Quality of images in iDVD

Hi Team,
I am a photographer, and looking for a way of creating a DVD that I can hand to people to give them an idea of my work.
I have created a DVD in iDVD, and am impressed with the themes, and the ease with which I can add my photos and add audio. When I preview the DVD everything is perfect, and the photos in the preview look like they do when I view them outside of iDVD.
However, when I burn the DVD and play the DVD on my Mac, or on the TV, the quality of the images has reduced a lot, and they are no longer as sharp and as clean as I would have hoped.
Is there anyway to improve this? I have already set the encoding option to 'higher quality', and this helped, but my DVD is still not showing high quality images.
If this can't be achieved with iDVD, do you know of another application that could help?

Hiya,
I also am a photographer, and it seems the family archiver! I just made a 10 min. slide show of my parent's marriage for the past 60 years and just skippede iDVD all together!
I made a VERY decent 5 min. slide show in Fotomagico in less than an hour; of course than I blew it out to a 10 min. slide show, tweaked most of the photos and spent 2 days locating more photos and perfecting it! LOL (Using my son's original music and arrangements of big band music.)
It looks VERY professional and not like I tossed it together. You can see my review that this project initiated on MacNN:
http://www.macnn.com/reviews/review.php?id=319
Great software, IMHO
ilene hoffman
ileneh-at-mac-dot-com
<edited by host - see [url=http://discussions.apple.com/help.jspa#terms]Terms of Use, section 2.6.3[/url]>

Similar Messages

Photo quality from Aperture to iDVD output problems

What is the best option for burning a simple slideshow to a disc for viewing with a DVD player. I have tried several ways resulting in a disc that does play without problem but the quality of the photos is very poor, nothing even close to the preview in iDVD itself. My settings in Aperture is for high quality previews, I believe it is the previews that iDVD uses. I'm not sure of the correct settings for iDVD. Any suggestions or helpful links would be appreciated.

As I just told another poster in the iDVD Forum:
DVDs are LOW resolution devices by today's standards. An NTSC DVD image is 640x480 pixels (768x576 pixels PAL). This is about 0.3 megapixels!!
If you want to make a HD format disc, a 854x480 image is squeezed into 640x480 when a DVD is made.
When (and if) Blu-ray discs become readily available, things will get better.
See: Preparing images for iDVD slideshows at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/7.0/en/6675.html

Importing Images into IDVD for Slidshow

I am at a loss as to what is the best image size, resolution size, etc. when it comes to importing images into IDVD. I usually size my prints
4 x 6 @ 300 dpi.. This looks fine in the slideshow preview. After I burn the dvd and view it, the images lose quality, etc..
Any help would be appreciated

What you're creating in iPhoto is a movie file that will get cut off in iDVD because of the TV over scan issue. Only stills imported and assembled into a slideshow in iDVD can be scaled to avoid the over scan.
So to get what you want you'll have to import the stills into iDVD from iPhoto and create the slideshow there.
If you have Quicktime Pro you can mask the QT movie with a black mask and cause the iPhoto QT movie to be scaled to the TV safe area. The steps are below. You'll have to experiment with the final sizes to get it exact:
Masking Movies to the TV Safe Area for iDVD
The mask should be 640 x 480 pixels and the movie at approx. 580 x 386 (I arrived at this figure by making a snapshot of the TV save area of an iDVD project with Snapz). You can set this size after you’ve joined it with the mask movie with Quicktime Player Pro.
Import the black mask jpg file into iMovie and and export it as a .mov file at the same length as your movie (there may be a way to not have to create a specific length mask for each movie but I haven't found it. If the times do not match the movie file will be synced to the length of the mask movie).
Open the mask movie in QT Player Pro and then open your regular movie and make it the front window of the two. Now you'll need to run a QT Player AppleScript titled "Merge Movie 1 into Movie 2". You can get it from this Apple site: Quicktime Player Scripts.
Then run the script. You can then run the merged movie to check it out. Your movie will be located in the upper lefthand corner of the window when played.
When you open the Movie Properties window from the Window menu for the combined file you’ll see the following:
Video Track 1: the black mask
Video Track 2 : you movie file
Tween track: Have no idea what this is.
Sound track: self explanaotry
Black mask.
To set the size of your movie to the correct size select it in the Properties window and click on Visual Settings pane. Then enter 580 in the first field and hit enter. With the Preserve Aspect Ration box checked the other size will automatically be set.
To center the video track in the center of the mask select the Video Track 2 item and plug in a offset of about: 70 & 45. You'll probably have to play with that to fine tune the centering. Doing the math and subtracting the movie dimensions from the mask dimensions and dividing by two just didn't get it perfectly centered bit with a little eyeballing and trial and error it got there.
Now save as a new self contained movie after checking the High Quality box at the bottom right.
You can now import it into iDVD for preview and burning. One drawback is that you can't invoke the TV save area for a movie in iDVD to check it out. But you can mark it on the monitor screen while viewing a menu or slideshow and then play the movie to see how close you came. I found that the size was still a little under the TV safe area when burned and played on my TV. It may be the difference in normal CRT screens and flat screens, etc.

