I've spent the last few days trying to create a DVD movie from an iMovie I created. I can get the file to my desktop as an MP4 or even copy it from iTunes as an m4v but when I put it on a DVD+R disc and try to play it in my DVD player I get "data disk" so it won't play.
It will play on my computer but not the DVD player. I'm so frustrated.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
IMAC (RETINA 5K, 27-INCH, MID 2015), macOS Sierra (10.12.5)
I guess I am not quite understanding what you are seeing. I cannot determine what info in red that you are seeing, or in what screen you are seeing it. In the iDVD menu, go to Project/Project info. You should get an information box that looks something like this:
Check the total duration of your project as I indicate with the arrow and circle on the above insert. If it's less than two hours, the project size doesn't matter. You can then go ahead and burn your DVD to the Single-Layer (SL) DVD-R standard disc. On the above screen the DVD type is set for Single-Layer.
-- Rich
Hi,
Your Mac's burn program will only burn data discs. As you have found, data discs will only play on your computer and not DVD players.
In order to burn a movie disc that will play on a DVD player you need to burn it with an authoring program like iDVD. If you don't have iDVD on your computer you can get it from Amazon as part of the iLife '09 or iLife '11 packages. Google Amazon iLife '09 or iLife '11 to get you there.
Once you have downloaded iDVD, create an iDVD project and drag your movie into the edge of your iDVD project screen. It will load into the project. You can add themes and menus as you like. Then from the iDVD file menu item you can burn a DVD directly for iDVD. Use a DVD - R disc and burn at 4x speed. As a more useful option, most people who burn DVDs first save the project as a Disc Image, and once the rendering has been done as part of the save process, you can right click on the disc image icon and select to burn the image from the drop down menu. Using a disc image you can burn multiple discs without having to go through the time consuming rendering process every time, and the disc image is also a good archive of your project.
For more complete information, see Klaus1's post and my post in this thread:
- Rich
To burn a DVD with iDVD from the latest version of iMovie, you have to export the movie using the Export button and select 480p as the size. Open iDVD and start a new project, then drag that exported movie file into the iDVD menu window, avoiding any drop zones you see.
If you are using El Capitan or Sierra see this thread:
I haven't upgraded to Sierra yet, so can't speak from experience. iDVD works fine on El Capitan. I suspect that it will work fine on Sierra. Perhaps someone who is running iDVD on Sierra will chime in.
I have not used Roxio Toast, but it gets good reviews. However, I find that iDVD is an excellent authoring program that I have used for years with good results. It has a large assortment of themes and capability for sub-menus. You can create slideshows with it and even save your photos as Hi Def with its CD-ROM feature -- so your viewers can view and save the high def photos that you took and made part of your project. The CD-ROM feature acts as a data disc storage, so it can save Hi Def pics even if the video rendering is only standard def. You can check to see if Roxio Toast has these features. However, for the money, I would go with iDVD because it is a proven, highly well received, program that has stood the test of years.
-- Rich
Hi,
An 8.5 GB disc means you are burning on a double sided disc. Burn on a 4.7GB single sided DVD-R standard disc. You can burn a 2 hour project on a single sided disc, even if it's a 26GB project. iDVD will compress it to fit on a 4.7GB disc. That is what the app is designed to do.
Burn it on a DVD - R disc instead of +R. Sometimes +R discs don't work. Burn at 4x speed.
Use good disc media such as Maxell or Verbatim.
-- Rich
It's a double layer disc but not double sided, all on one side. I have a 4.7GB disc but when I switch the properties to a single layer (iDVD says 4.2g and mine are 4.7g) it tells me that I have 4.28GB's and that's too big so I have to select the double layer at 7.7GB.
I'm not sure how I burn at 4x speed, that doesn't seem to be one of my options on my project info.
I'm sorry I'm being such a pain, this has been a terribly painful experience, you've been nothing but helpful.
I meant to say double layered instead of double sided. There are no double sided discs.
