A couple of questions regarding widescreen and DVD burning

Hi everyone, i'm new to the forum and also relatively new to macs, having bought my first, a MacBook Pro, just a few weeks ago.

I've made a movie on iMovie HD (because 08 is horrendous), and i dont know how to get it onto a DVD. The thing is, its about 12 GB in size, so i don't know what i have to do to get it onto a DVD. Do i have to compress it somehow, or does iDVD do this for you?

I also have a couple of issues in iDVD. When i preview the movie, grey bars appear at either side of the video (because it is in widescreen format), and i don't know how to get rid of them.

And finally.... (sorry about this!), the transitions i have added to my movie can be seen on the black bars at the top and bottom of my movie. How do i make them only affect the widescreen area?

Sorry for bombarding you with so many questions (which probably have simple answers), but i have searched everywhere and cannot find any decent instructions

If anyone can help me i would be most appreciative

It sounds to me like you are having aspect ratio issues. What is the source of the movie that it would have black bars on top and bottom in iMovie? Is your source a DV camera that happens to allow for recording widescreen? If so, then I think you need to choose DV Widescreen when creating the iMovie project.

My camera is a Sony HDR SR5E. (Hard Disc Drive). The video was recorded in widescreen and AVCHD format, although when you import AVCHD to iMovie, it automatically converts it to AVI i think.

So is there a way to change the aspect ratio to widescreen without making the whole movie again?

Ok, i've managed to solve the widescreen issue, but one problem i'm still struggling with is the transitions.

I have a few white fade-ins and they appear in 4:3 format rather than 16:9, causing them to be visible in the black bars at the top an bottom of the movie, which looks awful.

How do i change the transitions to only affect the letterboxed area?

It doesn't sound like you have solved the problem. The reason I say that is as far as I know, when you set your iMovie project up for widescreen, and import widescreen video, there should be NO black bars at the top and bottom of the video. iMovie is where the transition issue needs to be fixed.

iMovie 08 converts AVCHD to Apple Intermediate Code during the import process, not AVI.

Also, as far as I know, iMovie HD does not allow you to change the aspect ratio or video type after you have created the project. iMovie 08 does because it also allows you to mix and match types within a project.

I quickly looked at the specs of your camera and noticed it does not have firewire so my first question is; How are you getting the AVCHD video into iMovie HD?

If you recorded HD widescreen on the camera then the only iMovie video format that makes sense to me is HDV 1080i. You chose that when you first create the project. Your video should then fill the video window in iMovie and you will not have the transition issue.

potamkin said:

I've made a movie on iMovie HD (because 08 is horrendous), and i dont know how to get it onto a DVD. The thing is, its about 12 GB in size, so i don't know what i have to do to get it onto a DVD. Do i have to compress it somehow, or does iDVD do this for you?

Click to expand...

The easiest way to send video to iDVD from iMovie 08 is to share it. Select the Share menu item in iMovie 08 and then select "Media Browser..." and finally choose the medium (640x480) or maybe the large selection. Once that finishes rendering, open iDVD, create the appropriate aspect ratio, choose a theme, add a movie button via the plus sign on the bottom right, and via the Movies tab, find your shared movie in the list and drag it to the button.

An alternative way is to export the movie from IM08 as a Quicktime movie in an appropriate size and then import it into iDVD.