[MacDV] Re: Various newbie questions

[Ira Flatow]

>> Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2002 20:09:50 -0800
>> From: Paul Russell <prussell at sonic.net>
>> 
>> 1) How do I get from iMovie to MPEG ? I thought that when I'd spent
>> my $ and upgraded to QT Pro I would just be able to select MPEG 1 or
>> 2 when I do an export to QuickTime from iMovie, but the only options
>> seem to be Motion JPEG A or B and MPEG 4.
> 
> QT Pro doesn't offer an MPEG-1/2 codec because they are way more
> expensive than $10-$20. I am surprised Apple doesn't offer one as a
> plug-in at some price.
> 
>> I think I'm right in saying
>> that I need MPEG 1 for VCD or MPEG 2 for SVCD - is that right ?
> 
> Correct.
> 
>> 2) Do I need to export from iMovie in some other format and then use
>> some sort of conversion program to get to MPEG ?
> 
> For MPEG-1/VCD, the cheapest, easiest, and overall best bang for the
> buck is Toast 5 Titanium. It comes with an MPEG-1 plug-in for
> QT/iMovie, and will burn a VCD from the resulting file.
> 
> For MPEG-2, Cleaner is the best deal I know of, but you still need
> Toast to burn the SVCD. There is an MPEG-2 QT Plug-in that comes with
> DVD Studio Pro, if you have that kind of money.

I have not had any luck burning VCDs from Toast. They are not recognized by
my regular VCD player or even by my Mac with VCD capabilities.
Any hints?  I followed the directions for exporting to VCD from Quicktime
Pro into Toast, then I burn the VCD using the Toast menu but the resulting
VCDs are not playable.

Thanks.

if

----------------------------
Ira Flatow     
Host/Executive Producer - "Science Friday"