A newbie who needs help with Video to DVD

[puppies360]

Hello all...wonder if you can help

I have converted my families old Cine film to digital by way of a capture device, put it all into imovie, set it to music...some stills etc...and the Ken Burke effect...you are hopefully getting the picture.

The movie is just over an hour long, and (here is the problem), 16.5 Gb!

I sent it to iDVD and it told me it was too big for something or the other and I would have to change this setting, which I did...burnt it off and the picture quality was awful. It has lines going throughit, the Ken Burke effect is more big berk and the whole thing just doesnt look right.

Now forgive my stupidity here, but, when you get a blockbuster DVD with all the singing and dancing features on it, several different languages on it, menus and etras....plus the film intelf is 180 mins long...its on a DVD so...what I dont get, is WHY we cannot get bigger DVDs, there must be a way of getting this film onto ONE dvd and if so I figure you people will know

I have a G5 btw.

there are "expert settings" in imovie when you go to share so if any of you can tell me other ways I can file reduce etc without losing quality would be very grateful

Also the machine has Final Cut Pro on it....is that better?...can I get an I movie project to FCP?

Sorry for soooo many questions for my first post but I NEED HELP!!!

thanks in advance
Pups

 

[CaptainChunk]

I have converted my families old Cine film to digital by way of a capture device, put it all into imovie, set it to music...some stills etc...and the Ken Burke effect...you are hopefully getting the picture.

The movie is just over an hour long, and (here is the problem), 16.5 Gb!

I sent it to iDVD and it told me it was too big for something or the other and I would have to change this setting, which I did...burnt it off and the picture quality was awful. It has lines going throughit, the Ken Burke effect is more big berk and the whole thing just doesnt look right.

You mean Ken Burns?

First off, what format did the film start in and which capture device was used? If the captured video is 16.5GB in size, iMovie probably converted it to AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) for editing and naturally, video in that codec will be quite large. By giving us more info on how the video originated and what was used to capture it, we can help you better.

Now forgive my stupidity here, but, when you get a blockbuster DVD with all the singing and dancing features on it, several different languages on it, menus and etras....plus the film intelf is 180 mins long...its on a DVD so...what I dont get, is WHY we cannot get bigger DVDs, there must be a way of getting this film onto ONE dvd and if so I figure you people will know

This is because the vast majority of commercially-released DVDs are pressed to dual-layer discs, which hold almost twice the information (8.5GB vs. 4.7GB). It's the combination of that and good video compression strategies that allow distributors to fit a quality 2 hour-ish movie along with alternate languages and bonus features on a single disc. But sometimes, some movies include so much bonus content that it's provided on a second disc.

In "SP" quality mode (about 6.7Mbps average) you can fit about 90 minutes of video on a single-layer disc with Dolby audio. Dual-layer DVDs are also available, though the good quality ones (very important because DL media is historically finicky) cost significantly more - around $2 per disc. I recommend the Verbatim DataLife brand for dual-layer if you decide to go that route.

Also the machine has Final Cut Pro on it....is that better?...can I get an I movie project to FCP?

Final Cut Pro is professional editing software - it can yield superior results to iMovie, provided you know how to use it. I'd probably stick to iMovie for the time being because FCP has a pretty steep learning curve for beginners.

 

[Genny22]

Genny22

Please help me.
I've got some rare 80s movies on VHS that are not available on DVD. I want to transfer these movies to DVD, but my VCR/DVD combo unit will not allow me to burn a copy-protected VHS movie. Is there any way around this? Not looking to make a profit and sell these; I just don't want to risk ruining the tape or getting it stuck in the VCR so I prefer the movies on DVD. These are for my own personal viewing pleasure.

 

[CaptainChunk]

Please help me.
I've got some rare 80s movies on VHS that are not available on DVD. I want to transfer these movies to DVD, but my VCR/DVD combo unit will not allow me to burn a copy-protected VHS movie. Is there any way around this? Not looking to make a profit and sell these; I just don't want to risk ruining the tape or getting it stuck in the VCR so I prefer the movies on DVD. These are for my own personal viewing pleasure.

