problems using iMovie 2

[ansberry]

I am using iMovie to transfer family video to dvd. I captured the video and edited it. Now I want to export it to Quicktime so that I can use Toast to burn it to DVD. When I compress it to the highest quality level, 29 frames per second, it still leaves a huge file. How do the professional movie people get a whole movie onto one DVD? I realize that they don't use iMovie, but is there some other kind of compression that I can use to compress my iMovie files without producing low quality video?

thanks- Mike

[ansberry]

Okay, I guess my ignorance is showing. When I use a medium compression setting, my file gets rendered with no trouble onto the startup disk with 4.9 gigs of available space. The file only takes up about 170 megs. But when I try to save it at the high quality setting, it gets halfway through and tells me that the drive is out of space. Surely it can't take up that much more space than the 15 fps setting? Does it require some kind of extra space, a sort of elbow room, while it is processing?

Mike

[TugBoat]

Okay, I guess my ignorance is showing.

uh, lotsa assuming here. I'm guessing that you're not aware that you need to convert that DV file to a MPEG-2 file to author a DVD with. DV is an editing format used in editors such as iMovie/FCE/FCP and has a size equal to 3.6MB/s. Multiply the seconds x 3.6MBs and that is the size of standard DV. Once the editing is finished, you need to pass the DV file off to a MPEG encoder such as iDVD, DVDSP, BitVice, QT MPEG2 encoder, Compressor, Toast6, and even ffmpegX. I'm assuming you don't have one of these MPEG2 encoders.

You need to save that DV file as a 29.97fps DV-DVCPRO QT Movie. I think that's in the Expert settings when you go to export in iMovie. If you're trying to export a DV STREAM, the file will be much larger. You would be best served by obtaining iDVD3 and using that to author your DVD. iDVD4 requires a 733MHz G4 or better. iDVD3 is satisfied with any G4. You could use ffmpegX but the learning curve is quite steep and you won't get a menu with ffmpegX. If you can't obtain iDVD3, your best bet may be Toast6.

You've only just begun, checkout the DVD specs;
https://www.videohelp.com/dvd#tech

[WiseWeasel]

The easiest way is by using the iDVD export option in iMovie. This will preserve the maximum amount of quality for use with iDVD. If you want to use Toast, then export as QuickTime: Expert Settings, and then choose Movie, self contained format. This will require a lot of space, as it will still be in DV format. Then, you can use Toast to make a DVD from it, though Toast doesn't give you a lot of encoding and DVD presentation options.

[ansberry]

Wow. I am beginning to understand that I don't know enough about this digital video business to even comprehend how much I don't know.

So when I save the movie in iMovie as a Quicktime file, It isn't compressed? I do have Toast 6. I saved the iMovie at 15fps, since I didn't have room for 29fps. I burned it to cd with Toast 6. It worked okay, but of course the quality was really low.

My main problem is that iMovie won't let me save to any disk other than the startup disk. When I pull down the "save to" menu, only places on the startup disk show up. Even when I'm on the desktop. Does anyone know how I can make it save to my larger drive?

Thanks for putting up with stupid newbie questions. I've searched the archives for stuff in iMovie, but have found very little. I should be getting a copy of Premier soon. Maybe that will solve my problems. I bet that program has a serious learning curve.

Thanks-Mike

[WiseWeasel]

When you choose Export in iMovie, format: QuickTime: Expert settings..., it should allow you to set the save location to wherever you want, not just the startup disc. Are you using MacOS X? In iMovie, if you do the QuickTime export, expert settings, you should be able to choose Movie, self-contained, which will keep the original video in DV format, and therefore it will maintain all the quality of the material you captured. Then, you can import the output from this iMovie export into Toast in Video mode DVD format, and it will handle the encoding to DVD (which will take forever and a half on your G4/450). You do need significant space to be doing video conversions, and don't skimp with low fps and highly compressed formats if you want any kind of acceptable quality from the DVDs you're making.

[havema-1]

In iMovie 3 and 4 you don't have to export the movie anymore because each time you do a save in iMovie, a little reference .mov file is created inside the iMovie project folder. You save a lot of time and disk space by using this tiny reference .mov as your input file.

I believe you can encode DVD with Toast 6 but I prefer to do it via iDVD.

See also iMovie and iDVD faqs:

http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/index.shtml

http://www.kentidwell.com/idvd4/