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Imovie 6 problems creating DVD

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Hi all, First time poster here (though have spent hours viewing!) - have been driven to it by hair tearing issues with creating a DVD from some wedding footage taken a couple of months ago. Summary of the problem is below, any help would really be greatly appreciated.

- I have a Macbook with iMovie 6 and iDVD6.

- I imported Mpeg4 files and converted them to AVI files. Uploaded them to Imovie and created a video with a simple title screen and some fades to link the clips.

- Saved the dv file to desktop (approx 16GB) and also saved another, shorter dv file (approx 100MB) to desktop for practicing the output quickly before saving the main video.

- Dragged the dv file into iDVD, didn't add any themes or menu's and burnt the video to DVD.

- The DVD won't play in either DVD player or in home DVD.


I have attempted too many other methods to mention here and visited too many forums trying to find the answer. In any attempts that have played on the DVD machine the quality has been rubbish.

My question is this. How do I simply use the iMovie I have created (which looks great in the previewer) onto a DVD without loss of quality so I can send it to an ever more agitated Bride!

Many Thanks in advance.

Tonkascot
 
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chas_m

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iDVD needs a menu structure (actually, all DVDs do, even if its not obvious to you!).

Select a theme -- any theme at all -- and plop the movie in there. Then hit the "Map" button and drag the movie onto the big button that says "place movie here for autoplay" (or words to that effect). There.
 
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Thanks for the response, have tried that but no luck I'm afraid. When I put the burnt disc into DVD player there is no response. Even when I put it back into the Mac, although it does open up the DVD player when I press the "play" button it immediately puts up a "Stop" title and everything else I try says "Not Permitted".

Any other suggestions? This is driving me mad!!
 
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I would try exporting the project from iMovie as a .dv file or AIC codec .mov file with appropriate audio. Create a new iDVD project and drag that new file into it.

I would also recommend to never convert to AVI for editing. It's just an opinion, but I've seen enough problem threads and AVI mentioned with those problems, so that is enough for me to avoid AVI. I'd convert to an 'Apple friendly' format.
 
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Thanks for the response, any chance you could tell me a more "apple friendly" format for converting to?
 
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DV is best as its a lossless format (no further degradation of quality). Of course the files are huge, so be aware of that.
 
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Thanks for the response, any chance you could tell me a more "apple friendly" format for converting to?

If you let the software read from the camera (or memory card) then it will do a conversion if appropriate. Typically you are better off letting the software read straight from the camera.

When reading from a miniDV camera, Apples software writes the stream of data out to a .dv file. People say there is no loss of quality because the stream is simply placed into a container file without any conversion being done.

When reading from an AVCHD camera, Apple software may possibly do two things; change the container file, and convert the source codecs (video & audio) to better edit friendly codecs. Currently for iMovie 08 & 09 AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) is used for the video portion. Just to note, the current versions of Final Cut Pro have more conversion options. I'm don't think iMovie HD can read AVCHD cameras, or non miniDV cameras for that matter. So you'd have to manually convert.

If you need to manually convert a file, then the friendly format would depend on resolution and software to be used as hinted in my FCP comment above. Assuming you are using iMovie HD 6, I'd suggest either DV for standard definition and AIC for HD. Search the forums for plenty of discussion on conversion software. You may also need Apples MPEG-2 decoder software which is a small cost.
 
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OK, ignoring any of the above I don't seem to be able to burn to DVD-R disks - I can burn fine to DVD+R though! Any ideas?

Once I get this issue sorted out I can work on increasing the quality of the the movie that is outputted.

RE: the movie issues above I had been advised to "save as disc image" from iDVD which I've managed. I've then successfully burnt this to a DVD+R and this has successfully played in DVD Player on the Macbook. Only issue is that it hasn't played on my home DVD player. I was told this would be resolved if I could burn to DVD-R.... you can see my problem!

Thanks for any feedback
 
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.... I've checked my hardware and it's a superdrive I have so should be able to write to both types.
 
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Did you check you hardware via System Profiler? Did you try burning to a DVD-R disc in the same way you successfully created a DVD+R disc?

If System Profiler says your drive can write to -R media but you can't, then take it in to Apple. Oh, but first be sure you are working with quality DVD discs.

Your home DVD player may still not be able to read your home made discs. Not all could in the past and I'm not sure that all can even today. Check the specs of the player to be sure.
 
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chas_m

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Older home DVD players are sometimes unable to read "+R" discs but have no problem with "-R" discs.

The solution (really) is to find a cheap replacement DVD player. Modern ones can play both without issue.
 
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Older home DVD players are sometimes unable to read "+R" discs but have no problem with "-R" discs.

The solution (really) is to find a cheap replacement DVD player. Modern ones can play both without issue.

Actually it wasn't just +R discs that they couldn't read. My very nice Toshiba can't play either format. I believe most recent players can read both, but I don't know for a fact that it is ubiquitous.

The OP must check the specs of the player.
 

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