I purchased a mac book pro, and it has no IDVD program. How can I get IDVD to convert my imovies to a dvd disc?

Apple don't want you to.

Why is there no iDVD on my new Mac?

Apple insists that the entire world has access to fast broadband (and are prepared to pay for the considerable bandwidth usage) and wants to distribute home movies to friends and relatives via download (iCloud, YouTube, Facebook, whatever) rather than mailing them a DVD. The fact that in reality not all users do, has so far had no effect on this policy. If you scream and shout loudly enough down the phone Apple may send you a free copy of iDVD. Stating that they would return their brand new Mac unless they received a copy of iDVD worked for some, but that is now said to have been withdrawn by Apple.

Also, you can complain bitterly via Apple’s Feedback link, perhaps suggesting that Apple could have provided a choice between burning DVDs and distributing home movies by other means. You may feel that Apple should not dictate how you destribute family videos or photos to distant relatives and friends, and should not assume that every user is prepared to pay for the excessive bandwidth usage charged by ISPs for huge downloads from the App Store:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Whilst Macs with a Superdrive continue to be able to burn video DVDs, the software for so doing, iDVD, is no longer included in the iLife bundle that came with OS 10.7 Lion (which also omitted iWeb) or that comes with OS 10.8 Mountain Lion. And it is no longer included in the iLife 11 from the online Apple Store: http://www.apple.com/ilife/. Your only solution is to look on Amazon or eBay and try to get an older version that includes iDVD 7, i.e. iLife version 9 onwards. You should also do this if you plan to buy a new Mac anytime soon, as stocks of iLife that include iDVD will not be available for ever.

However, the vastly more expensive FCPX can burn a DVD without iDVD or DVD Studio Pro involvement, but lack the themes etc of iDVD. Also, of course, there is Roxio Toast, which is the best software for burning anything but again does not offer the flexibility of iDVD.

Apple has clearly indicated in the newest Mac mini and Retina Display MacBook Pro that it plans to get rid of optical disc drives as soon as possible across the board, providing an external USB drive as an option for users who need one.

Users increasingly have fewer opportunities to use optical drives, as the bulk of third party software is now available as a digital download either directly from the vendor or through Apple's App Store. Apple also sees digital distribution as the future of music and movies, as exemplified in Apple TV, which has never included an optical drive.

The company has never supported any new HD optical disc formats on its products, including Microsoft's ill fated HD-DVD or Sony's Blu-ray format, despite initially being involved in the Blu-ray standardization process. Instead, Apple has put its resources behind developing increasingly higher definition audio and video formats that it can distribute electronically through its own iTunes Store.

And if you think Microsoft are any better, their new Windows 8 operating system will not play DVDs, or burn them, unless customers buy an extra upgrade, the company has announced: http://www.gizmag.com/windows-8-no-dvd-playback/22443/

In other words, computer manufacturers have declared optical media as dead, long before consumers are ready to stop using them, which is fine as long as they offered us a choice, but they won’t even do that. Flexibility and intuitive use of a computer seems to be a thing of the past.

Link:

Why is there no iDVD on my new Mac?

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3673

UPDATE & ADDENDUM:

But even though you can still buy iLife 11 that includes iDVD 7 from Amazon, Apple now make it difficult to install:

Poster jhb21939 posted this in another thread:

“when I attempted to load iDVD into a new iMac. A notice came up on the screen stating that the 'Authorisation Licence' had expired on 25 March this year (2012).

I contacted the Apple support team and eventually, I was told that the Licence had been withdrawn and could no longer be used.”

In other words Apple are now so adamant that we don’t use iDVD that they have tried to make it impossible to install.

In response, Old Toad posted this solution:

“You can still use it one all of your Macs. If you get an invalid certificate message just set your Mac's clock to sometime before early 2011 and run the installer. After you're done reset the time back to the correct time.” He added this comment:

“It began after iDVD and iWeb were discontued and they were dropped from the Apple Store. All I can think of is the certificate was set to expire after a certain time period after the intitial iLife disc was released.

I've been able to use the installer even without setting back the date. I just clicked on the Continue button and it would work as expected. For some it would not continue unless the date was set back.”

The latest anorexic iMacs just announced do not even include a CD drive! Proof positive that Apple virtually prohibit the use of DVDs - although the newly announced Mac Minis do include a Superdrive.

Yet, they still include iMovie! Heaven alone knows or understands what you are supposed to do with your newly edited masterpiece - except make a low quality version for YouTube?

I have done about 3 installs. I just clicked on the Continue button and it would work as expected using OS 10.7 and 10.8.

IDVD is a wonderful piece of software and well worth the low cost of $40.

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MC623Z-A-iLife-VERSION/dp/B003XKRZES/ref=sr_1_1?ie=U

http://dealmac.com/lw/artclick.html?1,527850,1872219

Thank you for your well-written comment. When I heard the new iMac would not have an optical drive I started thinking about how I can continue to create DVDs from my own video footage, either unedited via one-step DVD, or edited in iMovie and then saved to DVD to give to a client as either an iDVD project or as a Quicktime .mov file from iMovie. I know storage media have been coming and going at an increasing pace, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the DVD is going the way of the floppy disc. I know people who are still on dial-up, but they have a DVD player, so a DVD can be viewed by anyone. One of the attractions of buying a Mac was the bundle of applications that allowed creation and integration of basic photo and video projects with the option of sharing them in multiple formats and media. Spending a little more for a Mac meant you maybe didn't need to spend too often on peripheral hardware & software and face the learning curve that is so daunting to technology users who simply want to be drivers, not mechanics. I was ready and waiting to upgrade to the new iMac, but now that they've removed the optical drive and iDVD I have to re-think my video workflow.

Another aspect of the whole discussion is that dropping iDVD allowed Apple to avoid fixing something that never worked anyway. I spent 8 months with Apple technical support trying to make DVDs. Even escalating to Apple Engineering never produced a solution.

I just came across another need to burn a DVD of the family reunion movie. While Apple is correct that the DVD will at some point be a thing of the past, I suggest they consider dropping it once the Red Boxes are gone from the grocery stores, and the DVD players truly are gone from our living rooms.

Once again, using a different Mac from the one that was used during the 8 month saga, I tried to make a DVD to share with all the family members. Some are senior citizens that don't even have a computer: That's one reason they couldn't handle an electronically transmitted copy. The second reason is that the final version is almost 2GB.

Once again, iDVD failed to burn a disk. This forum yielded a solution that Apple never did: burn a disk image using Disc Utility. The first pass of that worked well. I'l see how it goes on the other nine copies.

I don't know if Apple reads these posts or not, but will alos send them feedback via apple.com/feedback.

This forum yielded a solution that Apple never did: burn a disk image using Disc Utility. The first pass of that worked well. I'l see how it goes on the other nine copies.

Be sure to let the laser cool for about 15 minutes after every 3rd burn or so.

OT