IDVD poor movie quality

I know there are a few other discussions with the same sor of problem but hopefully someone can help with mine.
Basically, I completed a 15 minute movie on imovie. Quality is brilliant on preview. I export to imovie, once again the quality on preview is perfect. I then burn and the quality is unwatchable.
These are the steps i have taken:
- I have shot the film on a Cannon DC10. This does not have firewall connection so I used 'handbreak' (100% quality setting) to change to MP4.
- Edited on imovie
- Sent to iDVD
- Burnt. Quality rubbish on both "high quality" and "high performance"
- I exported straght to Quicktime and the quality was much better although not as good as the imovie preview.
Please help

DVDs are low res compared to your computer screen. An NTSC video screen is LESS THASN 640x480 pixels (less than 0.3 megapixels). Exporting as mpg-4 is the WRONG thing to use - try full quality DV.
For a short movie like yours, 'Best Performance' will give you the best quality.
The basic problem is you are starting out with highly compressed mpg-2 content from your camera- decompressing/recompressing and then finally mpg-2 compressing again with iDVD. Each of those steps leads to reduced quality.
Video cameras that save their content as MPG-2 on a DVD ARE NOT REALLY DESIGNED TO WORK WELL WITH THE iLIFE APPLICATIONS. Sorry.
F Shippey

Similar Messages

Idvd / imovie movie quality is very poor on my hd tv

I have a sony cx700 hd camera, which will shoot in 1080p, but in order to import into imovie 11 I had to change it to 720p on the camera. I just finished my movie, added transitions, music and stills, burned it with idvd and the quality when played on my hd tv is terrible. Is there any way to import 1080p into imovie 11, would that solve my problem of poor quality on my tv? I am doing my video editing on a mac book pro that was upgraded to lion.
Thanks,
Tricia

Hi
Yes there are several layers to this question.
• HD TV and Your Mac Screen has very high resolution
• iDVD (and other DVD Authoring programs) can only do DVD Standard -
and it is interlaced SD-Video in PAL (25fps) or NTSC (29.97fps)
• Using a Video editor that can not deliver this but just 50% (every second line in the picture) will not help at all
and they are iMovie'08 or 09 or 11. I use iMovie HD6 or FinalCut as they deliver 100%
• Using "Share to iDVD" in any version of iMovie has a BAD effect on my movies so I do instead
a. iMovie'08 to 11 - Share to Media Browser - and as LARGE - not HD or other resolutions as this too makes result suffer. In iDVD I import these movies from Media button/Movies down to the right.
b. Movie HD6 - Just close it and drop the Movie icon into iDVD
Now iMovie can not render - and iDVD does this so much better.
In iDVD - Save as a DiskImage and test this first to see if result got any better.
If You need HD - then Roxio Toast™ including BD-component can be a way but You need a Blu-Ray Player to be able to view.
+ BD on standard DVDs (max 20-30 minutes) - Still un-playable on standard DVD-players
+ Blu-Ray Disk and BD-Burner (also extra cost)
I play back my BD-DVDs on a PlayStation 3 - They look as good as it can be.
Yours Bengt W

Import iMovie '08 into iDVD '08 Movie Quality

In iLife '06 there were ways to import movies into iDVD to get a good quality movie. Like instead of using the export menu in iMovie I would just open iDVD and click and drag the .mov file straight into iDVD and the quality was great. I guess there was a bug in the exporting method. Now to get a good quality movie on a single layer dvd coming from iMovie '08 are there things I need to know?
PS. I would prefer HighDef with my Sony HDR-SR12. Yeah Yeah I know I need Blu-Ray but until that that comes only what is the best I can get?
Carlos

Use: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html

IPhoto slideshow to iDVD gives poor movie quality

Hello,
I would like to take an iPhoto 08 slideshow and turn it into a DVD disc.
iPhoto's feature: "Share > Send to iDVD" is really great, except that it converts my slideshow to a compressed QuickTime .mov file.
I really, really do not like what the QuickTime compression is doing to my image quality.
I seem to recall that iPhoto was once able to export as an uncompressed .DV file. But I can no longer find that feature or workaround.
Does anyone know of a way to turn an iPhoto slideshow into a .DV file? Or, at least some kind of video file that iDVD will recognize and which does not use compression (like AVI or something?).
Thanks in advance!

