VOB to MPEG to MOV to export to iMOVIE HD 06 HELP PLEASE!

[HowardNeedsHelp]

My Goal: To edit video in iMOVIE HD O6 export to iDVD and create new DVD

My Process: I have taken VOB files and used MPEG Streamclip to convert to MPEG. Installed MPEG 2 codex. Quicktime can play the MPEG. Now I want to export to iMOVIE as MOV or any form that iMOVIE can edit. Problem a short 12 min film eats up 20 GB when I try to export before it fills up my Hard Drive Free space and I get an error message. Please help with the settings I need in Quicktime to get export to IMOVIE HD. Alternatively, Please help me find a better way to get my movie into iMOVIE. I really really would appreciate help!

My system:
Mac PowerPC 1.67GHZ
Had 20 GB Free hard drive space
2GB SDRAM
Quicktime 7.6.2
IMOVIE HD 06

[rumplestiltskin]

Export from MPEG Streamclip as "DV" (NTSC). DV occupies about 15GB per hour of footage. If your 12 min video took up 20GB on your HD, you were probably exporting as an uncompressed MJPEG (which is not what you need).

Once you've done the DV export, launch iMovieHD, create your project file. Save it. Quit. Now right-click (control-click) on the project file and select "show package contents". Navigate into the "Media" folder. Drop your exported DV footage into that folder. Close all the windows. Double-click on your project file. When iMovie launches it will tell you about a clip it found (which is the one you just dropped in). Open iMovie's trash and drag the file to your timeline. Edit as necessary. Save. "Share to iDVD" (or whatever the command is). That will launch iDVD and put your edited video into the iDVD project file.

By the way: Time to get a big hard drive - even an external will help.

[HowardNeedsHelp]

That you for the great help! You're Awsome!

I did what you said and was able to convert my 5 short movies and edit them in imovie and share them to iDVD. I made a simple 5 button menu for each of my 5 movies in iDVD. I choose a theme with a motion background. I burned the DVD and it played fine in my DVD player attached to my TV. However, it does not work right in my mac dvd player in my computer.

When i put it in the DVD drive the apple DVD player auto launches and the menu screen on the DVD comes up-- so far so good. However, when I click on the buttons nothing happens. I can't get from the menu to any of my short movies on my Mac. I burned another DVD and I had the same problem. I burned a DVD without a motion background and it worked fine on my Mac. I think the motion backgrounds are really cool. Any idea why it won't play right on my Mac and how I can get it to work? My Mac DVD player, plays all normal/ professional DVDs correctly. Thanks!

By the way: You are so right that I do need at least an external hard drive.

[rumplestiltskin]

Try using the cursor and Enter keys to navigate from button to button and to select the button you want. Some older Macs aren't 100% compatible with the Apple's implementation of the motion menu concept (as you've discovered). Apparently commercial DVDs do it differently (and I wouldn't be surprised if DVDs with motion menus authored on a PC worked on your Mac!).

If the keyboard navigation works, then you've got your solution. More importantly, the fact that the DVDs you're making play on your set-top DVD player shows that you're doing things right!

Remember: You can never be too rich, too thin, have too much RAM, or too much HD space.

[pixel zombie]

i usually use mpegstreamclip to edit my vobs, save as vob and then use toast to make simple menus...

[HowardNeedsHelp]

Using the arrow keys and the return key, I can easily navaigate the menu and play the motion background DVD I burned in iDVD. Thank you!