almost 5 hours of video to burn to DVD

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almost 5 hours of video to burn to DVD

My wife returned from a family reunion with almost 5 hours of video. She wants to share the video with her 5 siblings. Their preferred media is DVD. Any ideas on how to get all of this video on multiple DVDs? My initial thought is to create shorter iMovie projects based on date or special events, and then burn as many as possible to each DVD as separate movies. But, if it's done that way, is there any way to link the DVDs? Any better ideas? Thanks. Haven't used iMovie or iDVD in years.

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

Posted on Jan 27, 2013 1:15 PM

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Answer 1

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Klaus1

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Jan 27, 2013 2:56 PM in response to n2thinair

I hesitate to ask, but is her footage so good that it does not require any editing (which would shorten it somewhat)? 😉

A single layer DVD holds up to a maximum of 120 minutes including titles, transtions etc. A dual-layer DVD twice that. Your idea of a series of shorter movies is the best solution, and should fit on two or max three DVDs.

The application Roxio Toast (not free) has a 'burn to fit' option for videos longer than the prescribed maximum length, but there would be a degree of quality loss.

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Answer 2

n2thinair Author

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Jan 27, 2013 5:10 PM in response to Klaus1

Thank you. My desire was to do some serious editing, but, they prefer all of the "raw" footage, warts and all. I condiderred another application that uses the "burn to fit" option, but the softness of the video once put on a DVD that seems to normally occur, would probably be even worse.

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Answer 3

Jan 27, 2013 9:18 PM in response to n2thinair

n2thinair wrote:

… My desire was to do some serious editing, but, they prefer all of the "raw" footage, warts and all. …

cheat your wife (this has a different meaning in English, right? 😉 )

this family reunion HAS some 'sorting scheme' - day1, day2, day3 .... or speaches, performances, party … or mommy, daddy, grandchildren ... or ....

split the 5h into groups - even more than 5 disks, create 8, or 10, or a dozen! in use, you can slide-in the DVD 'kiddies' to show how lil' cousin performs her cute ballet-dance with her dog, or the DVD 'Uncle Sam' with his endless hand-made poem about family-values , ... (or whatever happened on that party).

5h is half a day! nobody watches this continously.

and on each DVD I would add a 8min supercut with the best scenes of these family-reunion.- 😝

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Answer 4

n2thinair Author

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Jan 28, 2013 7:24 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Thanks again. Good suggestions. I like the supercut idea or a short preview/trailer. If I put a table of contents menu on the first DVD, is there any way to link a selection to a different DVD? So if they wanted to see the "silly pet trick", it would ask them to insert the DVD that video was on.

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Answer 5

Jan 28, 2013 7:51 AM in response to n2thinair

you can edit short previews of what to come, add to a 'page' in the DVD menu, and, when using iDVD, you can add a text-box, cmd-K (red arrow) 'on Disk VIII' .... a.s.o.

a disk fits about an 1h of quality video.- so, on each disk 5-10 preview movies plus the extended, uncut version of such a section ...

=> finally, you DO edit the 5h down to a handful of minutes! 😉

plus, for the brave souls, the 'raw', spread across some disks.

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Answer 6

n2thinair Author

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Jan 28, 2013 7:53 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Thanks! I'll give it a try!

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