iMovie compression and encoding to iDVD

[YetiDawg]

I have a Canon XL-2 I use to shoot live theatre and edit in iMovie HD. I usually set it to 24fps and 16:9. When I create a new iMovie project it used to be in DV widescreen but I'm trying out HDV 720p. However when I burn it to a DVD with iDVD the finished product tends to look pretty grainy full screen on a PC or on a high-end TV. Is this a compression problem and is there a better way to export to iDVD?

 

[huntercr]

I have a Canon XL-2 I use to shoot live theatre and edit in iMovie HD. I usually set it to 24fps and 16:9. When I create a new iMovie project it used to be in DV widescreen but I'm trying out HDV 720p. However when I burn it to a DVD with iDVD the finished product tends to look pretty grainy full screen on a PC or on a high-end TV. Is this a compression problem and is there a better way to export to iDVD?

Are you using the "professional" setting on the compression preferences?
Also, try to keep the movie around 60 min.
Longer movies trade quality for extra time.

( also remember of course that DVDs are only SD video, and you're trying to put HD video on there, so there's always going to be some loss )