Make a DVD with only subtitles on it?

crazy question: can I make a "film" that consists of only a subtitle track and nothing else?
I have a special need: I need to make a DVD that can played in the cinema "on top of" a 35mm film. In other words, I have the picture on film already, I am just looking for a cheap and cheeky way to subtitle films for the festival that I work for.
I thought I could just import the film, make the subs, and then throw away the picture track and then build the DVD. Doesn't seem to work.
Is this possible? Can anyone suggest a way I can get this to work?

nah, do NOT use DVD subtitles for this.
They are bad enough already...(with just 3 colors and transparant)
Create a black video clip with rendered titles in it.
To ensure quality, make the subs as large as possible (to fill the most of the horizontal space you have, so you have max resolution, do not project the same size as the movie, set the projector for the subs way smaller (otherwise the lack of light vs the 35 mm will be totally obvious).
It sounds like a nice idea, but besides the quality of the video projection (you need LIGHT!!!), you cannot have a border / shadow...
And, it will be difficult to start in sync and stay in sync.
I would test this way before commiting yourself to it.
hth
Bouke

Similar Messages

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

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

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

Can I Make A DVD With Video & 24-Bit Audio?

I want to make a DVD with videos and, as a special feature, 13 24-bit enhanced playable audio tracks.
Is this possible in iDVD?
Thanks!

Toast 8 has a 96kHz/24-bit option in making Music DVDs as well as a 48 kHz/24-bit option. (Note: these are NOT DVD-Audio discs which require a special player.)
'Normal' Toast audio is 48 kHz/16-bit.

Watching a DVD with srt subtitles

Hi there,
Recently I bought a french DVD which turned out to have no subtitles. I did find subtitles for that movie on the Internet.
Now, how can I watch the DVD on my Mac without having to merge the subtitles with a DVD-rip? Is it possible to do that with DVD Player or another (preferably free) app? I have VLC but it only opens subs from a DVD.
Thanks.

It's not pretty, but you can do it VLC and Apple's DVD player together.
Start VLC and click "Open File" (not "Quick Open File") in the "File" menu.
Click "Browse" and find a movie at least as long as the DVD movie.
Click the "Open" button.
Check "Load subtitles file" and click "Settings".
Click "Browse", find your subtitles file ( ,srt, or .idx if you have .idx and .sub)
Click the "Open" button.
Click the "OK" button.
Click the "OK" button.
Click the Pause button.
Click "Mute" in the "Audio" menu.
Select the desired "Subtitles Track" in "Video" menu.
Move the VLC window down on the screen.
Start playing the DVD with Apple's DVD player.
Position the DVD window over the VLC window, leaving just the bottom (subtitle) part of the VLC window visible.
When you reach the start of the actual movie, click VLC's Play button.
Click the DVD Player icon in the dock, so get the DVD window back on top.
Start eating popcorn.
If you are going to do this often, you may want to make a custom, long, solid black, movie, (extreme film noir) to avoid distracting backgrounds under the subtitles. This movie should compress to a very small file. if you pick the right codec.

Trying to make a DVD with an old/non-existent version of iDVD!

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Please could you help me?
I work at a school in the UK, and have recently been able to purchase an external Lacie DVD drive, as the school’s computer (currently an iBook G4 with OSX 10.3.2 and a 1GHZ Power PC Processor – 640 MB Memory and a 40 GB HD) wasn’t shipped with one – however, I have a problem…
Trying to make a DVD that will play in a stand-alone DVD player – I followed the advice in iMovie Help – but was stopped suddenly on finding that I do not have the relevant version of iDVD (which version (if any – I can’t see it anywhere!) was shipped with iMovie 4.0?). Is it possible to download a copy of iDVD 3 or later from anywhere compatible with OSX 10.3.2 and iMovie 4.0?
The iMovie Help has an additional option to ‘export your movie in a format appropriate for DVD authoring’ which has let me burn the movie as a (name).DV file – but this is not compatible with any DVD player I have tried. I noticed a while ago on this forum that someone was talking about Toast but I do not have this, but I do have Roxio Easy Media Creator 7, which was bundled with the burner – but is only compatible with a PC – would I be able to build a project in iMovie, transfer it to a PC, and use REMC7 to do what toast would?
Finally, I was wondering if anyone has any experience of using Avid’s free DV software – and if they would recommend it (and also if I would be able to make DVDs with it?).
Well thanks for reading if you got this far – and I’d appreciate it if you could offer any advice (I know I’ve not been very concise)…
Kevin.
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.2)

