newbie in the Mac world I don't know what my other options are.
    I read about iMovie HD and Final Cut Express but don't know how they position and can I achieve better picture quality preservation.
    I want my camcorder picture quality better preserved. I’ve certainly gotten much better results on windows with various packages (but have little experience).
    I came into the Mac world believing that this sort of thing is what Mac was great for so a bit surprised.
    How do you folks get around such a significant picture quality loss???
    My home movies through iMovie and iDVD look embarassing for circa 2009!

    I convert my imported dv files to AIC at 1080p before editing.
    There is a small quality drop using this approach, I find it acceptable but some others don't.
    I have added an original dv movie clip, two exports in different formats of the same clip as prepared in imovie 09 and another of the same clip exported to back to dv as prepared in imovie 6, to a disc image of a DVD created in iDVD.
    I don't feel the differences represent the differences some here are reporting they see themselves, see what you think
    Source Comparisons (580 MB)

  • 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

  • Picture quality deteriorates

    I just made three short films on iMovie, which I imported into iDVD and burned to a single DVD. But when I play the DVD, the picture quality is fine for the first few minutes, then deteriorates, the picture becoming pixellated and the text being hard to read (two of these three 'films' are in fact a series of still images with subtitles and music in the background, ie slideshows).
    The two slideshows both deteriorate in the same way, but the third film (actual moving pictures) doesn't, although it is shorter at just 3 mins long, the slideshows being 5mins long.
    I have to show this film at a big ceremony tomorrow so am getting near panic and would appreciate any help! Thanks.
    I recorded the Project on PAL 4:3 Best Quality.

    PS I should add that the picture quality is fine when played in iMovie

  • Do You know of a camcorder that has good picture quality in imovie 09???

    I have just purchased an imac OS X (10.5.6) with a 24 inch screen with imovie 09. I bought a Panasonic SDR-H80 HDD camcorder, downloaded video to imac 09 and the picture quality was VERY BAD!!!!!!!!! Does anyone own and use a camcorder on this system and get good picture quality????????? Which camcorder are you using???? Thank you

    My suspicion is that you have mimatched settings between the camera and iMovie. The answer lies in the 215 post "DV Video Quality" discusssion. The iMovie settings must match the camera settings ie. aspect ratio, frame rate, ect. for the end product that you desire from iMovie/iDVD. With all the setting set correctly almost any end result can be achieved with good quality. A good tutorial for iMovie 09 features in general is http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/imovie_09stone.html.
    Good Luck
    Kent

  • Yank in Europe Seeks Picture Quality

    Put me in the ignorant but willing to learn category, i.e., not very sophisticated yet but not afraid of techie details when needed.
    I just finished my first iMovie project and put together a DVD with iDVD (iLife '06 versions). I was generally happy with the process and results except for the quality of the picture when the DVD was played on our largish (32") plasma TV. Lots of jaggies on photos in slideshows, and the menus that looked so great in iDVD were almost illegible on the TV screen (plus which the highlighting often didn't work, so you couldn't tell what you were going to get when you pressed the OK button).
    I'm looking for help on two topics: 1. how to maximize picture quality in general on an iDVD project; and 2. whether it makes a difference that I live in Europe but have an audience (i.e., grandparents of my cute kids) that lives in the U.S.
    1. Picture quality in general. From what I've read on this forum, I gather that the following things are helpful: keeping the video in the same format from the beginning of the project until the end; using non-rewritable DVDs; and using Ken Burns rather than having static photos. Any further tips would be helpful. In particular, is there an advantage in using iDVD to create the menus, etc., but then using a third-party program like Toast to do the actual burning since you get more control over compression settings and the like? Whatever program is used, what settings tend to work best if picture quality is the only consideration? And are there settings on TVs or DVD players that can also be changed to be more compatible with disks produced by iDVD?
    2. The continental divide. So here I am in Europe, where they not only use PAL but are about to go to an HD standard that is different from the US standard (not that I need to worry about that yet, since I don't have an HD camcorder). My TV accepts both PAL and NTSC input, so I've been working in NTSC (4:3, since my parents don't have a widescreen TV). But are there options or settings that I should be using to get the best results for the folks back home? Should I tell my parents something like: "You need a DVD player that the_ type of disk, and you should set it on a __ frame rate and _ resolution?" (I don't know if this is even a meaningful question, but you get the point: what can my "audience" do to get better results, assuming I do the right thing on my end).
    Thanks in advance for any advice.
    PowerBook 15"   Mac OS X (10.4.4)   1.67 GHz G4, 1GB RAM

    I never use iMovie for still images, so I'm not much help.
    1.)
    You might look around here:
    http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/index.shtml
    And here:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93002
    http://www.keywebx.com/tutorials/200509_080001/
    http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovie4_bugs.html#jaggystills
    2.) Stick with NTSC and you should be fine. They should have a recent DVD player; hopefully not Toshiba.

  • I burned a slideshow with iDVD, professional quality selected, 16:9 aspect ratio selected.  The quality of the finished product is much below that seen on my computer.  I have watched slideshows made by other imac users which look great.

    I have burned a slideshow from an iphoto album through iDVD, with "pro quality and 16:9 aspect ratio" selected on a double layer dvd.  When viewed, the picture quality is much inferior to that of the photos on my computer.  I have viewed slideshows made others with mac software and the pictures are much better.  My tv is HD 1080 wide screen and disc player is new.  What am I missing?

    That's more an iDVD problem and you should ask your question there: iDVD.
    The resident expert there, Bengt Wärleby, will be able to give you suggestions on how to proceed.  He's very, very good.
    OT

  • I've got a MacBook pro 15' running 10.6.6. I want to use an external monitor for my graphic design work running Adobe software and thought I'd try an HD TV. I ran a Mini Display to HDMI lead to the TV but the picture quality was disappointing.

    I've got a MacBook Pro 15' running 10.6.6. I want to use an external monitor for my graphic design work using Adobe software and thought I'd try an HD TV. I ran a Mini Display to HDMI lead to the TV but the picture quality was disappointing. I also tried a Mini Display to VGA lead and that wasn't much better. I tried all variations of resolutions in System prefs - Displays but nothing helped. Am I getting something wrong? Thanks all.

    In addition to pixel density, you are up against the translation driver card in the TV.
    If you read the fine print of computer-resolution-capability in the TV user guide, you will see a chart as tall as the manual page.  At the top is the smallest resolution capable, at the bottom is the full use of the 1080p in the TV.
    Mac falls into the top 25% of the page, maxing out at 1366x768 often.  This is because the TV control card is expected to do too much of the work, but is not designed for computer-monitor processing.
    I looked at the resolution charts on 2 TVs before deciding to buy a 1080p LCD monitor that has a TV interface/connector.  Computer monitor first, TV second.  But the thing is only 27 in.  Good thing TV is not as important to me as it is to others.

  • What kind of picture quality can I expect from a Mini DVI adapter to Scart?

    I currently have my iMac connected to my tv via the Apple Mini DVI adapter and a composite video cable. There are two problems with this, one is the poor picture quality in general, the other is that the tv screen is not filled by the image from the iMac, i.e. there are black spaces on the left and the right of the screen.
    So my question is, if I used S-Video to Scart, would it kill the problem with the black borders when viewing Front Row etc..? Also, would there be a significant increase in general picture quality?

    Yes, if you can get an s-video cable and plug that into the SCART adapter, that would be better than plugging in composite video.
    Clearly, having an SCART connection is not going to "improve" the video going in, you're going to be limited by the lowest quality connection. An s-video connection will provide a higher (but probably not a lot) quality signal than composite video.
    -Doug

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