imovie to iDVD - Stills become lo-res

[kclmac]

I just created a dvd using iMovie and iDVD. Most of the images in the film were still jpegs images created in PhotoShop, or brought in from iPhoto.

I had 2 noticable problems;
1. I saved and quit the working iMovie document, when I reopened it it seemed as though some of the images got really lo-res.

2. In iMovie, I used the cross dissolve transition between quite a few of the stills. When I burned it to a DVD it seems like the transitions were fuzzy, or again, lo-res.

Any thoughts on why I might be having this problem?

If I were to use Final Cut Express or DVD Pro do you think I might be able to resolve this problem?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

[Makosuke]

Hmm... I once did a 40 minute movie of basically what you're describing--a bunch of photoshop images in a string, fading between each to music--and it exported and rendered just fine in iDVD.

However, I was using iMovie 2, not 3, so perhaps there's a bug or some issue that you're seeing? Have you tried it with iMovie 2 to see what happens?

It definitely shouldn't be that way, though--something's wrong.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Re: imovie to iDVD - Stills become lo-res

Originally posted by kclmac
I just created a dvd using iMovie and iDVD. Most of the images in the film were still jpegs images created in PhotoShop, or brought in from iPhoto.

I had 2 noticable problems;
1. I saved and quit the working iMovie document, when I reopened it it seemed as though some of the images got really lo-res.

2. In iMovie, I used the cross dissolve transition between quite a few of the stills. When I burned it to a DVD it seems like the transitions were fuzzy, or again, lo-res.

Any thoughts on why I might be having this problem?

If I were to use Final Cut Express or DVD Pro do you think I might be able to resolve this problem?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

1. Did the images appear to be low res when output or just low res in iMovie? iMovie and FCP will lower the quality of on-screen playback to keep the video smooth if need be.

2. Was it only the transitions that appear lo-res or was it the pictures too (like in problem 1)?

How large were the images you were using? Unless you are going to zoom into the images you want them to be 720x480 @ 72dpi (if you can select/change the dpi). Anything bigger than that, like 1600x1200 @ 300 dpi, is just an uber bloated file that will just bog your app down.


Lethal

 

[kclmac]

Re: Re: imovie to iDVD - Stills become lo-res

Originally posted by LethalWolfe
1. Did the images appear to be low res when output or just low res in iMovie? iMovie and FCP will lower the quality of on-screen playback to keep the video smooth if need be.

2. Was it only the transitions that appear lo-res or was it the pictures too (like in problem 1)?

How large were the images you were using? Unless you are going to zoom into the images you want them to be 720x480 @ 72dpi (if you can select/change the dpi). Anything bigger than that, like 1600x1200 @ 300 dpi, is just an uber bloated file that will just bog your app down.


Lethal

Answer to #1:
Some of them seem to convert to lo-res, not all, and they were all the same size.

Answer to #2
It seemed to be especially noticable in the transitions. But the images were all larger than 720x480. It's been my understandling is that imovie converts the images from iPhoto to the necessary size. Am I wrong in assuming that?

 

[joshuwa72]

I have this same problem.

Even though im using very high resolution images that should be crystal clear, in iDVD they get a little lossy for some reason.

is final cut similar to idvd? I know it wouldnt be as easy, but would I be able to produce the same thing..a movie from stills and video, then burn on a dvd that can be played anywhere?

 

[LethalWolfe]

kclmac,

I'm not very familiar w/iMovie but, you might try manually resizing the images to 720*480 just to see if that does it. I know that importing huge pictures can cause issues w/any editing app given the right circumstances.

joshuwa72,

Images are going to get a bit lossy for a few reasons. First, video resolution (at least when refering to digital video) is 720*480 which is basically equal to 640*480 (usually the lowest quality setting on a digital camera). Secondly, when you make a DVD you are compressing the video even more so you lose some quality there. Finally, when you view it on you TV it will look softer/lower-res because your TV is a much lower-res output device than your computer monitor. Now, your picture shouldn't look horrible or anything, but the final product that you view on your TV will be much lower res than original image file that you have in iPhoto. Also, Final Cut Pro is an editing app (like iMovie only much more advaned). DVD Studio Pro is Apples professional DVD authoring app.


Lethal

 

[joshuwa72]

oh i see now. that makes sense.

thanks.

 

[trainguy77]

I was doing this same thing about 5 minutes ago when i noticed that. I was importing about 1.5 MB pictures annd then thhe would become unclear. I checked in the Imovie prject folder and the images were down to about .7 MB each. I tried it with movies same think except it would make a 40 MB movies into a 200mb movie, which was unclear. I tried replacing the imported video with the real on but then it complained when i went back into Imovie. This i very weird.

 

[scan300]

I was doing this same thing about 5 minutes ago when i noticed that. I was importing about 1.5 MB pictures annd then thhe would become unclear. I checked in the Imovie prject folder and the images were down to about 7 MB each. I tried it with movies same think except it would make a 40 MB movies into a 200mb movie, which was unclear. I tried replacing the imported video with the real on but then it complained when i went back into Imovie. This i very weird.

How do you mean 1.5MB pictures were down to 7MB? That's up.
What do you mean by 'unclear'... blurry or ambiguous?

I assume when you're talking about making 40Mb movies into 700Mb movies which are unclear (blurry?) that's normal if you are importing highly compressed material, with a lower resolution to a lesser compressed DV format at higher resolution. We are talking about full screen video editing here approx 2Gb per every 9-10 minutes.

 

[trainguy77]

sorry my mistake it was .7 MB and yes they were becoming blurry. Sorry for the mistake

 

[scan300]

sorry my mistake it was .7 MB and yes they were becoming blurry. Sorry for the mistake

As posted by LethalWolf, higher res images will be downsampled to 720*480 -- the resolution of your TV. Remember, DVD video is designed for viewing on TVs. When you view you DVD full screen on your computer you will notice that the resolution won't be so hot. You're monitor resolution will be about twice, if not more, the resolution of your TV. But on a TV where everything is normalised to 720*480 it will look little different to everything else on your TV. (qualified statement)

For those using iMovie and/or iDVD to convert existing movies and clips to DVD, as opposed to editing your home movies off your DV cam:

• most computer video clips are smaller in size than full screen DVD video (especially if they come from CD roms or the web). When you import these to iMovie, they are scaled up from their original resolutions, and they are viewed larger than they were intended. You cannot improve the detail when you are scaling up. The enlargement of the video (using interpolation) accounts for the blurriness and the increase in file size.

• most images on your computer are larger in size than full screen DVD video (especially if the come from a scanner or > 1 megapixel camera) When you import these into iMovie they are mostly scaled down. The loss in resolution accounts for the blurriness and the drop in file size.

It's worth trying to understand about image resolutions and what they mean to different mediums: video, PC, print etc so you can know what to expect when going from one medium to the next.