IMovie/iDVD projects

I've made a handful of iMovie/iDVD projects for family members. Right now they are taking up space on my hard drive. While I doubt I will go back to them, I would like the ability to work with them again. Can I take one of the DVDs that I created and just reload the iMovie/iDVD and add thing/make edits at a later date?

.. another option is, to use a back-up software as Toast 7/8, which allows socalled 'spanning'...
choose Data, drag iM project into Toast.. it will ask you to insert DVDs.. and more DVDs.. as tilman stated, an iM project contains 13GB per hour project length plus the many hours you have imported...
you need Toast to re-import such a disk collection, to re-assemble the many files of an iM project...
.. it is mostly recommended to spend 100$ for some external, firewire connected harddrive (format to hfs BEFORE use...) ... then, it's simply drag'n drop ...

Similar Messages

Exporting iMovie/iDVD project for PC friend to edit

I recently posted a question about how to take an iMovie/iDVD project and export the files so that a PC user could take the project and edit on his PC using a video editor. It was suggested that I share the iMovie project to QuickTime and then burn on to a CD. This sounded good at first but then I did some research and saw that sharing to QuickTime means that the quality will be lost (saving to CD setting) and will only be something like 320 x 240. Plus, it takes forever. Even longer if I set it to full quality but by that point, the file wouldn't fit on a CD anyway.
I did see that I could save the movie back to a mini DV tape and then give that to the PC person so that they could just bring it into their computer via their camcorder. But what if that person doesn't have a digital camcorder?
For the project in question, I've been asked to take some VHS tapes and convert them to digital. I've done so using a digital converter. They want a DVD of what was on the tapes, which I've done, but they also want the files so that they can later edit to their tastes on their own time on their PC and then later create a DVD. Given the above, what would be the best way to do this? Isn't there something in the movie project files that I can dump to disk?

a) consider the usage of an ext. harddrive...
b) in iM's "share" dialog, you find the option "selected clips only"; so, select a few clips you like to export, check that box, done... you can "split" your clips at any point to create segments of approbiate size by hitting apple-t at any position in timeline..
c) share/Quicktime/expert options/click "share"/ offers you a dropdown menu, where you can choose the "avi" container...
(your User Interface is for sure english!)
you can click options, and choose the dv codec (which is your project's native video codec)... no loss of quality, and probably compatible for your friend..
d) a dataDVD-r fits ~20min of dv video... 4 disks?
e) using Disk Utility, make sure, you use a PC-compatible disk format....
f) Plan B) export your project back to tape, give your friend the miniDV...

Want the best quality imovie/idvd project

Hi all
Just imported a video from my Sony digital8 cam using imovie. I'm having a little troubele deciding from idvd or imovie, which is the right direction? Can someone share a good home video back up system? I'm trying to import my home videos from my Sony digital8 camcorder

