Using IDVD to author

I am trying to learn DVD SP and finding it very difficult. Has anyone tried authoring the DVD menu in iDVD and exporting the menu as a disk image to Compressor for compressing and burning? iDVD makes the process so much easier.
Thanks
Kent

There are a few ways to do what you want (basically bring the menu into DVD SP?)
1.) Depending on the version of iDVD and DVD SP, DVD SP maybe able to open the project. Though if it is a recent version of iDVD, it is probably a non-starter.
2.) Access the assets of the iDVD template and make your own menu from the items (sounds like that is probably not what you want to do.)
4.) Use something like DVDAfterEdit to work with the .img reauthor (but that is a larger learning curve, and probably not what you want.)
3.) Build the iDVD project to a .img. Mount the image then use [MPEG Streamlclip|http://www.squared5.com> to open up the menus. If you look about halfway down [This Page|http://dvdstepbystep.com/vts.php] you will see a list of items in a VIDEO_TS folder. The menus will be in the VIDEO_TS.VOB, VTS_01-0.VOB, VTS020.VOB, etc. (Though it may be just in VIDEO_TS.VOB, was on one of my projects I just tested on. Not sure if different versions of iDVD wrote/write to different VOBs. Then you would need to set in and out points in MPEG Stream Clip) Demux the applicable VOBs to m2vs and use those for the menus.
You would need to rebuild the highlights and if you look around in the iDVD packages for the template highlights they should work. (You would need to still assign colors.) The highlight templates may have to be resized (have not looked at them recently) so if the highlights are off that would be the issue.
FWIW the templates in DVD SP are pretty easy to deal with (and can use some of the iDVD templates) so you may be ultimately better off getting a handle on those than going through all the steps

Similar Messages

Use iDVD to author .exe Games?

I have searched the Apple/iDVD forums and found nothing on this topic.
Do you know if it is possible to use iDVD 5 to author a DVD of executable [.exe] game files?
I would like to put several childrens games on one DVD. Set up the menu to go to the various Game Start Page - to read about the game and be able to press "Play" to launch game [the .exe game file] Once game is finished, I would like a page giving a choice to Continue Playing [launch the game file again] or Go To Main Menu.
I have the .jpgs and .gifs about each game to bring in as footage - will iDVD allow me to bring in the .exe files as footage? Or is there another or better way to get the .exe files into iDVD?
When it comes to launching the game, do I need to add special code to button? When game is finished, how do I get it to go to page giving the choice to Continue or Go To Main Menu [instead of it automatically going to the Main Menu]?
This is my first time trying to use iDVD this way. I have only used iDVD with video movie footage and stills for slideshow.
Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks in Advance.

This isn't something you can do with iDVD. I think you can do this with Apple's DVD Studio Pro.

Using IDVD to author menus

Is it possible to author the DVD menu, sub menus, etc. in iDVD and export it as a Disk Image into Compressor for compressing and burning to either DVD or BD?

No, it can't be done.

Extract DVD videos, to author a new DVD using iDVD...?

I want to extract seveal chapters from a few DVDs, and then make a new DVD (using idvd) from these chapters. What is the best method/video format I should use to extract the chapters to begin with, so here is minimal loss if quality in the final DVD? I was thinking of using Handbrake to extract chapters (from several DVDs) as mp4 files, and then use iDVD to author a new DVD from those files. But what format in Handbrake should I use to ensure best quality? Is Handbrake the best way to go anyway? Thanks, Fox.

You need to convert the VOB files in the TS-Folder of the DVD back to DV which iMovie is designed to handle. For that you need mpegStreamclip:
http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
which is free, but you must also have the Apple mpeg2 plugin :
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
(unless you are running Lion in which case see below))
which is a mere $20.
Another possibility is to use DVDxDV:
http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.overview.htm
which costs $25.
For the benefit of others who may read this thread:
Obviously the foregoing only applies to DVDs you have made yourself, or other home-made DVDs that have been given to you. It will NOT work on copy-protected commercial DVDs, which in any case would be illegal.
If you are running Lion:
From the MPEG Streamclip homepage
The installer of the MPEG-2 Playback Component may refuse to install the component in Lion. Apple states the component is unnecessary in Lion, however MPEG Streamclip still needs it.
To install the component in Lion, please download MPEG Streamclip 1.9.3b7 beta above; inside the disk image you will find the Utility MPEG2 Component Lion: use it to install the MPEG-2 Playback Component in Lion. The original installer's disk image (QuickTimeMPEG2.dmg) is required.
The current versions of MPEG Streamclip cannot take advantage of the built-in MPEG-2 functionality of Lion. For MPEG-2 files you still need to install the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component, which is not preinstalled in Lion. You don't have to install QuickTime 7.

