iDVD questions

[InfiniteLoop1]

i have taken up the large task of compiling a Year Disc, basically a collections of mainly photos, a few movies etc highligting the best bits of the year. I showed a iDVD project i did not yet burnt to my principal and he liked it but he wanted more navigational options. Such as having a button on every menu/screen which points back to the main menu or top menu. i know you can do that with the DVD player controls but he wants it on the screen because we will be having grandparents and less compter-literate people viewing the Disc

So:
1) is there an option for hyperlinks like you can have in Keynote/PPT. If not built in are there any plug-ins/hacks to enable this? I only have iDVD 5 so I'm not too sure if the function is in iDVD 6 (waiting on the MacBook!).

2) When navigating through the disc in Preview mode it seems pretty slow. I'm guessing it will be faster on the actual Disc. Is this true?

3) has any one had any problems im playing these on PC's? i would hate to do 6 months of work only to find out it doesn't work (obviously ill test run it half way through)

4) In regards to the 'TV Safe Area' How accurate is that, it will look really bad if it does show the shaded area and all the buttons are in the centre.

sorry for the multitude of questions - but i need some help - this is a big project and i need to know what i can and can't do!
Thanks in advance

 

[robbieduncan]

1) You mean link links to the Internet? You need DVD Studio Pro for that.

2) I've found Preview mode to be slower than the real DVD.

3) They tend to work everywhere.

4) It's pretty accurate for CRT TVs. Note sure about Plasma/LCD.

 

[InfiniteLoop1]

1) You mean link links to the Internet? You need DVD Studio Pro for that.

thanks for the quick reply. to the above question i mean a link from any menu to the top menu - like when you click on title on the DVD controls in iDVD - though my principal wants me to have them on the screen

 

[robbieduncan]

thanks for the quick reply. to the above question i mean a link from any menu to the top menu - like when you click on title on the DVD controls in iDVD - though my principal wants me to have them on the screen

I don't think you can do that either. iDVD automatically adds items to take you back to the previous menu for you iirc. If you want to be able to add buttons that jump you to any point in the menu tree you want then I think you need DVD Studio Pro.

 

[InfiniteLoop1]

I don't think you can do that either. iDVD automatically adds items to take you back to the previous menu for you iirc. If you want to be able to add buttons that jump you to any point in the menu tree you want then I think you need DVD Studio Pro.

thats annoying - i dont quite have the money for that kind of thing - im soending all my money on a MacBook as it is! would a PPC version of Final Cut work well enough under Rosetta on a MacBook? (when they finally comes out) - it doesnt have to be blasingly fast, just managable - my school has a PPC version so i was just wondering.

 

[InfiniteLoop1]

can you buy DVD Studio Pro on its own?

 

[liketom]

can you buy DVD Studio Pro on its own?

yes i think you still can but as it's sold on the store as part of Final Cut Studio you would have to phone up and request it that way

EDIT: or buy a older copy from Ebay ?

 

[robbieduncan]

thats annoying - i dont quite have the money for that kind of thing - im soending all my money on a MacBook as it is! would a PPC version of Final Cut work well enough under Rosetta on a MacBook? (when they finally comes out) - it doesnt have to be blasingly fast, just managable - my school has a PPC version so i was just wondering.

PPC versions of Final Cut don't run under Rosetta at all.

 

[InfiniteLoop1]

yes i think you still can but as it's sold on the store as part of Final Cut Studio you would have to phone up and request it that way

any idea how much it would be?
thanks robbieduncan for your help muchly appreciated

 

[robbieduncan]

I was under the impression you needed to have the full version of Studio now. If your school has the last PPC version of Final Cut Studio they could upgrade to the Universal version for very little...

 

[liketom]

I was under the impression you needed to have the full version of Studio now. If your school has the last PPC version of Final Cut Studio they could upgrade to the Universal version for very little...

this form explains all


http://www.apple.com/universal/crossgrade

 

[theBB]

... he liked it but he wanted more navigational options. Such as having a button on every menu/screen which points back to the main menu or top menu...

I have iDVD '06, the themes does have links pointing to either the top menu or to the menu just above the current one. However, I did not see a way to change where that link points to. If it was designed to go one level up, but not all the way to the top menu, I seemed to be stuck with that.

2) Mine turned out quite fast on a regular DVD player.

3) No problems yet.

4) We use 4:3 aspect ratio and they all turned out fine.

 

[InfiniteLoop1]

I have iDVD '06, the themes does have links pointing to either the top menu or to the menu just above the current one. However, I did not see a way to change where that link points to. If it was designed to go one level up, but not all the way to the top menu, I seemed to be stuck with that.

that would be perfect - do all the themes have this ?- i don't really need to change the links but surely someone out there has written a hack to get round this - or is that illegal? hopefully this will work
thanks for your help
now - apple needs to get those MacBooks out so that i can start!