IDVD Quality and Buttons Question

Dear Fourm Users:
1. How can I create the best quality slide show? It seems all attempts result in low quality images.
2. Is there a limit to the number of buttons/slide shows I can create on the main page?
Thanks in advance,
Craig

Len,
Thanks for the response. I would like to add more information.
1. I'm using static images for a slide show with music. Nothing fancy. I just want them to be the best visual quality possible. It seems iDVD causes the to become very poor quality. After reading throught this forum it looks like the best method is to make them 720x540 and save as JPG-max. Does that sound correct?
2. I need to have 12 buttons (although more would be better). I do not want to use any of the built-in themes. I just want to use a static background image. I'm getting a warning that I have too many buttons the additonal ones are temporary. Is there a around this or a way to not use any of the built-in themes?
Thanks in advance,
Craig

Similar Messages

IMovie HD (6.0.3) - Export Quality and Editing Question

Hi guys, i wanted to ask two questions. The first is that i wanted to export videos to upload onto YouTube and the best format for this seems to be the CD-ROM format that is available on the version i have, the only thing is my videos still appear low quality and pixellated even though i am editing good quality videos......i was wondering if i was doing anything wrong/or can do something better?
Also, when i am editing, can i place logos or maybe pictures onto the video e.g. with TV channels they have a logo at the corner of the screen. I also wanted to black out text on screen but i don't seem to be able to do that.
Thanks a lot.

QuickTime has never supported anything more than "playback" of MPEG-1 formats and conversions to QuickTime formats will never include audio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-1 a "format" created a long time ago.
iMovie 7 can import and convert most MPEG-2 formats (DVD and HD media) and include audio. It also uses QuickTime for the work.
MPEG Streamclip does allow "batch" conversions. Do them while you sleep.

Idvd "master run" button question

hi
I'm just starting to use idvd.7.11- I imported 5 short movies - actually slide shows rendered from iphoto. they look great, I get a kick out of the corny idvd themes, but I can't seem to get all the slide shows to run from a single "master" button. Each slide show got it's own button in the drop zone. How do I get them all to run continuously without having to go back to the main menu to click on the next movie's button?
Thanks for reading this-
TD

Hi again
Sorry for the layover but- I finally got the procedure right- iphoto slide show to imovie -to project (where all my smaller slide show movies were joined)then exported to movie folder, then to Idvd where I could now show the whole thing or the little slide show movies after I grouped the whole mess into one folder and then let idvd show them to me in the media bin.
It's funny, there were some glitches- like when I used an underline text button in idvd, the whole thing hung up on the burn, and I also found that hitting command z caused the program to quit. oddly enough. Also, sending the show direct to idvd was a washout for some reason.(movie to big?) The first time through the burn, it took like 2 hours to render, I guess, but after that, when I made the smaller corrections I needed, it was only a matter of a few minutes. The final show was 2 gigs, about 33 min. duration. The core duo 2.16(?) proc was really hot, so I lifted the laptop up and put a small fan behind it. There was plenty of room on my drive, it's a 500 gig scorpion (?) with probably no more than 75-100 gigs used.
I really didn't think I was going to have to do all that to get it onto disk, Apple makes it seem much easier than it really is, but aren't most things like that?
Thanks for your replies-TD

Loss of image quality and logo question

1. Finally able to publish my presentation to PDF, but even though HD video, there was significant graphic loss. Any thing that I did incorrectly? Is there a way to correct this or publish in another format ( internal company site) to improve this?
2. Is there a way to have the presentation start off with no Adobe Presenter displaying while waiting for the presentation to start or have my company logo display while starting?

Hi
About the video that you have inserted on the slide, I recommend not stretching the video on the slide
Letting the size of the video being the original as imported, will give you better quality video.
As for the logo, you can remove the logo and add your logo by doing the following
1. Create a new file named logo.swf of dimension 47 x 27 pixels that contains your branding.
2. Go to the templates folder under the Presenter 8 installation folder
3. Add your custom logo.swf file to the Templates folder.
4. In PowerPoint, publish the presentation to your computer.
5. View the output to see the new logo.
6. this logo will appear every time you publish any presentation
If you want to replace the logo in already published presentation
1. Create a new file named logo.swf of dimension 47 x 27 pixels that contains your branding.
2. Go to the publiahed folder >> data >> resources and paste the logo here
3. Go to the data folder and open vconfig.xml
4. Search for <uireplace name="logo" value=""/>
5. make value equal to "resources/logo.swf" and save vconfig.xml
6. Launch viewer.swf
The above mentioned steps replaces the adobe logo in the player.
If you want to replace the Adobe presenter logo in the loading screen
1. Open the published output folder
2. Open the vconfig.xml file in the data folder in Notepad. Search for <language id=”en”> section, and then look for <uitext name="ADOBE_PRESENTER" value="Insert Your Custom Text"/>
3. Replace the "Insert your custom text" with your company name
4. Save and close the vconfig.xml file.
5. Launch the published output
Hope this helps
Thanks
Mahesh
Message was edited by: mkalyanp

