What is the best DVD Creator for a Mac Book Pro to replace iDVD?

Klaus1 is correct. There really is nothing to replace iDVD.

However, I am experimenting with Toast 11 Platinum and Wondershare at the moment. The problem is that I have spent hours carefully editing an iMovie 10.0.2 44 minute video, which is instructional, and I need access to individual scenes. I just discovered a few hours ago that the markers in iMovie are not chapter markers, and once you drop 44 minutes as a single clip into Toast or Wondershare, it appears impossible to set chapter markers then.

The bottom line is this, if you don't need chapter markers, continue using iMovie, and burn the finished result as a single video with disk utility or Toast.

If you do need chapter markers, don't even open iMovie. Go to Toast or Wondershare, import your raw footage and slides, edit them within the application pretending it's iMovie (it's not), then you can set discrete chapter markers, and everything is fine.

There are advantages to switching over to either Toast or Wondershare. They both handle 720p videos and better (iDVD can't), and their built-in video players will play them. Apple's DVD player cannot...

I bought my first Mac in 1984, that dates me. I remember when Apple was the first one to abandon floppy discs, and you thought that the world had come to an end. But I think that the DVD situation is different. Many of us in a classroom setting don't have access to broadband, or are even at home willing to pay for it. We still need to distribute videos via DVDs. Apple abandoned them too soon.

I used to have iDVD, but now switch to DVD Maker since I am runing a new iMac which don't come with it!

http://www.appgeeker.com/convert/burn-mov-to-dvd.html

It is all in one and simple to use so I've stuck with it. Most of features in iDVD can be find in it, and the quality of the videos and audio comes up nice.

I bought my first Mac in 1984, that dates me. I remember when Apple was the first one to abandon floppy discs, and you thought that the world had come to an end. But I think that the DVD situation is different. Many of us in a classroom setting don't have access to broadband, or are even at home willing to pay for it. We still need to distribute videos via DVDs. Apple abandoned them too soon.

"Sorry, honey, that cloud storage service where I put the video of our wedding/son's first birthday/daughter's first dance recital just went bankrupt."

I keep all my must have copies on DVD disc storage

Apple is the largest media company in the world. They sell nothing on disk. It is to their financial advantage to have the physical possession of movies go away. ( but I fail to see how it benefits the consumer. )

Blu-ray is way better than streaming. I'm a photographer. I care about image quality. Call me old-fashioned.

Once physical media are totally gone, we can expect the consumer's rights to use the content to become even more restricted than they are now. Want to buy a second hand copy of a movie that's "out of print?" Too bad. The second hand market will disappear. Want to reinstall software you bought a few years ago? Better hope the publisher doesn't prefer to force you to pay for an upgrade. The end of physical media MAY be coming, but I fail to see how it benefits the consumer.

DVDs are cheap, easy to lend, simple to sell, and "idiot-proof" for the many who just want to pop in a movie and hit play.

says Tony Bradley at MacWorld

Yes....! Bring back iDVD.

My iDVD is beginning to show problems after all these years, The third or fourth 'Slideshow' refuses to 'Dissolve' and instead inserts a brief shot of the the menu image in place of the dissolve....

What system are you using? How much free space do you have on your boot drive? A minimum of 20-25 GB is strongly recommended when using iDVD. How much ram to you have? It's the enviroment that iDVD is in that can cause the problems, not the app itself. It doesn't change.

Also your workflow is important. Try following this workflow:

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, launch DVD Player and play it. If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding is 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.

Hello, thanks for this advice. I checked out all of your information and as far as I can tell I am running well within the parameters you suggest.

The iMac is just over two years old, version 10.6.8.

iTunes 11.1.5 (5)

iPhoto 11 Version 9.2.3

iDVD 7.1.2 (1158)

I saved my completed project: File-Save as Disc Image. It played successfully.

I then burned via Disc Utility at 2x speed to Taiyo Uden disc but the same problem is still there.

The problem only seems to occur on the third or fourth Slideshow. It ignors the 'Dissolve' setting and insted flashes a still from the 'Menu' between each picture. Very irritating. I have probably done ten slightly adjusted projects and all of them present the same problem - and of course one doesn't find out until the burn is complete as it only seems to affect the project once burned to the disc.

I am putting about 80 photos on each Slideshow and running 4 or 5 Slideshows per project.

I did try a project with only 3 slideshows and only about 15 pictures per slideshow and NO problem. Not sure what this suggests.

Any advice would be more than welcome!

Have you tried starting a new project from scratch, adding the slideshows, saving as disk image and checking with DVD Player? How much free space do you have on your boot drive? It's strongly recommended to have a minimum of 20-15 GB free.

Yes, Memorex do not have a good reputation. Most of us here use Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden.

Success! All is well. I abandoned the project, trashed everything relating to iDVD from the desktop, emptied the Trash and started again.

By now, I knew the project inside out and was able to put it together quickly. Followed Toad's instructions and now have a complete and working version of my original project. The differences I made were to remove ten short videos from the slideshows and put them into their own slideshow. Don't know if this had any bearing on the problem.

I am relieved and delighted and pleased that there is someone out there who responds. Thanks Old Chap!

Just to clarify.... I didn't trash iDVD from the dock, just various projects that were saved on the desktop.

I am trying to salvage VHS tapes of children & grandchildren using Elgato and iMovie and when trying to burn a dual layer DVD iDVD (which I have just won't do it without error messages). So looking for one that will easily burn dula layer DVD's . Maybe all titles & themes will have to be made in the future on iMovie....as long as it lasts!

I have done lots of that.

Use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09-11, why?

iMovie 09-11 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.

If your primary workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, iMovie '06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie 09/11, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.

iMovie 06 and iDVD 09-11 is a "lossless" combination.

Joyce:

A very convenient feature of using iMovie 6 HD is that when you have the movie as you want it all you need to do to get it into iDVD is to close iMovie and drag the iMovie project file into the iDVD menu window. There's no need for export or anything else.

If you add music to project iMovie 6 is particularly goo in handing of audio tracks. It's so easy to add multiple audio tracks to a project and have individual clips start and end, fade in and out, exactly where you want them to.

If you do need chapter markers, don't even open iMovie. Go to Toast or Wondershare, import your raw footage and slides, edit them within the application pretending it's iMovie (it's not), then you can set discrete chapter markers, and everything is fine.

There are advantages to switching over to either Toast or Wondershare. They both handle 720p videos and better (iDVD can't), and their built-in video players will play them. Apple's DVD player cannot...

I was unaware that Toast could do any movie editing. My movie editing requirements are simple. I need more power with DVD creation. I need to have menus with chapters. Will toast do this? Please comment more on Wondershare. I see their advertising everywhere, but read little about actual users.

I have a new Mac Pro. It's a shame that I must continue to use iMovie 06 and iDVD because I have found nothing better.

Ziatron You write;

I have a new Mac Pro. It's a shame that I must continue to use iMovie 06 and iDVD because I have found nothing better.

Why is it a shame?

You seem very happy with it and are still actively encouraging people to use it. I'm confused.