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iMovie -> iDVD question

redAPPLE

redAPPLE

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 7, 2002
2,690
7
2 Much Infinite Loops
hello boys and girls.

i have this question. hope some of you could help out.

i have the latest iMovie version and the latest iDvd version installed.

i downloaded some free transitions effects from the Apple website to add some effects to my movie.

i created the movie on a G4 with the said transitions installed.

i stored the movie files in a fw400 drive and i wanted to burn the movie on a dvd with iDvd (which is installed in my G5).

i opened iMovie (note that the free transitions and effects are not installed in the G5) and clicked on the iDvd tab to burn the dvd.

but it just freezes up.

it freezes in the "step 3: ... encoding" phase.

does anybody have any idea what is going on?

what did i do wrong? any help would be a big help.

thanks guys.
 
Are you sure it's frozen? Once you add some video to an iDVD project, it starts encoding the video to MPEG2 (DVD format video) in the background. This can easily take hours. If it's not done encoding when you start the burn, I believe it'll go ahead and finish doing that, which might well look like it's frozen.

If this sounds like something you haven't checked yet, open the "Customize" panel, then click on "Status". The little progress bar will show you how far along you are, and if it's not close to done, it can take a VERY long time to finish. Encode time for a 70 minute project was over an hour even on my top of the line dual G5.

If you've already checked that, sorry about the unhelpful suggestion.
 
actually, i really think it is frozen. because i let the dual g5 run overnight.

and it is stuck with 85 minutes.

well, i haven't done ur suggestion yet. i'll try that.

thanks for the help.
 
Ok, that definitely sounds frozen to me.

Perhaps there's an error in the video somewhere that is causing iDVD to choke when it hits that part of the movie and tries to encode it.

I've been having a different set of iDVD problems with my G5 (died in the middle of a burn and crashes a lot on startup), but I haven't had it stall like that yet. Out of curiosity, since you're trying to run iDVD on a G5: Do you have 10.3 installed, and have you been seeing any other random crashes with iDVD (or iMovie, for that matter), particularly just as the program is starting up?

I'm trying to figure out if there's an issue with my combination of hardware and software, or if there's something in particular wrong with my installation.
 
as a matter of fact, i am having problems with iMovie and iDvd.

1) iMovie. if i go to "file:export" and choose iDvd, iDvd "shuts down suddenly", i get this message if i want to send a bug report to Apple.

2) having iMovie open while "burning" the dvd (well it would freeze a few minutes after that) i get this kernel panic :eek:

i started with 10.3. there are no hackies installed. only software what i really own. after the first kernel panic, i installed 10.3.1. about 30 minutes later, i got the next kernel panic.

well, back to the orignial problem. i would install all extra transitions and effects and see what happens.
 
idvd freeze during encoding

I'm having the same problem. I have a dual G5, with Mac OS X Panther with the latest update, and with the latest version of iMovie and iDVD. And my problem is that iDVD freezes everytime I try to burn a DVD, regardless of the amount of video that i am trying to fit on the DVD(I've tried it with 5 minutes of video and with 56 minutes of video) It always freezes during the encoding stage, and the mouse cursor freezes at that point, and I am unable to force quit the program, and so I have to power down and restart to get the computer to work again. I have successfully burned DVD's before(using preinstalled versions of iDVD and iMovie), with the Jaguar version of OS X that came installed with the computer a few months ago. I'm hesitant to reinstall the Jaguar version of OS X now, because I have about 70 gb of video on the hard drive which I don't want to wipe out, plus I paid for Panther and for iLife and it's supposed to work. If anyone has any tips, please reply. -Thanks
 
idvd freeze during encoding

No progress yet, but I thought i would include a few more thoughts regarding the problem. My first guess regarding why iDVD would freeze, was that the hard drive was going to sleep, but that really doesn't make sense- because i only have one hard drive and the encoding process would be reading data continuously from it(via the RAM), but I shut off all energy saver functions, so nothing goes to sleep, and that didn't solve the problem. I also noticed that when I first hit the Burn botton in the iDVD screen, it begins to work successfully, with the progress bar beginning to show progress, and the time to complete ticks off a minute or so, and when the encoding phase begins, the computer's fans start up and operate at full speed, which is what they should do when the processors are operating on a demanding task, like encoding video. But then the freeze occurs, and the progress bar stops indicating progress and the minutes to complete text remains unchanged(for hours/until i do a hard reboot) and the cursor is frozen. I think this is a software issue, probably an infinite loop, since the fans continue at full blast/assuming that this indicates cpu intense processing. I have yet to search Apples site about this problem, but i see that several people are experiencing what appears to be the same problem, so Apple will probably address the issue when they hear from enough people and when they can demonstrate the problem for themselves.
 
iDVD locking up the way you describe is a known issue. Has been for a while. I'm sure you can find info about it in the support/forum area of Apple.com and you could also try googling it. I followed the problem for a bit, when it first came up, and no one could pin down what was causing it. Most machines didn't have a problem, but some machines couldn't get it to complete a burn to save their lives.


Lethal
 
idvd freeze during encoding / solved. . .