Questions on preview quality and where Aperture uses them

I have been reading Apple's Aperture articles about preview quality and how Aperture shares images with the outside world. I had always assumed that the full quality image in Aperture was used for printing, exporting and sharing, but it seems that, at least for sharing, it is the preview that Aperture creates that is shared.
I have just increased the quality of the previews that Aperture generates from 5 to 9 and forced Aperture to re-render all previews. It seems to me that the images on screen and in slide shows and other iLife documents, are now much clearer and brighter (the downside of this is that my Aperture library file has grown by 4 gigabytes).
This leads me to ask four questions about Aperture and preview use (if I may?).
Is a jpeg on a high setting (9) visibly better than one on a medium setting (5), or am I being led to see what I expect to see?
Apart from editing, slideshows and iLife and iWork documents, in what situations does Aperture use previews where high or low quality might make a difference?
Does Aperture use previews to compile photo books? If so, does the quality of the preview affect the quality of the final printed book?
Is it possible to set Aperture to produce high quality previews for images above a certain star rating and low quality previews for the rest?
Thanks for any answers you may have.
Alasdair

Previews are used within Aperture to quickly show an image in the main viewer before the master has been fully loaded, they are also used to see the referenced masters even if the external location is not available at that moment (not adjustments can be done then, but at least you can see the image)
Previews are used outside Aperture to share the images with adjustments without exporting every image. It comes in handy that you can drag an image from Aperture's browser to another app or the desktop (what you get there is the preview). iMovie or other iApps use previews, the bigger size and quality the better quality you'll get.
Once you set up the size and quality of the previews in Aperture's Preferences the previews are created with those settings. I guess you could lower the settings, in the browser select the images you don't need big previews, ctrl+click and 'update preview' to force create low res previews for those. After that you can put the settings back. But if you do any change to those images the previews will be updated. Certainly I don't see the point of having different previews, do some test find the settings that work best for you and keep it like that.
Turn automatic previews off and create manually the previews you need, I have a smart album with images rated 3 or more stars and I use it to select and create previews manually to those images.

Hi apple users, I am in need of your expertise. I have a mov file and mp4 file which I need converted to DVD. However IDVD quality is terrible and wondering if anyone can help!?

Hi apple users, I am in need of your expertise. I have a mov file and mp4 file which I need converted to DVD. However IDVD quality is terrible and wondering if anyone can help!?
I created project in iMovie then exported it to MP4 and also MOV file at highest definition possible + I added it to iDVD and had a number issues about encoding errors regarding the mp4 file. MOV worked but the quality was terrible.....
MOV file is as follows:
4.08GB
Codecs: H.264, ACC
Colour Profile: HD (1-1-1)
Dimensions: 1920 x 1080
Duration: 12:33
Audio Channels: 2
MP4 File is as follows:
3.02GB
Codecs: H.264, ACC
Colour Profile: HD (1-1-1)
Dimensions: 1280 x 720
Duration: 12:33
Audio Channels: 6
I have a MacBook Pro using the Yosemite system upgrade.
I have updated iDVD and iMovie.
I even bought the iSkysoft app from the mac store and that was terrible too.
PLEASE HELP i am getting desperate and about to launch this macbook into the air
2.66 GHz Intel Core i7
Version 10.10. 2

