DVD Burning on OS X

[i.shaun]

When I first switched to Macintosh from Windows, I noticed it came bundled with a great DVD Burning tool called iDVD.

It had animated menus and music that my old NERO didn't seem to have (all it has is static backgrounds.)

So I began using it and it never worked (until I installed Perian) Then it did it's job excessively slow.

I can burn 2, maybe 3 full hour or more in length on Windows (via Nero) while the Mac struggles to encode a single file.


I wished for a DVD burning program that worked a little faster, and now wish is reality. The answer was in iSquint

iSquint is a free program that converts any movie file into ipod. Once done, it will have a button saying "Buy Visual Hub" but it doesn't force you to. I checked it out, and Visual Hub is just like iSquint, but contains a lot more features -- DVD burning as one of them.

It costs around $25 USD and is worth it in my Opinion.

I just burned 2 movie files to DVD that work in standalone DVD Players way faster than iDVD could ever dream of doing. There is no fancy menus or anything, just a movie that plays once you load it into the DVD player.

You can also burn multiple movies on to one disc, and the DVD player would be able to switch between them.



If anyone has been having slow burning problems with iDVD, check out VisualHub.

 

[gauchogolfer]

I agree that Visual Hub is good, but did you try just burning from Disk Utility before buying it? Especially if you didn't need any intro graphics before playing the movie.

 

[MacHappytjg]

I agree that Visual Hub is good, but did you try just burning from Disk Utility before buying it? Especially if you didn't need any intro graphics before playing the movie.

Visual hub costs money ? how did i get on my computer

 

[i.shaun]

I agree that Visual Hub is good, but did you try just burning from Disk Utility before buying it? Especially if you didn't need any intro graphics before playing the movie.

I wasn't aware that disk Utility could turn a video file into a DVD file playable on standalone players

How would that be done?


You'd think I would hit myself, but visualhub allows conversion to and from many different video formats as well as burning a DVD (iSquint seems to only convert to ipod/iTunes)

 

[i.shaun]

Visual hub costs money ? how did i get on my computer

hax0r! no I don't know, It's a free download. Do you use it often? Perhaps you were or are using a trial version.

 

[MacHappytjg]

hax0r! no I don't know, It's a free download. Do you use it often? Perhaps you were or are using a trial version.

dont think so i converted full movies . Where are u abouts in canada?

 

[gauchogolfer]

I wasn't aware that disk Utility could turn a video file into a DVD file playable on standalone players

How would that be done?


You'd think I would hit myself, but visualhub allows conversion to and from many different video formats as well as burning a DVD (iSquint seems to only convert to ipod/iTunes)

Ah, I see what you're trying to do. Nope, Disk Utility wouldn't convert a video file into something that would go in a DVD player. I thought you were generating the DVD image with iSquint and then needing iDVD to burn it. That part wouldn't be necessary, I don't think. Toast would work, but again that's not free.

 

[Consultant]

iDVD works great for me, even for informal gifts of wedding videos.

 

[Jestered]

Visual Hub and iDVD are two completely different applications for two totally different uses.

Visual Hub is for converting video to different formats and one happens to be for DVD. iDVD's sole function is to create DVD menus for video that has already been converted to something QuickTime can read (which is why you couldn't get it to work without Periian). iDVD can then burn your DVD menus (and video) to a disk.

Two totally dif things.

 

[i.shaun]

iDVD works great for me, even for informal gifts of wedding videos.

i'll use it if I want some fancy menus and stuff, wedding videos seem like they would require it.

other than that, I'll go with a video that simple plays right away

 

[i.shaun]

dont think so i converted full movies . Where are u abouts in canada?

Northern Ontario

weird how you got it for free, unless you convert to ipod format, and they allow it for free (iSquint also works like that for free).

Try other functions like to AVI, or DVD

 

[danpat]

iDVD is a DVD authoring program.
VisualHub/iSquint are video conversion programs with a DVD burning function.
Toast is a CD/DVD burning program.

If you want to create fancy menus, chapters etc iDVD is excellent.
If you want to convert an avi or mpeg and quickly burn it to DVD so you can play it in the living room, use VisualHub.
If you want to copy a (non protected) DVD, Toast will do the job quicker that either of these above.

Choose the right tool for the job, I use all three for different tasks.