First off, you kind of hijacked a thread for something that's clearly a different topic. You could have started your own...

Okay. Most major commercial VHS releases from 1984 on use Macrovision copy protection. Basically, Macrovision places inverted frame sync pulses on the tape. While the TV tolerate these pulses during normal playback, during recording a VCR cannot because it will always want to record the entire signal. And when it does, it renders any copy practically unwatchable because it confuses the automatic gain control circuitry in the VCR, which typically causes a scrambled or blank images.

Now in your case, DVD/VHS decks have circuitry (mandated by the DMCA) that detect the presence of Macrovision and will simply refuse to record. There's really no way to circumvent that.

 

[puppies360]

You mean Ken Burns?

First off, what format did the film start in and which capture device was used? If the captured video is 16.5GB in size, iMovie probably converted it to AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) for editing and naturally, video in that codec will be quite large. By giving us more info on how the video originated and what was used to capture it, we can help you better.

.........
In "SP" quality mode (about 6.7Mbps average) you can fit about 90 minutes of video on a single-layer disc with Dolby audio. Dual-layer DVDs are also available, though the good quality ones (very important because DL media is historically finicky) cost significantly more - around $2 per disc. I recommend the Verbatim DataLife brand for dual-layer if you decide to go that route.


.

Hey thank you for replying

ok so the cine was converted to VHS a few years ago, then, I used a D/A converter called kworld DVD maker2, this took a two hour vid and basically it went to 97 GB!...I then edited it in iMovieHD and with the stereo soundtrack etc its now about 16.5GB.

I am a dummy so please forgive me, I dont know what you mean by SP mode. I can save it in all sorts of modes (Mpeg4 etc) it currently says at the top that its "DV-NTSC"

All I know is I really want this on one dvd without too much compromise on vision...the sound is sampled at 48000Mhz, so I could knock that down, but I dont know all the settings in i movie or iDVD so id be glad of some help.

Thanks for any help you can give

PS...I have final cut express, final cut pro...and I agree...they are very complex for my level

 

[KeithPratt]

STOP RIGHT THERE!

You've not given that much technical information but it already looks like a mess.

At what frame rate where the tapes? What frame rate did you capture them at? What frame rate are you editing at? What frame rate is the DVD you are trying to make?

What codec did you capture to? What codec are you exporting from iMovie as?

What version of iMovie are you using?

You don't want to be throwing around settings willy nilly, as you have been. To make a DVD you need specific settings. And in order keep the quality decent you need to know what settings to use from start to end of the process.

 

[puppies360]

STOP RIGHT THERE!

You've not given that much technical information but it already looks like a mess.

At what frame rate where the tapes? What frame rate did you capture them at? What frame rate are you editing at? What frame rate is the DVD you are trying to make?

What codec did you capture to? What codec are you exporting from iMovie as?

What version of iMovie are you using?

You don't want to be throwing around settings willy nilly, as you have been. To make a DVD you need specific settings. And in order keep the quality decent you need to know what settings to use from start to end of the process.

Thanks....hence the reason why Im on here...

ok, just to confirm, I dont know what rate I saved the film at, what I know is that it was nearly two hours long and was 97GB...

The Kworld thing was a plug and play thing for dummies (me) hence I dont know what settings

Im running an old version of I Movies (my G5 is a 2Ghz PowerPC model so I cant even get Snow Leopard)

When you say its a mess...what is a mess? thats what Im asking ?

now, when you share from iMovies, it can go straight to iDVD, which is what im doing and there are only two settings and one (Best Quality) it wont let me have because it says the file is too big so I have to have Best Performance The other setting is PAL or NTSC (which I have no idea what they are or what they do)

ok so, I believe the rate is about 24 fps (or even 29.5) but I dont know for sure

tell me where to look and I will tell you what you want

thanks again

 

[zblaxberg]

Hello all...wonder if you can help

I have converted my families old Cine film to digital by way of a capture device, put it all into imovie, set it to music...some stills etc...and the Ken Burke effect...you are hopefully getting the picture.

