iDVD 4.0.1

[MacRumors]

Apple also updated iDVD to 4.0.1 today:

This software update will upgrade your version of iDVD 4 to iDVD 4.0.1. This update is highly recommended for all users of iDVD 4 and will provide for improved reliability when authoring and burning DVDs.

This is the first iDVD update since the release of iLife in January.

[dontmatter]

Wow! I'm the first comment, and I'm not anywhere near one of the forum nerds out there!

Maybe it's just because an x.x.1 update is so boring, and c'mon, all you're doing is playing movies with it.

hmm..

[rikers_mailbox]

Originally Posted by dontmatter

Wow! I'm the first comment, and I'm not anywhere near one of the forum nerds out there!

Maybe it's just because an x.x.1 update is so boring, and c'mon, all you're doing is playing movies with it.

hmm..

iDVD is for authoring DVDs, not just playing them.

-forum nerd

[jeffgarden]

Be Warned though, if you're in the market for buying EyeTV to record tv shows or transfer VHS to digital format, you can't use iMovie or iDVD with the files

even if you save as "quicktime format" it's seen as an mpeg by pretty much all of iLife and Quicktime so you can't do anything with it.

EyeTV has an extremely drawn out method of converting, seperating audio from video and converting some more and just going through hell to make the file iDVD compatible.

I emailed them about this and their answer was that they (El Gato) help develop Roxio Toast and it makes more sense to them to just make sure that Toast can recognize the files. Which, of course, it does.

but then you miss out on the cool iDVD themes

[Edot]

Originally Posted by jeffgarden

Be Warned though, if you're in the market for buying EyeTV to record tv shows or transfer VHS to digital format, you can't use iMovie or iDVD with the files

even if you save as "quicktime format" it's seen as an mpeg by pretty much all of iLife and Quicktime so you can't do anything with it.

EyeTV has an extremely drawn out method of converting, seperating audio from video and converting some more and just going through hell to make the file iDVD compatible.

I emailed them about this and their answer was that they (El Gato) help develop Roxio Toast and it makes more sense to them to just make sure that Toast can recognize the files. Which, of course, it does.

but then you miss out on the cool iDVD themes

Can't you just use Quicktime Pro and convert it into DV, or whatever iMovie/iDVD require?

[Le Big Mac]

Originally Posted by dontmatter

Wow! I'm the first comment, and I'm not anywhere near one of the forum nerds out there!

Maybe it's just because an x.x.1 update is so boring, and c'mon, all you're doing is playing movies with it.

hmm..

Well, you're burning movies.

Anyone know what this fixes?

[sinbushar]

there seem to have been a number of problems when actually burning the dvd disc..it stalled at various stages...i'm going to try it out now, and see if it fixes my problem..

[blueBomber]

I would be nice if they snuck in letting you burn to firewire drives since, after all, we are paying for idvd now in a separte package. The old way of only getting idvd with a superdrive mac is past us, I think Apple needs to rethink this. I'd even be willing to pay more for iLife if they put that feature in.

[jeffgarden]

Can't you just use Quicktime Pro and convert it into DV, or whatever iMovie/iDVD require?

i swear it wouldn't work before :P
that's the first thing i tried and it wouldn't work and when i told them they told me about that 10 step process that's on their site and about how they don't want to support iDVD

but yeah it just worked so EyeTV is all good again

sorry for the misinformation

[jemeinc]

Originally Posted by sinbushar

there seem to have been a number of problems when actually burning the dvd disc..it stalled at various stages...i'm going to try it out now, and see if it fixes my problem..

I hope this is the first of many updates... iDVD 4 is a mess in it's present form... I'm sure they'll get it fixed, but this program should have never been released, imho... On a good day I get a 15 hr. burn time with my audio in synch... On a bad day I get 2 coasters & a video that looks like a bad kung-fu movie...lol...