Thanks for the welcome Karsten! I’ve checked the installer disks – which appear to have all the main pieces of software, but not iDVD. If you or anyone knows where it might be hidden that would be great. Thanks for all the other info too!
Thanks Lennart – I don’t think my computer could support iLife ’05 as it is running Mac OSX 10.3.2 and I’ve just been looking at its system requirements which state it requires 10.3.4 minimum – if you know differently, please let me know. As an alternative I have considered getting iLife ’04, but your comment about iLife ’05 being the first version to support external drives worried me (“iDVD 5 is the first iDVD version that officially supports external burners“ does this mean there is an unofficial option for iLife ‘04? Perhaps a patch similar to the one mentioned by Karsten), does that mean iLife ’04 would not support an external Lacie DVD writer?
What is the earliest version of Toast I’d be able to use (as a money saving option!)?
Thank you both, and apoligies for my amateurish questions…
Kevin.

Is it possible to make a DVD with non-standard sized movies, w/o scaling?

I have some software tutorial material that I want to turn into a DVD. Since the video was created as a screen capture of a particular piece of software, the finished video is an odd size of 830 x 622 (I wanted to capture the screen dumps at their actual resolution, which looks crystal clear - and that was the size of the software's main window.) Note that this is still 4:3.
I edited the material in FCP 5, made a custom sequence setting of 830 x 622, and the exported final results are QT movies with a size of 830 x 622. We then flash-encoded these for web-broadcast at a size of 640x480.
What I am wondering is: now that we want to make a DVD, can a DVD be made that keeps this video at the larger size, so that it is crystal clear? So far, I experimented with using a few of the DVD format encoding options in Compressor, and it seems to end up as 640x480 no matter what I do.

I think you might be mistaken about the 720x480. When I make a new sequence in FCP, it calls 720x480 3:2, not 4:3. If I set it 4:3 (which is one of the two allowed DVD standards), it becomes 640x480.
Indeed, I have been trying various export experiments from Final Cut with Compressor using presets such as "DBD Best Quality 120 minutes - 4:3", and they all come out as 640 x 480. Furthermore, I can import them into DVD Studio 4 and they seem to work normally for now.
So, dragging my 830x622 QT movies directly into compressor and applying the above preset results in very good-looking, 640x480 MPEG-2 video. I had hoped there was some way to keep the higher-resolution of 830x622, but apparently DVD only supports a few standard pixel dimensions (4:3 at 640x480, 16:9...)

DVD with Graphic Subtitles crash

Hi,
I've created a dvd with one track and subtitles at every 10 minutes (for watermarking), during 30 secondes. These are graphic subtitles. The Dvd is auto-run, no menu, no loop, no chapter. The movie plays fine in the simulator and in Apple Dvd player once compiled. But, the dvd burned, crashes in the Apple DVD player when it plays on a subtitle.
If I skip forward the subtitles, the player don't crash, neither if I play it on a hardware player (Pioneer, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony). I suppose it's a DVD Studio Pro problem because I tried on a older version of Apple DVD Player, with Mac OSX 10.4 and it crashes too.
Can't anybody help me!?
Thanks,
Matt

It's not pretty, but you can do it VLC and Apple's DVD player together.
Start VLC and click "Open File" (not "Quick Open File") in the "File" menu.
Click "Browse" and find a movie at least as long as the DVD movie.
Click the "Open" button.
Check "Load subtitles file" and click "Settings".
Click "Browse", find your subtitles file ( ,srt, or .idx if you have .idx and .sub)
Click the "Open" button.
Click the "OK" button.
Click the "OK" button.
Click the Pause button.
Click "Mute" in the "Audio" menu.
Select the desired "Subtitles Track" in "Video" menu.
Move the VLC window down on the screen.
Start playing the DVD with Apple's DVD player.
Position the DVD window over the VLC window, leaving just the bottom (subtitle) part of the VLC window visible.
When you reach the start of the actual movie, click VLC's Play button.
Click the DVD Player icon in the dock, so get the DVD window back on top.
Start eating popcorn.
If you are going to do this often, you may want to make a custom, long, solid black, movie, (extreme film noir) to avoid distracting backgrounds under the subtitles. This movie should compress to a very small file. if you pick the right codec.

Can I make photo DVD with Photoshop Elements 8?

I was just wondering if I could take my photos and create a "movie" with different songs and transition effects and burn it to a DVD with this software, and also export it to different sites such as YouTube... Thanks!