Having problems burning/creating disc image in iDVD 6

I am currently experience new problems trying to burn or create a disc image in iDVD 6. I have successfully burned iDVD projects in the past with the same computer/iDVD 6. The iDVD project looks like it is processing normally, even creates a labled disc image- but when you click on it, it reads "My Great DVD", and the video and audio files are also unreadable or absent- the error message for the VIDEO_TS.VOB file I pulled up read, "There is no default application specified to open the document "VIDEO_TS.VOB".
My older son just got Toast 7 Titanium for me, so I have that resource. I also just bought extra memory to bring me up to 1.25 GB, and an external hard drive with 320 GB. I have a younger son and a friend who will need me to make a dance audition DVD for a CA college dance department that must be in So Cal by 1-19-07, so you can imagine I'm getting a bit nervous about this. I have verified permissions, reinstalled iDVD from the original, and re-done the original iMovie/iDVD project that first caused the problems- a 12.8 GB project (but have not re-done things since I got more memory on my computer). I don't know how big the audition DVD's will be, but estimate they won't be that big (hopefully), but will consist of many short clips/chapter headings. I know just enough about computers to know what I don't know, so would really, really appreciate some basic help!

My Great DVD", and the video and audio files are also unreadable or absent- the error message for the VIDEO_TS.VOB file I pulled up read, "There is no default application specified to open the document "VIDEO_TS.VOB".
I don't know what you expect. You're looking for a problem where there isn't one.
The AUDIO_TS folder SHOULD be empty and (unless you've installed spercial software) you WON'T have any application to open the VIDEO_TS.VOB.
If you want to play the disk image, open Apple's DVD player application and then use it to open the VIDEO_TS folder.
This Burning a disk image file on a CD or DVD in Mac OS X at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93006 is how you burn the disk image you have to writable media.

How can I improve quality of image when burning a movie to a DVD

How can I improve quality of image when burning a movie to a DVD?

What resolution are you using? If the DVD is to be playable on an ordinary DVD player, only ordinary TV resolution is supported. You need Blue ray for HD.
Geoff.

I have a few wedding projects(1-2 hours)I am trying to export at full hd quality,than burn in idvd.After rendering for 8hrs I receive error code that states "file is too big". Please help? compressing tips without losing quality?

I have a few wedding projects(1-2 hours)I am trying to export at full hd quality,than burn in idvd. After rendering for 8hrs I receive error code that states "file is too big". Please help? compressing tips without losing quality? or any other exporting alternatives?