[numediaman]

This is huge. iDVD 4 has been a mess for a lot of people. The Apple discussion boards have been crammed with complaints and desperate pleas for help.

A couple of weeks ago I posted that I thought the rev b G5s would be announced after a series of things came out -- they included 10.3.3 and an iLife fix for iDVD. (They also fessed up to the power supply issues audio users have been having.) I remember being slammed for saying the G5s wouldn't come out until March. I can't say I told you so 'cause they still might not come out 'til April -- but it's looking good!

Now they need to re-release QuickTime 6.5 for the G5.


EDIT: jemeinc, you should go to the Apple discussion boards and check out the iDVD section. Someone here already mentioned "sharing" to DV instead of exporting to iDVD -- this helps with the encoding time in iDVD. Of course, the other option is Toast or DVD Studio Pro. I certainly agree with you that iDVD4 should never have been released. It's not a good sign when Apple releases unproven software this way. Was it rushed to be included in the new iLife?

[vannote]

Originally Posted by blueBomber

I would be nice if they snuck in letting you burn to firewire drives since, after all, we are paying for idvd now in a separte package. The old way of only getting idvd with a superdrive mac is past us, I think Apple needs to rethink this. I'd even be willing to pay more for iLife if they put that feature in.

That's got my vote...

[jemeinc]

EDIT: jemeinc, you should go to the Apple discussion boards and check out the iDVD section. Someone here already mentioned "sharing" to DV instead of exporting to iDVD -- this helps with the encoding time in iDVD. Of course, the other option is Toast or DVD Studio Pro. I certainly agree with you that iDVD4 should never have been released. It's not a good sign when Apple releases unproven software this way. Was it rushed to be included in the new iLife?[/quote]


Thanks... I've been getting alot of help from "JD1" over there... His iDVD 4 page at macfixit is incredible...

[BornAgainMac]

Originally Posted by Edot

Can't you just use Quicktime Pro and convert it into DV, or whatever iMovie/iDVD require?

You sure can. But the problem is you won't have audio. You have to go thru this major process of extracting the audio (you can't use Quicktime Pro), and then converting the audio to a usable audio format. Then combining the video and audio (you may use quicktime pro for this step), and then export it to DV or whatever.

Also the MPEG-1 files aren't even usable on a Windows PC. They are "special" MPEG-1 files that seem to only play on Macs. EyeTV was a nice product but not implemented correctly.

[stoid]

Originally Posted by blueBomber

I would be nice if they snuck in letting you burn to firewire drives since, after all, we are paying for idvd now in a separte package. The old way of only getting idvd with a superdrive mac is past us, I think Apple needs to rethink this. I'd even be willing to pay more for iLife if they put that feature in.

The reason Apple doesn't include this is because of licensing fees. To burn video onto a DVD Apple has to pay a licensing fee. Most DVD burners that come with video burning software that works on that burner and that burner alone. For Apple to pay the licensing fees for all the (hundreds?) of different brands and makes would cost a fortune! Granted, there is a way around this, or so I've heard.

[AngryLawnGnome]

That sucks...I have DVD Studio Pro, but I have no idea how to use it and I don't have the time to figure it out. I have to bear with iDVD and iMovie's limitations for now.

[sabbath999]

Originally Posted by angrylawngnome

That sucks...I have DVD Studio Pro, but I have no idea how to use it and I don't have the time to figure it out. I have to bear with iDVD and iMovie's limitations for now.

If you have DVDSP 2.0 take the time to learn, it's worth it and is quite simple to use. If you have 1.5, upgrade it!

[jeffgarden]

well with EyeTV (now that this works) you just convert to dv which will be soundless, then you use something like mpgtxwrap (free) to get the audio separated from the original video file (it makes it .mp2 which you can make aac or whatever other format iMovie likes with iTunes) and you're set

it's not as bad as it was before in the Eye TV instructions where you had to divide your video into 9 minute segments.

and if you're just ripping a tv show to store on your computer the .mpg files are playable in any video player in Mac and Windows. The video files on ChrisCornell.cc are ripped with EyeTV if you want an example of how they come out.

