Help! 2 1/2 hrs imovie project how to burn a dvd-

[lia]

I've searched everywhere. And i know there is an aswer. But i really need help. I have a vhs movie that i'm cleaning up for my mom so she can watch it better. The movie is 2 1/2 hrs long. I've already done evrything in imovie. I know i can't burn it using idvd. But i'm lost. what do i do now. Do i convert it to a dv using quicktime pro so i can burn it using toast? ? what about lost of quality? The movie was made in 1939( Filipino movie) so it's not that great anyway. Please help.

[terryj]

welcome to the wonderful glass ceiling you hit with
iLife.
Your best bet would be to try and use iDVD4 to compress
the movie to lower quality to encode to DVD.

I have only read about this, I do not know if it personally
works or not; the limitations of iDVD ( all versions)
led me long ago to invest in DVDSP.

Since doing so, I no longer have to worry about time
constraints, crappy menu transistions, etc.

[Frobozz]

You don't need to convert it to QuickTime to burn the DVD with Toast.

Your choices are to either burn this movie to two DVDs, burn it to one DL DVD, or create a disc image to compress to one single-layer DVD using Popcorn or other compression application.

To burn it to two DVDs, just drag the .mov file from the iMovie Project folder to the Toast Video window. In the edit window you can choose how much of the movie to burn to the first DVD. Burn that movie. Now use the slider to choose the rest of the movie and burn the second DVD.

To burn to one DL DVD you'll need a DL-capable drive and DL media. Just use Toast as above but burn the entire movie.

To create a disc image and compress with Popcorn, drag the .mov file to Toast and choose Save as Disc Image from the File menu. Then select that Disc Image file with Popcorn and burn to a single-layer disc.

[arnisandyz]

Mabuhay!

I use captyDVD (which came with my DVD burner) instead of iDVD to author the DVD and save as a TS_folder. I'm not sure if iDVD will let you save as a TS_folder though. Then I use popcorn to size it down. You don't really see too much decrease in quality especially if it started as a VHS tape.

[pixeljammedia]

Oh gosh, okay before you invest in a dual layer drive or DVDSP, let me throw in my two cents. First DVDs do not have time constraints but rather have file size constraints. You need to make sure that your 2.5 hour movie is encoded to an MPEG2 which is smaller than 4.3 GB in size. You do this by controlling the bitrate. Grabbing ffmpegx shows that a 720x480 150 min. long movie should have an average bitrate of 2994 kb/s. So grab a copy of MMT EZ and set that as the bitrate and let it encode your movie. You can then use Sizzle to create menus or if you do not need them then you can simply create a DVD structure with Sizzle 0.1 or DVDImager. Then you can burn. If you have Toast just drag the encoded mpeg onto the video tab with DVD selected.

Using the proper bitrate gives you better quality than requantizing.

[Frobozz]

Grabbing ffmpegx shows that a 720x480 150 min. long movie should have an average bitrate of 2994 kb/s. So grab a copy of MMT EZ and set that as the bitrate and let it encode your movie.

I didn't bother suggesting the option to encode at a low-enough bitrate because I thought the only encoders that could do that on a Mac were BitVice and Compressor. I tested BitVice and just don't have that much patience for how much time it takes even though people hold high regard for its quality. I don't have Compressor because I'm too cheap. I wasn't aware of MMT EZ so I just downloaded it. From what I can tell the lowest bitrate available is 3500 kb/s. What do you think of the quality of its compressions?

[terryj]

I didn't bother suggesting the option to encode at a low-enough bitrate because I thought the only encoders that could do that on a Mac were BitVice and Compressor. I tested BitVice and just don't have that much patience for how much time it takes even though people hold high regard for its quality. I don't have Compressor because I'm too cheap.

and for all the time you'll waste downloading third party apps/shareware,
and try to fiddle with them to get an outputted MPEG2 at proper authoring
size, You could get Compressor bundled with DVDSP3 on student discount
for like $300 or so, and with two clicks and a fast mac, have
a 2.5 hour movie compressed and ready to author and burn in
less than 3 hours, give or take.

You get what you pay for.... Since I bought DVDSP3 and Compressor,
only on rare occasions do I ever use any shareware to compress video
to burn to DVD. I spend more time now "dressing up" my DVDs
in authoring than I do in the encoding stages, and I get more
made this way...

[sdm]

I agree mostly with pixeljammedia. (although I think your bitrate calculations are out)

I however, would take the .mov from the imovie project file and start with the ffmpegX preset for dvd ffmpeg, change the bitrate to 3000 or so, the resolution to Half D1, and choose 'Decode with QT' in the options tab to ensure audio sync. Also if you only have 2 audio channels, choose stereo with an audio bitrate of 224kbps.
You will get 352x480 mpeg 2 video and AC3 audio that is approximately the same quality as source vhs.
You can fit 3 hours on a dvd5 at this bitrate.

Alternatively, try encoding to full D1 at 3600 kbps.
This will give you 720x480 mpeg 2 video that should be okay quality, and you can fit 150 mins.

I would try a five minute sample of high motion action on dvdrw before encoding it all.