iDVD does not recognise mp4 file

Question

Level 1

9 points

iDVD does not recognise mp4 file

Hi,

I have spent the entire morning trying to burn a home movie on to DVD. IT used to be simple, then I upgraded my software (iMovie and Yosemite) and now it can't be done.

I am running iMovie 10.1.1 and iDVD 7.1.2 and El Capitan 10.11.3

In iMovie I export the file using 'File/Share/File...' then selecting 540p format as this creates the smallest sized file (to fit onto the DVD I want to burn to). Once done, I open up iDVD and try to import the new file. It says "Unsupported File Type : Unknown format"

What on Earth am I doing wrong ? I am close to going crazy.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Mar 16, 2016 7:43 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Mar 16, 2016 9:43 AM in response to calvinbrady

Have you tried dragging the file from the hard drive into the open iDVD menu window? Do you get the same response?

Does the movie have an audio track? it will not encode in iDVD without an audio track. Does the movie play OK in Quicktime Player?

Just created a movie without audio from slides in iMovie 10.1.1, exported at 540p and it imported into iDVD without a problem. However, as I said, it would not encode.

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Answer 2

calvinbrady Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 16, 2016 9:52 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. Unfortunately yes I've tried those things. I can drag in old movies (from previous software updates etc) into iDVD no problem, but the new stuff I create in the new iMovie 10.1.1, even a 1 minute clip, doesn't load into iDVD. It does play in Quicktime with sound too.

I'm totally baffled !

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Mar 16, 2016 10:12 AM in response to calvinbrady

What does the Quicktime Player Inspector window for your exporting iMovie file look like?

This is what my test file shows:

Try exporting the movie to a dv stream from Quicktime Player

and see if that will work in iDVD.

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Answer 4

calvinbrady Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 16, 2016 10:19 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi, took me ages to work out what the inspector window was, but I found it, it looks like this:

I'm currently exporting the file from QT to see what it produces ... will update when done ...

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Mar 16, 2016 10:43 AM in response to calvinbrady

Is the music you're using from the iTunes store and has DRM protection?

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Answer 6

calvinbrady Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 16, 2016 12:43 PM in response to Old Toad

Ok, so oddly enough I exported the file from Quicktime (as the lowest res I think) then loaded that to the iDVD and burnt that onto a DVD. And it worked !

So that's something. But it almost means the route I now need to take to get my home videos on disc are to transfer the movies from my source to the Mac, adjust them iMovie, export them from iMovie using 'Share', Load them in Quicktime then export them again. Then Load them in iDVD and burn.

SURELY this can not be the easiest way to do all of this ? I cant believe the end of the DVD has come so quickly.

PS I don't use an iTunes/DRM music, its all just off my video camera.

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Answer 7

calvinbrady Author

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Mar 17, 2016 12:45 AM in response to calvinbrady

Oh and I lost chapter markers too of course. Cant believe Apple have done this.

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Answer 8

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Mar 17, 2016 9:15 AM in response to calvinbrady

iDVD was discontinued 6 years ago. So it's no wonder that with the current systems it's showing its age. That's why I have a partition with Mavericks on it so I can run iDVD 7 and iMovie 6 HD.

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Answer 9

calvinbrady Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 17, 2016 9:36 AM in response to Old Toad

IS there any video editing software that can burn to DVD on the market for Macs ? IS Toast such a program ? I don't mind paying for a decent editor/burner, I'll need DVDs for a long time to come yet.

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Answer 10

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Mar 17, 2016 10:18 AM in response to calvinbrady

I under stand Final Cut Pro X can do both. Don't know anything about it though. Visit the FCPX forum below to see what its about:

Final Cut Pro X

What do you use now to edit the movies?

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Answer 11

calvinbrady Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 17, 2016 10:25 AM in response to Old Toad

Wow ! £229 ! Ok I wasn't expecting that ! But on the positive it seems you can burn a DVD with it, but only read that on the forum and not on the product advertising (?!)

Thanks for all your help with this. Seems Apple have deliberately screwed people.

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Answer 12

Old Toad

Level 10

207,367 points

Mar 17, 2016 10:41 AM in response to calvinbrady

Be sure to research it carefully. Don't know what type to themes it has but might be somewhat sparse and not much better than Toast or one of the apps via the App Store.

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