Best Movie Format for iDVD

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Level 2

345 points

Best Movie Format for iDVD

I have several DVDs of children's stories that I am making a backup copy protect the originals. I use iSkysoft DVD Ripper to make a movie & then load this into iDVD to burn.
I tried the Quicktime movie format & that worked fine in iDVD, but the quality was not great. I have the choice in iSkysoft of choosing several formats; QT, MPEGs 1,2 & 4, DV, ASF, & FLV MPEG-4.
I have been experimenting with the MPEGs, but iDVD will not accept them.
What is my best format choice for the best quality DVD from iDVD (I am using Professional Quality encoding)?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4), iLife 09

Posted on Sep 2, 2010 7:20 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 2, 2010 10:30 AM in response to Bob R

Hi

What is my best format choice for the best quality DVD from iDVD (I am using Professional Quality encoding)?

Don't know BUT there are more to the quality

• Material to iDVD - I do
Video - streamingDV .DV (QuickTime .mov)
Photo - .jpg
Audio - .aiff 16-bit 48kHz

But also choise of
• DVD brand - I use Verbatim
• DVD type - I use DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW)
• free space on start-up hard disk - I set minimum to 25Gb or more
• burn speed - I set it to x4 or x1
• encoding quality - I love "Pro Quality"

Yours Bengt W

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Answer 2

Sep 3, 2010 12:27 PM in response to Bob R

Are you just trying to back them up, without re-editing them? If so, then you are doing some serious harm with your proposed workflow.

Mpeg2 (the format on a DVD) is highly compressed. You are converting it to another format, then recompressing to mpeg2. This will introduce visual artifacts.

You can use Disk Utility to make a disk image of your original DVD, then burn that image using Disk Utility. This will make an exact copy if the DVD, without transcoding twice.

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Answer 3

Bob R Author

Level 2

345 points

Sep 4, 2010 7:38 AM in response to Jeremy Hansen

Thanks for the help.
Yes, this works great for several of the DVDs. This is the method I will use as first choice.
However, I have a couple of DVDs that have to be ripped first. Which of the formats I have to select from will work best with iDVD?

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Answer 4

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

Sep 4, 2010 7:52 AM in response to Bob R

You need to convert the VOB files back to DV which iMovie is designed to handle. For that you need mpegStreamclip:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html

which is free, but you must also have the Apple mpeg2 plugin :

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/

which is a mere $20.

Another possibility is to use DVDxDV:

http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.overview.htm

which costs $25.

For the benefit of others who may read this thread:

Obviously the foregoing only applies to DVDs you have made yourself, or other home-made DVDs that have been given to you. It will NOT work on copy-protected commercial DVDs, which in any case would be illegal.

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Answer 5

Bob R Author

Level 2

345 points

Sep 4, 2010 8:47 AM in response to Klaus1

I have the MPEG Streamclip, and will next buy the Apple QT mpeg2.
However I am now using the iSkysoft DVD ripper. The selectable formats are as I listed earlier. Don't have the VOP format. Are you saying that the MPEG Streamclip app will also rip the DVD?

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Answer 6

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

Sep 4, 2010 9:07 AM in response to Bob R

We are entering dangerous ground now. Any discussion about 'ripping' copyrighted material is against the terms of use of these forums.

Don't have the VOP format

All DVDs contain a TS-folder with VOP files. MpegStreamclip can convert these.

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Answer 7

Bob R Author

Level 2

345 points

Sep 4, 2010 4:05 PM in response to Klaus1

Ok. I found the VOP files & used MPEG Streamclip to produce a DV file, loaded this in iDVD & it is MUCH better than the QT file I burned before.
Thanks for the help.

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