+I'm having a little troubele deciding from idvd or imovie, which is the right direction?+
It depends on what you want as an end result.
iMovie is an editing program so that you can crop your movies, add titles, effects, transitions, add still photos and audio files.
iDVD is an authoring program so that you can create a burned DVD disk of your videos, photos, etc. You create your movies in iMovie and then drop the finished movie into an iDVD project to burn it to a DVD disk so that you/others can view it on a TV from a set-top DVD player. iDVD has to compress data when it is burned, so you don't want to be burning DVDs to preserve your home videos if you want to edit them later in iMovie.
If you just want to burn them to back them up and you don't want/need to do any editing, you might want to look into just using a stand-alone DVD recorder. You could connect your dig8 camcorder and record to DVD disk directly.
You can also use iDVD to create slideshows and burn them.
You should go to Apple's support site for iLife and watch the tutorial videos for both iDVD and iMovie 6:
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#idvd
http://www.apple.com/support/ilife/tutorials/idvd/index.html
http://www.apple.com/support/ilife/tutorials/imovie/
+Can someone share a good home video back up system?+
Again, it depends on what end result you want. Some people think that they want to import all their video footage into iMovies, and save all of it on their computers. However, that requires HUGE amounts of drive space. Each of my iMovies runs from 25-60 GB. It is better to import the footage for each movie at a time, as you work on your iMovie.
A large external drive just for doing movies is a great idea. Get as large a drive as you can afford! Be sure to format it for macs first before importing anything. Keep the iMovie and iDVD apps on your main drive.
I. Save your original raw digital 8 tapes. Data is already in digital format. Be sure to keep your camcorder so you can reimport if you want. If you really want a back up for these original tapes, you can connect your dig 8 camcorder to a miniDV camcorder and record to miniDV tapes. I did this for my VHS tapes as they were getting too old and I was concerned about further degradation. I like having a digital format of my original video VHS and Hi 8 tapes. This may not be necessary for you since all your tapes are already digital.
2. Import videos into iMovie, doing just one movie at a time to save drive space, edit, then export the movie to miniDV tapes with a miniDV camcorder. This process gives you tape(s) of your EDITED iMovie. I use these tapes as a backup for my iMovies, since I delete my iMovies after exporting them and after I have burned my DVD of that movie. (See next).
3. Create iDVD projects from edited iMovies, do 'save as disk image' for each one so that you have an image file of all your projects. Since disk images are self-contained, you can safely delete the original iMovie and iDVD projects without losing the ability to burn DVDs in the future. It also saves drive space. Use the disk image file for the actual burning of the DVD disk, using Disk Utility.
Now you have a set of raw original tapes, a set of edited mini DV tapes, a burned DVD and the disk image file of each project. You should copy all the disk images to another external drive as a backup.
I don't worry about backing up the DV tapes, as I can always reimport them. The tapes are small and store easily. It is recommended for longer life of the tapes that you get them out once a year and rewind them, but I have not been doing that.
Yes, you can take one of your burned DVD disks and create a disk image from it, and use it to burn more disks, but that means that your future burns depend on that disk staying in good shape until you want it. DVD disks can crack, break, melt, etc depending on who uses them. I prefer to know that my disk images are saved and backed up for when I need them.

Shaky still images in burned iMovie/iDVD project

Hello all, I've stopped by the discussion forums in the past for quick fixes to problems when they come up, this is my first post though that doesn't seem to address anything I've found on here...
I am working on a project that takes scanned pictures from regular print photos into iMovie 6 and then burned into iDVD 6. I have done this similar style of work several times and never run into this problem. The project looks fine in both iMovie and iDVD preview, and burns fine to disc. As soon as it is popped into a DVD player, some of the still images flash and shake around, it appears to happen on the same images every time.
The original project used about 100 photos, around 12 minutes of movie time. It uses only still pictures and there are cross dissolve transitions between each one. I have tried dragging and dropping the iMovie project into iDVD instead of using 'share'. I also saved as a disk image and burned slowly (4x) not only on my SuperDrive but on an external LaCie drive. I've even started a brand new project file, imported the pictures again from iPhoto and everything... still no luck. I've done about 5 trials now with these different settings, no luck. I use Verbatim DVD-r disks as well...
I've even tried scanning a few images and replacing them, thinking the file might be corrupted, but this isn't fixing the problem. Is there some setting that I'm missing or any other suggestions you have?
I'm trying to save a trip down to see a genius, but if I can't get any help I'll have no choice but to make the 3 hour drive to the nearest apple store. Hopefully someone has some suggestions! Thanks!

Hi
A. I don't use the *Share/Export to iDVD* function in iMovie. iMovie rendering can harm
the photos in a movie.
I do: close iMovie, Open iDVD and import the movie project here (icon with a Star on it)
or just drop the icon into iDVD.
B. Some photos with thin lines most often starts to flicker when viewed on a TV.
I do: In a photo editing program eg PhotoShop or Elements: Apply *Gausian blurr*.
Just slightly. Resulting in non-flickering photos.
C. One can rather easily find out if this will occure by:
• Connect Your miniDV (tape) Camera via FireWire.
• Analog out of Camera to a TV-set
• Set in iMovie. Playback via Camera
Now You see on the TV what the final Quality will be like.
• Flicker (add Gausian Blurr to those photos)
• Color, brightness & contrast
• Over all playback rythm and sound
Yours Bengt W