Is there any way to get around having to use iDVD to burn DVD?

Is there any way to get around having to use iDVD to export FCE to DVD?
I've been trying to burn a FCE2 sequence to DVD. A friend of mine told me all I had to do was put a blank DVD in, click on the icon on the desk top, export the sequence to Quicktime and drag the QT sequennce into the DVD icon and click burn.
Well something happened! But there's nothing on the DVD!! What am I doing wrong? I loathe iDVD. i don't want to author. I just want to burn the project on a DVD. Please advise. Thanks.
Chuck
iMAC 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 Mac OS X (10.3.1)
iMAC 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 Mac OS X (10.3.1)

If you export a sequence at full resolution to can burn it onto a DVD as a data DVD, but this is for transportation purposes only. At full resolution the DVD, especially as it fills up, will not have sufficient throughput to sustain good playback of the material. That's why the material is encoded into MPEG-2 for DVD authoring. If you want to make a DVD for set-top playback it has to be authored to include the DVD format structure. There is no way around that. If you don't like iDVD, take a look at Final Cut Studio, you might prefer DVD Studio Pro. Or you might what to look at Roxio's Toast. It has basic authoring capabilities. Personally I don't think direct playback hardware solutions (except for seriously expensive ones) produce acceptable quality, but that's just me.

Slide Show from Fotomagico to .mov to DVD using iDVD 08

I used to make slide shows using analogue equipment (multiple slide projectors and electronic controlled slide changes involving fading and timing). These slideshows were projected onto a large screen (2m * 2m). With the introduction of large high definition TV screens and advanced display options it is natural to aim for this media. I use Fotomagico to develop slideshows and aim for quality high definition and smooth transitions (pan, zoom, fade). As long as I use the Fotomagico for screening transitions are smooth but once I take the show thru the conversion process (part of Fotomagico) to make .mov files for QuickTime or that matter for iDVD, pan/zooms may or may not come out jerky on the screen be that on the computer screen or the TV. However this never happens when using "Front Row". Is it possible that Quicktime and iDVD (08) do not make proper use of hardware resources available? Is there any software that would not cost me an arm and a leg that would overcome this problem? My system is a Mac Pro Q-Core 2.8 GHz and 6 GB of RAM and I have 200 GB HDrive available. One of the offending pictures has 344 KB with an aspect ratio of 3.6 taking 12 seconds for the pan (screening the picture from let to right in slow motion) and increasing the screening of one image to 20 second may reduce the jerky motion slightly. Fotomagico staff is aware of that problem that will not occur as long as the show is screened using Fotomagico - of course the whole exercise is to bring a show to anyone using DVD players and TV screens. I am highly suspicious of QuickTime and iDVD since shows play ok using "Front Row". Any suggestions or questions?

What am I missing? How come DVD recorders can record and play back good to very good resolution and motion in HD coming from TV broadcasts or for that matter coming from professionally made DVDs?
Maybe I left something unexplained in my post: Slideshows developed with Fotomagico and transferred to .MOV format and then recorded on DVD (using iDVD) in 1920*1080 are coming out quite good on my large screen TV (LG DLP 52" 1280*720p) and the same is true playing the .MOV file on the Mac or a PC. I do not use a projector for play back.
It is only when it comes to PAN/ZOOM motions that the display can become jerky. During the translation from Fotomagico to .MOV format I am using the best resolution and compression available to me. I am aware that during the translation (authoring?) massive amounts of data have to be processed to generate the illusion of a slowly moving picture passing across the TV (monitor) screen especially so considering the wide screen (16:9) format.
I am new to making movies for DVDs and I like to learn and why not from the best; any help with my problem is much welcomed and I apologise if I don't use the proper terms or if I bark up the wrong tree.

