iDVD no longer burns, El Capitan

I don't see anything unusual in the report. Are you use still photos in an iDVD slideshow or are you using movie/video files in the project?

If you're just using still photos in iDVD slideshows for the project try the same test that Bengt suggested with 3 or 4 photos in an iDVD slideshow.

BUT the image quality was very poor (640 X 480)

That's the resolution of video DVDs. If your images are not in the 4:3 size aspect ratio crop them to that ratio to relieve iDVD from having to do that during encoding. What are the pixel dimensions of the images you're using in the project?

This Apple document describes preparing still images for use with iDVD: iDVD '09 (7.x): Preparing images for iDVD slideshows

I have started with your suggestion for resizing and have gone with the 1024 x 576 pixels for (UK) PAL Widescreen.

Might work if You also set iDVD to do a Widescreen DVD - Two steps to set this - First when creating a BRAND NEW PROJECT - set this right here ! and then when You've selected Theme - go up to top Menu Row and select Project / Projectinfo

Here to set it to 16x9

Else use the size 640 x 480 - Using bigger size forces iDVD to DOWNSCALE - And it does this VERY BADLY ! with a poor poor result.

By using the above method I will have reduced each individual image from (on average) 12MB to 500KB.

Will this not reflect in a much reduced image quality on dvd playback?

NO - Video DVDs are as STANDARD - 640 x 480 and iDVD or any other DVD authoring software will deliver just this.
YES there is HD-DVD BUT they do NOT play on standard DVD-players only a few Toshiba HD-DVD-players can playback these

Feeding iDVD with higher resolution forces it to downscale - and it does this BADLY !

Most UK TV's are now 50" High Definition (16:9 ratio) - or am I missing something?

Yes - Video-DVD is as STANDARD 640 x 480 in resolution wherever they come from (at it's best)

If You need better then consider

- Blu-Ray e.g. Roxio™ Toast instead of iDVD

- Saving material to an USB-memory - My TV takes this and I can keep a much higher quality.

Yours Bengt W

addition: may be You find someting in my old note on DVD Quality ?

1. DVD quality

iDVD 08, 09 & 11 has three levels of qualities. (version 7.0.1, 7,0.4 & 7.1.1) and iDVD 6 has the two last ones

Professional Quality (movies + menus up to 120 min.) - BEST (but not always for short movies e.g. up to 45 minutes in total)

Best Performances (movies + menus less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD (Can be best for short movies)

High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6) (movies + menus up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above

Menu can take 15 minutes or even more - I use a very simple one with no audio or animation like ”Brushed Metal” in old Themes.

About double on DL DVDs.

2. Video from

FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not self-containing, no conversion)

iMovie x-HD6 - Don't use ”Share/Export to iDVD” = destructive even to movie project and especially so

when the movie includes photos and the Ken Burns effect NOT is used. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.

iMovie’08 (v.7) or 09 (v.8) or 11 (v.9) are not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser (Share to MediaBrowser and as MEDIUM (not HD as downscaling is done badly) or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.

iMovie'13 (v.10) - Share as 480P (If I understood it right)

I use Roxio Toast™ to make an as slow burn as possibly e.g. x4 or x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)

This can also be done with Apple’s Disk Utilities application when burning from a DiskImage.

- iDVD - set Burn Speed in iDVD Pref. / Advance - BEST IS NOT BEST - x2 or max x4

- Roxio™ - set in burn process

- Disk Util tool - set in burn process

BEST IS NOT BEST

There has to be about or more than 25Gb free space on internal (start-up) hard disk. iDVD can't

use an external one as scratch disk (if it is not start-up disc). For SD-Video - if HD-material is used I guess that 4 to 5 times more would do.

• I use Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
• I use DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW) - DVD-R play’s on more and older DVD-Players
• Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD

(I use JES_Deinterlacer to keep frame per sec. same from editing to the Video-DVD result.)

