Why is there no iDVD on my new Mac?
Why is there no iDVD on my new Mac? How do I get it, and how do I install it?
Apple assumes that the entire world has access to fast broadband (and are prepared to pay for the considerable bandwidth usage) and wants to distribute home movies to friends and relatives via download (iCloud, YouTube, Facebook, whatever) rather than mailing them a DVD, but of course not all users in all countries have such broadband access.
You can complain via Apple’s Feedback link, perhaps suggesting that Apple could have provided a choice between burning DVDs and distributing home movies by other means. You may feel that Apple should offer greater choice in how you destribute family videos or photos to distant relatives and friends, and should not assume that every user is prepared to pay for the excessive bandwidth usage charged by ISPs for huge downloads from the App Store:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/
Whilst Macs with a Superdrive continue to be able to burn video DVDs, the software for so doing, iDVD, is no longer included in the iLife bundle that came with OS 10.7 Lion and beyond. And iDVD is no longer included in the iLife 11 from the online Apple Store: http://www.apple.com/ilife/. As there is no satisfactory substitute for iDVD, your only solution is to look on Amazon or eBay and try to get an older version that includes iDVD 7, i.e. iLife version 9 onwards. You should also do this if you plan to buy a new Mac anytime soon, as stocks of iLife that include iDVD will not be available for ever.
(The vastly more expensive FCPX can burn a DVD without iDVD or DVD Studio Pro involvement, but lack the themes etc of iDVD. Also, of course, there is Roxio Toast, which is the best software for burning anything but again does not offer the flexibility of iDVD.)
It is worth noting that the version of iDVD 7 included with iLife 11 only includes themes from iDVD 5-7. If you want all the older themes you should buy iLife 9, which has the same version of iDVD 7 but with all the themes, which none of the iDVD 7 updaters available from Apple Downloads include.
Currently the only certain way to get all themes is to start with the iLife 09 disc:
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/207514040
This shows the iDVD contents in the iLife 09 disc via Pacifist:
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/207480040
You then can upgrade from iDVD 7.0.3 to iDVD 7.1.2 via the updaters at the Apple Downloads webpage.
But even though you can still buy iLife 9 or 11 that includes iDVD 7 from Amazon, Apple now make it difficult to install:
When you try to install iDVD you may see a notice come up on the screen stating that the 'Authorisation Licence' had expired on 25 March 2012, because Apple have withdrawn the license to it can no longer be used.
In other words Apple have declared iDVD as redundant and have made it difficult to install, but there is a workaround:
If you get an invalid certificate message just set your Mac's clock to sometime before early 2011 and run the installer. After installing iDVD reset the time back to the correct time on your Mac.
You may be to use able to use the installer even without setting back the date. Just click on the Continue button and it should work as expected, but for some it will not continue unless the date is set back.
Additional comments:
Apple has phased out optical disc drives on all new Macs, offering an external USB Superdrive as an option for users who need one but which is not universally compatible with all Macs.
Users may have fewer need to use optical drives, as the bulk of third party software is now available as a digital download either directly from the vendor or through Apple's App Store. but not all. Apple sees digital distribution as the future of music and movies, as exemplified in Apple TV, which has never included an optical drive.
The company has never supported any new HD optical disc formats on its products, including Microsoft's ill fated HD-DVD or Sony's Blu-ray format, despite initially being involved in the Blu-ray standardization process. Instead, Apple has put its resources behind developing increasingly higher definition audio and video formats that it can distribute electronically through its own iTunes Store.
And if you think Microsoft are any better, their latest Windows 8 operating system will not play DVDs, or burn them, unless customers buy an extra upgrade, the company has announced: http://www.gizmag.com/windows-8-no-dvd-playback/22443/
In other words, computer manufacturers have declared optical media as dead, long before consumers are ready to stop using them, which is fine as long as they offered us a choice, but they won’t even do that. Flexibility and intuitive use of a computer seems to be a thing of the past.
But they still include iMovie for making a lower quality versions for YouTube etc.