Hey Z,
Thank you for the tip on exporting by media browser (large) from imovie. But of course, if it's not one thing it's another. Now that I figured how to export a large file from imovie, I have an idvd issue. I followed the instructions for burning from idvd and changing the encoding to professional quality and the burn speed to x4, but I am receiving an error that states the following,
Your project exceeds the maximum content duration. To burn your DVD, change the encoder setting in the Project Info window.
Project:
- total project duration: 79:04 minutes
- total project capacity: 4.327 GB (max. available: 4.172 GB)
Menus:
- number of menus in project: 1 menus
- total menu duration: 0:39 minutes
- total menu capacity: 37.370 MB
Movies:
- total movies duration: 78:25 minutes
- total movies capacity: 4.291 GB
I have searched in the idvd forum for similar issues and I am stumped at this point. I have tried deleting the encoding assets and re launching idvd with the changed preferences, and still the same error. I know you mentioned something about free hard drive space available, and I have very little left. 4GB to be exact due to massive hours of non-edited footage. I am not sure if this is why, but I do not recall ever needing free space to burn memory onto a separate dvd. I would be more than happy if I am wrong, and it would be a quick fix. Otherwise, the technical nightmare continues. It's all a learning process and your expertise is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Trying to get a high quality still image

Hi,
I am trying to get a high quality still image from a 16mm film I completed years ago. I have had it transfered to digital format and brought it in to Final Cut Pro Studio 2. The distributor (Canyon Cinema) wants a high resolution image for the website. 600-dpi or better. When I create a still it comes out 72. How can I increase the resolution of the image for distribution on their website? Thanks to anyone who get guide me to the 21st century...

DPI is essentially meaningless in the video world. DPI is a measurement for the print world only.
But since video resolution equates roughly to 72 DPI, that's the best you'll get. Best to go back to the original film and pull a still from there.
Or you could try one of those resolution enhancing plugins for Photoshop like Genuine Fractals.
-DH

Importing images to iDVD

I'm having a problem importing images into iDVD. They import fine on computer but when I burn, they are covered in white lines. What do I do to save frames from iMovie as stills to prepare them to be imported into iDVD?

In iMovie put your playhead where you want an image taking from, and then click on file and save frame. This then will ask you where you want it saving and what type.

Exporting high quality still images?

Is it possible to export a high quality still image from video? I have used the export using qt conversion, exported it as a photoshop document and when I bring that doc into photoshop the image quality is poor at 300 dpi. It comes in at 10 inches X 6.67 inches at 72 dpi, but when I make it 300 dpi the image size is only 2.4 inches by 1.6 (this, of course, is when I turn off "resample image")
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Tim

Is it possible to export a high quality still image from video?< </div>
Yes and no. it is no better than your video camera shot it. Generally, for conventional DV, that's roughly 500x800 pixels at a shutter speed of 1/30th second. HD formats and special frame rates, of course, produce other still images.
720x486 at 72 DPI.< </div>
I beg to quibble, or at least to be a pedant. The 72dpi is an artificial construct imposed by Photoshop. There is no dpi or lpi in video. You only get the raw pixels. You can make the pixels bigger by scaling up or you can throw some away by scaling down but, without additional work like resampling or applying a tool like Genuine Fractals, you cannot get any more pixels.
bogiesan

Poor Image quality/Slideshow/iMovie to iDVD

I placed about 150 jpegs as clips in iMovie HD (v.5.0.2). I made them all 3.25 seconds long and gave them all a short overlap transition. I set them to music and exported to iDVD (v.5.0.1). Once the DVD was burned, I viewed it with disappointment. Briefly, during the transitions the images are of great quality. But the actual image clips are very poor quality. I'm new to this and I find all the many options for making quicktime movies a little overwhelming. But, exporting to iDVD doesn't have any options. I thought it was supposed to maintain the quality.
What did I do wrong or what can I do right?

