This might be a slap in the forehead moment...

You should use DVD-R not the +R's

BTW - How many people know where the quote you use comes from?
It's one of my favorite films.

> This might be a slap in the forehead moment...
>
> You should use DVD-R not the +R's

Not so much a slap in the forehead, as a mildly painful dull thudding of my forehead against the desk at least four or five times. So much for my blind faith in the technological march of mankind. *coughs*

Needless to say, I am having more luck with DVD-Rs than DVD+Rs, not to mention a few handy tips culled from other sources, both online and IRL... so thanks for your contribution to the puzzle! ?:)?

I am still having problems with pixelation and streakiness in the final playback of the authored DVDs... the quality is actually quite appalling given that it was shot on a fully-pro HDV camera. Not sure what that is, but I would be curious to know what other iDVD quality/preference settings I can change for a better result, beyond changing back to "Best Performance" rather than "Best Quality" (I used the latter for this most recent batch).

Are you able to offer any tips on that particular thorn?

> BTW - How many people know where the quote you use comes from?
> It's one of my favorite films.

Yeah, it's a corker... one of the most irreverent and anarchic films I've ever had the pleasure to chortle my way through. And dare I say it... my favourite film on the subject of film-making?

As for people guessing the source of the quote... well, my being a noob to these fine fora means that you are actually the first (or at least the first to say so!).

Not sure what I can offer as a prize, though! ?;)?

cheers,
D.

"How tall is King Kong?"

Fuck. Me. Sideways.

I don't even begin to have a clue how this shit works. I am starting to think about tossing my computer, my camera, and all of my accessories, into the garbage, and taking up darts.

NOTHING IS WORKING!!!

I try .mpeg-2 instead of .mov. Nothing. I try -Rs instead of +Rs. Nothing. I try HD instead of SD. Nothing. I sit and watch the computer compress for 7 hours without going to screensaver. Nothing. I figure out how to combine the separate video and audio streams created by Compressor into a single menu button only by sheer fluke (and in a way that the manuals don't even hint at). Nothing.

I've now gone through every conceivable permutation, and used up about 20 blank discs, in pursuit of cast/crew dubs, and the closest I've come is three discs, created from .mov files, that can play on Mac only players (i.e.: not on the average DVD player in the average home, which will be really helpful to my actors and their $100 supermarket DVD players).

At this point, I actually don't care if any of you fine fellow filmmaking.net folk can, or want to, recommend a sledgehammer for my iMac (or some other way to get me out of this hole I'm in), I actually just want to rant about how retarded the FCStudio manuals are, how totally unfriendly the interface is between FCP and DVD Studio Pro, and how I cannot for the friggin' life of me figure out how this piece of shit is supposed to be functional for anyone other than a nuclear physicist with a life membership in Mensa!

*deep, sharp breath*

So I'm sorry if you stumbled across this post looking for erudite witticisms or Ciceronian articulation... you're shit out of luck.

I'm just royally pissed off now!

?xx(?

D.

"How tall is King Kong?"

Take a deep breath. Things are only complicated because you have a lot of options. You don't need these options.

The reason iDVD crushed your 16 X 9 into 4X3 is probably because you have your sequence set for 16 X 9 and iDVD sucks. If you copy everything to a 4X3 sequence things should work better. The reason iDVD (and final cut will do this as well if you print to tape) squishes it is because iDVD knows that TV screens are 4X3 and it wants to make your sequence fit on a TV. If you have a 4X3 sequence your footage will still look 16 X 9 but other programs will see the output as a 4X3 faux-letterbox.

So anyway here are a few easy steps to get it to work (I hope you're coming from FCP because I dunno anything about iMovie).

Step 1- Copy everything to a sequence set for 4 X 3. You can change a sequence's settings in FCP by right clicking in most versions.

Step 2- Go to export- quicktime movie. This is a full quality export. If it's too big, make sure "make movie self contained is checked". If it's still to big, go to compressor (instructions below)

Step 3- Open a new project in DVD studio pro. Delete the Menu and track that come up. Move your .mov track into the graphic view. Right click and make it first play. This will be an auto play DVD but it seems like you should keep it simple.

Step 4- Put a DVD -R into the burning drive and click burn.

Step 5- Rejoice.

And Compressor instructions:

Use the Apple preset for best quality DVD 90 minute and go to all, so it gets both video and audio.

See it's not so hard. And I'm only a video editor with a 1 year mensa membership (lifetime memberships are too expensive).

All my movies on DVD Studio are .mp4. That's how Compressor handles it
when I use the preset like DaveD mentioned.

I hadn't really noticed before, because I'm quite ignorant regarding these
things, I just export to Compressor directly from my FCP timeline using
the presets. I've never had an issue.

I wish I could help more, because I've never had a single problem with
FC Studio.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)