4.2 GB is the same as 4.7. Just depends on how you measure it. As I mentioned in my previous post, a 4.2GB or 4.7GB disc is plenty adequate to burn a project up to two hours duration, no matter what the project size. You want to burn your project on your 4.7GB -R single layer disc (forget what iDVD is telling you) and you should be fine.
-- Rich
This just keeps getting worse and worse 😟
So I burned a copy onto the 4.7 even though it said it was over. It looks like it burned but it's super blurry and terrible quality.... I'm at such a loss on this.
Then your project is longer than 2 hours and you need to split your project into two projects and burn each of them on a separate single layer disc. Or, change your DVD type setting to Double layer. If the duration is only slightly over, you might try lowering the quality.
-- Rich
Okay, I just started everything over again. I'm importing the mp4 and the first prompt I get is:
Project Duration
Your project exceeds the maximum content duration. To burn your DVD, change the encoder setting in the Project Info window.
I click ok.
I go the Project Info window and where you have the red arrow it says 78 minutes 4.29 GB and that is in RED. My box had the encoding on Best Performance. When I changed it to High Quality then the 78 minutes and such isn't red anymore.
I closed the box and left everything the way it was.
Then I import the picture for my theme and update my titles and hit the burn button correct?
The last time I changed the perspective to wide screen, do you think that would have made it blurry? Or would it more be because of the Red and the Best Performance?
I'm really sorry to be such a pain.
~Tammy
No, Tammy, you're not being "a pain" at all. We are happy to help if we can.
The work flow that you describe is exactly right.
I don't believe that changing the aspect ratio caused the blurriness of your previous effort. More likely it was caused by the encoding setting that you had, that gave you the warning message. Now that you have cured it, I will bet that your current burning effort will be successful.
-- Rich
Hmmmm. If you followed all the steps and used the correct DVD - R single layer, and the correct encoding settings, and burning at 4x speed, you should have a good DVD. Possibly the movie is very high def and iDVD was having trouble handling it. Or you could have a defective burner or dirty burner, or not using good DVD media. I recommended Maxell or Verbatim DVD discs. Another possibility is that your DVD player is defective or its settings are incorrect. See what settings are variable and tinker with those.
I would take your burned disc over to a friend's house and try to play it on his/her setup. If it plays well there, then you know that the issue is with your DVD player or TV.
Hang in there and you'll find success eventually. Good luck with this.
-- Rich
I'm trying a DVD-R instead of a DVD+R now. How do I burn it at 4x speed? I'm using Verbatim discs. I've tried it on an older toshiba DVD which shows it as blurry and I've tried it on my newer Sony blue ray it that one won't even let me play it... it just says "can't play disc". I also put it back into the disc burner I have and it was blurry on the computer also which leads me to think it's something with the burn or the disc itself.
Apparently the speed selection option is not available when burning a DVD directly from iDVD, versus burning from a disc image. So don't worry about the speed. Just go ahead and burn the DVD.
-- Rich
I do have iMovie 10 but do not use it so my knowledge with this version is very limited.
Have stayed with version 9.
Have you seen the quality of the MP4 file from iMovie when played in QuickTime Player?
Just to say that if the quality of the MP4 file is blurry,then so will be the DVD.
When you exported from iMovie (File >Share>File e.t.c ) what quality setting did you select?
Options are- Low,Medium,High,Best(ProRes) or Custom.
This obviously has a bearing on the output file quality.
Some people believe that the Shared -out file size has to be less than,say, 4.7GB in order to burn a DVD,
so they select a lower quality setting in order to get it all on.
In fact the file size is not the factor , but instead the movie length in time.
I would suggest you Share again and select Best (ProRes) ,you get a .mov file and bring that into iDVD.
Whilst you are at it, you could try Professional Quality in iDVD, this is the best for video between 1 and 2 hours.
Also you can find the Burn Speed setting in iDVD>Preferences>Advanced>Preferred DVD burning speed.
When I was experimenting with DVD quality burning issues some years ago I used DVD-RW rewritable
discs ( Verbatim) which saved me a fortune in wasted DVD-R discs.
Trying to create a playable DVD from iMovie