Karl Peterson said,
"If there are unrendered clips in the Timeline when we tell iMovie to Share (Export) a project to iDVD, iMovie will ask permission to render those clips. (Rendering converts the clips to video clips.)
These may include still photos, photos imported with the Ken Burns checkbox turned OFF. Photos imported with the Ken Burns checkbox ON are rendered by Ken Burns; iMovie won't ask to render them again.
If we grant permission to render clips, iMovie will render them with very poor quality, adding lots of "jaggies" to the photos. It's a bug.
To avoid the bug, do NOT grant permission to render when iMovie asks. Then iDVD will render them for us, which it does with good quality.
So, to avoid the bug do any ONE of these:
1. Import all photos with the Ken Burns checkbox ON.
2. If iMovie asks permission to render when exporting the project, do NOT grant permission.
3. Instead of sharing from iMovie to iDVD, drop the iMovie project into the iDVD project window.
Karl"

Poor image quality after burning with idvd

I used Final Cut Express to make a 45min movie. When I preview the finished product as a Quicktime file it looks great. BUT when I burn it with idvd, the quality of the video is terrible! Jagged diagonal lines, some color loss, some dancing pixels,...
I have been trying to find the solution to this problem for days on end, I have burned about 20 dvd's now, all in different settings and so on, but the quality is not improved.
First I thought it was my tv, but then I put the dvd in my mac and compared the same scene from my quicktime file with the scene on the dvd, and the difference in quality is staggering! For instance, diagonal white road markings are crisp on the quicktime file, but jagged on the dvd.
What is idvd doing with my movie????? Help me!

My Final Cut Express movie (.mov file) is crisp, and interlaced.
You are missing the point - your CRISP FCE movie is mpg-2 compressed by iDVD - that's what DVDs are - mpg-2 compressed video content. Unfortunately, mpg-2 is a very low quality CODEC compared to modern CODECs like h.264.
The best image quality out of iDVD will result in using the 'Best Performance' mode of encoding - this requires your content be under 60 minutes for a single-layer disc.
'Best Performance' encoding uses fixed bit-rate encoding that produces a DVD with about as high playback bit-rate as can be supported by set-top DVD players.
You have three choices: (1) live with the mpg-2 compression on a DVD because you can't do anything about it, (2) use the h.264 CODEC out of FCE and create a data DVD with the file that can be played back in computers, (3) make a Blu-ray disc if you have the equipment and buy the software.

IPhoto Slideshow Image Quality when export to IDVD

Aloha ... I have two issues that I am having problems with when I export to IDVD. My images look very fuzzy (originals are very high res and print quality images} when exported to iDVD and a DVD is made. Also in the show my vertical images look fine and fill the screen yet on iDVD they are made shorter/squatier and upper and lower parts of the original image are lost. The format is wide screen as is the show. I am using a LCD wide screen TV if that helps. Any ideas out there?

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Are you cropping your photos to the 16:9 ratio before creating the widescreen slideshow in iPhoto and exporting them to iDVD for a widescreen project? Most digital camera images are in the 4:3 size ratio and don't convert well to the widescreen. Also check the aspect ratio that you're playing the dvd in as that can have an effect on how the slideshow looks.
Also remember that the images going to iDVD will be reduced to 640 x 480 (normal TV) and slightly larger for the widescreen version. So the pixel dimensions of the original image are not that relevant.
Happy Holidays
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Error saving a project as disk image in iDVD '08

I don't have a Super Drive so I'm trying to save my project as a disk image so that I can create the actual DVD at work, but after an hour or more of going through the whole encoding, etc. process, it ends up giving me an error message. Does anyone have any idea why it may do this? Can't I still create a disk image without having a Super Drive?

Hi b
To little info to give a true answer - just guessings.
• WHAT DID the error message say ?
• free space on Your internal (start-up) hard disk ? > 25Gb works OK
• what kind of movie files did You import into iDVD ?
To do a DiskImage should be OK and copy to an external hard disk for burning on another
Mac with Apple Disk Util tool or Toast™ - is a way that works for many users.
• How many minutes are Your movie/s and what menu did You select ?
• What type of encoding did You select; Pro Quality, High Quality or Hight Performances ?
• PAL in iMovie and in iDVD or NTSC in iMovie and in iDVD ?
I would delete iDVD pref file and
Repair Permissions and
eventuallt start a new user/account - log into this and re-try
Yours Bengt W