Another 3rd party slideshow application with many export options is PhotoPresenter. It has Full Quality option for exporting which is 768 x 576. It also has over 25 animated themes. This demo page has examples of some of them.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There's now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

Poor dvd quality in idvd 09 avchd

My cam is Sony sr12e which is avchd format, when I edit in iMovie 09, it is fine, and I export it using AIC code with as quicktime mov(since many suggested here that it is better than directly share the mov to idvd). Then drag it to idvd but the quality is still poor.The resulting movie looks like water is pouring down walls and people in still shots mouths move as if they were taking. Lots of movement in horizontal lines. Anyway to solve the problem, I can't believe all mac users are experiencing this terrible bug made by Apple.

I can't believe all mac users are experiencing this terrible bug made by Apple.
It's no bug.
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.
I did a compare one day using the same clip burned to DVD from iMovie 06 and from iMovie '09.
The iMovie 06 clip looked like it came from the camera directly and the iMovie 09 clip looked worse. The difference is the single field processing used by iMovie 09 and the fact that it throws out every other horizontal line.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 09 is a "lossless" combination and my DVD's look perfect!

After creating a new slideshow I export it with the setting HD 1080p it is then saved as a .mov i then create a dvd in idvd and the quality is not as good as the original photo's when viewed on the monitor or a TV, am i doing something wrong?

After creating a new slideshow I export it with the setting HD 1080p it is then saved as a .mov i then create a dvd in idvd and the quality is not as good as the original photo's when viewed on the monitor or a TV, am i doing something wrong?

DVD's are only 640 x 480 (interlaced), so yes, the quality is not nearly as good. You should probably create your .mov in DV format to best match the DVD format

Schoolboy error - poor DVD quality from movie created under iSight

I have mistakenly created a movie using 'iSight' settings when first opening the project
Having now spend 10's of hours editing this piece of work, and burnt to DVD via iDVD, the resulting quality on DVD is horrible - lots of video separation.....which makes a mockery of having bought a High definition camera in the first pleace.
Can anyone offer any advice on how to switch the 'iSight' settings or how to improve the burn quality? I think my only other option is to start all over..!

welcome jldathome to the  boards ...
sad news: GIGO ... which means as an internet phrase +garbage in, garbage out.+
no way to re-improve your project; iM had lowered the quality of all imports to your advice, using the very low iSight settings..
.. I think my only other option is to start all over..!
yepp.

FCE finished project on iDVD photo & video quality now poor

Using FCE 2.0.3 iDVD 5.0.1 have done many movies/slide shows with great results. Newest movie, noticeably reduced quality of finished project, pixelated appearance, although I am using same cameras on the same settings! Recently clean install to v 10.0.8
Used mcjanitor, disk utility regularly and have no performance issues currently. Am puzzled why the quality issues?
well over half hard drive available. 812 mb ram inactive.
PowerMac g5 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 1.5 gb ram 160 GB hard drive

The only thing absolutely different is that I've done a clean install of Tiger after experiencing a Tiger/Quicktime clash. Reinstalled FCE, Photoshop 2.0, iDVD and Comic Life. Those are basically the only programs I run on this machine.
I haven't changed the photo process, they are high quality jpeg edited in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 then imported to FCE, as I've done before. Photo is 2.0 mb 1704 X 2272 shot on 4mp canon digital camera
iDVD setting best quality. But I've made a disc with both settings.
Tried 2 different types of discs Memorex and Verbatim which my other--good quality videos have been made from the same stack of discs.
Quick time version 7.1.3. I didn't know you need to set the preferences in there for a movie exported from FCE and burned to iDVD. I'll try that and burn another one.
2272
PowerMac g5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

IDVD and poor image quality on TV

I imported old VHS/VHS-C tapes into iMovie via Elgato Video Capture, using standard 4:3. I then edited my project iMovie and "shared" it to iDVD. However, on TV, image quality is horrid. What am I doing wrong?