The movie is just over an hour long, and (here is the problem), 16.5 Gb!

I sent it to iDVD and it told me it was too big for something or the other and I would have to change this setting, which I did...burnt it off and the picture quality was awful. It has lines going throughit, the Ken Burke effect is more big berk and the whole thing just doesnt look right.

Now forgive my stupidity here, but, when you get a blockbuster DVD with all the singing and dancing features on it, several different languages on it, menus and etras....plus the film intelf is 180 mins long...its on a DVD so...what I dont get, is WHY we cannot get bigger DVDs, there must be a way of getting this film onto ONE dvd and if so I figure you people will know

I have a G5 btw.

there are "expert settings" in imovie when you go to share so if any of you can tell me other ways I can file reduce etc without losing quality would be very grateful

Also the machine has Final Cut Pro on it....is that better?...can I get an I movie project to FCP?

Sorry for soooo many questions for my first post but I NEED HELP!!!

thanks in advance
Pups

If you have final cut pro use Apple Compressor and bring in that big 16gb file and use the DVD presets. It'll compress it so that it will fit to dvd with the best possible quality.

 

[KeithPratt]

When you say its a mess...what is a mess? thats what Im asking ?

I think you've mixed different frame rates. But without you finding out each of the frame rates I mentioned earlier, that's just a hunch.

Open the clips in Quicktime and press +I to find out the codec and frame rate.

 

[puppies360]

I think you've mixed different frame rates. But without you finding out each of the frame rates I mentioned earlier, that's just a hunch.

Open the clips in Quicktime and press +I to find out the codec and frame rate.

You guys are very good....I never knew any off this...ok so after I appled and I's i found thatthey are at 25 fps and the codec is as follows

YUV422 codec, 640 x 480, Millions
16-bit Integer (Big Endian), Stereo, 44.100 kHz

ok so..does that make sense now?...and what do I do next (if you lot ever get over to the UK...Im buying!!)

 

[KeithPratt]

Your settings are a little non-standard, but iMovie should be able to sort that out. Assuming you have iMovie HD/6, that is...

Open a new iMovie DV project. If it says 'DV-NTSC' at the top, click File > Preferences, and change the frame rate at the bottom to 25. Now start a new project. It should say 'DV-PAL' at the top.

Drag all of your video clips (the ones you captured from VHS) to the clips browser. It'll take a while to import because they're being transcoded.

When you've finished your edit, click Share > iDVD. Don't worry if you see "lines" when watching on your computer. It's only a problem if you see them when you watch the DVD back on a TV.

 

[puppies360]

Your settings are a little non-standard, but iMovie should be able to sort that out. Assuming you have iMovie HD/6, that is...

Open a new iMovie DV project. If it says 'DV-NTSC' at the top, click File > Preferences, and change the frame rate at the bottom to 25. Now start a new project. It should say 'DV-PAL' at the top.

Drag all of your video clips (the ones you captured from VHS) to the clips browser. It'll take a while to import because they're being transcoded.

When you've finished your edit, click Share > iDVD. Don't worry if you see "lines" when watching on your computer. It's only a problem if you see them when you watch the DVD back on a TV.

I dont seelines when I am watching on the computer...its downstairs on the DVD player that I get a problem...is PAL better or worse than NTSC then?...which one takes up more memory....can share it to MPEG-4 then convert to DVD?...

 

[KeithPratt]

I dont seelines when I am watching on the computer...its downstairs on the DVD player that I get a problem...

Ignore what you've already done — that's all messed up. I meant it for future DVDs you make with the correct procedure.

is PAL better or worse than NTSC then?...which one takes up more memory

NTSC is for the US and Japan, PAL for almost everywhere else. Has to do with frame rates amongst other things. It's not something you choose.

can share it to MPEG-4 then convert to DVD?...

Why would you want to? It's another stage of compression, so the picture will only get worse doing it this way.