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Level 1

15 points

best way to import fotomagico show to iDVD (iLife 09)

Hi guys, familiar question I'm sure.

Using iDVD (iLife 09) to make a DVD to be played on NTSC 16:9 TV screen
I created the template in iDVD (menus, intro movie etc..), but the main "feature" is a slideshow that I created using FOTOMAGICO.

Now my question is how to get the best quality onto the DVD (knowing that there are NTSC limitations of quality) ?

What format/settings should I save the slideshow in FOTOMAGICO? (HD 1080p? Quicktime? NTSC-DV ? Frame rates? etc.. any details you could provide would be helpful)

Next I need to import it to iDVD. How then should I save the DVD using iDVD for best quality?

Thanks for any suggestions. I wish there was a direct export to iDVD from fotomagico, but there isn't that I can tell.

Mike

iMac + MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Aug 9, 2009 6:02 PM

68 replies

wpwj40e

Level 1

0 points

Aug 13, 2009 11:11 PM in response to mikeypas

Yea - Well detailed info on any of this is scarce! I believe toast 9 did HD DVD....I think they removed it from toast 10. At least I cant find it. And the outcome was iffy if I recall on toast 9. (I own 2 hd dvd players - xbox and toshiba - and would love to have had this work!)

I recall playing around with this about two years ago and it was really buggy. I probably would not have gone for toast other than I was so frustrated with the iDVD quality that I was trying everything and so wasnt even thinking blu ray seriously when I ordered it - once i finally got it working - well had to be the first thing I tried:) Actually not all that impressed with most of the other features. I have share programs that do most of the other things - but for the blu ray alone I will keep it. I am HOOKED!

And the other life saver in this process the past week has been teleport. If you havent got that and you have two macs - well....I cant imagine not having it now!

mikeypas Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 17, 2009 9:44 PM in response to wpwj40e

So I showed the DVD to some family, and got some surprising news.
The DVD was the h.264 1920x1080 that looked great on my TV with almost no aliasing.

However, I soon learned that all this testing and evaluation that was done on my TV (with is CRT / rear projection) does not apply to other tv types (ie. LCD, PLASMA).

So , this DVD i produced was cropped, and had much more aliasing compared to my TV. Apparently, plasma is known to "crop" , and produce more aliasing.

So when we were talking about codecs and such, and I said AIC wasn't so great on my TV, it might indeed have been better on yours!

(Just to complicate things even further)..

how did things turn out for you?

mikeypas Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 18, 2009 8:43 PM in response to mikeypas

just another update: tried on a LCD tv, and was STUNNING. Crisp and extremely comparable to viewing it on my mac. (except for small amount of aliasing).. but VERY impressed. will do this workflow again!

Aug 22, 2009 11:30 AM in response to mikeypas

Hi guys,

Have been reading your topic with great interest as I am attempting to burn a Blu-Ray DVD Slideshow using Fotomagico without much luck. I must admit, I am not as technically minded as you guys clearly are, and the tests you have been doing are great, so first of all, thank you saving me hours of testing myself. I can hopefully just use your results for my project!!

I am however having some problems, as I do not have a Blu-Ray player to test the results on, so I am to some degree relying on your tests for the outcome of my Slideshow.

Therese, I have followed your instructions regarding Blu-Ray, however the results I am seeing on my mac when I play the slideshow back using Quicktime, shows unacceptable motion blur at particular points. I always have motion blur ticked, however it is always a problem, no matter what settings I go for. There is no 'overly' fast movement in the slideshow, just the usual that you would expect to be acceptable from a piece of software that's main aim is to create slideshows.

I was wondering if this is something that is evident when viewing with Quicktime, but eliminated once burned to Blu-Ray (I'll be using Toast) - unlikely I know.

Any thoughts?

Aug 22, 2009 11:42 AM in response to mikeypas

One thing to add to that... I will be burning for viewing on a PAL system, therefore I have chosen 25fps. What would be the effect of opting for more fps?

I stupidly thought it would be quite straight forward. The slideshow looks great on my mac, and I love the usability of fotomagico, but I find it unacceptable that they state on their site that you cannot receive good quality on DVD, when that is clearly the main use of the software for most people. As you guys have discovered, there are clearly better ways of burning the content that what they have stated.

Chris

mikeypas Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 22, 2009 11:48 AM in response to crimsonchris

Hey Chris,

First let me suggest you might try opening a new thread, as there might be some blueray experts out there who probably aren't following this thread.

secondly, i probably cant contribute anything useful to your issue (since i dont have blue ray player either), but in my experience, NOT checking off motion blur actually was better than checking it off. The results were CLEARER, and much less "fuzzy", and it significantly reduces the time to encode

My best settings were found with H.264 1920x1080, but ThereseF (if i recall correctly) said that Apple Intermediate Codec was the only importable movie into Toast.

After that , a lot of factors come into play.
What DVD (or blue ray) player you are using? connected via HDMI, DVI, components, etc.. progressive scan yes/no
What TV (CRT, LCD, PLASMA, resolution, etc, aspect ratio)

For me, I am using a rear projection CRT 57", and the H.264 codec without motion blur was the winner..

Aug 24, 2009 7:01 AM in response to mikeypas

Cheers Mike,

The set is a Loewe 46 compose LCD T.V 1080p - not sure what the make of the blu-ray player is.

The major problem I am having at the moment is "stuttering" during movement.
I have tried a few different settings and when I view the slideshow back on Quicktime, the pans and zooms and transitions result in "stuttering".

I am wondering if it is linked to the fps. I have selected 25fps with motion blur selected as I working with a PAL set - I tried without motion blur but was no better. I also tried 60fps, just to see what the result would be viewing on Quicktime, but still had the problem.

Could this be linked to viewing on the imac with Quicktime?
I know it's unlikely, but could this problem be cured when burning to DVD?

Chris

mikeypas Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 24, 2009 12:40 PM in response to crimsonchris

Chris

You make good points. The .mov file that is produced from photomagico, or even if reworked in imovie, tends to have "stuttering" to a certain degree on my computer as well. (more on my less powerful macbook compared to my imac).

when encoded for DVD using either TOAST or iDVD, you will most probably get some degredation of picture quality, but I find that the "stuttering" isn't apparent. REMEMBER, you must always evaluate everything on the TV you will be watching it on. Looking at a movie on your computer won't tell you anything about the quality on the TV.

I would say, if you are using a LCD 1080p PAL setup, take your movie formatted for 1080p in PAL, and use toast to burn it to a DVD. see what it looks like on your TV.

so to answer your question: yes, i do find that burning to DVD does cure the problem

best way to import fotomagico show to iDVD (iLife 09)