iDVD video back to Apple TV
How do I convert an iMovie video burned onto a DVD with iDVD back to iTunes so that I can watch it on my Apple TV?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.2)
17 replies
Try Handbrake which should convert your home DVD to an AppleTV format.
Free, just Google it.
Free, just Google it.
Winston Churchill wrote:
"This is how I convert my Home Movies that are on DVD"
seems to be a long winded and over complicated way to do a simple task that handbrake does on its own.
Chenks wrote:
Winston Churchill wrote:
"This is how I convert my Home Movies that are on DVD"
seems to be a long winded and over complicated way to do a simple task that handbrake does on its own.
While I think Handbrake is a superb effort I often recoomend for conversion purposes, I'm not absolutely convinced it offers the best video/audio conversion for everything.
I got really frustrated converting a recorded MPEG stream from a Tv programme a few weeks ago - I kept getting horrible audio glitches which I assumed were in the source recording, but they weren't.
Ran the same through Handbrake several times adjusting audio settings but lots of audio glitches.
Ran it through MPEG Streamclip and audio/video was perfect.
So while Handbrake is a quick and easy one stop shop for conversion, sometimes other programs can work better. I suspect the broadcast had some timedcode errors as MPEG Streamclip can fix these.
Also I've tried converting HD from my DSLR in Handbrake and while it handles video fine, it loses a bit of audio at the end quite often.
AC
It's not all that long winded, indeed once you've used mpegstreamclip once the number of steps necessary for conversion is less than the suggested alternative, although admittedly the processing time is much longer.
And therein lies the dilemma, speed or quality. These are home videos, they may not be the greatest quality to begin with, but I want to use a process that reduces further degradation to a minimum, in this respect it's a no brainer.
And therein lies the dilemma, speed or quality. These are home videos, they may not be the greatest quality to begin with, but I want to use a process that reduces further degradation to a minimum, in this respect it's a no brainer.
i've used handbrake for every video conversion i have in itunes (almost 300 items), and i've yet to come across any problems with the result (be it video quality or audio blips).
the problems you had were most likely to do with the source file rather than the conversion (as you suggested).
the problems you had were most likely to do with the source file rather than the conversion (as you suggested).
Chenks wrote:
i've used handbrake for every video conversion i have in itunes (almost 300 items), and i've yet to come across any problems with the result (be it video quality or audio blips).
Me too, and this (TV Show) was a first, however I couldn't fix it via Handbrake.
I suspect the HD DSLR file was due to use of an uncommon mono audio codec. The WDTV box I bought I thought would be great for these - they play back the video fine with no conversion, but no audio!!!
the problems you had were most likely to do with the source file rather than the conversion (as you suggested).
Yes, but off-air recordings can often have timecode errors, and MPEGStreamclip can fix these. It converted the recording perfectly, Handbrake did not.
I don't think MPEGStreamclip is difficult to use, but Handbrake is far simpler.
I have my suspicions that Handbrake does not handle motion transitions especially well too. It might be interesting to do some comparison encodes using different tools as this could be very relevant for people wanting to squeeze the best out of their video source when converting for AppleTV.
I get the feeling we aren't necessarily talking about home videos here. Make no mistake, there's a clear difference between output from each of these applications, this is particularly apparent with low quality source DVD's which I'm afraid most home made DVD's are.
Speed or quality, it's a simple choice, anyone who tries to tell you can have both is mistaken. If you are happy with your process, stick with it.
Speed or quality, it's a simple choice, anyone who tries to tell you can have both is mistaken. If you are happy with your process, stick with it.
in fairness we do not know the quality of the OPs iDVD project, it may indeed be of high quality and be close to commercial DVD quality.
Winston Churchill wrote:
I get the feeling we aren't necessarily talking about home videos here. Make no mistake, there's a clear difference between output from each of these applications, this is particularly apparent with low quality source DVD's which I'm afraid most home made DVD's are.
I think we're advising about iDVD created DVDs in essence as per the OP's question....
The source of the video is irrelevant really, as it will be the quality it is
Speed or quality, it's a simple choice, anyone who tries to tell you can have both is mistaken. If you are happy with your process, stick with it.
I've recently come to think MPEGStreamclip may offer superior conversion of video, though I've not done many objective side by side tests. You may have done so with some of your home videos. However, I suspect that as with many of us creating DVDs may now be low down the list of things we want to dod, when chances are the MPEG-2 encoding will degrade the source if you're only going to re-encode in h264.
That's why I'm saying it would be interesting to maybe post some conversions via both of home video footage, encoded with similar resolution/fps etc.
You also have high-end video software, does MPEGStreamclip beat that too?
Or, is that a simplicity vs quality argument with no distinct benefit for FCP?
AC
Chenks wrote:
in fairness we do not know the quality of the OPs iDVD project, it may indeed be of high quality and be close to commercial DVD quality.
We do know the quality of the OP's DVD, it's been produced with iDVD.
Winston Churchill wrote:
Chenks wrote:
in fairness we do not know the quality of the OPs iDVD project, it may indeed be of high quality and be close to commercial DVD quality.
We do know the quality of the OP's DVD, it's been produced with iDVD.
no we don't.
we know it was created with iMovie and burned onto DVD using iDVD, but we don't know what the source content was.
it could be b&w still image slideshow, it could be SD professional quality video footage.
The source of the video is irrelevant really, as it will be the quality it is.
It is the quality that it is, that's the whole point. If you start with a high quality source, one may accept a little degradation upon conversion but when the source starts out as poor quality then one (well I would) would want to degrade it as little as possible during conversion, this is where I would use mpegstreamclip.
The source before burning to a DVD is no longer relevant. But that's no longer the source video, the source video is the mpeg2 files on the DVD, we know the quality of these because we know what created them.
Doesn't matter, they're encoded the same way in iDVD.
it could be b&w still image slideshow, it could be SD professional quality video footage.
Doesn't matter, they're encoded the same way in iDVD.
iDVD video back to Apple TV