There is no direct support in PSE for burning conventional DVD’s but you could create a WMV file and edit in Windows Movie Maker or similar software or export from PSE to Windows DVD Maker if using windows Vista.
This thread may be helpful:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/2569181#2569181

Using iMovie to Make a DVD with Chapter Markers

All,
Can someone explain the shortcomings of the following workflow to create a simple DVD with chapter markers?
1. Create each "chapter" as a separate project in FCP X.
2. Export each project using "Export project as QuickTime movie using current settings".
3. Import each QT movie into iMovie and place them into a single timeline in the desired order.
4. Add chapter markers at the start of each clip.
5. Choose Share>iDVD from within iMovie.
6. Choose desired templates, etc. then burn the DVD.
I have used this workflow successfully but want to make the best quality DVD possible and am concerned that I am making compromises with this method.
Thanks for your help.
Peter

As long as you aren't "optimizing" the movie when importing into iMovie, I think you aren't doing anything to degrade quality prior to sharing with iDVD.
I've read on other threads that you can add chapter markers using garage band. you might give that a try, as it would let you use just one project and would save you time if you have a lot of chapters. Export the same way from FCPX (quicktime, use current project settings) but open in Garage Band instead. Place chapter markers, then share to iDVD.
but want to make the best quality DVD possible
You should know weak link in your workflow regarding quality is iDVD, because you have extremely little access the settings that actually control quality. iDVD might end up creating an excellent quality DVD, but without knowledge of bitrate and whether it is VBR multipass vs CBR, you can't be sure.
Unfortunately, there is really no low cost option I know of (other than iDVD) on the Mac for creating "the best quality DVD possible" that also gives you flexible authoring tools (e.g., templates, menus, etc).

Best FCE Project Settings to make widescreen DVD with iDVD?

I need to make DVDs with lots of short clips stitched together into a longish movie. I've been using iDVD to burn the DVDs (because it's free and I know how to use it). (NTSC TV, not PAL)
The clips are mostly still pictures animated with either FCE (using the ImageFlow plugins) or PulpMotion Advanced. Sometimes they contain movie clips shot with whatever camera one of my colleagues has with them.
I'm wondering what are the best project settings to use with FCE to generate a video file that I can drag into iDVD and have rendered as a widescreen video? As a Bear of Very Little Brain I'm confused by all the options (dimensions, frame rate, codec, etc).
I tried this weekend using H.264 codec, 1280 x 720 29.97 frame rate, 24 key frames, and the video took 20 hours to output from FCE, then another 3 hours for iDVD to encode for the DVD. (2.66 GHz Quad-Core MacPro with 10 GB RAM and 200+ GB free on HD, if it makes a difference.) Clearly there must be settings that are more efficient!

Mostly my input files are still pictures, usually JPEGs. I bought the ImageFlow plugins which will animate them in different ways. For example, I took the pictures of everyone at my school and animated them into a 30 minute sequence of swooshing images with a video matte over a green caustic video generator.
Sometimes I use a program called PulpMotion to make a different animation, but I have a lot of choices for exporting a QuickTime file from that program, so I could set that to match whatever's best for FCE.
Sometimes I'll use iMovie 09 to make a clip from still images (for the automatic animations), but again I have a lot of choices for exporting that clip and bringing it into FCE.

I have downloaded a serie and now i want it to put on a dvd . can you make a dvd with menu in idvd from the serie

i have downloaded a serie and now i would like to put them on dvd with a menu so each plot can play separatetly

split the show into parts
add each episode to your iDVD project ..
(Just curiosity: Kurt, are you from Stuttgart? )

Is iDVD completely gone in version 10.8.2? I would like to be able to make a DVD with an interactive menu to burn and play on a DVD play as you could with iDVD.

I would like to make and burn a DVD as you could with iDVD that was available with OS 10.4 -- is this no longer a possibility with 10.8.2?

