Why is image distorted on DVD

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Level 1

8 points

Why is image distorted on DVD

Being new to Macs I am experimenting with iMovie bringing together movie clips and stills to make a movie to burn to DVD using iDVD. When I view the result in the iDVD preview it looks ok but when I burn the DVD, insert it in the DVD player and view on TV some of the pictures look distorted. In particular people in the portrait view stills look short and fat. Also the movies are shot at 640x480 so what format should I use. If I set the projest to wide screen as our TV is it seems the movie is spread to fill the width by cropping off the height. Should I set the screen to standard?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 22, 2013 9:55 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,706 points

Mar 22, 2013 12:48 PM in response to Al-Glen

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

Al-Glen Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 23, 2013 6:08 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi OT,

Thanks. I tried as you suggested but although everything looks OK on review when I burn and play the disc on TV it still doesn't look right, people are short and fat. Do you know if there a maximum size for photo's, have they to be under a certain number of pixels?

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

215,706 points

Mar 24, 2013 9:57 AM in response to Al-Glen

DVD-R disks are more compatible with older set top DVD players but if you've already created disks that play on your TV it mitght not be a critical component. Try reburning from the disk image at 2x and try the DVD player again. If all else fails get a -R disk and try it.

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

215,706 points

Mar 23, 2013 10:25 AM in response to Al-Glen

When you mount the disk image and play it with DVD Player you get the distorted movie?

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Answer 5

Al-Glen Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 23, 2013 12:42 PM in response to Old Toad

Everything looks ok except when I play the disc on TV. I can play the disc on the computer and it is ok but not on the tv.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

215,706 points

Mar 23, 2013 2:04 PM in response to Al-Glen

Then the problem lies with the media, burning or the DVD player. What media brand and type did you use? What speed did you burn at?

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Answer 7

Al-Glen Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 24, 2013 4:57 AM in response to Old Toad

I used TDK DVD+R, which was what I used with my previous windows computer and which worked fine. As for the speed I'm not sure, it just said max possible.

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Answer 8

Al-Glen Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 24, 2013 10:45 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks, I shall get some -R discs when I get a chance.

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Answer 9

Old Toad

Level 10

215,706 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:56 AM in response to Al-Glen

Get Verbatim.

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