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iMovie to iDVD re:Chapter Markers

I have been working on a video for the past few weeks and using iMovie '09 I assembled the clips, added audio and added in chapter markers as well. I have tried to Share>iDVD and Share>Media Browser and both options do not show my chapter markers. The video I am working on is 1:42:21 so yes... fairly long but not TOO long for one DVD or anything like that.

When I drag random clips into a new project (all of 41 seconds) and add chapter markers I can Share>iDVD and the markers come up fine in iDVD but when I try to do the same with my 1hr+ movie it takes about 2:30 hours to render and then I still get no chapter markers. I feel like I am spinning my wheels and there is definitely a way to make this happen.

Is there an iDVD or iMovie master out there who can help me out? I am getting very frustrated and have probably tried about 10-15 times (rendering at 2-4 hours each!) I don't understand WHY the chapter markers will show up for the short video and I do everything the same for the long video and get nothing. PLEASE HELP!

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6), iLife '09

Posted on Sep 9, 2009 6:30 PM

Best reply

SDMacuser

Level 6

13,585 points

Posted on Sep 9, 2009 9:09 PM

Hi appleNewbie34

And welcome to apple discussions. All of my own iDvd'09 projects to date have been well under 60 mins. so I don't know how much help I can offer you on this particular issue of a dvd that approaches nearly 2 hrs. You claim that your shorter projects have no chapter marker issues. Exactly how long /short were those initial projects and did they incorporate the same type of video? Or did the source video also change on these longer projects?

Here's what I was able to find and hopefully some of this will help but if not just come on back.

First, I'd recommend you delete all encoded assets. Let's start again (even though you may have already done this many times before).

Second I'd like you to quit iDvd.

Third, drag and drop the plist for iDvd to the trash. Looks like this:

com.apple.iDvd.plist

Fourth, Restart your mac.

Fifth, repair permissions from apple's disc utility.

Sixth, fire up iDvd Also please make sure all of your titles fall within the TV Safe area like this:

Click Here:

Then follow these steps to create a disc image to the desktop:

Click Here

Seventh, now I'd like you to test the disc image for proper playback with apple's dvd player application as follows:

Lastly, let's assume it plays exactly as expected (chapters and all) .... Now it's time to burn the image to Dvd-r. I recommend using Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden, or Maxell. Please avoid using Memorex while we troubleshoot.

Feel free to post back with the results.

Message was edited by: SDMacuser

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44 replies

Oct 30, 2009 5:54 AM in response to appleNewbie34

Hi,

I am using Imovie 09 and iDVD and am having the same issue, only thing is that I do not have any non alphanumeric characters in my titiles. Is there a lenght limit to the titles?

WHHG

Level 1

0 points

Oct 31, 2009 6:22 PM in response to wingnut691983

Happy Halloween. Glad I found this live discussion. My problem is a tad off, namely the chapter markers show up in iDVD 7.0.4, so do all the submenus and everything plays nicely. However, the <burn to disk image> results in no menus. The play just launches into the full movie but still contains my embedded chapter markers that I can jump to. I believe this is a Snow Leopard (OS 10.6) issue.

I am using the MacMini as a slow device conveniently under my TV to rescue a set of 12" Laser Disks before the player dies on me. Two of them were transferred nicely with Roxio "Easy VHS to DVD Converter" under 10.5.6 and their menu themes work fine. I ran out of usable space so I got a terabyte MiniMax from Iomega, installed Snow Leopard into a partition and the problem was evident on two movies so far. It is going to take a while to test this back in the 10.5. system. I'll keep you posted.

Nov 2, 2009 7:42 AM in response to WHHG

Can’t let you wait any longer. I was convinced that the failure to burn DVD menus was a fringe benefit of Snow Leopard (SN). I was wrong. After I changed the operating system from 10.6.1 to 10.5.8 on the other drive, then burned the existing iDVD project to disk image, the result was the same as before, no menus.

I started over, made a new iMovie 09 project from the existing captured footage. Its a pain to make all those menu entries. Anyhow, the result again lacked menus. I have now 6 disk images without menus.

Fortunately, this MacMini is used for nothing else, other than playing music and making DVDs, so I can track logged events for a critical time period. Menus were produced on 10/8/09, 10/13/09, and 10/14/09. I then expanded to the terabyte drive and SN. First failure was10/20/09. I had put that down to having to deal with a 3 hr movie (Around the World in 80 Days, 1956). Next failure 10/30/09 with a 2 hr movie. All projects involved the same DVD menu “Revolution.” I did permissions as matter of routine as I installed SN.

The only installation record I can find is iMovie 8.0.5 and iDVD 7.04, both on record as done 10/12/08 at 5:48 PM. Any ideas?

Nov 2, 2009 2:43 PM in response to Wolfgang Gunther

Progress report: I went back to the 10.5.8 drive, started a new iMovie 09 project, even chose one of the silly themes for that. Added clips to a total time of 8 min 30 sec, made chapter markers for the clips, switched my iDVD to single layer (no need to make a double layer disk from 8 min), exported directly from iMovie to iDVD, used the Revolution theme as before, auto-filled the motion menus, kept the default music, and burned to disk image. Again, no menu!!! The disk plays nicely with random transitions between scenes, but reflects none of what I had intended. I believe that puts the problem down squarely on the Apple install.