As Old Toad writes BUT
• Share to Media Browser - AND as Large - not HD or the other resolutions as quality will degrade.
• burn on high quality media - I only use Verbatim DVD-R (as they play on more DVD-players)
• Set down burn speed to x4 = Less burn errors
• Encoding quality matters - I use Pro Quality most
else read my long long list on this.
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 audsio 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 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 Picture Quality in iMovie Which USB Camcorder Will Work and Which Won'

Dear Colleagues,
I continue to read accounts by readers regarding iMovie 98 havinga poor image quality when sharing to iDVD. It has been suggested that users with non-High Definition camcorders, standard DV8 camcorders such as my Sony DCR-TRV315, are stretching the Movie to far when using the Large and Medium setting for sharing ing to iDVD and other media.
If this is the case, what pixel size should I use when sharing to iDVD. I had understood that 720X480 was the standard format for non-High Definition Digital 8 Camcorders. So what correct pixel ratio should I use for DVD playback on a wide-screen HDTV with non-HD recordings.
I am planning to purchase a Sony USB camcorder and I continue to hear reports that they and other brands of USB camcorders won't work with iMovie 08. Is this simply a new user not fully understanding how his new camcorder works?
If this is not the case, how can one determine which USB camcorders are compatible with iMovie 08?
Please get back to me soon.
Best regards,
Robert O. Cobb
aka The Clemmons Kid

A great deal has been said about im08 degrading interlaced video, to qualify the matter im08 resorts to progressive video depending on the capabilities of your mac, I for example can achieve full quality 1080i exports.
Additionally the matter has to be put into perspective. Of course a source video looks clearer on a mac if it is displayed in it's original interlaced format on a frame by frame basis, but this isn't how one would watch video. interlaced video looks dreadful on a computer monitor and needs to be de-interlaced to be watched, additionally you would never watch a video frame by frame and so comparing video in this way is somewhat pointless. There is a quality difference on some macs but if the video is compared in a realistic way the difference is quite small and often unnoticeable.
720 x 480 as you likely realise uses non square pixels which will be converted to square pixels for your AVC exports in im08, to maintain the aspect ratio of the pixels you should export to DV.
There are a list of supported cameras here, but of course there are many that are not in this list that do work. If you select a camera, post to see if anyone has had any compatibility issues, but as you seem to be aware a number of apparent issues are as a result of user errors rather than incompatibility.

Poor Image Quality on Finished Project

I've seen similar questions before, but no responses. I put together a movie using still pictures, titles, and audio from iTunes using iMovie. I then export it to a .m4v format and import it into iDVD (the newest version). It looks perfect when I view it on my computer, but when I burn it (which works as it should), I get very poor image quality watching it on my TV. The images have red shadows that stretch and cover the faces. Some of the pictures are just more red than they should be, but others are just terrible. Even using the highest quality encoding, the problem persists. PLEASE HELP. Thank you.

Hi
a. make a DiskImage first and test this with Apple DVD-player.
(File menu and down "Make a DiskImage")
b. I only use streamingDV - no .m4v or like (may be it works - I don't know)
else
*Not knowing the origin to Your problem - General approach when in trouble is as follows.*
• Free space on internal (start-up) hard disk if it is less than 10Gb should rather have 25Gb
• Hard disk is untidy. Repair Permissions, Repair Hard disk (Apple Disc Util tool)
• Delete iDVD pref file - *or rather start a new user/account* - log into this and re-try
iDVD pref file resides. Mac Hard Disk (start-up HD)/Users/"Your account"/Library/Preferences and is named.
com.apple.iDVD.plist
While iDVD is NOT RUNNING - move this file out to desk-top.
Now restart iDVD.
• Program miss-match. iDVD 5.0.2, Mac OS X.4.11 AND QuickTime 7.5.5 - is OK - DON’T work under Leopard
• Program miss-match. iDVD 6.0.4, Mac OS X.4.11 AND QuickTime 7.5.5 - is OK (might work under Leopard)
• Program miss-match. iDVD’08 v. 7.0.1, Mac OS X.4.11 AND QuickTime 7.5.5 - is OK (might work under Leopard)
• iDVD (08) v7 Locate theme folder. Move out iDVD1, iDVD 2 and eventually iDVD4 folders to desktop - re-try
• Try a Cleaning CD/DVD that cleans the laser lens on the DVD burner/player
iDVD 6.0.4 and iDVD 7.0.1 are compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
Last resort. from Craig. Solved the problem!! Finally!!
I deleted every iDVD application and folder from my boot drive,
emptied the trash and then installed iDVD 08 using the customize option
and I am up and running.
If You do a re-install be sure to get rid of all iDVD old parts AND then EMPTY the Trash-basket !
Yours Bengt W

