DVD burning using external optical drive

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Level 1

14 points

DVD burning using external optical drive

My computer is a late 2014 MacBook Pro, running OS 10.14.4. I filmed many of the plays at my daughters' high school, and created DVDs for the families. These were made into finished productions using iDVD, but those are no longer supported (poo!). Luckily, I stored the raw files on an external HD, since they're enormous. I recently was asked by the drama teacher for a DVD of one of the old plays, but my DVD drive on the imac I was using had died (no surprise) so other than the .dvdproj, I have the raw footage (3 .dv clips). I have a Samsung external optical drive that I connected with a blank DVD, but it only shows the folder as an alias, so I don't think it worked. Disk Utility indicates the disk is not supported. Am I out of luck, or is there another way to burn the .dv files onto the DVD? I have Handbrake and DVD Fab9, but have never used them. thanks for pointers in the right direction.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.14

Posted on Apr 4, 2019 5:42 PM

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Answer 1

babowa

Level 9

78,666 points

Apr 4, 2019 6:11 PM in response to valerie85

You will need some sort of burning software and first use Handbrake or MPEG Streamclip 2 or import the clips into iMovie (to get them into a different format (.dv clips won't work) and then export them from there. You will then still need a burning software - the only one (besides iDVD) I've used - which is excellent - is Roxio Toast ($$). It will encode the video files so you can play the DVD in any DVD player. You can also add a menu. If you do not have them encoded, you may be able to play them on the computer the DVD was created with, but not in any DVD player. It is a frustrating task to work/get them into a format needed.

FWIW, if you still have an older Mac that works with iDVD - go for it (you still need the Handbrake or similar to get them into a format it can work with), but then you'd be able to burn from there.

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DVD burning using external optical drive

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