Pixellation in finished iMovie/iDVD project DVD's

Recently, upon review of some of my finished projects I noticed nasty pixellation of the images. These are all converted from VHS, imported to iMovie, using a Canopus AD300. The iMovie projects look great (no distortion) but the finished, encoded, DVD's, after being run through iDVD, look terrible at a times. This is only intermitent and happens both when viewing a complex image (someone swimming in water/waves backlit by sunshine) and fairly uncomplicated images (baby sitting on somones lap). The hunch I have is that this is simply poor encoding. Of the two DVD's i have noticed this effect on - one is 80 minutes long (plus simple motion menus, 14minutes long) and the other was about 100minutes of video (with complex motion menus, 12minutes long). Is this just a bug? Just poor encoding technology in iDVD? is this why Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro cost so much?? (better encoding) Any insight into this problem is very much appreciated...
Powerbook G4 17" 1.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.6) iMovie 6.0.1, iDVD 6.0.1 Single layer DVD's
Powerbook G4 17" 1.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

These are all converted from VHS, imported to iMovie, using a Canopus AD300.
is this why Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro cost so much?? (better encoding) Any insight into this problem is very much appreciated..
It's the computer axiom: GIGO - Garbage In - Garbage Out
VHS converted to digital is fairly low in quality (I've done enough of it myself to know) and doesn't produce DVDs with the same quality DV video does (which in turn isn't up to 'commercial quality' levels).
MPG-2 encoding looks for frame-to-frame differences - camera motion and image noise (your VHS images probably have lots of noise) reduce the quality of the encoded image. Try creating a disk image first (the option is under FILE in iDVD 6) and play the disk image back with Apple's DVD Player application. If you don't see the same level of problem with the disk image, you are presently seeing a media/burn speed related problem.

IMovie/iDVD project

I created an iMovie project and then finished in iDVD on my powerbook with iMovie HD 5.0.2 and iDVD 5.0.1.
I wanted to burn the movie on my G4 flatpanel because the laptop doesn't have a superdrive.
I archived the project from iDVD and put it on an external harddrive. iDVD 4.0.1 couldn't read it so I copied 5.0.1 over to the G4. It seemed to go through the burning process O.K. but the disc makes wierd noises and wont get past the menu to play the movie.
Help Please.
Thanks
Ben

Thanks. I thought that was part of the problem. I had done that because I don't have an iLife '05 disc. All I have is my powerbook G4 install disc. Can I use this disc on my Desktop?
If not is there any way I can burn my video project with the older software on the desktop?
Thanks
Ben

Collecting images from imovie/idvd project

Though now I know I should have collected all images in a folder before using in imovie project, is there any way to collect them back from the project now. I wanted to put all images used on a disc for my records....
thanks for any suggestions.

Thanks. I thought that was part of the problem. I had done that because I don't have an iLife '05 disc. All I have is my powerbook G4 install disc. Can I use this disc on my Desktop?
If not is there any way I can burn my video project with the older software on the desktop?
Thanks
Ben

Converted my iMove/iDVD Project with Disk Utility as a .CDR file

Hello,
I filmed a wedding years ago.
Used iMovie and iDVD and gave to the client.
To save room on my HD I used Disk Utility to make an exact copy by making a .CDR file
I now would like to open that file and just take certain clips of my finished product and upload to YouTube for other to see my work.
Problem is nothing seems to open .VOB files.
MPEG Streamclip just gives me a line with no video or sound.
Wondershare is perfect but cost $50.00
Any suggestions on what I can do?
Thank you for your time.
John

The last recommendation as pointed out above will likely provide the results you wish and involves just that application as opposed to combining multiple apps to do the very same thing. Toast is also a great choice (but more $$ if you don't already own it).
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.

16:9 iMovie/iDVD stretched on Widescreen TV

I have already posted a question regarding poor quality of my iMovie/iDVD project when played on my Sony 52" LCD HDTV. This question has to do with aspect ratio. I created my video (all photos, transitions, titles, background music). I cropped all photos to 16:9 aspect ratio in Photoshop prior to loading them into iMovie. I set my settings to Widescreen in iDVD prior to burning. When played on my Sony TV, however, the photos are shown with letterbox black on top and bottom and they are stretched.
I also wanted to create a DVD for a family member who has a standard TV. So I took the same iDVD project and changed the setting to Standard 4:3 prior to burning. When played on that TV, the photos are all "clipped". I thought that iDVD would adjust the viewing so that the photos would be shown in full view with the black boxes on the sides.
Am I using the settings incorrectly?
Thanks, Nancy