Poor Video quality when importing from SONY DCR-SR100

I am brand new to Mac and iMovie and FCE. One of the reasons I switched to Mac was frustration over poor video output from Windows based video editing programs. When importing video from the SR100 into iMovie and then iDVD, the DVD quality is noticeably poorer than when the camera is connected directly to the Plasma TV. I have been reading these forums and loaded MPEG Streamclip and purchased the Quicktime MPEG2 Download, but I still can't get the video output to look as good as the camera. I obviously have some learning to do, but is there any hope of achieving equal quality output from a DVD as straight from the camera? Is there a good source of information/textbook on this topic? The biggest improvement comes from using the "de-interlace" option in MPEG Streamclip, but the overall quality of the video appears washed out and somewhat blotchy compared to the direct camera footage.

Welcome to the macworld! What imovie does incredibly well is make it easy to create fun and interesting movies. I have used both for several years and only recently with some packages such as adobe premiere elements has the windows world kept up with the mac with respect to ease of use! And even know the packages are still not as easy as imovie. Anyway, with respect to your post and getting the video quality to the best possible output quality using DV material, you are on the right path. The best workflow is to use streamclip and de-interlace prior to editing in imovie. I am not sure if you are doing that yet with your workflow. Yes, its an extra step, but it is well worth it to avoid imovie dropping a field upon export. You can play around with the adjustments to increase contrast, color and et al on the adjustment button. Another option is shooting progressive.
To set expectations, it is second generation footage the minute its imported. However, you should be still getting very good results. FCE gets footage closer to the original footage since it is a true DV editor and uses both fields, but imovie is still preferred by me because of how easy it is to skim, tag and find the material you want then easily do transitions and ken burns for photo's. Fantastic. The way i look at it....watching footage straight from the camera is the worst quality you can get -- It's like listening to your spouse talk and talk and talk and never get to the point until you forget what that point was....editing gets the footage straight to the point....thats quality!
Sheryl
Message was edited by: Sheryl Kingstone

Very poor video quality after transcoding in Adobe Encore CS5.1

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I have very poor video quality after transcoding the video file (MPEG) in Adobe Encore CS5.1. Below you see my used settings in my filmproject.
The problem exists after transcoding in Adobe Encore CS5.1. I checked all steps and found out that there is no problem until transcoding. My exported file in MPEG has very good video and audio quality.
Facts:
1. Camcorder: Panasonic AG-AC160AEJ
Operating System : Windows 7, 64 Bit, Ultimate edition
Source files: MTS files
Recording settings (clip settings):
Type: MPEG Movie
Image Size: 1920 x 1080
Frame Rate: 25,00
Source Audio Format: 48000 Hz - compressed - Stereo
Project Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 32 bit floating point - Stereo
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1,0
2. Sequence settings in Premiere Pro
Sequence was created from Clip directly with settings above.
3. Exporting settings in Adobe Premiere Pro:
Match sequence settings was activated. Now other changes were set.
4. Exported File:
Video
Image Size: 1920 x 1080
Data Transfer Rate: 25920 kBit / s
Frame rate: 25
Audio:
Bit rate: 384 kBit / s
Channels: 2 (stereo)
Frequence: 48 kHz
5. Transcoding settings in Adobe Encore:
I used different transcoding settings such as automatic DVD Transcoding, CBR and VBR.I also set “use maximum render quality”. But all results were always the same: very poor quality.
Why does the encore transcoding cause such bad video quality?
How can I solve this problem?
Please help me soon.
Best regards.