[VicMacs]

it still takes forever and a day to encode a movie... but i guess they fixed an issue in which almost no DVD-R other than an apple brand dvd-r was ejected when tried to be burnt on (correct???)

come on steve... fire some people...

[eric_n_dfw]

Originally Posted by sabbath999

If you have DVDSP 2.0 take the time to learn, it's worth it and is quite simple to use. If you have 1.5, upgrade it!

Or send it to me! I'd love to have DVDSP but can't justify the price right now.

Seriously though, from everything I've read, you really should take the time to learn it, especially considering how much you paid for it.

[Edot]

Originally Posted by jeffgarden

well with EyeTV (now that this works) you just convert to dv which will be soundless, then you use something like mpgtxwrap (free) to get the audio separated from the original video file (it makes it .mp2 which you can make aac or whatever other format iMovie likes with iTunes) and you're set

it's not as bad as it was before in the Eye TV instructions where you had to divide your video into 9 minute segments.

and if you're just ripping a tv show to store on your computer the .mpg files are playable in any video player in Mac and Windows. The video files on ChrisCornell.cc are ripped with EyeTV if you want an example of how they come out.

Have you tried this nifty little app?

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14618

It separates the video and audio track of a muxed mpeg file.

[blueBomber]

Originally Posted by stoid

The reason Apple doesn't include this is because of licensing fees. To burn video onto a DVD Apple has to pay a licensing fee. Most DVD burners that come with video burning software that works on that burner and that burner alone. For Apple to pay the licensing fees for all the (hundreds?) of different brands and makes would cost a fortune! Granted, there is a way around this, or so I've heard.

So Roxio does it with Toast and Easy CD/DVD Creator, Ahead Software does it with Nero on the pc...
These programs support just about any DVD drive out there, and they are reasonably priced. If Apple brought this to the table with iDvd, and even if they had to raise the price of iLife, it would be fantastic. Until then, iDvd is a piece of software that I am paying for but can't use. And there may be a way around this limitation, but doing so brings down the wrath of Apple and Mr. Jobs, and from what I hear, he is one person you do not want to anger

[gorkonapple]

Originally Posted by stoid

The reason Apple doesn't include this is because of licensing fees. To burn video onto a DVD Apple has to pay a licensing fee. Most DVD burners that come with video burning software that works on that burner and that burner alone. For Apple to pay the licensing fees for all the (hundreds?) of different brands and makes would cost a fortune! Granted, there is a way around this, or so I've heard.

As far as I know, you can use ANY DVD program on ANY Drive. That's what goes for the PC world and I can't imagine Macs would be different. In any case, my PowerBook 12 inch did fine before this .01 update and hopefully it will just get better. What's the reason external firewire burners are not supported. Anyone need an answer? Remember, Apple sells hardware first and software second. What incentive do they have to let you use your non apple made firwire DVD-R drive?? None. So, hell will freeze over before this happens.

[swissmann]

I used iDVD 3 all the time. I like the new features that iDVD 4 has especially the pro encoding. I have a family pack of iLife '04 running on 3 machines and have actually had really good success with iDVD 4 so far. I agree it isn't as stable as version 3 but I have still had good success. Here's to hoping the update makes it more stable and quicker. Of course most of my DVD authoring I am doing on my Dual G5 so it is reasonably quick. I encoded on best quality an hour video with chapters the other day and from encoding to burning it took about an hour.

[elmimmo]

It is not EyeTV's fault. QuickTime cannot export audio of a audio+video mpeg whatever the producer was (EyeTV, Cleaner or even Quicktime itself). Apple is continually updating Quicktime and yet dragging stupid lack-of-features such as this one or not playing (or sucking at) mp3 audio files in .avi movies (although we can thank the DivX folks for solving this by installing their free codec even for non-divx .avi files).