?iDVD chapters - 6 per 'screen', 8 per 'screen

[Hoven]

Hi all!
OK. I've got a couple of questions about iDVD, and I couldn't find answers to them by searching the forums.
So...
One question is, how does iDVD decide how many chapter buttons to put on each scene selection screen (ie, a menu screen with chapter selection buttons on it) (and how many scene selection screens to create)? I have a movie I built in iMovie 4 which I've sent to iDVD. Sometimes, it creates 8 chapter buttons/text per selection screen and sometimes is does 6. Basically, it doesn't always behave the same way. Is there a way to control this (say, to choose to have only 4 chapter buttons, or 6 or whatever)?

My other questions around this are... is it possible to to move these chapter buttons/text? So, if iDVD creates 8 per page, can I cut/paste or drag these around between selection screens as I please? Can I create or delete selection screens? Basically, can I redo all the screens and chapter selection buttons as I'd like?

Many Thanks!

 

[Makosuke]

Well, I don't have a definite answer to your question, but I'm pretty sure that the number of chapter buttons created per screen is based on the project template you have selected. Might also have to do with the length of the text in the chapter titles--for example, 8 short titles might fit, but only 6 longer ones. Worth experimenting with/thinking about, anyway.

As for moving stuff around, at least as of iDVD3, yes. I could easily copy and paste chapter "links" between pages, which allowed me to, for example, delete some of them and consolidate the rest, so there were more actual chapter marks in the DVD (if you used the skip buttons) than those presented in the menu.

I've also used this to sort things better--for example, if the project automatically creates 6 per page, but I only want four for some reason. The only problem then is if it doesn't create enough pages by default.

 

[Hoven]

Well, I don't have a definite answer to your question, but I'm pretty sure that the number of chapter buttons created per screen is based on the project template you have selected. Might also have to do with the length of the text in the chapter titles--for example, 8 short titles might fit, but only 6 longer ones. Worth experimenting with/thinking about, anyway.

The trick is, I'm importing the same movie and using the same theme... but I'm getting different results. I'm beginning to think there is an error in one of the clips I've imported from my 8mm camcorder that's confusing the software.

As for moving stuff around, at least as of iDVD3, yes. I could easily copy and paste chapter "links" between pages, which allowed me to, for example, delete some of them and consolidate the rest, so there were more actual chapter marks in the DVD (if you used the skip buttons) than those presented in the menu.
I've also used this to sort things better--for example, if the project automatically creates 6 per page, but I only want four for some reason. The only problem then is if it doesn't create enough pages by default.

I've accidentally deleted a chapter link (poof! ) but I was never able to figure out how to add or create a link/text and assign it to a specific chapter, nor can I figure out how to add a new page (say, it creates 2 pages for chapters 1-6 and 7-12 but I want a third so I can do 1-4, 5-8, 9-12 for example).

Oh well... maybe that's stuff you can only do in iDVD-Pro.

 

[Makosuke]

Oh well... maybe that's stuff you can only do in iDVD-Pro.

I'm inclined to agree with you; I've managed to work around iDVD's limitations to get the results I want in most cases, but I'm pretty sure it's not designed to give you that level of control. You get what you pay for, I suppose.

As for the inconsistency you're seeing, that is weird--it's always been consistent for me. Perhaps there is a problem with your iMovie project somewhere--you could try deleting and re-adding chapters in iMovie. I would think that a simple problem with the video footage wouldn't affect the chapters (though it could mess up the final DVD video), since iMovie 4 creates a seperate chapter track, which should be read independently of the video stream by iDVD.

 

[Hoven]

I'm inclined to agree with you; I've managed to work around iDVD's limitations to get the results I want in most cases, but I'm pretty sure it's not designed to give you that level of control. You get what you pay for, I suppose.

Well, I paid for Final Cut Express ($99 on sale when I bought my eMac!), but I didn't buy iDVD pro. In fact, for some stuff, it's just easier to use iMovie (which is what I'm doing in this case).

As for the inconsistency you're seeing, that is weird--it's always been consistent for me. Perhaps there is a problem with your iMovie project somewhere--you could try deleting and re-adding chapters in iMovie. I would think that a simple problem with the video footage wouldn't affect the chapters (though it could mess up the final DVD video), since iMovie 4 creates a seperate chapter track, which should be read independently of the video stream by iDVD.

Well, the clip could affect it 'cause I'm using clips from the iMovie in the chapter theme screens (the red curtain theater theme). I've also had bad clips from iMovie mess up the entire burn. For example, a 30 minute movie that iDVD said was too big to fit on the DVD. Turns out iDVD read the size as something like 800Gig. I had start over from scratch by reimporting the entire 8mm video into iMovie.