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Level 1

4 points

Dvd burning

I have a client who wants to use his new macbook pro to make short(ten minutes or so) dvds for his guests riding his elephants.

The problem here is the time factor. His guest are often in a hurry and do not want to sit around.

After he has shot footage and done a quick edit(in iMovie), it takes him about 15 minutes to finalize the project and another ten minutes to burn the dvd(using iDVD).

We have tried 'sharing' the project stright into iDVD which speeds up the project by about ten minutes but we lose some of the resolution quality.

The options that I have considered are:

Another DVD burner such as Toast but we would still have to export the movie out of iMovie?
A faster external superdrive?
Another video editing program?

Your input on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 26, 2012 11:03 PM

Best reply

Karsten Schlüter

Level 7

34,086 points

Posted on Oct 26, 2012 11:50 PM

charlesbt wrote:

… The options that I have considered are: …

none of these will speed up the process.

the time-consuming process is encoding/converting.

your recordings (what codec?) get converted on input.

… get converted on export.

… get converted on authoring to a dvd.

the burning process utself is a few minutes.

the only time-saving method comes to my mind is:

from within iMovie choose

Export using Quicktime/select in the many options AppleIntermediate as codec

=> internally, your project IS allready in that codec = no conversion = super-fast export.

drag the resulting, huge (10min ~8-10GB) into iDVD, which will do the transforming to disk.

.. side-effect: no lossy, useless, time-consuming in-betweens = better quality 😀

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24 replies

charlesbt Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2012 1:58 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

HI Karsten

Another quick question for you

I am thinking of putting the footage onto a flash drive for my elephant clients.

If I exprt the footage from iMovie, it comes out as .mov file.

Will these files play on:

Windows computers
Other computers(I know that Apple devices will play them)
TV's
DVD Players
any other media devices

What do you think of this idea as opposed to burning DVDs?

thanks

Oct 30, 2012 2:45 AM in response to charlesbt

charlesbt wrote:

… thinking of putting the footage onto a flash drive …

If I exprt the footage from iMovie, it comes out as .mov file.

Will these files play on: …

NO, by far not!

.mov is a 'media wrapper' from the Apple side of the pond - Windows would need a free 'Quicktime for Windows' extension

(… and do we know anything about W8, W-RT, Window-wotever? 😉 )

------------

solution:

• be sure, stick is formatted to 'Windows'/fat32 (=most are out-of-the-box)

• select in iM 'Export using Quicktime'

• choose mp4 from drop-down

• choose video-format/codec h.264

• choose bitrate 5-8000kbps

• resolution: actual

• framerate 30

this will result in a 99.9%-compliant-to-all-devices h264.mp4

for some devices, eg: Playstation3, a designated file-structure is needed (PS3: a folder named MOVIES, wherein the mp4 is located); these designate folder-schemes vary on manufacturer/device, no general advice possible ("read the manual!" 😁 )

but that h264.mp4 plays on WindowsXP/2000/Vista/7/8/RT/, Apple, Linux, BeOS. .....

mediaplayers such as WD TV Live, PS3, Xbox, AppleTV, ....

successfully used on Samsung TVs (they needed some extra folders ..)

and for sure can be uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo etc. .....

you owe me a cuddle with a baby-jumbo!! 😝

charlesbt Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2012 3:16 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Karsten

Indeed, I do owe you a cuddle with a baby jumbo.....😁

The following I am fine with:

Select in iMovie-Export using quick time

Choose mp 4 from drop down-this gives me the "Movie to MPEG-4 option"

then I choose Options and I have 'file format' which I choose as MP4(there is another one called " MP4-ISMA"?

Then there is "Video Format" which I choose " H.264" ?

Then there is "data rate" which is at 32 kbits/sec-I don't see the option to choose 5-8000?

I don't see any option to choose "resolution" as actual?

There is only an "Image Size"option?

I do see the option for "frame rate" at 30

Oct 30, 2012 3:41 AM in response to charlesbt

charlesbt wrote:

… Ok …

nothing's better than a pic with some red arrows 😁

(click to enlarge)

charlesbt Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2012 4:04 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

A thousand thank you's....It worked like a bomb.

Good resolution and about eight minutes to do this and about another three to save it onto the(Windows) formatted flash drive

So we save about half the time that it would take to burn the DVD process.

No disadvantages(for the customers) to do it this way are there?

Now the elelphants have to do less dancing

By the way, I told my client that you sugegsted the elephant dance and he lauged out loud...😉

Oct 30, 2012 4:30 AM in response to charlesbt

charlesbt wrote:

… No disadvantages(for the customers) to do it this way are there? …

I'm doing lots of soccer game movies and twice a year 'season in review' (example) - the parents ask for DVDs and 'HDef' stuff .... these settings are my 'universal' settings. ok, some complain, their moderm TVs ignore the stick, but that is the mentioned folder-structure, I don't know. but, on computers, never heard issues.

technically I'm with 720p, which offers with the above settings superb quality, without 'overwhelming' data streams (some devices get a hick-up with bitrates beyond 8mbps). For my FCPX usage, I made a custom Compressor setting.-

charlesbt wrote:

… Now the elelphants have to do less dancing

By the way, I told my client that you sugegsted the elephant dance and he lauged out loud...😉

in the 60ies, a German circus put wigs on 4 elephants, hanged wooden guitars around their necks and let them impersonate THE BEATLES ... incl. 'dancing' (front feets stomping, shaking heads, raised trunks).

.. ok, The Fap Four long gone - but dancing jumbos IS an option! 😁

ok, THIS

http://youtu.be/TifeJZj7umA

is perhaps a lil' overdone ...

Oct 30, 2012 4:23 AM in response to charlesbt

charlesbt wrote:

No disadvantages(for the customers) to do it this way are there?

Probably the only thing I can think of is in respect of older clients who may only have a DVD Player and a TV without USB ports (on either device) for playback. Possibly these clients may not even have a computer!

People with smart TVs, media players, DVD players with USB input, set-top boxes or other devices suggested by Karsten, will be OK. In any event, for those without appropriate devices, you can always burn a DVD as before. But for most clients the USB flash drive is the way to go (although they cost a bit more than DVDs). The clients without USB playback options may have to watch the elephants dancing a bit longer while the DVD is encoding/burning! 🙂

John

charlesbt Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2012 4:32 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Ok, makes complete sense

will suggest to my client that his elephants put on wigs and play spanish guitar....😁

charlesbt Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2012 4:35 AM in response to John Cogdell

HI John

Thanks for your input.

Have a good one🙂

Dvd burning