First of all, Hunt--thanks for responding!
"First, where are you playing the MPEG-2, that you see that jitter?"
On both a MacBook Pro, an Acer laptop and my Mac Tower. I would love to think that it is a problem with the playback system, and that if I merely send the file off to the duplicator they won't have the same problem. Maybe that is the case...I don't know if I have a choice rather than sending it off to see. But it happens in the same spots, in the same way, on all three of the players so I'm a little reluctant to have faith.
"Another thing that can cause jitter in an MPEG-2 is the Bit-Rate - higher the Bit-Rate, the better the quality, but the larger the file. For a DVD, one is limited by the total Bit-Rate (both Audio & Video), but with longer prodcutions, some users choose too low a Bit-Rate. If this is the issue, one would need to go back to the original Project and do a new Export/Share."
Of course, but in the case there is no more 'original project.' It is gone like the wind, stolen along with his computer and backups.
I think I am stuck using one of two files as my master: a DVD he burned where I only see the stutter/vibration/jitter once, or the mpeg2 file where I see it three times. Hopefully, the duplication house can rip if off of one of them and not see the jitter. I know that in audio, my personal filed, you can do a lot to enhance already existing sound--EQ, compression, tape saturation emulation software, etc. I guess I'm hoping there is some kind of analog to the video world that address jitter after a source has been printed--if indeed the source has been printed to be jittery.
Thanks,
Doug

HT1583 When I render my project in IDVD, video and audio runs properly, but when I burn it in professional quality and burning is finished there was no audio on the last two chapters, one audio is attached to the clip and the other one is from itunes, pls

Hi, please help me When I render my project in IDVD, video and audio runs properly, but when I burn it in professional quality and burning is finished there was no audio on the last two chapters, one audio is attached to the clip and the other one is from itunes, pls help

Hi
My first two thoughts
• Shared to Media Browser - BUT as Large or HD - try Medium !
• audio from iTunes - use to go silent
- in iTunes
- Create a new PlayList with needed audio
- BURN this as a standard Audio-CD (.aiff) - NOT .mp3
- use the files on this CD in Your Movie project - I ALWAYS DO - and only use .aiff ever - never .mp3'
My notes on this:
No audio on DVD disc.
Most common origin.
1. Imported audio from iTunes.
• In iTunes copy out as an Audio-CD .aiff (Same as played on standard Stereo CD - no .mp3)
• Use this in Your movie project
2. Low - Free Space on Start-up/Boot/Internal/Mac OS Hard disk makes it hard for iMovie to work as intended.
Down to 1.3 GB and it doesn’t work - especially audio don’t migrate over to Media Browser
(iM’08 & 09)
3. Material in iMovie’08 & 09 - Shared to Media Browser and here selected as Large
large.m4v. It silenced out this project in iDVD. By making a slight alteration - provoking it to ask for a new Share/Publish to Media Browser and here selecting 640x480 - and audio was back when a new iDVD project was created including this movie.
Minuscular - - 176x144
Mobile - - - - - 480x360
Medium - - - - 640x480
Large - - - - - - 720x540 960x540
HD - - - - - - - - 1280x720
4. Strange audio formats like .mp3, .avi etc.
• Change them to .aiff. Use an audio editor like Audacity (free)
5. Main audio is set to off in System Preferences - Does this by it self - Don’t know why
Cheque Audio-Out resp. Audio-In
6. Ed Hanna
Had the same problem; some Googling around gave me a kludgy, but effective fix
Downgrade Perian from recent versions back to version 1.0.
That worked for me, and so far I haven't encountered any deficiencies — except it takes more advanced versions of Perian to enable QuickTime to handle subtitles in .srt format — that I have noticed.
7. GarageBand fix.
In this set audio to 44.1 kHz (Klaus1 suggestion)
(if this don’t work try 48 kHz - me guessing)
Before burning the DVD.
• Do a DiskImage (File menu and down)
• Double click on the .img file
• Test it with Apple DVD-player
If it’s OK then make Your DVD.
Burn at x1 speed.... (or x4)
• In iDVD 08 - or - 09
• Burn from DiskImage with Apple’s Disk Utilities application
• OR burn with Roxio Toast™ if You got it
Yours Bengt W