Why is there no iDVD on my new Mac?
Apple insists that the entire world has access to fast broadband (and are prepared to pay for the considerable bandwidth usage) and wants to distribute home movies to friends and relatives via download (iCloud, YouTube, Facebook, whatever) rather than mailing them a DVD. The fact that in reality not all users do, has so far had no effect on this policy. If you scream and shout loudly enough down the phone Apple may send you a free copy of iDVD. Stating that they would return their brand new Mac unless they received a copy of iDVD worked for some, but that is now said to have been withdrawn by Apple.
Also, you can complain bitterly via Apple’s Feedback link, perhaps suggesting that Apple could have provided a choice between burning DVDs and distributing home movies by other means. You may feel that Apple should not dictate how you destribute family videos or photos to distant relatives and friends, and should not assume that every user is prepared to pay for the excessive bandwidth usage charged by ISPs for huge downloads from the App Store:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/
Whilst Macs with a Superdrive continue to be able to burn video DVDs, the software for so doing, iDVD, is no longer included in the iLife bundle that came with OS 10.7 Lion (which also omitted iWeb) or that comes with OS 10.8 Mountain Lion. And it is no longer included in the iLife 11 from the online Apple Store: http://www.apple.com/ilife/. Your only solution is to look on Amazon or eBay and try to get an older version that includes iDVD 7, i.e. iLife version 9 onwards. You should also do this if you plan to buy a new Mac anytime soon, as stocks of iLife that include iDVD will not be available for ever.
However, the vastly more expensive FCPX can burn a DVD without iDVD or DVD Studio Pro involvement, but lack the themes etc of iDVD. Also, of course, there is Roxio Toast, which is the best software for burning anything but again does not offer the flexibility of iDVD.
Apple has clearly indicated in the newest Mac mini and Retina Display MacBook Pro that it plans to get rid of optical disc drives as soon as possible across the board, providing an external USB drive as an option for users who need one.
Users increasingly have fewer opportunities to use optical drives, as the bulk of third party software is now available as a digital download either directly from the vendor or through Apple's App Store. Apple also sees digital distribution as the future of music and movies, as exemplified in Apple TV, which has never included an optical drive.
The company has never supported any new HD optical disc formats on its products, including Microsoft's ill fated HD-DVD or Sony's Blu-ray format, despite initially being involved in the Blu-ray standardization process. Instead, Apple has put its resources behind developing increasingly higher definition audio and video formats that it can distribute electronically through its own iTunes Store.
And if you think Microsoft are any better, their new Windows 8 operating system will not play DVDs, or burn them, unless customers buy an extra upgrade, the company has announced: http://www.gizmag.com/windows-8-no-dvd-playback/22443/
In other words, computer manufacturers have declared optical media as dead, long before consumers are ready to stop using them, which is fine as long as they offered us a choice, but they won’t even do that. Flexibility and intuitive use of a computer seems to be a thing of the past.

Editing complete, now how to make a DVD with menu

This is my first go through with PP CS4 and I'm nearly complete. I've edited my entire video and I've organized my project into about 40 sequences. Now I'd like to create a DVD menu for it and export the entire project to DVD (likely more than one since it totals nearly 4 hours). I'm looking to create a looping video at the menu with a couple options like "play all", "scene selection", and "bonus features". Each of my sequences is a different scene. What is my next step, what program(s) do I use from here to make this happen? After reading some other threads it looks like Encore is the direction I need to head in, but since this is my first time, I'm unfamiliar at the moment.
Any tips and/or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
Ben

http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-encore-cs4/

Can I make a DVD with multiple slide shows?

I am making a project for my son's school. Each classroom (7 or 8 rooms) has their own photo show that I am making. The school wants me to put all of the photoshows on one DVD and separate classrooms into different titles, so families can skip to their child's classroom. So, in theory, I would have one DVD and about 7 or 8 chapters on it. Each chapter would be a different photo show. Can this be done? Is there a tutorial that would be able to help me with this? I have made a photo show and have burned it onto a DVD, but I haven't done anything that requires separate headers/titles. Thoughts? Tia.

