outbackmariner

Q: Large File Size from Small Movie?

When I add a 440 MB MP4 to iDVD, the project blows up to 2.93 GB.  How do I reduce this size so I can fit a handful of these movies onto the dvd?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Sep 27, 2016 12:07 PM

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Q: Large File Size from Small Movie?

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  • by Old Toad,Solvedanswer

    Old Toad Old Toad Sep 28, 2016 8:06 AM in response to outbackmariner
    Level 10 (141,336 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 8:06 AM in response to outbackmariner

    Contrary to popular belief size doesn't matter with iDVD.  The important property of an iDVD project is the total playing time.  For a single sided DVD disc that would be 120 minutes.  As you add additional movies to the project just verify that the total playing time is less than 120 minutes including the playing time of annimated menus or menus with audio tracks added.

     

    Of course set the formatting of the iDVD project to the encoding setting that is most appropriate for your project: iDVD '09 (7.x): About iDVD encoding settings.

     

    Of course 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.

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