Question re: IDVD, PAL and exporting

Greetings:
I have an IMac Intel Core 2 Duo running OS X and am using Imovie HD 6.
Here's my situation.
I have a PAL DVD with dialogue in a foreign language. I need to add subtitles to it. I imported the DVD file into Imovie (I first had to convert the DVD to a quicktime file). I added the subtitles and saved the new Imovie file. So far so good. Originally I exported it back to a DVD via IDVD but there was some compression and the image would occasionally "jump" around, or skip a frame.
I thought I could just export the Imovie file directly to a DV tape via a Sony DSR-11 DV recorder so there wouldn't be as much compression, and I could avoid the skipping.
Unfortunately, when I tried exporting to my mini-DV tape, the result was horrible with lots of squares and distortion. (I know this since I played it back on my camcorder). Meanwhile, I can't even play the DV tape back on Imovie, since it says that "The camera is sending half-sized frames, which iMovie HD can’t accept."
I searched around online, and it seems to be an NTSC-PAL problem. I don't know how to fix it, since my DSR-11 doesn't allow me to select NTSC or PAL - it just chooses the format.
I was thinking I could export the Imovie file to Quicktime, and then from Quicktime to the DV. Would this work? It seems I would have to purchase Quicktime 7 PRO to export the file. I don't mind buying the software if it will solve the problem.
I also read online somewhere about an application called "JES Deinterlacer" Unfortunately, I'm a total amateur when it comes to films and know little about formatting sizes, ratios, etc. I really don't mind if the final DVD or DV tape is NTSC or PAL, since my players can play either - I just want it to work.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can yield the highest quality video with the subtitles in place? I would hope this would be possible!
Thanks so much for any advice.
Best wishes!

I looked up the specs for your Sony recorder and it says that you must use a switch on the back to set it from NTSC to PAL. The sampling rates are different, so if you are recording in the wrong one, you will get that jumping and skipping. Here is the info I found:
+The Sony DSR-11 DVCAM Digital Videocassette Recorder, with its unique design and small footprint, can be easily integrated into your existing nonlinear editing system. Providing basic VTR features, along with an i.LINK interface and NTSC/PAL compatibility, this VTR provides a highly powerful, yet cost-effective option for nonlinear editing systems.+
+The DVCAM Format for Excellent Picture and+
+The DSR-11 uses the DVCAM format, the professional extension of the worldwide standard DV format. The DVCAM format uses 8-bit digital component recording with a 5:1 compression ratio and a sampling rate of 4:1:1 (for NTSC) / 4:2:0 (for PAL). The unique compression algorithm provides excellent picture quality and superb multi-generation performance. It also offers superior digital audio performance, providing a wide dynamic range and excellent signal-to-noise ratio that are comparable to CD quality. Alternative audio channel modes can be selected: a two-channel mode with 48 kHz/16-bit recording or a four-channel mode with 32 kHz/12-bit recording.+
+DVCAM cassette tapes are available in two sizes: standard and mini. The standard-size DVCAM cassette provides a recording time of up to 184 minutes, while the mini-size cassette provides up to 40 minutes.+
+The DSR-11 is capable of recording and playing back DV format tapes (SP mode only). The standard-size cassette can record for up to 270 minutes, while the mini-size cassette records for 60 minutes.+
+The DSR-11 has the unique feature of being NTSC/PAL compatible. It can record and playback tapes with either color system. The DSR-11 does not convert signals from NTSC to PAL, or vice versa. When recording through the analog input, the switch on the rear panel must be manually set to the color system of the original source.+
Try that first, and if it does not fix your difficulty, post back for more assistance.

Photo quality follow-up questions

I read OT's response to a photo quality question and had some follow-ups I'd like to ask. Aside from cropping photos to 4:3 format does increasing the dpi of the photos have any effect in improving the quality of the final image in iDVD?
I'm making a dvd of family photos for my wife. Some were taken with a digital camera, some are photos scanned by myself and some are photos given to us by relatives that they scanned. I'm putting them together in iMovie, leaving them static - no pans or zooms, keeping the image size at a value of "1", setting the duration at 5 seconds and grouping them by subject using chapter markers so I can get around the 99 photos limitation. (I have over 1500 photos.)
I've already burned on dvd and was disappointed by the "jaggies" on most of the photos when viewed on my cinema display. Haven't looked at the dvd on a regular tv (CRT, not flat screen/digital). The images looked great in iMovie. It occurred to me that increasing the dpi - most were at 72 dpi - to 300 might improve this issue all other things remaining the same. I can do that easily in Photoshop, but was wondering if that would be a waster of time - especially if no improvement would be realized.
Thanks for any thoughts/help that anyone can offer.