Here's a few useful tips when preparing the slideshow/s for an iDvd ...
First suggestion is not to exceed 6 buttons per menu (although some themes allow for up to 12 buttons per menu).
Secondly, don't exceed 99 images per slideshow if the objective is to present the slideshow on a typical set top dvd player or TV. Disregard this rule if you will use your mac / computer to present the dvd slideshow. Here's why:
iDVD '08: After 99 images in a slideshow, set-top DVD player will reset to chapter 1
In iDVD '08, your slideshows are no longer limited to 99 images. You can now have up to 9,801 images in a slideshow. When you are playing a slideshow on your DVD player, it will number the slides (which are chapters) from 1 to 99 and then start numbering over again at number 1 (on the one-hundredth slide). This is normal and not something you can control when you author your DVD. It is a specification that applies to all DVD players.
Related documents
Article 302962: Slideshow audio playback drops out after 99 images
Thirdly, the following are articles to be aware of when making a slideshow/s with iDvd:
Preparing images for iDVD slideshows
You can use photos, movies, presentation slides (created in a program such as Keynote), or other image files in a slideshow created in iDVD. iDVD works with any image file that is supported by QuickTime (including PICT, JPEG, TIFF, and PDF.) You can also use photos directly from your iPhoto library.
Images and movies in a slideshow are scaled to fit the standard DVD window size, but the aspect ratio is preserved. For example, a picture taken vertically (also known as “portrait format”) may have black bands on either side of it to fill out the screen. If you want an image to fit the DVD window exactly, use an image-editing application to resize the image before bringing it into iDVD. (It is not possible to resize movies.) Resize to these dimensions:
◼
720 x 540 pixels for standard video in NTSC format
◼
854 x 480 pixels for widescreen in NTSC format
◼
768 x 576 pixels for standard video in PAL format
◼
1024 x 576 pixels for widescreen in PAL format
You can also make sure images in iDVD are always scaled to a size that will fit within the area visible on most TV screens, or the “TV safe area.”
o fit slides into the TV safe area:
Choose iDVD > Preferences.
Click Slideshow.
Select the checkbox labeled “Always scale slides to TV Safe Area.”
Adding menus to an iDVD project
Depending on which theme you choose, the menus in your iDVD project can hold either 6 or 12 buttons. If you need more buttons on a menu than your theme allows, or if you need additional menus to organize the content of your DVD, you can create submenus.
Submenus give you flexibility in organizing your DVD. For example, perhaps you have several slideshows in your project. You can create a button on your main menu that links to a slideshow submenu that includes links to each of your slideshows. You can also create submenus for additional movies, extra features, and so on.
To add a submenu:
Make sure the menu to which you want to add a submenu is showing in the iDVD window.
Click the Add button (shown below), and choose Add Submenu from the pop-up menu.
A placeholder button labeled My Submenu appears on the menu. It has the default button style for the theme, so you may need to change it to match other buttons on the menu.
Click the placeholder label for the new button once to highlight it, and type a new name for the button.
When you click the label to highlight it, a light blue background appears behind the text.
Using the pop-up menus in the in-place control that appears (shown below), change the typeface, font style, and font size of the button name if you want.
To open the new submenu, double-click the newly added button. Notice that iDVD automatically applies the Extras menu style from your project’s theme to the submenu. Also, a Back button that returns to the previous menu appears on the submenu. You can now edit this menu just as you edit any other menu, changing its theme if you want. You can even use the Add button to create buttons that navigate to sub-submenus.
For more information about creating submenus, see Related Topics below.
And lastly, keep in mind you can also use iPhoto (as well as third party apps) for making a slideshow/s for use within iDvd.
Using iPhoto slideshows in iDVD
You can easily create slideshows in iDVD using images or albums from your iPhoto library.
You can also add slideshows created in iPhoto to your iDVD project. These slideshows are imported into iDVD as movies, which retain the effects and sounds you created in iPhoto. As a result, you can’t edit or change these slideshows in iDVD, and viewers can’t manually click through the slideshow using the DVD player remote control.
To import an iPhoto slideshow:
Make sure the DVD menu from which you want to access the slideshow is open in the iDVD window.
For example, if you want the slideshow to be accessible from the main menu of the DVD, the main menu should be showing in the iDVD window.
Open iPhoto and select a slideshow.
Choose Share > “Send to iDVD.”
After several minutes, a button for the slideshow appears on the menu. The button has the same name as the slideshow.
The slideshow also appears in the Movies section of the Media pane, so you can use it in other iDVD projects as well.
You can change the name of the button by clicking the button twice to highlight the text and typing a new name.
If iDVD is not open when you send your iPhoto slideshow to iDVD, iDVD opens to a new project automatically when iPhoto finishes processing the slideshow. A DVD menu, with a default theme, is displayed in the iDVD window, and it has a button for the iPhoto slideshow. In this case, if you want to add the sideshow to an existing iDVD project instead, choose File > Open, click Don’t Save, and then choose an existing project. When the project is open, you can click the Media button, then Movies, and drag the slideshow to any menu.
If your version of iPhoto does not support exporting directly to iDVD, you must export the slideshow from iPhoto as a QuickTime movie, and then import the QuickTime movie into your iDVD project.
Message was edited by: SDMacuser

How can I make a DVD with a VERY simple menu

I want to create a DVD that autostarts with an opening menu containing a title, a picture and a play button - nothing else. The DVD will contain only one video (created in i-Movie). I want to press "Play" from the opening menu and the video will play. I don't seem to be able to create anything less than a 2-level menu.

Hi
From iMovie - do not use Share to iDVD - but - Share to Media Browser and as Large (not HD or other res. as result will lose quality)
In iDVD - I select a very simple Menu - Old themes -> Brushed Metal
Then in iDVD click on Media button and on Movie and here select Your Movie and drop it into iDVD Menu window.
Now You get a Play movie title/button - If You also get Play Scenes - then select this title and erase it if You don't want it.
Yours Bengt W

Make a DVD with *only* subtitles on it?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for

Make a DVD with only subtitles on it?