Burning 2 quicktime movies onto one DVD using iDVD

I wonder if you could help me.
I have 2 Quick time movies - created in FCP - one hour and 10 mins each . Is it possible to put both on one DVD using iDVD? (one is the front view and other side view of a performance).
I have version 5.0.2 iDVD and am burning on desktop G5
Both movies have chapter markers (created already in FCP)
Is it possible to do this and how do I do it using the right menu and proper theme etc- and right method of importing or loading the movies.
Any suggestions?
Many thanks
Nan
Nan Melville
Photography
Home: (212) 873-9829
Cell: (646) 489-5143
[email protected]
http://www.nanmelville.com

Hello Nan,
a Single Layer DVD can hold a maximum of 120 min of video (incl. menus), so either you burn 2 SL DVDs or try to put both movies on a Double Layer DVD, provided you have a burner capable of writing DL DVD.
how do I do it using the right menu and proper theme etc- and right method of importing or loading the movies.
I suggest you have a look at this tutorial by Ken Stone: Authoring with iDVD 5
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/idvd_5stone.html
hope this helps
mish

First time using iDVD for slideshow, need some guidance

I want to make a dvd that consists of 3-6 slideshows, plus "extras". Each slideshow will have 50-150 photos, but the "extras" section I want to have all the photos (including some not used in the slideshows) for a total of about 1300 photos.
1. How do I get the photos not used in the slideshow in the "extras" section?
2. Can I put anything in the "drop zones"? or does everything just go in the "slideshow" section?
This is the first time I have ever used iDVD and could use any help or suggestions at all.....
thanks

Don't use over 99 images in a slideshow. You may have trouble:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302961
1. Just create a new extras slideshow menu from the main menu by using the + button and select Add Submenu. Then go there and add slideshows the same way, only select Add Slideshow and then drag your images in; or use the Import funtion.
2. Drop Zones are for single images/movies.
I think you need to spend some time learning how to do this, rather than guessing.
iDVD 6 Getting Started PDF download
Apple's iMovie Learning Site
Apple's iDVD Learning Site
iLife ’06 Multimedia Tutorials
General Learning Center
Ken Stone: Authoring in iDVD 6
My favorite, by far:
iMovie HD & iDVD 6: The Missing Manual
You can download Chapter four: Camcorder Meets Mac.
iPhoto 6: The Missing Manual

How to get good picture quality on a burned DVD slideshow using IDVD?

After producing a slideshow on IDVD from either jpg or psd photos, it looked great when I played the project. Picture quality was excellent. When I burned a DVD to share the slideshow with a friend and when I played this on the same computer, it had lost resolution and looks awful. I am using best quality but this made no difference. On a hdtv using a standard player, the quality is mediocre. Is there any way to get a decent picture quality. I have also burned a DVD and CD from the IPhoto album, and the quality is better. IPhoto will not burn a slideshow or at least I do not know how to. Can you produce decent quality DVD using IDVD or is there a better application to produce decent DVD of photo slideshows?

....or is there a better application to produce decent DVD of photo slideshows?
Yes. It's called DVDSP (apple's top of the line DVD Authoring application). It has a much longer learning curve than iDvd and is more $$$ but it does work well. The Help Menu alone is over 640 pages long. However, is this app significantly better than iDvd solely in terms of visual quality?.... No.
But it does offer many more tools to address visual artifacts on the finished DVD, more audio control, much better control of durations per slide, audio, buttons that work as expected, among other things. (for additional examples of this see chapter 12 of the DVDSP Help Menu / starting on p. 373).
Short of DVDSP, and much less money, you can also try these 2 third party apps which come highly recommended on this iDvd Forum:
http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php
http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/overview/
At the moment most macs do not yet support burning to Blueray (which does offer much better results). Once this technology is more commonplace, then I believe we will see a significant improvement in what you are trying to do above.
Hope this is helpful but if not just come on back.
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.

Legalities of using iDVD for commercial productions

Hi all,
How do I stand legally using iDVD to produce home movie DVDs commercially. I've search for answers to this with no clear reckoning.
All input is most welcome.
Thanks in advance.
SR

iDVD is not suitable for any commercial DVD titles (ie: replicated discs) . You need to use DVDSP or have someone do it for you. Factors like bitrate, for example, can really screw up a title - BEWARE- you might be OK, you might not.
Remember, just because a disc works in your set top doesn't mean it will in others and there are millions of players in the world. Authoring a title using professional tools is needed to make sure certains aspects of a title adheres to the DVD spec.
E

After upgrading to mountain lion, the movies I create using iDVD periodically stop then resume abruptly when I play them back on my DVD player. Any ideas on correcting this?