iMovie HD 6.0.3 and iDVD 6.0.4
As far as I know - this will give max quality possibly when making a Video-DVD
resolution: 72dpi or 300dpi
depends on size
A small picture 200 x 300 pixels - will be worse than a 1200 x 1600 picture.
Resolution doesn't matter as I see it.
iMovie and/or iDVD will try to scale it to fit - and up or down-scaling
will not be done kindly.
Still using my 2016 × 1512 - usually give good result in iMovie
but if I Share to iDVD (iMovie HD6 6.0.3 or 4) - BAD RESULT
I just close the iMovie project
Drop the iMovie project icon (With a black star on it) into the iDVD application (menu window).
Result best possibly for a Video-DVD - DVD standard is the limit.
Else that determine the final quality on the DVD
DVD quality
1. iDVD 08, 09 & 11 has three levels of qualities. (version 7.0.1, 7,0.4 & 7.1.1) and iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - BEST (but not always for short movies e.g. up to 45 minutes in total)
• Best Performances
(movies + menus less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD (Can be best for short movies)
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6)
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
Menu can take 15 minutes or even more - I use a very simple one with no audio or animation like ”Brushed Metal” in old Themes.
About double on DL DVDs.
2. Video from
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not self-containing, no conversion)
• iMovie x-6 - Don't use ”Share/Export to iDVD” = destructive even to movie project and especially so
when the movie includes photos and the Ken Burns effect NOT is used. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.
• iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.
3. I use Roxio Toast™ to make an as slow burn as possibly e.g. x4 or x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with Apple’s Disk Utilities application when burning from a DiskImage.
4. There has to be about or more than 25Gb free space on internal (start-up) hard disk. iDVD can't
use an external one as scratch disk (if it is not start-up disc). For SD-Video - if HD-material is used I guess that 4 to 5 times more would do.
5. I use Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. I use DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW) - DVD-R play’s on more and older DVD-Players
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
(I use JES_Deinterlacer to keep frame per sec. same from editing to the Video-DVD result.)
8. Don’t burn more than three DVDs at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while before next batch.
iDVD quality also depends on.
• DVD is a standard in it self. It is Standard Definition Quality = Same as on old CRT-TV sets and can not
deliver anything better that this.
HD-DVD was a short-lived standard and it was only a few Toshiba DVD-players that could playback.
These DVDs could be made in DVD-Studio Pro. But they don’t playback on any other standard DVD-Player.
Blu-Ray / BD can be coded onto DVDs but limited in time to - about 20-30 minutes and then need
_ Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl. BD-component
_ BD disks and burner if full length movies are to be stored
_ BD-Player or PlayStation3 - to be able to playback
The BD-encoded DVDs can be play-backed IF Mac also have Roxio DVD-player tool. Not on any standard Mac or DVD-player
Full BD-disks needs a BD-player (in Mac) as they need blue-laser to be read. No red-laser can do this.
• HOW much free space is there on Your internal (start-up) hard disk. Go for approx. 25Gb.
less than 5Gb and Your result will most probably not play.
• How it was recorded - Tripod vs Handheld Camera. A stable picture will give a much higher quality
• Audio is most often more critical than picture. Bad audio and with dropouts usually results in a non-viewed movie.
• Use of Video-editor. iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not the tools for DVD-production. They discard every second line resulting in a close to VHS-tape quality.
iMovie 1 to HD6 and FinalCut any version delivers same quality as Camera record in = 100% to iDVD
• What kind of movie project You drop into it. MPEG4 seems to be a bad choice.
other strange formats are .avi, .wmv, .flash etc. Convert to streamingDV first
Also audio formats matters. I use only .aiff or from miniDV tape Camera 16-bit
strange formats often problematic are .avi, .wmv, audio from iTunes, .mp3 etc
Convert to .aiff first and use this in movie project
• What kind of standard - NTSC movie and NTSC DVD or PAL to PAL - no mix.
(If You need to change to do a NTSC DVD from PAL material let JES_Deinterlacer_3.2.2 do the conversion)
(Dropping a PAL movie into a NTSC iDVD project
(US) NTSC DVDs most often are playable in EU
(EU) PAL DVDs most often needs to be converted to play in US
UNLESS. They are play-backed by a Mac - then You need not to care
• What kind of DVDs You are using. I use Verbatim DVD-R (this brand AND no +R or +/-RW)
• How You encode and burn it. Two settings prior iDVD’08 or 09
Pro Quality (only in iDVD 08 & 09)
Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)
Best / High Performances (most often my choice before Pro Quality)
1. go to iDVD pref. menu and select tab far right and set burn speed to x1 (less errors = plays better) - only in iDVD 08 & 09
(x4 by some and may be even better)
2. Project info. Select Professional Encoding - only in iDVD 08 & 09.
Region codes.
iDVD - only burn Region = 0 - meaning - DVDs are playable everywhere
DVD Studio pro can set Region codes.
1 = US
2 = EU
unclemano wrote
What it turned out to be was the "quality" settings in iDVD. The total clip time was NOT over 2 hours or 4.7GB, yet iDVD created massive visual artifacts on the "professional quality" setting.
I switched the settings to "high quality" which solved the problem. According iDVD help, "high quality" determines the best bit rate for the clips you have.
I have NEVER seen iDVD do this before, especially when I was under the 2 hour and 4.7GB limits.
For anyone else, there seem to be 2 places in iDVD to set quality settings, the first is under "preferences" and the second under "project info." They do NOT seem to be linked (i.e. if you change one, the other is NOT changed). take care, Mario
to get this to work I
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
• Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
• Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
• No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
• and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
• and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project
• Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
• Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
Try to break the process up into two stages
• Save as a DiskImage (calculating part)
• Burn from this .img file (burning stage)
To isolate where the problem starts.
Another thing is - Playing it onto a Blu-Ray Player. My PlayStation3 can play BD-disks but not all of my home made DVDs so to get this to work I
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
• Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
• Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
• No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
• and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
• and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project
• Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
• Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
TO GET IT TO WORK SLIGHTLY FASTER
• Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up hard disk
• No other programs running in BackGround e.g. Energy-Saver
• Don’t let HD spin down or be turned off (in Energy-Save)
• Move hard disks that are not to be used to Trash - To be disconnected/turned off
• Goto Spotlight and set the rest of them under Integrity (not to be scanned)
• Set screen-saver to a folder without any photo - then make an active corner (up right for me) and set
pointer to this - turns on screen saver - to show that it has nothing to show
• No File Vault on - Important
• NO - TimeMachine - during iMovie/iDVD work either ! IMPORTANT
• Lot's of icons on DeskTop/Finder also slows down the Mac noticeably
• Start a new User-Account and log into this and iMovie get's faster too - if a project is in a hurry
• And let Mac run on Mains - not just on battery
Yours Bengt W

