iDVD speed problems

OK, I have figured out how to make all of the menus and everything I want in iDVD. Problem is, they take FOREVER to make. I am in a hurry to get these dvd's done, and for some reason it is taking 4+ hours to encode the menus and video. I have no idea why it would take this long. On my Linux machine, it would take MAYBE 1.5 hours to encode and burn a DVD with the same amount of video. That is also with a 3 year old Gateway laptop. The specs on my Macbook (brand new Penryn) extremely outweigh that laptop, but it still takes longer. Is there any way to fix this? Why is it happening?

Also, I was wondering if it was possible to just create the menu in iDVD and place the already encoded video files in there afterwards? It would take much less time for me to encode the video on my Linux machine and just insert it into the DVD after the menu was made. Does anyone know if this is possible?

I'd compare the quality of that 1.5 hour render and the one done in iDVD. There are settings in the Project Info window that you can change to speed up the render. Look at the Encoding popup selection. Check the Help to figure out which is appropriate for your intention.

Perhaps you can speed up the render slightly by saving as a disc image or to a Video_TS folder. Then use Toast for the final burn.

I've always wondered about your second question, but don't recall seeing anyone having done that. I wonder if you could make a short DVD, save as a Video_TS folder, and swap in your longer content rendered from another machine.