Sharing to iDVD

Question

I'm presuming that the only way to burn a DVD of an iMovie is to share with iDVD and burn from there. I have just done this and iDVD tells me 'the project can't be used because it has not been prepared for sharing yet." It then tells me to share in media browser. Why does this occur when I tell it to share with iDVD from iMovie and exactly what is 'sharing with media browser'?
Pardon my ignorance.
Scott

Answer 1

I should have mentioned that you should use Professional Quality setting when burning to DVD in iDVD. It takes longer, but anything else is bad.
You can set the Quality level in iDVD. Click PROJECT/PROJECT INFO... and choose Professional Quality.
I have a Pioneer Elite 1080P TV, along with Pioneer Elite BluRay and Pioneer Elite Receiver.
I watch my home movies through Apple TV at 960x540 and they look awesome. I have played with burning BluRay movies through Toast 9, and they look really good, but they are maybe 2% better than the AppleTV solution, and it is such a hassle to boot up the BluRay player, find the disk, put the disk in, etc. that I almost always use the AppleTV unless I am testing something. (Note: If your TV does not have good upscaling circuitry, you may not be as satisfied with the Apple TV as I am).
I also have an extra HDMI Input Port for my Receiver which is reserved for a direct connection to my camcorder. The picture looks great, but I have only used it once. It just seems a waste of time to watch unedited video.
I am pretty happy with the quality of the DVDs I make, given the limitations of the format. With 1920x1080 source, they don't look nearly as good as the AppleTV. But I make them for people who have no other choice.
In terms of DVD, you can obviously get more quality out of a DVD, because the movies you buy from Hollywood look pretty good on 480i. The key is that they have high end equipment. You can get a Pro-level camcorder, say one costing $3,000 up to $50,000. (Or up to $100,000 if you go High definition). Then you would use Pro-level editing software like Final Cut Studio, which includes FInal Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro for authoring.
You could go to Final Cut Express, but AFAIK, you would still be using iDVD for authoring. People say it does a better job with DV source. For AVCHD or h.264, it will still be using Apple Intermediate Codec, but you might have more control. Can you tell I'm not an expert on Final Cut? You would be correct.
Rather than spend a lot on standard definition equipment, you might want to look into BluRay.
If you really want to use your 1920x1080 in native resolution, you need a BluRay burner. You probably need a Mac Pro or MacBook Pro, because most of the BluRay burners on the market use the eSata bus. (I think you can get an eSata card for the MacBook Pro). You can find USB burners or Firewire burners, but they are expensive, and the USB models I have seen only work on PCs.
You can burn up to 20 minutes or so of BluRay on a standard DVD in AVCHD format using TOAST 9 or TOAST 10 from Roxio (with the BluRay plug-in). This is the cheapest option, with Toast costing maybe $80. You need a BluRay Player to play the standard DVD you author using Toast.
Other folks may have better ideas.