DVD Authoring Program Choices

[releasethedogs]

I have allways been in to macintosh and i loved using iDVD on the eMacs at my University so when i recently upgraded my powermac 9500 to a G3 iBook 900 I quickly decided to buy a DVD burner so i could use iDVD 5 with it. To my dismay the system requirements for iDVD 5 exceed my iBook's. What are my options as far as building a DVD with menus. I have the latest version of toast but you have to use there theme. I was to build my own! That is half the fun! I have done some research on the web and on these boards and I have used sizzle. The price is good but it is not very user frendly, or perhaps im an idiot. dont like sizzle. i also know about DVD Studio Pro but i fear that if i cant run iDVD there is not chance that i can run a "pro" tool. Also I hear it has a big learning curve. i also have heard about some program "captyDVD" cant find much info on it. Anyways let me know what my options are.

thanks!

[Frobozz]

I have the version of CaptyDVD 2 bundled with a LaCie D2 drive. LaCie told me they also sell this version for $75 if you call them to order it. This is the lite version that has five motion menu templates (compared with at least 10 in the full version) and cannot encode AC-3 audio (although it can use existing AC-3 encoded muxed MPEGs).

You can see a demonstration of this application at www.bobhudson.com. It does a nice job with its menus and support chapter menus.

[robguy]

Yes, CaptyTVDvd the way to go.

If you're using an external DVD recorder, you can't use iDvd in any event.

And, by the way, professor, it's "their" theme, not "there" theme.

[rumplestiltskin]

iDVD5 will burn to an external DVD burner. It also will permit you to "save as disc image" which then may be burned using Toast or Disk Utility. The "hurz/pfurz" hack required for iDVD4 is no longer needed.

The above info will probably not help "releasethedogs"; sorry.

CaptyDVD sucks but unless "releasethedogs" is ready to buy a G4, he may have no other choice. I do seem to recall, however, that using Pacifist (http://www.charlessoft.com/) might permit one to extract the components from the iDVD installer package (.pkg) and place them into the appropriate folders. Whether iDVD (v4 or v5) would even run on a G3 is doubtful but as long as we're looking for options...

[robguy]

Thanks for the info on iDVD5; I was unable to install previous versions AT ALL on my iMac, according to Apple, because I didn't have a SuperDrive. Wasted my money.

However, if iDVD5 will work with my external LaCie, I will purchase a copy.

[rumplestiltskin]

Just in case it's not common knowledge in this thread:

The Pioneer DVR-107/108/109 is a "SuperDrive" as far as iDVD is concerned. Many other DVD burners also work (Sony and other brands have been used by Apple in the past). The DVR-108 is the basis for the "-117" unit in the G5s of late 2004 and there is a set of firmware updaters to turn 'em into DVR-108's (with region-free and "no-speed-check" enabled).

I mention the above simply to offer an option for those who might have a G4 that came with iDVD but without a SuperDrive (many Macs with combo drives shipped with iDVD and iDVD4 will install without a SuperDrive present but will inform you that you can't actually burn even though you can create and save a "project"). If you have a G4 tower, replacing the old optical drive with a DVR-108 or 109 (under $60) is a piece of cake. You will, most likely, have to remove the drawer "face-plate" on the drive for many G4/G5 models because there's no room for it to pass through the slot available for it in the bezel.

Hope this is of some help.

[alph]

Toast does permit you to change the background. It's also probably possible to modify the arrows and possibly button placement too, but I've not tried that.

http://www.roxio.com/en/support/kb/toast/ET60000093.jhtml

Also Toast permits:

-customizing the title and all text
-selecting the movie frame to be used for the buttons

All in all, there are a lot of options there even if it's not a perfect solution.

Cheers,
Alph

[promoter]

Will Toast 6 or CaptyDVD allow creation of disk images larger than will fit on a single-layer DVD+/-R (~4.3GB)? I often record TV shows with just a little over 2 hours of material. I'm looking for a different authoring program since iDVD's 2 hour limit is fixed; I can always use DVD2OneX to shoehorn it onto a DVD later. Thanks in advance.

[alph]

Yes Toast will create an image of whatever size it needs, and then you can shrink it to fit on a single disc. I'm not sure about thte other application.

Cheers

[Frobozz]

CaptyDVD 2 also will make a VIDEO_TS folder or disc image intended for burning to DL media. Unlike Toast that automatically sets an appropriate bit rate to fit the disc ranging in many steps from 8 mbps to 4.5 mbps, CaptyDVD encodes at either 8 mbps, 6 mbps or 4 mbps. LaCie FastCoder (one of the ways you can get CaptyDVD) lets you choose a large number of encoding bit rates.

[promoter]

Thanks alph & Frobozz. I'm still using Toast 5, so upgrading to Toast 6 sounds like a good plan. If I didn't already have an Analog-Digital converter, the LaCie hardware encoder would be a nice option.

I'm now looking for a bundle with Toast 6 & a new DVR-109/A09 to replace my DVR-104.

[Frobozz]

Just to point out, promoter, that the FastCoder is not an analog-digital converter. Its only purpose is encoding MPEGs from DV or MOV video sources in real time.

[promoter]

Thanks for the clarification, Frobozz.

[decay]

thanks for the link, alph.

anyone have some nice background links they'd like to share?

[releasethedogs]

allright, i got captyDVD and its a good program, still makes me wish it was iDVD but unless i go buy a G4 sounds like its my only option. thanks to all who helped me out.