Transferring Hi8 video to iMovie to DVD

Question

Contrary to the popular mythology that using Mac's is intuitive, mine is missing the simple single icon in iMovie "Convert Hi8 video to iMovie and then to DVD". I could hope that there would be one simple action to perform that function but having worked with computer programmers for years I know they don't think that way. I have jumped through a myriad of flaming hoops trying to convert an hour-long Hi8 video tape from my Sony digital camera to our new iMac computer and then saving it to a DVD (hopefully a DVD+R because I have a warehouse full of them). However, after numerous attempts and using our brand new Maran Illustrated user manual (whose listed icons don't match those actually found on our machine)and trial and error (with error exceeding success) I have been able to load the video onto my hard drive but can't yet burn it to a DVD. I have reached the point where a baseball bat through the monitor seems appropriate for reducing my stress and frustration. Thus to prevent a sizable casualty loss could someone please advise me of a simple, straightforward description of the steps necessary to perform the process described above. Then as soon as I can locate my missing iDVD icon from the pop-up bar at the bottom of my screen I can proceed with preserving my cherished old videos.
Sincerely,
A PC User Not Yet Convinced of the Ease of iMac Use

Answer 1

Hello, rocky,
Welcome to the discussions! Karsten is correct...you are a good writer!
It should not be that difficult to accomplish what you wish. Some have directly imported the Hi8 video into iMovie from their Hi8 digital camcorders. However, if yours is not digital, you will need to first capture it to DV tape and then import that into iMovie. If you already have the video in your computer, do you mean that the clips are in iMovie?
If so, you can easily view, edit, title, add music etc to your new iMovie. You can make chapter markers to create scenes in iDVD. When you are satisfied with your movie, just save it and close iMovie. Open iDVD (if the icon is missing from the dock, go to your Applications folder and find it. You can drag it into the dock again if you wish). Find the Media tab and look for 'Movies.' Your movie should be visible there looking similar to the iMovie icon. Drag your movie onto the iDVD screen. Automatically, your movie will load and you will see its title, and the options of 'Play Movie' and 'Scene Selection' (if you have made chapter markers; you won't have this option if you have not). You can customize your iDVD project with themes, changing the titles, adding photos, etc. Save whatever you like and when you are done, save the project as a disk image. That will begin the process that looks as if it is burning the DVD, but will actually create an image for you. Specify it to be saved to the desktop, or wherever you wish. You can then burn your disks from the disk image using 'Disk Utility' (found in your Utilities folder).
As far as the type of disk to use, iDVD 6 can burn to + or -, but most of us recommend DVD-R for best burning. Also, the type of media can make a big difference. Verbatim is one of the best.
Post back if you have more problems or if what I have written is not so clear...after all, it is 2am here Much better than bashing your monitor...it is not the monitor's fault....!