Thanks for the info. I downloaded myDVDedit and learned that my movie had been created with the setting "16:9 auto pan and scan and letterbox". I changed it to "16:9" and now it plays on my standard def. TV just fine (with letterbox). But I am very confused with the settings in myDVDedit. So I created 4 DVD's using the various settings to see what they would look like on my Sony 52" HDTV.
1. 16:9 - video plays with letterbox top and bottom
2. 16:9 auto letterbox - video plays with letterbox top and bottom
3. 16:9 auto pan and scan - video fills the entire screen but sides are clipped
4. 16:9 auto pan and scan and letterbox - video plays with letterbox top and bottom
Here's my question:
If all of my photos in my movie (created in iMovie) have been cropped to a 16:9 ratio, why can't I get a 16:9 setting where the entire widescreen TV (16:9 ratio) is filled with the photo - without any letterbox or any side clipping? Because of the letterbox the actual aspect ratio of the photos change from 1.77 (16:9) to 2.39 (16:6.7) causing slight stretching/distortion.
I hope this all makes sense and you can give me a little more insight into this.
Thanks again, Nancy

IMovie / iDVD subtitles

Hi guys,
I just finished creating my first DVD using slide shows and videos that cover the first year of my daughter, it turn out great! (Thanks Apple) but I do have a slight problem, I am Portuguese and my wife Romanian and I just want to create one DVD for all, so what would be very nice was to add both languages in subtitles and that is my question:
How can I add subtitles to my iMovie / iDVD project?
P.S. I write iMovie/iDVD because I have no idea what would be the program to add the subtitles.
Thanks for the help

subtitles as on commercial DVDs (switch on/off) are not possible with iDVD..
for sure, you could create two versions of your project..
within iMovie, create another version in which you add 'titles' as subtitles.. burn both versions on iDVD, one titles No Subtites, the other Subtitles (=or the Romanian word for it )

How do i add a second movie to an idvd project when 'sharing' from imovie always opens a new idid window?

I am creating an idvd project with multiple imovie projects. I know I need to share my imovie project with Idvd. WEhen I do that, idvd automatically opens. Now I want to add a second project. The problem is that when I share imovie projects a second time, it automatically opens a second idvd project. I want to add multiple imovie projects on one idvd project.

One should not share directly to iDVD from iMovie. The Share ➙ Media Browser option should be used as that results in a better quality movie in iDVD. Do the same for both movies and you can drag the movies from the Media ➙ Movies pane in iDVD into the DVD menu window at the left.
Follow this workflow to help ensure the best quality video DVD:
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, launch DVD Player and play it. If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding is 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

How do I delete an idvd project from my hard drive? If I do so, will it delete the raw videos/images from iphoto or imovie? Thank you

I understand that an imovie or idvd project will take up quite a bit of space on my hard drive, so after I create the movies on either program I want to delete them. I can't figure out how to delete them on idvd. Should I go to finder? I'm so confused!

iDVD only uses pointers to the media, photos and QT files, that it uses in its projects. So if you delete a movie that you used in it that movie will be lost to iDVD.
However you can use the File ➙ Archive Project... menu option and that will copy the media into the iDVD project package. Then if you delete the movie file the archived project will still have its copy of the movie to use.
You won't be able to go back and make any changes to the movie if you do this. So wait until the project is complete and burned to disk before archiving and deleting the movie files.
Personally I would get an external HD and save those movies and other files that you might want to delete from your boot drive because you never know when you might want to go back and make changes. Once they are deleted you can't go back.
Happy Holidays

How do you import multiple iMovie projects into one iDVD project?

Hi.
I'm 17, and am trying to create a DVD of when the family went on a cruise. For different places/days, I've created different iMovie projects.
But, when I want to export to iDVD, it only lets me put one iMovie project into one iDVD project?
I've tried dragging the actual iMovie project files into iDVD but that doesn't work.
I know I could export to QuickTime and then drag it into iDVD, but it seems exporting just to iDVD is much quicker, and the quality is better.
Anyone know how I can do this?
cheers
+P.S. If it helps, it's iMovie '11 with iDVD '09.+

That is not true. You can use them all in one DVD. I have just created my first DVD which has a trailer, a movie with chapters and several different slide shows.
All you have to do is save each project to Media Browser. (Choose Share in toolbar). Open iDVD and choose your theme or no theme. On the right will be all your options such as audio, media photo's etc. Choose your various video's/projects etc and just drag and drop which ones you want to the page and they will automatically put themselves there with the given name of each video/project.