Pictures lose quality and audio in a video clip starts to clip after render

I enjoy doing various random small projects with final cut studio, but there are a few problems I am still having in doing so. One is I record a local basketball league's games and make highlight videos out of them. Another is I like to convert dvds into files and make favorite quote montages or edit movies to have clean versions for the kids. I do not have professional equipment, yet. Final Cut was the first step I chose to take to upgrade. So I'm sure most of the stuff I use is not the greatest choice, but I'm just trying to get the best out of what I have. And when I have problems that I know are bad, I need to find out how to fix them.
Problem with basketball highlights:
I am not sure which is the best format to convert the video to in Final Cut that would make it work the best. Also a problem importing pictures.
The camera I use to record is a Sony Handycam Exmor HDR-XR100. I am confused about importing in Final Cut so I usually import through imovie, which saves the files as .mov and then I go to the finder and put them in Final Cut. Clicking on more info shows me a 20 minute clip (of basketball in this case) is 14.29gb, quicktime movie, 1440 X 1080 dimensions, apple intermediate codec, integer (little endian), timecode, channel count: 2, total bit rate: 102, 385. When I record with the camera I usually turn off the button 'easy mode', which shows on the screen a better quality image going from HD to HDHQ and 5.1 surround sound. Sometimes the render times are ridiculously long for small files and the quality decreases or what not so I was just wondering if there is a good extension to use or format that would be better for use in final cut. Obviously some extensions don't work in final cut, but the most familiar I've used are .mov and .avi (though I don't use avi anymore because I've been told it's not the greatest idea)
Another recent problem I'm having is with pictures in these highlight videos. When I record basketball, I like to record and show everyone their stats along with the video at the end of each game. So I create an excel document with all the teams and numbers and then save it as a .pdf file or picture to load into final cut and add to the video at the end of each game highlights. A similar thing happens though, when I load it in the browser from there the quality is great in the viewer. As soon as I load it in the timeline, the quality drops drastically and I can't even read the numbers in the viewer or canvas. When I took a final cut training class I remember hearing something about a button that makes final cut work faster by reducing the quality of the media it's displaying, but doesn't affect the output. I was wondering if maybe there is a simple button that I have set wrong and maybe that is the reason this is happening, or maybe I just am making it a bad choice of extension again I don't know.
Problem with video files not recorded by me:
Other times I don't record from my own camera say if I want to make a movie montage of all my favorite movie lines/quotes. I would like to edit movies as well to make them clean for my kids to watch. In any case, I convert the dvd to a file on my computer, usually multiple extensions and just use the one that works and also has the best quality, and then load it to final cut. (Is there a program in Final Cut Studio that would be better for this? Right now I use iSkysoft Media Converter to convert these files). As soon as I load it to the timeline and render it, the audio skips like a hiccup throughout the movie. This is when I notice the skipping is only really audible in the audio when music starts to play. I thought that was kind of weird. I can't pick it up as much when there is just dialogue, but when a song comes on or a scene begins with music it makes the entire audio sound bad.
So maybe the problem isn't what extension the file is and I need to look at more details such as dimensions I'm guessing. If you have any examples I would appreciate it. I am sorry I am so difficult haha.
Thanks again for all you're input and help. What goes around comes around and I really try to do the best I can in everything I undertake. I really appreciate it.

