Q: New Photos update will not allow me to insert pictures in to iDVD? Please help

That's correct.  So now you'll have to export the photos you want to use in iDVD to a folder on your hard drive and add them from there. Or, continue to use iPhoto. If you have iPhoto 9.6.1 it will still work with 10.10.3.

Follow this workflow to help assure the best qualty video DVD:

Once you have the project as you want it save it as a disk image via the File ➙ Save as Disk Image  menu option. This will separate the encoding process from the burn process.

 

To check the encoding mount the disk image, launch DVD Player and play it.  If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding is good.

 

Then burn to disk with Disk Utility or Toast at the slowest speed available (2x-4x) to assure the best burn quality.  Always use top quality media:  Verbatim, Maxell or Taiyo Yuden DVD-R are the most recommended in these forums.

Sorry - been having the same problem. Please may I ask to clarify ... In order to have the new "photos" app photos appear in my iDVD project, I have to export those photos (thousands of photos) to ANOTHER folder on my hard drive??? Is there not a way to tell iDVD to "see" / "recognize" / "point to" the app photos? That doesn't seem best as I will be duplicating thousands of photos and videos. There has got to be a away for one program to "see" the other.

Second - the response about saving an iDVD project as "save as disk image" I'm not sure I'm doing correctly. I've done it several times and all I get is an icon on my desk top that looks like an external HD. When I click on it, a folder opens w/ "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS". What am I to do then? How do I get it to "launch in DVD"? How do I burn to a disk w/ disk utility?

I started this process because after creating a project and burning it to disk, the voice on my video was not in sync w/ the video. It worked fine IN iDVD. Burn it to a disk and when played on my DVD player, totally out of sync and the photos are fuzzy. It plays fine on my laptop, but not on my dvd player. So I kept seeing this solution and I am lost. I thought I was doing it correctly - took a good 4 and half hours to create the "save as disk image", but once done, all I seem to get is a folder w/ 2 additional folders. Not sure what to do next.

Please help.

Since iDVD is about 6 years old it is not compatible nor can't be integrated with Photos.  So you have get the photos outside of Photos before they can be added to the IDVD project.  If you create an archived iDVD project you can delete the folder of photos after they have been imported into iDVD.

Second - the response about saving an iDVD project as "save as disk image" I'm not sure I'm doing correctly. I've done it several times and all I get is an icon on my desk top that looks like an external HD. When I click on it, a folder opens w/ "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS". What am I to do then? How do I get it to "launch in DVD"? How do I burn to a disk w/ disk utility?

That's correct. After you double click on the disk image launch DVD Player to play it. If it plays OK use Disk Utility to burn that disk image to a DVD disk:

So iDVD is too old for Photos to send photos to (which seems gratuitous at best), then...

What is the modern Yosemite replacement for iDVD?

In order to show slide shows and home-made movies at certain places, I need to burn them to DVD so that regular DVD players can be used.

What is the modern Yosemite replacement for iDVD?

There are a number of video DVD authoring apps available (check the App Store or MacUpdate) but none that I'ver found that offer more than one menu in a project.  The menu selection is limited, non animated, etc.  I've got an external HD that has a Mavericks on it for using with iDVD when iDVD no longer will work on Yosemite or El Capitan.  There just isn't any app out there that has the versatility and features that iDVD has. 

When we have to replace iDVD with one of them we're sending ourselves back to the stone age as far as video authoring on a Mac is concerned.

Regardless of which app you decide to use follow this workflow to help assure the best qualty video DVD:

Once you have the project as you want it save it as a disk image via the File ➙ Save as Disk Image  menu option. This will separate the encoding process from the burn process. (Not all apps will have this feature but check to see if the one you choose does and use it)

 

To check the encoding mount the disk image, launch DVD Player and play it.  If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding is good.

 

Then burn to disk with Disk Utility or Toast at the slowest speed available (2x-4x) to assure the best burn quality.  Always use top quality media:  Verbatim, Maxell or Taiyo Yuden DVD-R are the most recommended in these forums.

Not understanding why Apple has taken away the functioning of iDVD!  I can see I am not the only one with these issues.  Must be a solution for all of us

Because Apple believes that sharing is now via the cloud and has been going in that direction for over 3 years now.  Also notice that the new Macs do not have an optical drive included. 

Also notice that the new Macs do not have an optical drive included.

Our organization just purchased (directly from Apple) several NEW MacBook Pros with built-in optical super drives.   I just checked again, they are still readily available.

Not understanding why Apple has taken away the functioning of iDVD!

Apple is now the largest media company in the world. They sell nothing on disk.

Having said that, most movies are still distributed via DVD or Blu-ray.  There are many good reasons to use optical media.   I like the portability and ease of use.  I have about 3000 movies in my collection, about 80% of those are ONLY available on disk.

I have tried most of the alternatives, I continue to find nothing better than iDVD.  Not as "automatic" as it used to be but still a great program.

Our organization just purchased (directly from Apple) several MacBook Pros with built-in optical super drives.

They must have been last year's models because there's not one Mac at the Mac Store site that has a built in optical drive.   They are all to thin. 

I too ran into this issue when setting up iDVD on El Capitan and using Photos. My work around is to use iCloud Photo Sharing.  I didn't want to have to manage files so exporting photos would be more work. 

Inside Photos, I created a Shared photo album called "From Photos".  I then simply share the photos I want to use in iDVD to this album.

I then open iPhoto/Aperature (iDVD sees both of these equally).  I turn on iCloud Photo Sharing and turn off any of the auto import features since I am not using either of these applications for my Photo management.  They simply act as a way to get iDVD to see the iCloud shared album.

So, after you shared all the photos to the shared album, open iPhoto/Aperture to allow the shared album to sync itself.

Return to iDVD and the photos will appear there shortly.  

Not as nice as it would be if iDVD could see the Photos library directly.  But all I need to do is manage the shared album to control visibility of the photos in iDVD.

there's not one Mac at the Mac Store site that has a built in optical drive.

Sorry old friend. Below are some screenshots just taken from the Mac Store.   Moreover, it tells me several are readily available at my nearest Apple Store.   Built-in optical SuperDrive included.

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