Import m2v to iDVD

[indijay]

Hello All,

I am planning to edit my shot footage in Premiere pro 1.5 I noticed that Premiere pro 1.5 exports DVD file as m2v file and audio file. I would like to import these files in iDVD for authouring. I learnt that iDVD doesn't accept these files. Googling led me to http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060416162333377 Using this tip, I can only make a DVD without any chapters.

Does anyone has any other trick to get these files into iDVD so that I can make DVD with chapters?

Many thanks

[jaymac]

Not certain but have a look at dvd author

[redwudz]

Apparently iDVD can't accept MPEG-2 or M2v input? Can you output DV AVI from Premiere Pro and use that in iDVD instead?

And you might get better answers for this in our Mac forum, especially concerning iDVD. I can move this thread there if you want.

[indijay]

Please move this question to mac iDVD forum. I appreciate that.

[redwudz]

Moving to the Mac forum.

[Frobozz]

You can use Toast 6 or 7 to convert the separate m2v and audio files to DV format for import to iDVD. You also can use MPEG Streamclip but the video and audio streams must be in the same folder and named alike except for the extension.

[indijay]

@Frobozz,
I am sorry but I didn't quite understand how MPEG Streamclip will solve my issue here.

See, the whole idea of using m2v file is because I am not impressed with the compression that iMovie HD / iDVD applies while rendering a DVD, so I want to compress it in some other program and then use iDVD just to author.
Should I be using MPEG Strealclip, then I will have to export it as , probably *.mov file and then import it in iDVD, right? or I misunderstood anything here?

Thanks

[gspanos@comcast.net]

Using MPEG Streamclip, I've been demuxing .vob files to m2v and aiff, importing the m2v files directly into iMovie5, then creating an iDVD 5 project after editing in iMovie. This was giving me good results until I recently experienced some distortion in the m2v file once it was in iMovie. The distortion is most evident when the camera shakes or pans quickly and is in the form of thin horizontal lines.

Anybody know why this might be and how to prevent it?

[havema-1]

Forget using iDVD for this task. iDVD insists on encoding the MPEG itself -- it can't handle MPEG input. It basically wants DV so it can encode and author it.

Usually there is not much sense in converting MPEG to DV and then back to MPEG because of the quality loss. Yes, editing DV is easy with iMovie, but I'd edit the MPEG with tools like MPEG Streamclip, Capty MPEG Edit EX etc if necessary. Then the quality loss is avoided or kept to the minimum.

So: you should use other DVD authoring apps like Toast, Capty DVD/VCD 2, DVD Studio Pro, Sizzle etc to author your MPEGs as video-DVDs.

[SERBIAN]

iMovie converts MPEG2 video track /.m2v/ on the fly during importing into the format you choosed during creating new project...The lines you see is probably interlacing...

[gspanos@comcast.net]

iMovie converts MPEG2 video track /.m2v/ on the fly during importing into the format you choosed during creating new project...The lines you see is probably interlacing...

So, can you suggest a solution/alternative?

[havema-1]

Oh, I just tried the Mac OS X Hints "Use MPEG2 footage in iDVD" tip the OP mentioned in his 1st post and, to my surprise, got it to work. Didn't try the hint how to add chapters though.

Basically that tip lets you author the menus via iDVD and then replace the dummy disk image contents with real MPEG encoded elsewhere.

Anyway, that required quite a lot of work and seemed prone to user error so I'd use other options instead.

[indijay]

I think I have read that tip but still would you mind posting it here?