Photos quality very bad in iDVD

Photos in iMovie are great. Added music and all is good. But, once I send off to iDVD the picture quality is terrible. Any line in the photo that is not vertically or horizontally straight is wavy. Plus, the border of the pictures (I'm using Snapshots theme from iPhoto) are wavy as well. It looks so good in iMovie, I just want the same quality when I burn the DVD. Slide show is only 6 minutes. Number of photos probably 75. I would appreciate any help in understanding the easiest way to understand exactly what the settings should be before I send the project off to iDVD. Thanks for the help.
Ann

There are many ways to produce slide shows using iPhoto, iMovie or iDVD and some limit the number of photos you can use (iDVD has a 99 chapter (slide) limitation).
If what you want is what I want, namely to be able to use high resolution photos (even 300 dpi tiff files), to pan and zoom individual photos, use a variety of transitions, to add and edit music or commentary, place text exactly where you want it, and to end up with a DVD that looks good on both your Mac and a TV - in other words end up with and end result that does not look like an old fashioned slide show from a projector - you may be interested in how I do it. You don't have to do it my way, but the following may be food for thought!
Firstly you need proper software to assemble the photos, decide on the duration of each, the transitions you want to use, and how to pan and zoom individual photos where required, and add proper titles. For this I use Photo to Movie. You can read about what it can do on their website:
http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
(Other users here use the alternative FotoMagico: http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/homevspro/ which you may prefer - I have no experience with it.)
Neither of these are freeware, but are worth the investment if you are going to do a lot of slide shows. Read about them in detail, then decide which one you feel is best suited to your needs.
Once you have timed and arranged and manipulated the photos to your liking in Photo to Movie, it exports the file to iMovie 6 as a DV stream. You can add music in Photo to Movie, but I prefer doing this in iMovie where it is easier to edit. You can now further edit the slide show in iMovie just as you would a movie, then send it to iDVD 7, or Toast, for burning.
You will be pleasantly surprised at how professional the results can be!
To simply create a slide show in iDVD 8 from images in iPhoto or stored in other places on your hard disk or a connected server, look here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1089

Poor quality after previewing in iDVD

I created a movie in imovie '09 with video and still images. Movie plays well and looks good when previewed in imovie. I shared to media browser and opened the movie in idvd. All of my chapters came up great and everything looked good until I previewed the movie... horrible quality! Both the still images and video look very pixelated, like they are "shimmering". I've had this happen with other movies I've created using imovie to idvd before but don't know what causes this. I have not even burned the movie yet because of how bad the preview quality is. And I know from past experience that it will look like this when I play it on the tv too. Does anyone know what is causing this and why it only happens with some movies and not others? I have not changed the way I've done anything when going from imovie to idvd with any of these movies. Some come out fine, some come out like this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi
Quality on the resulting DVD has many steps.
a. Preview in iDVD are not same as resulting DVD - I do Save as a DiskImage and test this with DVD-tool first - this will show quality (slightly) better.
b. DVD is a standard in it self and can never be better than SD-video (as on old time CRT-TVs) - no matter what program is used eg DVD-Studio Pro or Roxio Toast™ - There are no HD-Video for DVD (more than academic ones - Toshiba and some years ago - no success)
c. Choice of Video-editing tool - makes a difference as
• iMovie'08 or 09 or 11 - discards every second line resulting in a loss of sharpness
• iMovie up to HD6 or FinalCut any version - does deliver full quality over to iDVD
d. How movie is sent to iDVD
• I do NOT use "Share to iDVD" in any version of iMovie as I get a worse result by doing so - I do in
iM'08 to 11 - Share to Media Browser and as Large - and in
iMovie up to HD6 - just close it and import the movie project from within iDVD
FCE/P - Export out as QuicTime.mov and NO QuickTime Conversion - then I use this file in iDVD.
e. Choice of encoding method in iDVD
• I use Pro Quality encoding
f. Choice of DVD brand and type
I only use Verbatim DVD-R
g. Burn speed
I set it down to x4
h. Free space on Start-up hard disk
I never go under 25Gb - iDVD and Mac OS needs this and can not use it on other hard disks.
Yours Bengt W

Quality of images in iDVD

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