Okay, I got iDVD to work again, encoded and burnt a DVD successfully. First of all, this is what i did to fix it. I searched the apple support forums and tech pages - didn't find anything that specifically pertains to this problem- but i did get the idea that certain combinations of installer versions can cause irregular behavior. So I got out the original cd that came with my mac(Mac OS X version 10.2.7{G5}), and ran the software restore program, selecting only the iDVD application- which took me through the install procedure for iDVD. (I did not remove the updated version of iDVD that was already in the applications folder on my hard drive) The installer ran fine. Next I looked to see if i now had two installations of iDVD residing side by side, and found only iDVD version 3.0.1, so i started up the program and imported 56 minutes of video and hit the Burn button, and everything went smoothly thru all 4 stages of the process- and the DVD works fine.
I think that the problem that i was experiencing may have been caused by the fact that I had loaded OS X Panther on a completely empty/formatted hard drive, and it did not load iDVD for me, so I loaded iDVD from the iLife software suite, instead of from the original System Software Restore CD, and this was the source of incompatibility- although i don't know why it wouldn't be compatible.
I hope this is story is helpful to somebody else out there.
 
My sister found that if she let iDVD finish encoding before she set it to burn then she got a perfect burn every time, it only locked up when she asked it to burn an unencoded session.

She's on an eMac, I have to say I don't have this problem on my 17"PowerBook.

Might help.
 
The Possible Answer to Your G5 iDVD Burning Problems

THE ANSWER TO YOUR G5 iDVD encoding lock-up hell

The situation:
You have a new G5 and for some reason or another re-installed the system hardware.
In my case it was to partition the hard drive. When you booted up your new system software you noticed idvd was no longer there, or maybe you didn’t even notice that it was there in the first place. So you run to your local apple store and spend $50 on iLife, you come home rip open the box and install iDVD on your system. You now spend who knows how long building the perfect iMovie and import it into iDVD. You them make some cool motion menus and run around telling everyone how great iMovie & iDVD are, and how easy to use too. Then the moment of truth comes, you click burn DVD, it tells you to put in a blank DVD disc, so you place a brand new Apple 2x DVD-R in your tray and watch it disappear into the front of your shiny new G5. The burn wheel starts to spin, you can hear your fans speed up as your G5 roars, the little blue bar scrolls forward, creeping ever so slowly… Then the fans stop and so does the blue bar right on step 3 encoding. What the Hell?? You wait thinking it’s all part of the deal. 5 minutes goes by no movement, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, you force quit only to realize your now locked up. Needless to say you try again and again. Same result every time!
You call Apple support, you delete preferences, you make a new user, you reinstall iDVD, you do an archive and reinstall. Still the same thing you lock up on stage three!!
Is it your drive? Is it your software? Maybe a conflict?

The Answer:
Hopefully you will now get this answer from Apple Support if not you will get it here.
However I did NOT get it from apple support!

1. Delete iDVD from you hard drive.
2. Open users folder, open your folder, open library, open preferences
3. Delete the file com.apple.idvd.plist
4. Insert you original system disc that came with your G5
5. Double click install Applications & Classic Support
6. Click through and install on your Main Hard Drive.
This will install Software Restore on you hard drive.
7. You can skip steps 4 – 6 if you already have Software Restore in your
Utilities Folder under Applications.
8. If you used the disc method the Restore window will automatically open up after the install. If you didn’t use the disc method then double click the Software Restore application in your Utilities folder.
9. Hit Continue when the Apple appears in the window.
10. You will now have to have your system disc that came with the computer in your disc tray to go any further. So if you don’t have it in the drive put it in now.
11. Unclick Restore All.
12. WHAT IS THIS iDVD?? YOU MEAN YOU DID’NT HAVE TO BUY iLIFE IT WAS THERE ALL THE TIME!! That’s right iDVD does not install with iTunes, iMovie or iPhoto, you have to install iDVD all by itself!! But you Don’t Need iLife. Infact iLife’s version on iDVD won’t work with your G5!!
13. Check iDVD and click install.
14. Open iDVD and your project that you couldn’t burn.
15. Click Burn!
16. Watch in amazement as you make your first dvd with no problems what so ever!!
17. Post this story on as many boards as possible maybe you can help someone!


Yours Truly,
SmokinFish
 
iDVD quits at step 3

I made a 60 minute MOV using iMovie and now want to burn it so I can watch it on my DVD player. I export it to iDVD make my menus, etc. and once I'm done I click burn. It then starts encoding and right when it gets to Step 3, iDVD quits, and I get the infamous Unexpectedly Quit window. Can anyone help? I dont know why the app keeps quitting at step 3
 
cpnjacksparrow1 said:
I made a 60 minute MOV using iMovie and now want to burn it so I can watch it on my DVD player. I export it to iDVD make my menus, etc. and once I'm done I click burn. It then starts encoding and right when it gets to Step 3, iDVD quits, and I get the infamous Unexpectedly Quit window. Can anyone help? I dont know why the app keeps quitting at step 3
Click to expand...

maybe you need more ram.
 
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