Burning an iMovie 10 project using iDVD

I created a slideshow movie with a theme (no audio) by iMovie 10. I want to burn a looping DVD of this movie without an added DVD theme, using iDVD. How would I bypass the iDVD themes?

(From fellow poster Mishmumken: )
How to create a DVD in iDVD without menu (there are several options):
1. Easy: Drop your iMovie in the autoplay box in iDVD's Map View, then set your autoplay item (your movie) to loop continously. Disadvantage: The DVD plays until you hit stop on the remote
2. Still easy: If you don't want your (autoplay) movie to loop, you can create a black theme by replacing the background of a static theme with a black background and no content in the dropzone (text needs to be black as well). Disadvantage: The menu is still there and will play after the movie. You don't see it, but your disc keeps spinning in the player.
3. Still quite easy but takes more time: Export the iMovie to DV tape, and then re-import using One-Step DVD.
Disadvantage: One-Step DVD creation has been known to be not 100% reliable.
4. (My preferred method) Easy enough but needs 3rd party software: Roxio Toast lets you burn your iMovie to DVD without menu - just drag the iMovie project to the Toast Window and click burn. Disadvantage: you'll need to spend some extra $$ for the software. In Toast, you just drop the iMovie project on the Window and click Burn.
5. The "hard way": Postproduction with myDVDedit (freeware)
Tools necessary: myDVDedit ( http://www.mydvdedit.com )
• create a disc image of your iDVD project, then double-click to mount it.
• Extract the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders to a location of your choice. select the VIDEO_TS folder and hit Cmd + I to open the Inspector window
• Set permissions to "read & write" and include all enclosed items; Ignore the warning.
• Open the VIDEO_TS folder with myDVDedit. You'll find all items enclosed in your DVD in the left hand panel.
• Select the menu (usually named VTS Menu) and delete it
• Choose from the menu File > Test with DVD Player to see if your DVD behaves as planned.If it works save and close myDVDedit.
• Before burning the folders to Video DVD, set permissions back to "read only", then create a disc image burnable with Disc Utility from a VIDEO_TS folder using Laine D. Lee's DVD Imager:
http://lonestar.utsa.edu/llee/applescript/dvdimager.html
Several of our resident experts also recommend this: there is a 3rd export/share option that give better results. That's to use the Share ➙ Media Browser menu option. Then in iDVD go to the Media Browser and drag the movie into iDVD where you want it.
If you are using iMovie 9 see also this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5543?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Edit in iMovie using archived iDVD project?

Well it looks like I may done something rather stupid. Before the holidays I produced a family vacation video, burned the DVDs and sent them out to all my family members. After watching it they pointed out some typos in some captions and some editing mistakes, so I wanted to go back and fix those and burn new DVDs. But I just realized I'd archived the iDVD project but not the iMovie project. I trashed the iMovie project to recover disk space. So now I'm left with just the iDVD archive.
Is there any way to recover my iMovie project from the iDVD archive?
(I can't believe I trashed my iMovie files. That just isn't like me at all. <shame>, <embarrassment>, <lesson learned>)
iMovie HD
iDVD 6
- Lofty

You can recover the movie from the archived DVD project but the movie may be in several sections/clips. Just Control-click on the archived iDVD project file and select "Show Package Contents" from the contextula menu. Then go to the Resources/MPEG.nobackup folder.The sections/clips should be in there.
You can import those clipes into iMovie but won't be able to edit the captions, only cut them out and put new captions in over new clips. If you added captions to a black background and not over the movie itself you could cut out those sections and add new sections. But if you have to cut out parts of the movie with captions to add new ones that could lose a good bit of the original movie. In that case I thiink going with the typos would be the better solution.
When you're done use the Share ➙ Media Browser menu option with Size = Large. This will give a better final image than Share ➙ iDVD will. You will have to delete the existing movie file from the iDVD project and add the new, editied movie.
OT

IMovie/iDVD projects

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