Hi Ann,
1) I did not only „Automatic (based on source)“ options in my tests, but also many other customized options.
The results are very poor. I have done a new test with the following settings. The result is also poor:
Download link: http://www.klavierlehrer-bayern.de/download/test_mpeg2dvd_1.m2v
Export Settings:
Format: MPEG2-DVD
Preset: Custom
Codec: MainConcept MPEG Video, Quality: 5
Frame Rate: 25 fps
Field Order: Upper
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Automatic (based on source)
Render at Maximum Rate: [active]
Bitrate Encoding: VBR, 2 pass
Minimum Bitrate (Mbps): 5
Target Bitrate (Mbps): 9
Maximum Bitrate (Mbps): 9
GOP Settings
M Frames: 4
N Frames: 12
Use Maximum Render Quality: [active]
Multiplexer: None
2) Why shouldn’t I use the “Match Sequence Settings” in exporting? Because of the big output file size?
I used it and the results are very good as I expected:
Download link: http://www.klavierlehrer-bayern.de/download/test_MatchSequenceSettings.mpeg
Export Settings
Match Sequence Settings [selected]
1920 x 1080, 25 fps, Upper, Quality 50
User Maximum Render Quality: [active]
3) I tried also Dynamic Link in PremierePro (to Encore).
The results are also poor.
4) I will test also LagarithLoslessCodec and frameserving +DGMPGDec. But the video is vertical long drawn-ot.
I think I did not use it correctly.
Regards

IDVD making movie files low res

I made a slide show in iMovie, exported it as an HD file with no issues. I brought the file into iDVD to burn and now the file is showing up very low resolution. I've used this method many times before and this is the first time I've ran into problems. The original images are 9x14 w 300DPI. So I think it's a setting in iDVD. The movie file looks fine when I play it in iTunes or Quick Time. GRRRR

Hi
The original images are 9x14 w 300DPI. So I think it's a setting in iDVD.
NO
DVD is as Standard SD-Video - Any encoding program used. iDVD, DVD-Studio Pro or Roxio Toast™
BUT
The resulting DVD can be better or worse.
Using
• iMovie'08 or 09 or 11 - Sends over every second line to iDVD - result is loss in quality
(I use iMovie HD6 or FinalCut - as they deliver 100%)
• Share to iDVD - I NEVER use this as it degrades movies especially if photos are used and NO Ken-Burns Effect.
I Share to Media Browser and as LARGE - NOT HD or other resolution - in iDVD I import from Media
(If I have to use iM'08 to 11 - else I Close iMovie and import movie project directly from within iDVD)
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)
iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality (movies + menus up to 120 min.) - BEST
• Best Performances (movies + menus less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6) (movies + menus up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
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. 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’s Disk Utilities application.
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 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-layer.
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 eg 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

HF R52-POOR VIDEO QUALITY IN LOW LIGHT

HELLO,I'VE BEEN USING THE HF R52 FOR SEVERAL MONTHS NOW AND FOR THE MOST PART AM VERY HAPPY WITH IT..THE ONE ISSUE I'M HAVING IS WITH THE POOR VIDEO QUALITY IN LOW LIGHT CONDITIONS[NIGHT TIME OR INDOORS].THE RESULTS ARE "GRAINY" OR "FUZZY"..I'VE TRIED DIFFERENT SETTINGS WITH NO LUCK..WHEN I USE THE "LOW LIGHT"SETTING IT ACTUALLY SLOWS DOWN THE MOVIE LIKE ITS IN SLOW MOTION?? OUTSIDE IN THE SUNLIGHT IT LOOKS GREAT! DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS?? THANKS,ROB

The videos on WCSN are Windows Media Video's...320x240...not very good in quaintly to start with. If you make these video larger on the screen they are going to degrade...sorry

IDVD poor movie quality

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