NTSC = 29.97 frames per second

PAL = 25 frames per second (fps)

Don’t burn more than three DVDs at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while (20-30 minutes) before next batch.

It is EASY to over-heat the DVD-laser - resulting in EXPENCIVE REPAIR ! - YES it goes "Kaputt" and will not heal.

iDVD quality also depends on.

DVD is a standard in it self. It is Standard Definition Quality = Same as on old CRT-TV sets and can not

deliver anything better that this.

HD-DVD was a short-lived standard and it was only a few Toshiba DVD-players that could playback.

These DVDs could be made in DVD-Studio Pro. But they don’t playback on any other standard DVD-Player.

Blu-Ray / BD can be coded onto DVDs but limited in time to - about 20-30 minutes and then need

_ Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl. BD-component

_ BD disks and burner if full length movies are to be stored

_ BD-Player or PlayStation3 - to be able to playback

The BD-encoded DVDs can be play-backed IF Mac also have Roxio DVD-player tool. Not on any standard Mac or DVD-player

Full BD-disks needs a BD-player (in Mac) as they need blue-laser to be read. No red-laser can do this.

HOW much free space is there on Your internal (start-up) hard disk. Go for approx. 25Gb.

less than 5Gb and Your result will most probably not play.

How it was recorded - Tripod vs Handheld Camera. A stable picture will give a much higher quality

Audio is most often more critical than picture. Bad audio and with dropouts usually results in a non-viewed movie.

Use of Video-editor. iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not the tools for DVD-production. They discard every second line resulting in a close to VHS-tape quality.

iMovie 1 to HD6 and FinalCut any version delivers same quality as Camera record in = 100% to iDVD

What kind of movie project You drop into it. MPEG4 seems to be a bad choice.

other strange formats are .avi, .wmv, .flash etc. Convert to streamingDV first

Also audio formats matters. I use only .aiff or from miniDV tape Camera 16-bit

strange formats often problematic are .avi, .wmv, audio from iTunes, .mp3 etc

Convert to .aiff first and use this in movie project

What kind of standard - NTSC movie and NTSC DVD or PAL to PAL - no mix.

(If You need to change to do a NTSC DVD from PAL material let JES_Deinterlacer_3.2.2 do the conversion)

(Dropping a PAL movie into a NTSC iDVD project

(US) NTSC DVDs most often are playable in EU

(EU) PAL DVDs most often needs to be converted to play in US

They are play-backed by a Mac - then You need not to care

What kind of DVDs You are using. I use Verbatim DVD-R (this brand AND no +R or +/-RW)

How You encode and burn it. Two settings prior iDVD’08 or 09

Pro Quality (only in iDVD 08 & 09)

Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)

Best / High Performances (most often my choice before Pro Quality)

go to iDVD pref. menu and select tab far right and set burn speed to x1 (less errors = plays better) - only in iDVD 08 & 09

(x4 by some and may be even better)

Project info. Select Professional Encoding - only in iDVD 08 & 09.

Region codes.

iDVD - only burn Region = 0 - meaning - DVDs are playable everywhere

DVD Studio pro can set Region codes.

1 = US

2 = EU

unclemano wrote

What it turned out to be was the "quality" settings in iDVD. The total clip time was NOT over 2 hours or 4.7GB, yet iDVD created massive visual artifacts on the "professional quality" setting.

I switched the settings to "high quality" which solved the problem. According iDVD help, "high quality" determines the best bit rate for the clips you have.

I have NEVER seen iDVD do this before, especially when I was under the 2 hour and 4.7GB limits.

For anyone else, there seem to be 2 places in iDVD to set quality settings, the first is under "preferences" and the second under "project info." They do NOT seem to be linked (i.e. if you change one, the other is NOT changed). take care, Mario

to get this to work I

Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk

Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)

Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices

No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc

and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use

and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project

Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it

Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !

Try to break the process up into two stages

Save as a DiskImage (calculating part)

Burn from this .img file (burning stage)

To isolate where the problem starts.

Another thing is - Playing it onto a Blu-Ray Player. My PlayStation3 can play BD-disks but not all of my home made DVDs so to get this to work I

Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk

Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)

Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices

No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc

and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use

and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project

Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it

Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !

TO GET IT TO WORK SLIGHTLY FASTER

Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up hard disk for SD-Video Quality and about 4 - 5 times more - if it is a HD-Project.

No other programs running in BackGround e.g. Energy-Saver

Don’t let HD spin down or be turned off (in Energy-Save)

Do not have more external devices connected as is of urgent need. Move hard disks that are not to be used to Trash - Or to be disconnected/turned off

Goto Spotlight and set the rest of them under Integrity (not to be scanned)

Set screen-saver to a folder without any photo

First - then make an active corner (up right for me) and set pointer to this

Secondly - turns on screen saver

Then - to show that it has nothing to show

No File Vault on - Important

NO - TimeMachine - during iMovie/iDVD work either ! IMPORTANT

Lot's of icons on DeskTop/Finder also slows down the Mac noticeably

if a project is in a real hurry

First - Then Start a new User-Account and

Then - log into this and iMovie get's faster too

And let Mac run on Mains - not just on battery

Yours Bengt W

I believed the master has answered your last questions in his last two posts. There's no one more knowledgeable in all things iDVD than Bengt.

Log into another user account on you Mac and see if you can crate and save as disk image/burn an iDVD project. This will tell us if the problem is system wide or limited to your user account.

Go to the System/Users & Groups preference pane and create a non-administrative user account. It's a great troubleshooting tools since it will be pristine, i.e. no added enhancements like your account might have. Doesn't take much space any all and you can use Fast User Switching if so desired.

Hi

reg Size - Have no idea why (but seen this too) - but to me is that it works most interesting. I ignore size if it doesn't matter.

Accounts. - Every Mac since Mac OS X at least (most probably even earlier) can hold as many user-account as You like - to creat a new user to Your Mac is EASY and it is a very important tool in finding out what's gone avry - AND IN SOME CASES a process can remarcadly SPEED UP esp DVD authoring/burning (on my Mac at least)

- You open System preferences (on old Mac OS X.6.8 - it is some rowes down under the Apple Menu

And when it opens - select Accounts

Then click on the PLUS sign

I use to name my TEST and Password = TEST

Easy to remember

Easy to delete when used

Now close the System Pref window

Go up to the Apple Menu (still top left hand corner)

then down to Log-Out

Now log into the new User Account - TEST

and see if iDVD works OK (with a new and very simple/small project)

Yours Bengt W

BTW

Free Space on start-up (Boot) Hard Disj. How MUCH ? - Other hard disks OF NO interest as they don't interfere at all.

b. I only started to see this issue within 24 hours of the El Capitan OS update. I know all of above is good practice but surely the problem lies with someting in El Capitan. I can't help feeling that that is the issue

MOST probably - But there is no sport in waiting to get it fixed. What I would do - is using an extra external hard disk with the old Mac OS and full iLife installed - the switch the iMac to start from this instead. So to finish in time.

c. Use of iTune bought Music is a severe problem due to that You bought the music - it's only for You to use - Not copy or re-sell in any form - Hench they added DRM-Copyprotection and this can induce a lot of strange errors - most probably harm a project in prosess.

So I only use audio I recorded and saved as .mp3 myself. Then I know that it doesn't contain harmfull code.

I respect Copyright law - and do not inspire anyone to do anything else.

Yours Bengt W

Then You bought the right to use them

I would open them in AudaCity (audio-editing program free on internet) and export them from here as .mp3 in a quality You accept - I prefere 192 or 256 bit.

Good Luck !

About free space on BOOT hard disk. HOW MUCH ?

Yours Bengt W