Burning imovie project to dvd

I just got a new iMac for Christmas and attempted to burn a project from iMovie to DVD. I was informed that iDVD is no longer included in new macs. What is the most popular way or burning app that everyone uses now? I'm kind of confused on how to get a movie to DVD now. Thanks for the help.

Welcome to the Mac Forums.

Your new iMac should be pre-loaded with Lion. Did you check your Applications folder to see if iDVD was there? My new iMac (2011 model) came pre-loaded with Snow Leopard and iDVD was included along with all the other iLife applications.

If your Mac doesn't include iDVD, you'll need to export your iMovie project to a QuickTime movie and then use a third-party freeware or payware solution to burn it.

Thanks for the response. Chscag, I think the new 2011 models with Lion are not including iDVD with them, if I've been told correctly.

Hey Chas m, would you happen to have a suggestion for a good and reliable burning software for Lion? Free or pay, I'd really appreciate a suggestion from someone experienced. Thanks

Burn seems to be the preferred option these days. It's free.

I use VisualHub still, but it's been discontinued and is very hard to get. Burn works fine.

Not sure if u tried this yet, but I just did a data migration from my 'old ' Mac (2007 desktop with the original iDVD on it) and successfully installed iDVD on my new 27" iMac purchased 2 days ago with Lion on it. I migrated my apps from the old to the new and everything seems to be working fine.

Mommii said:

Not sure if u tried this yet, but I just did a data migration from my 'old ' Mac (2007 desktop with the original iDVD on it) and successfully installed iDVD on my new 27" iMac purchased 2 days ago with Lion on it. I migrated my apps from the old to the new and everything seems to be working fine.

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Yes, iDVD can work on new iMacs with Lion preinstalled if you have access to an old copy.

It's crappy that Apple no longer includes this important software. The all powerful Oz decided that DVD's are useless, so they took away the ability for anyone to burn movies on them natively with something that has been free for years. But if you buy the box version of iLife it is still there. Hmmm, how very Microsoft-ish of them.

No, the "all-powerful Oz" didn't decide this. The market decided it.

People don't burn DVDs much any more. They upload them to YouTube.

It's also NOT Apple's job to provide you with any and all software you might think you need someday possibly in perpetuity. They have a PERFECT RIGHT (as does any software developer) to discontinue software that is not pulling its weight.

Many, many, many third party companies have put out DVD burning software. Some of it's even FREE. If you are in the minority of people who need this, go get one.

Aside to ceejay: Apple discontinued the box set of iLife quite some time ago.

chas_m said:

No, the "all-powerful Oz" didn't decide this. The market decided it.

People don't burn DVDs much any more. They upload them to YouTube.

It's also NOT Apple's job to provide you with any and all software you might think you need someday possibly in perpetuity. They have a PERFECT RIGHT (as does any software developer) to discontinue software that is not pulling its weight.

Many, many, many third party companies have put out DVD burning software. Some of it's even FREE. If you are in the minority of people who need this, go get one.

Aside to ceejay: Apple discontinued the box set of iLife quite some time ago.

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According to the Apple website, it doesn't look like they have:

iLife '11 - Apple Store (U.S.)

(and it does include iDVD)

I guess I'm an old fart then, because I remember when Apple made commercials touting how easy it was to make DVD's on their computers. Yes, I know times change, but if they put a DVD burner in it, it ought to come with software to actually use it. That's my opinion and I am sticking to it! Apple used to make fun of PC's for doing stuff like that.

Yes, I know they are probably going to delete the Superdrives from future iMacs, but they didn't do it yet on my 2011 machine. When there is no more DVD drive, then they have my permission to eliminate the software. ;D

You're right about the iLife Box set, thanks for pointing that out. I must have gotten confused about some other product that is now download-only (like Lion, or Final Cut, or Aperture, or maybe iWork ...)

As for commercials, yeah they made commercials for AppleWorks too at one point. As you say, things change (pretty fast in the tech world). As for burning DVDs, the lack of iDVD does NOT mean you can't burn a dvd on your Mac. Disk Utility continues to be able to do this (even a "movie" DVD ... it just doesn't do it directly from iMovie).

Disk Utility continues to be able to do this

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OK. So how do you get Disk Utility to do that using video/movie files?

chas_m said:

You're right about the iLife Box set, thanks for pointing that out. I must have gotten confused about some other product that is now download-only (like Lion, or Final Cut, or Aperture, or maybe iWork ...)

As for commercials, yeah they made commercials for AppleWorks too at one point. As you say, things change (pretty fast in the tech world). As for burning DVDs, the lack of iDVD does NOT mean you can't burn a dvd on your Mac. Disk Utility continues to be able to do this (even a "movie" DVD ... it just doesn't do it directly from iMovie).

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Disk Utility is very useful for burning data DVD's, but can it be used for creating video capable disks? How would one go about creating a DVD player disk using Disk Utility?

I didn't have it installed either. I then checked the discs that came with my iMac. One was labelled "Applications Install DVD." Popped it in, and there was everything iLife, including iDVD.

Spellbinder: thanks for the tip, I hope that's still true for iMac buyers. I'd much prefer that they at least keep iDVD around as an optional install.

For ceejay and MightJem: use a third-party program to create a DVD disc image from movie files (I do this all the time with VisualHub, which can also burn the disc if I choose to). Once you have the image file, you can drag it into Disc Utility and burn as "CD/DVD master." Works great.

use a third-party program to create a DVD disc image from movie files (I do this all the time with VisualHub, which can also burn the disc if I choose to). Once you have the image file, you can drag it into Disc Utility

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Yeah, that's what I thought. Your other post seemed to indicate something else. Cheers.

Spellbinder said:

I didn't have it installed either. I then checked the discs that came with my iMac. One was labelled "Applications Install DVD." Popped it in, and there was everything iLife, including iDVD.

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This won't work for any new iMac purchases ... no software DVD's included.

Oh well.

That's true (of new Mac purchases) but this is exactly what the Recovery Partition is for.