I'm breaking my LONG reply into two parts so the list server doesn't bounce it again (10K limit? sheesh!) --- Part 1 --- I outlined the steps in a previous thread on how to successfully go from iPhoto to iMovie for output to tape or as a DVD video file (not a DVD slideshow which is different): Frank, a couple of notes about your situation: - when you're working in iMovie the video does not look very good on your computer, but if you hook up a FireWire camcorder to your computer, and the video from the camcorder to a TV/video monitor, it will look GREAT. iMovie intentionally only shows a "low-res" version of the clip so it can use it's processor time to let you edit faster. The same is true when viewing a DV clip in QuickTime Player -- but if you open the movie properties (cmd-J) in QuickTime Player (Pro) you can enable the "High Quality" option for the Video track -- it may be choppy when it plays back, but the image will be sharp (this does not affect the actual video file, just how QuickTime Player displays it). - if you only have a few photos, just bringing them into iMovie will be the easiest way to make a video "slideshow" for output to video tape or DVD, but if you have *A LOT* of photos, exporting a slide show from iPhoto then converting it to edit in iMovie will probably be easier in the end (as long as you have enough drive space). Note: to do the edits described below, you will need to upgrade to QuickTime "Pro" if you have not done so already. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Here's how to go from an iPhoto slideshow to iMovie (for output to video): 1. Export the QT slideshow from iPhoto WITHOUT audio at 640x480 2. Open the slideshow .mov file in QuickTime player (you will need the "Pro" version to do these steps) 3. Open the audio track you wish to add in QuickTime player also 4. Copy the audio track and "Add" (under "Edit -> Add" in the menu bar) 5. Trim the movie at the last black frame (shortening the slideshow and cutting the music - read below for alternate method) 6. Export from QuickTime Player (Pro) to a QuickTime Movie using the DV codec at 29.97 fps (NTSC) at a custom size of 720x480 with audio as 16 bit 48k stereo (no compressor) 7. Add *THAT* to iDVD and see how it works. (should work great) (this is for NTSC output -- for PAL, adjust settings accordingly) Notes: - *DO NOT* initially convert the slideshow from iPhoto to "DV Stream" format from QuickTime Player (Pro) -- this doesn't render the transitions properly for some reason when exporting, but using the "QuickTime Movie" format with the DV codec works fine, and you can open those files with no problems in FCP or Premiere, but... (read next note) - if you want to export this to tape through *iMovie*, you will need to convert it (yet AGAIN) to a DV Stream file (ugh) -- but you can delete the QuickTime "interim" DV-codec file afterwards if desired (it will not recompress the DV information, so no quality will be lost during this conversion) - if you want the slideshow to *fit* the music, you should add the video to the audio (rather than audio to video as listed above), and when doing this, choose "Add Scaled" when adding the slideshow video to the audio track -- keep in mind that this will lengthen or shorten the duration of the images and transitions to fit the music, but it should not pose a problem technically - when originally exporting from iPhoto, use a 4:3 frame size like 640x480 or 720x540, so that it will stay proportional and provide sufficient file size for final export to 720x480 (this final output will look distorted on-screen but look fine when output to video -- this is normal for DV-format clips) Got all that? Test tomorrow! (hehe) ;-) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- End Part 1 ---