I called it "making a montage of my favorite movie clips." It is what it is. Just how I said it. I do stand up impressions part time and sometimes, believe it or not i get recorded, or I record myself and "make a montage of all my favorite movie clips" or scenes from a movie or anything for that matter. So as illegal as that is I apologize that you want to monitor that stuff.
So lets step out of our assumptive sheriff shoes and stop hazardly guessing at anything that you would disprove of. Everyone else has been very helpful. Besides, all these questions centralize around a basketball highlight video I am making for a coach, that I myself recorded and own the copyright to, to be specific and hopefully clarify your hunch.
As a video editor you also often receive footage with numerous formats depending on who you're working with. Not everything is an illegal transaction that you assume it to be. Thanks

9500 Mark II Printer and Photoshop (Mac) Quality and Media Grayed Out

I have a PIXMA 9500 Mark II. I am using the printer on an iMac. In Photoshop, when I choose Quality and Media, the area to choose paper type and tray are grayed out. It work fine in Safari.
I have spoken to Canon, Apple and Adobe and no one seems to be able to get it to work. It works in Safari.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Hello larrygm.
Unfortunately, if you continue to have difficulties with accessing the printer settings, we would have to advise that you use our Easy PhotoPrint Pro plugin with Photoshop or print the image using a different program.
The Easy PhotoPrint Pro plugin can be downloaded from our website and is compatible with most versions of Photoshop. Once installed, you can access the plugin from the File/Automate menu of the program.
Did this answer your question? Please click the Accept as Solution button so that others may find the answer as well.

Portion of DVD Low Quality and Pixalated

I am burning a FCP project to dvd and a portion of the video is low quality, it looks significantly degraded and pixelated. It doesnt seem to loo this way in FCP. Colors are great, the picture is just has really chunky pixels. The rest of the project is fine, and its a weird because its a multi camera shoot, and all the different camera angles during the segment seem to be affected.
Any thoughts?

This post has helped alot. I think after reading peoples descriptions it is an encoding problem. Its MiniDV footage from a Panasonic DVX100. Tranfered via Firwire and edited in FCP. Then Exported as a Quicktime movie, with Current Settings, then put into a Dvd and selected as First Play.
I am convinced its not my footage, if I encode the dvd in iDVD the section in question looks fine, but artifacts appear in other sections. i have deleted and rebuilt all the render files several times. So I am in the process of using Compressor to output a mpeg2 file that I will use to build the dvd, instead o f just the straight export from FCP. I set it on Best Quality for a 90 minute dvd. I am hoping this will solve the problem, but not sure, will know tomorrow.
Any other thoughts.

Best choices for optimizing video quality and playability

I'm shooting family videos with a Panasonic TM-900 camcorder. I absolutely love the look of video shot in 1080p 60fps, but I'm not sure of the best way to process this video in FCPX for output. I prefer playing back edited videos on a HTPC connected to a NTSC HDTV, but I also distribute videos to family members on DVD. So my questions are: what are the best settings for FCPX to achieve a good balance of video quality and playability. Best frame rate for output files? Best codec? Will H.264 compression compromise video quality? My experiments so far have yielded wildly different results. Depending on the codec used and output frame rate selected, file sizes can be huge or reasonable; playability (via home theater programs like Plex and XBMC) can be superb, jerky, or non-existent. And of course, quality seems to suffer when outputting these files to DVD. Please share your thoughts and experiences on the best way to approach this challenge.