After upgrading to mountain lion, the movies/slideshows I create using iDVD playback in a jolting start/stop manner. This didn't happen with the prior os - playbacks were flawless. Any ideas, short of uninstalling mountain lion, on how to correct?

I know this is not much help. IDVD and Mountain Lion are working perfectly for me. I know many others that use Mountain Lion with iDVD also.
I think your problem lies elsewhere.

Does iDVD work with Maverick? This is the first time I tried to burn a DVD using iDVD after upgrading to Maverick. It seems to get stuck at encoding menu stage and not doing anything.

I tried to burn a DVD using iDVD after upgrading to Maverick, first time I tried after upgrading to Maverick a few weeks ago. It seems to get stuck at encoding menu stage and not doing anything. Does anyone else have the same problem?

I did not have a DVD handy to burn but I have just created a small 2 minute video and created a Disk Image and also a VIDEO_TS folder, the encoding worked correctly, so it works with some items.
You may get a better responce in the iDVD forum.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/idvd
regards

How can I burn a DVD of an iMovie 13 project using iDVD 7.1.2 version.

I have a late model iMac which came with iDVD. I use iMovie to make photo and movie projects and share them to iDVD to burn DVDs. I use these often and I love them, specially iDVD.
When Mavericks came out I updated and of course it changed iMovie. I just finished a photo project with music on iMovie and planned to transfer it to iDVD for burning DVD. This is a family project and I want to distribute copies to the rest of the family.
It turns out that I cannot use iDVD with the new iMovie version and/or Mavericks.
iDVD does not contain the buttons that it used to have on each theme in order to play the DVD.
I cannot drag the movie into iDVD.
What can I do so that I can use iDVD when I have an iMovie project to burn it on a DVD.
I can go back to the previous version of iMovie and still have Mavericks.
I do not know, I am lost. Why doesnt this work without any problems when updating the operting system. Apple should take into consideration all the previous applications etc when it makes an older computer able to update to more current system.
I appreciate any help offered.
Thank you

Export the slideshow out of iMovie via the File ➙ Share ➙ File menu option as a 480p Quicktime movie.
Open iDVD, select a theme and drag the exported QT movie file into the open iDVD window being careful to avoid any drop zones.
Follow this workflow to help assure 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

Burn avi to dvd using idvd

i dont have idvd, i dont even have a mac so this may be a really stupid question, but is it possible to convert an avi file and then burn it to dvd using idvd?
for example if a had a film in avi could i put it on a dvd to watch on a dvd player?

It is possible to put an .avi video on DVD, but it has to be converted into DVD format (which is mpeg-2). Another wrinkle is that .avi is a so-called "container" format and it is more or less difficult to convert .avi files depending on the format (codec) inside the container.
iDVD is fairly limited in the types of video formats it can convert (the latest version is the most flexible). If you have a very specific video you're wanting to convert, and thinking about buying a Mac, you could take it to an Apple store and see if iDVD recognizes the format. Alternatively, try visiting a Mac user group and see if they can be of assistance.
John

AVI to DVD using iDVD cuts off sides of the movie

I have various avi movies and while trying to burn them to DVD using iDVD I have been experiencing the following problem: The left, right, top and bottom of the movie are cut off (imagine putting two layers of duct tape on you screen making your screen smaller and then watching a movie on it).
I have a widescreen TV and have tried both the widescreen and standard format with little success. The only difference in on the standard version I can see the entire menu (in the wide screen version, oddly enough, the screen is cut off).
Is there something on iDVD I can do to adjust the ratio to shrink the movie to fit the screen, or do I have to format the movie somehow before bringing it into iDVD.
I appreciate any advice or help anyone can offer.

The problem with that is the green screen I get if I add it to the slide show.
That's the first time I've heard of that. Thanks for the feedback. There's are two possible workarounds if you want to try them:
1 - open the movie in Quicktime Player and export as full quality DV and use that in the slideshow.
2 - if you've installed Perian on your Mac uninstall it, save the iDVD project as a disk image and see if the green is still there or not.
There's a third way, with Quicktime Pro and an Applescript, to mask the movie so that it will be in the TV Safe area. If you find you want to try post back.
OT

Using IDVD to author

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