iDVD looks great, but has size limitations, what to use?

[crp2000]

I have lots of tv music performances as a imovie project, I want to turn them into a DVD music compilation. My problem is - I can build a great looking iDVD project but only fit about 8 performances on due to the large dv size. If i use ffmpegx to convert them to dvd (vobs) they are no use in iDVD, I could burn them in toast but it would look so basic with the boring menu. Is there a way I can convert to something compatible with iDVD that is not as large as .dv, this way I can create a much better looking dvd with custom menu's etc with all the music performances on it.

[brett]

i am confused. "dv size" doesn't limit idvd -- only the length (time) of the movies. or are you running out of hd space?

[jbcandkc]

iDVD will convert your .dv into mpeg2 compressed video.
You can fit 60-90 minutes of video on 1 DVD in mpeg2.
You don't need to use ffmpegx to convert because iDVD will do it for you.
If you are new to iMovie and iDVD, maybe try to do the tutorials.

jbcandkc

[havema-1]

iDVD 4 can encode max 60 minutes with its "Best Performance" and max 120 minutes with its "Best Quality" setting on a DVD.

Best Performance basically means faster encoding but it is limited to 60 minutes because it uses a somewhat high Constant Bit Rate (CBR) so that all scenes get enough bandwidth.

Best Quality uses Variable Bit Rate (VBR) and can encode up to 120 minutes. The encoder inspects each scene and gives more bandwidth to "difficult" scenes (much movement, dim lighting, water etc) than "easy" scenes (talking heads shot on a tripod, still images etc). This is of course slower than Best Performance.

So Best Quality should always be used if you have time to wait for the encoding.

Recently I did some tests and found that in some scenes Best Quality had short, few frames, bursts of blockiness that weren't present in Best Peformance. But in practice the difference was wery small (in my 15, 30 and 60 minute tests -- 120 minutes started to show increased blockiness) and other test material could have yielded different results. So I'm still preferring Best Qua! lity unless in a hurry.

[terryj]

Time to move up to DVDSP3 and Compressor 1.21.

If you had Compressor, you could, after using
a BitBudget Calculator to figure up your total
video minutes, encode all your material to fit at
a high enough bitrate that you could live with in terms
of Quality and getting the video to all fit
onto a DVD.