[MacDV] Moving into DVD - help!!!

[Brett Koonce]

Some thoughts:

1) Latest version of iDVD goes to 90 minutes, and can do nifty chapter 
markers/whatnot.

2) This is most the fault of spotty DVD-R support and less the burning 
program.  If you're making money off this, use Apple's media, which are 
about the cheapest highly compatible disks out there.  No hardware 
switch/combo is going to improve this problem.

3) Possibly cheap media, possibly something else.  How much ram is in 
the burning machine?

4) I usually just slide iDVD down to the bottom of the screen and go on 
using the web/whatnot.  YMMV.

As for the rest: depends on the amount of work you want to do.  I 
really like iDVD because it's a great simple way to throw a bunch of 
video clips to a program, hit burn, and let the machine do the rest.  
If you get DVD Studio Pro (high-end), be prepared to spend some time 
learning the program, plus at least 20-100 hours to do a single DVD.  
Granted, the templates in DSP2 simplify the process somewhat, but it's 
similar to the difference between iMovie and FCP.  After you know the 
program, it gets a lot faster, but it's not a trivial increase in 
complexity.

Now, for the nifty feature of the day: lay out your DVD in iDVD3, and 
then open it into DSP2 and tweak to your heart's desire.  Viola!  
Fastest way I know of to get the best of both worlds.

-Brett
www.universe42.com

On Nov 10, 2003, at 11:41 AM, Karl Hayden wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> This may be a bit long but hope you can stay with me and offer any 
> advice you may have.
>
> Increasingly I am being asked for finished work on DVD. The programme 
> I most often use to edit with is iMovie2 as the material usually 
> consists of simple cuts, I gave up on iMovie3 as a bad joke. Mostly I 
> would send out the finished material to someone to burn the DVD, but 
> it is costly and can sometimes be more trouble that it is worth. The 
> problem with trying to produce the DVDs myself is:-
>
> 1: I am using iDVD and that limits the amount of running time I can 
> produce on a DVD-R 4.7Gb to less than 50mins.
>
> 2: Too often I have had my DVDs returned as they won't play on other 
> machines.
>
> 3: The burning process often fails before the DVD is finished.
>
> 4: The amount of time it takes to burn a DVD ties up my computer for 
> far too long.
>
> I need to move up a gear and start producing the DVDs myself. With 
> something more reliable than iMovie or iDVD. So this is where I need 
> the voice of experience, ie: YOU.
>
> As I understand it there are a number of options open to me.
>
> 1: I make more use of FinalCut Express, which I understand has a DVD 
> facility to it, but I have never used.
>
> 2: I buy a copy of DVD Studio Pro to produce the DVDs after editing on 
> FinalCut Express.
>
> 3: I upgrade my current iMac SuperDrive to a G5.
>
> 4: I buy an external DVD burner for faster burn time.
>
> Or an alternative which has been suggested to me is to buy a DVD video 
> recorder. I have one on trial at the moment, Panasonic DMR-HS2. It has 
> a 40 GB hard drive, so if I need to produce multiple copies I can load 
> that up and keep replacing the DVD-R for each copy. This alternative 
> is OK(ish) but, the firewire connection does not work between the 
> computer and the DVD video recorder, the firewire between camera 
> (Canon XL1) does work,  but there are a lot of pixel drop-outs and 
> other distortions which take away from the reason to have a DVD video 
> recorder. I have tried using the composite connections, s-video 
> connections and the composite to scart connection. But, that is just 
> adigital signal converted to an analogue signal converted back to 
> digital and I can see the difference between this and the firewire 
> connection. AND one of the main reasons for DVD is to be able to 
> create chapters and graphics to go with them but I can't do that with 
> this machine.
>
> So here I am..... am I expecting too much from a semi-professional 
> set-up? Do I need to take out a mortgage to buy all new equipment and 
> go state of the art?
>
> Any help, advice or guidance anyone can offer would be very much 
> appreciated at this point. Please don't suggest talking to an Apple 
> agent, buying a magazine/book or to look up the internet. I need to 
> hear from people with experience of DVD production and who have no 
> particular affiliation to one product line or brand. This move 
> represents a big financial investment for me and I want to get it 
> right.
>
> Many thanks in advance for your time.
>
> Karl
>
>
>
> ----------
> <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/MacDV.html>.
> Send a message to <MacDV-DIGEST at themacintoshguy.com> to switch to the 
> digest version.
>
> XRouter | Share your DSL or cable modem between multiple computers! 
> Dr. Bott | Now $139.99      <http://www.drbott.com/prod/xrouter.html>
>
>   Cyberian   | Support this list when you buy at Outpost.com!
>   Outpost    |         http://www.themacintoshguy.com/outpost.shtml
>
> MacResQ Specials: LaCie SCSI CDR From $99! PowerBook 3400/200 Only 
> $879! Norton AntiVirus 6 Only $19! We Stock PARTS! 
> <http://www.macresq.com>
>
>