Saving a movie from iDVD

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Level 1

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Saving a movie from iDVD

Can I save a movie from iDVD to a .mov file or one compatible with a PC? It saves it as a .dvdproj file and that won't work on PC's, at least not my client's PC (it does work in DVD players). I'm working on a movie project that will be played on DVD players but also on PC's.

Can I do what I need to do in iDVD (made a menu for the chapters I created in iMovie) and move it back to iMovie and save it from there in a .mov file. I have to have this project done in 3 weeks and can't find the answer. Thanks in advance for the help!

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 6, 2013 10:15 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Mar 6, 2013 10:32 AM in response to kschlea

Burn the iDVD project to disk which creates a video DVD that any PC capable of playinhg commercial video DVD will be able to play.

Follow this workflow to help ensure the best quality final product:

Once you have the project as you want it save it as a disk image via the File ➙ Save as Disk Image menu option. This will separate the encoding process from the burn process.

To check the encoding mount the disk image and launch DVD Player and play it. If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding was good.

Then burn to disk with Disk Utility or Toast at the slowest speed available (2x-4x) to assure the best burn quality. Always use top quality media: Verbatim, Maxell or Taiyo Yuden DVD-R are the most recommended in these forums.

OT

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Answer 2

kschlea Author

Level 1

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Mar 6, 2013 10:48 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks, Old Toad. I opened it up w/ DVD Player and it played... but... when I hit Scene Selection in the Menu it opened but with nothing on the screen. As I moved the mouse around it would highlight scenes boxes (where you can see them on the window in iDVD) with an orange line (still nothing in the box) and if I clicked on it the same scene would play over and over. So it didn't seem to encode right.

Any other tips to help w/ the encoding?

P.S. I lived in San Diego for years. I've been away for 13 years and back then Temecula was considered "way out in the country" and was pretty small then.

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Mar 6, 2013 11:15 AM in response to kschlea

back then Temecula was considered "way out in the country"

Some times it still feels like it.

Look at Bengt Wärleby's post about Multiplexing Errors here: Multiplexing and burning error on iDVD: Apple Support Communities.. It may give you a clue to what's causing the issue. MP issues is above my head.

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Answer 4

J Keller

Level 4

2,750 points

Mar 6, 2013 11:05 PM in response to kschlea

As OT says, a physical DVD is generally cross-platform (some older DVD players don't care for DVD+R media, so DVD-R media offers a bit more compatibility).

If you looking for electronic transfer of a video project, the electronic version of a DVD is a disk image -- so you could use a site like Dropbox to transfer a big file like a disk image (still use OT's workflow but don't burn the DVD to disk). Apple would like us to believe physical DVDs are in the past and streaming video is their focus (iMacs don't come with DVD drives any more) -- so you can think about whether streaming video could serve your purposes.

John

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