Working with H.264 is probably not going to give the best results if outputting to DVD. If you optimize media and let FCP determine your clips project settings, that will set the stage for several successful workflows.
If you're OK with a basic menu, you could simply use Share DVD and let FCP do all the work. It will change the frame rate to 29.97, and the quality should be pretty decent.(If you want more control over the quality settings, Compressor can do a similar job; output a master file and bring that into Compressor.)
If you want a more complex DVD and menu, what Al said about Master File>iDVD.
Also as he indicated, you could also consider using either FCP or Compressor to create AVCHD disks if your movies are under about 40 minutes in length. Your family will need Blu Ray players of some sort to be able to view them.
You could make a true Blu Ray disk from FCP or Compressor if you have a Blu Ray burner. (There are also some third party solutions for BD.)
Russ

IDVD quality

This is a question regarding Final Cut Express to DVD Quality. I am using a Panasonic GS-150. It is a very good 3CCD camcorder. The picture quality in Final Cut's Canvas is awesome. I go to File>Export to QuickTime movie. This was the instructions Apple gave in order to export to iDVD from FCE. So...I do that then go to iDVD. Make a disc image and then burn it using Disk Utility, again, like what Apple says to do. I pop it into my TV's DVD player. It looks bad. Go to this to see what I mean
I took screenshots of the actual DVD. The picture is grainy (it was in sunlight), and pixilzed. Can you give me some advice? You would think since some Hollywood movies are made using Final Cut, it would look better.

I am using a Panasonic GS-150. It is a very good 3CCD camcorder.
As far as consumer camcorders go, it is OK. But it is hardly a good 3 CCD camcorder, it is actually one of the cheapest. A good 3 CCD camcorder will be something like the Sony VX2100 and a very good 3 CCD would be something like Sony DSR 400. I know my Panny 250 (essentially the same as the 150) is very grainy compared to my Sony 170/250. If you aren't already, you may want to hook a cheap 13" TV up to your deck when editing and this will give you an idea of what the footage will look like as you edit. And here is my stock reply on iDVD & Quality:
Quality and iDVD- Quality is subjective; what one person finds as good another may not. Quality is also highly dependant upon input. In other words: quality in, quality out; garbage in, garbage out. It is helpful to have a basic understanding of what makes a DVD a DVD. When you record on mini-DV you are recording to an already compressed format. Arguably a very good compressed format but compressed nonetheless. This means information is being tossed at the point you are using the camcorder. iDVD, or any DVD authoring app on any computer, Windoze or Mac, compresses this material even further into the MPEG 2 format for playback via a tabletop DVD player. Now mini-DV has about 30 frames per second (NTSC). MPEG (in a very basic nutshell) takes a picture about twice every 30 frames and uses this as a reference frame and then only records the motion difference between that reference frame and the next time it creates a reference frame. So you go from 30 frames/second to TWO, with motion difference! This is how one hour of DV which is 13 gigs, can be compressed to fit onto one DVD. Two hours would be 26 gigs of DV compressed to one DVD! Hence the general quality difference between one-hour and two. And keep in mind that is compression will show artifacts that may have always been there but you didn’t see until the other 28 frames where tossed out.
Having a basic understanding of what makes a DVD can help you make better DVDs. As example, if you see that your recordings have a lot of motion… that is bad. Remember, when compress to DVD it only records the motion difference so you want to keep the camera steady and use slow controlled movements (pans & zooms). Quick pans or zooms or jerky movements are the bane of any MPEG compression scheme.
Other than that, you could try other encoders. BitVice & DVDSP for software encoders or LaCie's FastCoder hardware encoder.
Mike

Why did an iphoto update removed iDvd from share button?

Lion os x 10.7
Why did an iphoto update on 2-20-13 remove iDvd from share button in iPhoto? Can you recoup the iDvd button on iPhoto?
Thanks for any assistance.
JN

Because iDVD is not longer supported or offered by Apple. So now you have to export any iPhoto slideshows at the large or medium size to your hard drive, place it where you will be storing QT movie files and then drag into an open iDVD project window being careful to avoid any drop zones in the menu window.
If you place the file in the Movies folder you can acces it and iPhoto photos via the Media pane in iDVD.
In iDVD follow this workflow to help ensure the best quality final product:
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 Quality and Buttons Question

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