I have a dual G5 using FCP4 and I am wondering what is the best way to make DVD's from my work in FCP? I want to get the best quality output that I can.

Do I need to purchase better software to burn DVD's or will iDVD work with Compressor or Quicktime? Will my internal DVD burner work or should I use an external DVD?

I'd appriciate all the advice I can get. Thanks,

Matt

How long is your project? Shorter projects are easier to encode onto a DVD. You can try iDVD to see if it's good enough for you. If you're looking for better authoring and more control over compression then get DVD Studio Pro 2.

FCP 4 comes with "Compressor" which is way better than Studio Pro 2, also FCP 4 has a good output for DVD through the export.

I do agree that Studio Pro would be the best ticket for making DVDs on a Mac. There is Toast it does not allow menus yet it does allow DVD/RW for testing you can burn multi sessions.

My project is a 4 min music video.

I've tried to use iDVD and for some reason it is not playing or burning. I convered to quicktime and imported it in. It played it but there was no audio and it said that it was unable to complete to burn.

Could I be doing something wrong when I compress it? What is the best way to compress and convert. How should I import it?

Thanks for your help. I am so confused. It sounds easy when I go through the tutorials and the help files but when I try it, it doesn't work.

Important to save project as dvd project, before you do anything else and keep saving it often. I had the same problem and ok since I've been doing this.

Rick

How are you exporting it?? Are you making it an MPEG2?

I exported it as a MPEG 2 with compressor, however I it doesn't work with iDVD so I think I need to get a compatable program. With quicktime, it is not giving me that option, only MPEG 4, and audio AIFF.

I'll look into saving it as DVD. Thanks.

Is your internal DVD burner a SuperDrive that came with your G5 or did you install it?

All G5s come with a Superdrive, the newer 106.

I know several people who have removed them for different models, burners etc. Just checking, iDVD should work with the stock drive. Do you have QuickTime Pro registered as the Pro version? Check your registration. More options like MPEG2 should be available.

iDVD limits the time to your video and it also puts that nice little ad in your DVD you know the one that little itty bitty "Apple Logo"


Why do they do that?

My G5 has a superdrive, I've kept everything stock.

Do you guys recommend exporting from FCP4 using Quicktime conversion or quicktime movie? Is there anything specific that I should make sure I have selected on the exporting menu? And how should I go about importing it into iDVD?

I am trying to go for the best possible quality for a 4 min. music video. I shot on a XL1 so I have great picture quality and dubbing it over to VHS just looks like crap. I am hoping that burning it to DVD will look more like my master I made on MiniDV tape.

<<<-- Originally posted by Tom Neumann : iDVD limits the time to your video and it also puts that nice little ad in your DVD you know the one that little itty bitty "Apple Logo"


Why do they do that? -->>>

It's a (free with your computer) consumer product.

That said, iDVD allows for up to 90 minutes of video now. That's about the limit you can get without 2 pass VBR encoding or other advanced features that they've rolled into Compressor (DVD Studio Pro 2 or FCP4).

And you can turn the Apple logo off in the preferences.

<<<-- Originally posted by Matt Concialdi : Do you guys recommend exporting from FCP4 using Quicktime conversion or quicktime movie? Is there anything specific that I should make sure I have selected on the exporting menu? And how should I go about importing it into iDVD?

I am trying to go for the best possible quality for a 4 min. music video. -->>>

Export as a Final Cut Pro Movie from FCP. iDVD takes care of the conversion to MPEG2 for you. Then you can simply drag the movie from the Finder into the DVD.

For a 4 minute music video, you'll get the highest quality compression that iDVD allows, and it should look nearly as good as your MiniDV version.

Yes iDVD can do this and they do it well, I was just ondering do they still but the Apple Logo on your video??

As for exporting from FCP just export it as a QuickTime movie a allowing for good quailty if you know the settings and drag and drop the .mov clip you have made into iDVD it converts.

<<<-- Originally posted by Tom Neumann : I was just ondering do they still but the Apple Logo on your video??
-->>>

As I mentioned in a previous post on this thread, simply turn off the logo in the iDVD preferences:

In iDVD go to iDVD>Preferences and in the General pane you'll see a checkbox for Show Apple logo watermark. Uncheck that and the Apple logo disappears.

It will never show up on the video, just the DVD menu, and only if you leave it enabled.

if i export out of FCP4 through Compressor for better mpeg2 quality, can i then import that into iDVD for authoring? the movie is a theatre production with two 1.5 hour acts. if i can't, what is the best/cheapest program to use to author an mpeg2 to DVD? thanks ya'll.

dan B.

I would imagine, with a mac, it's DVD Studio Pro 2. I have been wondering about this. Is it true that iDVD only allows like 4 scenes (from the menu) instead of an unlimited or 20 or something like that? Does anyone know how many scenes within a menu DVD Studio Pro 2 allows? What are some other benefits???

Thanks in advance...
Clay

I think the limit is 99.

Jeff,

That's for DSP2 right, not iDVD? Or, am I missing something within iDVD?

Thanks...

Sorry, DVDSP2.

From Apple:

Contains multistory feature to create alternate versions (up to 98 stories)

Timeline-based Track Editor
The timeline can assemble nine video angles, eight audio tracks and 32 subtitles into a single track. It adds trimming and merging options and lets you place, modify and delete chapter markers. You can also convert slideshows into a track, to add features such as subtitles and audio tracks.

Advanced menu control
When you assign a video clip as a menu background, you can choose to loop to a frame different from the starting frame. This allows you to have a looping background with a beginning section — for example a fade up from black or a transition from another menu — that only plays the first time through. Audio assigned to the menu automatically follows the video as it loops. Advanced overlay graphics let you choose up to four colors or shades of gray so that multiple highlight colors appear when buttons are selected or activated. You can select chroma (black, red, blue and white) or grayscale (black, dark gray, light gray and white) overlays. You can configure a menu to support up to 16 different languages. When the DVD starts playing, it checks the menu language setting of the DVD player and automatically displays the corresponding menu, if a menu for that language is available, or the menu for the first language available if there is no language match.

<Sent from Rick>

Important to save project as dvd project, before you do anything else and keep saving it often. I had the same problem and ok since I've been doing this.


Rick,

I have looked to try to save as a dvd project but I can't find it. How do I go about saving it as a dvd project?

Matt,
Are you sorted with your DVD Projects ok?

Rick Banfield

When I drag my quicktime file over to iDVD, then I try to burn it, iDVD gives me this error:

Problems found validating your project
A DVD must have at least one video track or one slide show.

I played the piece in quick time and it works, both video and audio. Does anyone have an idea where I am going wrong or how I can fix this problem.

Thanks

Matt,
Remember to make project, ADD FOLDER, SAVE PROJECT, then reopen IT, and add your quicktime file.(Hopefully).

I had the same problem. Hope this works
Rick Banfield

Well, I got one step successful. I got video but no audio. I went with exporting as a 60 min fast encode with compressor selecting the "ALL" selection- DVD PCM audio and MPEG 2 fast encode. From there I brought it over to Toast 6 and burned it as a DVD. It says that it is not detecting audio and asks if it is in a seperate location. I burned the DVD and the video came out but no audio.

How do I get audio on there? Am I missing something here? Should I also compress the with AIFF?

Hey guy's I dopn't know if this is the correct thread for this, but you all seem very knowledgeable and I am desperate. I am using DVDSP 2.0 on a Mac G5 1.8. I am trying to burn long DVD's 90+ Min. The final product of the burn is terrible. Random waves of pixelation float accross the screen. My threshold setting is Target=4, Max=8. I am using the stock super drive.