I would hate to lose the ability to generate submenus on serious work. I am currently editing a close to 2 hr safari movie on my MacPro desktop (OS 10.5.8, iMovie 6, iDVD 6). What is there to do?

Nov 3, 2009 5:29 PM in response to Wolfgang Gunther

Progress report and solution: Starting with either bare QuickTime clips or short iMovie HD projects, every disk image from iDVD 7.0.4 behaved correctly, as expected: upon insertion into a player, the disk opened into the top menu. Not so with any project going through iMovie 8.0.5 where the first insertion immediately gets the main movie playing. The choice of "previously viewed disk" to equally launches the main movie. Having spent another day constructing DVD projects, I then found out that the menu is there but it requires aborting the play by pressing MENU on the remote. That has never been the case with either commercial or homemade DVDs. Now I will have to explain this odd behavior on every disk label. Or, of course, avoid iMovie 08 by stepping back to iMovie HD.

Nov 4, 2009 12:17 PM in response to Wolfgang Gunther

You upgraded to snow leopard? It is not recommended that you do any upgrades in midst of a project. You might want to view some of the discussions in iMovie re: problems with Snow Leopard.

Nov 4, 2009 6:52 PM in response to Beverly Maneatis

Hi Beverly, I am always in the middle of some project and well aware of transition problems. Remember OS 7? So I didn't upgrade, I simple added a terabyte drive and installed SN on one clean 270 GB partition. Easy to switch back and forth. I haven't bothered with SN on any of the four drives in the MacPro.

Nov 5, 2009 1:57 AM in response to Wolfgang Gunther

Ah, good, so that is not a factor.

I am still using iMovie HD 6.0.4 so I have not run into the strange situation that you have encountered.

Since you added onto this rather lengthy thread, I think you should post this as a new topic to get more replies specific to your problem.

Juleen

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2009 10:45 AM in response to SDMacuser

Hello,

First of all, I want to thank you for your attempts to help so far. I too, put together a project with iMovie, and when I converted it to iDVD, I got no sound. I followed your instructions of deleting all encoded assets, but when I tried to delete com.apple.iDvd.plist, I couldn't find it anywhere on my computer. (I did a search in Finder) I continued anyway by restarting and repairing permissions, checking the TV safe area, and creating a disk image on the desktop, and there is still no audio. There is a VIDEO_TS folder with 7 items, and an AUDIO_TS folder with nothing in it. Any ideas?

Please help if you can,
jasquires

P.S. Before I upgraded everything worked just fine!

Nov 5, 2009 6:54 PM in response to Beverly Maneatis

Not much point starting another thread. Please stick to iMovie 6.0.4, Beverly, and use iMovie 7 (iLife 08/09) only on a separate drive when absolutely needed. As I pointed out, for this set of recovery projects I am acquiring massive amounts of video via Roxio's Easy-VHS-to-DVD converter. That simply requires iMovie08/09. Not too bad for a prefabricated movie, but I would hate to do the subtle editing that is so easy in 6.0.4. My major current project will come to about three hours of safaris in Tanzania and Kenya. If you like to see animal videos, some samplers are at http://www.youtube.com/user/WHHG2007.

Nov 6, 2009 2:41 PM in response to Juleen

+com.apple.iDvd.plist, I couldn't find it anywhere+

Be sure that you looked in the Library that is within your Home folder, not the one in the System folder.
Then locate the Preferences file and scroll down to the com.apple listings.

Nov 6, 2009 3:02 PM in response to Wolfgang Gunther

Yes, definitely sticking with v 6. I do have both 8 and 9, and will experiment with iMovie 9 when I complete my current projects.

I just thought maybe you'd get more responses in a new thread since this one is marked as solved.

Nice wasp video....I like the one who is oblivious to the comings and goings of the others and just circles the nest opening 🙂 .

Nov 19, 2009 6:34 PM in response to Beverly Maneatis

Beverly Maneatis wrote:
You may have encountered a known 'bug' in iDVD 8/9 that causes problems with chapter markers not being read properly on either a disk image file or a burned DVD disk. This happens when you edit an iMovie that you have already imported into an iDVD project. Although iDVD will alert you that your 'assets have been modified' and ask if you want iDVD to 'update,' and will appear to be doing so, your new edits will mess up the chapter markers. Usually, you find that all scene selections default to the same scene/chapter. This is found using iMovie 6 and iDVD 8/9, but with iMovie 9, there may be different problems.

The only 'fix' for this is to recreate the iDVD project and then import the completely finished iMovie.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA23788

Does anyone know if this issue remains with iMovie 9 and iDVD 9?

Nov 20, 2009 3:20 PM in response to chicagopjp

iDVD 9 is the same as iDVD 8. It was just renumbered for iLife 09. The application itself is the same.

iMovie to iDVD re:Chapter Markers