[robnjoyt]

I have a brand new MacBook Pro and have purchased an external DVD drive. I am using iMovie to capture and edit family movies and now I am ready to burn the DVDs. I have read some wonderful things about Toast Roxio (and some not-so-wonderful), but I think for now it is more than I need. All I really need is to burn my videos to DVD. What can I use - looking for something free or inexpensive.

[robnjoyt]

robnjoyt, on 31 January 2013 - 08:49 AM, said:

I have a brand new MacBook Pro and have purchased an external DVD drive. I am using iMovie to capture and edit family movies and now I am ready to burn the DVDs. I have read some wonderful things about Toast Roxio (and some not-so-wonderful), but I think for now it is more than I need. All I really need is to burn my videos to DVD. What can I use - looking for something free or inexpensive.

Doesn't look like anyone is watching this forum. I really need to get my movies (used iMovie to export them to .mov files) into a dvd-player compatible format, not just QuickTime or Media Player friendly. DVD Flick used to do this on my PC.

[icerabbit]

Does iMovie give you the option to share iDVD... and maybe give you a disc image file that you can burn?

Roxio is kind of the primary name out there, but spendy.

I haven't tried alternatives.

There is Burn which a free program http://burn-osx.sour...glish/home.html that I've heard about.

Other tools would be trial and error to see if they're any good or worth the price.

[icerabbit]

I actually have Burn on a system here.

Save your exported movie some place.

Launch burn.
Click on video.
Give name.
Change VCD to DVD
Use plus to add your video file or drag and drop in ...
etc.

There's also some help documentation included.

[robnjoyt]

 icerabbit, on 06 February 2013 - 02:09 PM, said:

I actually have Burn on a system here.

Save your exported movie some place.

Launch burn.
Click on video.
Give name.
Change VCD to DVD
Use plus to add your video file or drag and drop in ...
etc.

There's also some help documentation included.

Thanks. I have tried Burn and it worked for one dvd player (though it didn't play it automatically - I had to stop and press play) and didn't work at all for the other dvd player. Now, admittedly the one dvd player is several years old, but I need these to work in a variety of players, old and new. So, I'm not sure if I can do something different there or not. What is the best file type to import into Burn so that it retains the highest video and sound quality? Also, I would like a title menu and chapters - do I do that in Burn, or in my video editing software? And if I do it in iMovie, will Burn keep those when I burn the dvd?

After so much trial and error, I went ahead and ordered Roxio, which I'm sure will be a mistake since I probably don't need all of its features. But, I just want to get it done. If I could get Burn to work for me, then I might return Roxio unopened.

[icerabbit]

If you need extensive controls, then you will need to have some dvd authoring software, I think.

Burn does have some chapter support though, from their forum : http://sourceforge.n...8/topic/4061751

It is a real shame Apple doesn't include iDVD any more and abandoned it.

I haven't done too much video disc authoring myself outside of iDVD (which I still have on two systems), nor have I used Roxio recently. ( Though I am looking at ordering the Toast Pro as I want to be able to burn some blu-ray discs. )

I have exported using quicktime to whatever amounts to the largest file. Unfortunately it is a bit of a learning curve and experimenting when it comes to importing, exporting, burning, ... I've never quite understood why iMovie needs to convert it during import, then even when you direct it to iDVD it will still go to another format ... I started converting some old VHS recordings, and the amount of time it spends rendering is a test of my patience and I ended up getting a new machine.

Regarding players. Some may just not like a home recorded disc, like some car cd players don't like home-brew audio discs. A DVD that's burned according to industry standards should be fine. But then you get into the details of the player's optics being accepting of the recordable media itself. Way back some DVD burners didn't want to burn certain brands discs.

[smax013]

 robnjoyt, on 07 February 2013 - 06:45 AM, said:

Thanks. I have tried Burn and it worked for one dvd player (though it didn't play it automatically - I had to stop and press play) and didn't work at all for the other dvd player. Now, admittedly the one dvd player is several years old, but I need these to work in a variety of players, old and new. So, I'm not sure if I can do something different there or not.

What kind of blank DVD did you use? DVD+R or DVD-R?

If I recall correctly, DVD-R are generally more compatible with older DVD players than DVD+R discs...but I could be wrong.

Also, you don't want to use Dual Layer (i.e. DL) discs as they likely will create compatibility issues.

You could consider iLife which will have iDVD (I believe iDVD will work with Mountain Lion). Apple used to supply new Macs with iDVD, but since they consider physical media "dead", they no longer do. You can, however, still buy iLife '11 on disc through Amazon. It is a little cheaper than Roxio Toast. Of course, you are essentially paying for the full suite (most of which you already have) just to get iDVD, so it is kind of a waste. Personally, I would go with Toast over this route...

[robnjoyt]

 smax013, on 07 February 2013 - 07:53 AM, said:

 robnjoyt, on 07 February 2013 - 06:45 AM, said:

Thanks. I have tried Burn and it worked for one dvd player (though it didn't play it automatically - I had to stop and press play) and didn't work at all for the other dvd player. Now, admittedly the one dvd player is several years old, but I need these to work in a variety of players, old and new. So, I'm not sure if I can do something different there or not.

What kind of blank DVD did you use? DVD+R or DVD-R?

If I recall correctly, DVD-R are generally more compatible with older DVD players than DVD+R discs...but I could be wrong.

Also, you don't want to use Dual Layer (i.e. DL) discs as they likely will create compatibility issues.

You could consider iLife which will have iDVD (I believe iDVD will work with Mountain Lion). Apple used to supply new Macs with iDVD, but since they consider physical media "dead", they no longer do. You can, however, still buy iLife '11 on disc through Amazon. It is a little cheaper than Roxio Toast. Of course, you are essentially paying for the full suite (most of which you already have) just to get iDVD, so it is kind of a waste. Personally, I would go with Toast over this route...

I am using DVD+R and have been thinking I should switch as it seems that DVD-R's are winning out, but I may be wrong. Not using DLs. I did consider buying iLife, but as you pointed out, I would be paying for the whole suite which I already have most of, just to get iDVD. And from what I have read, although iDVD was great as part of the suite, it is certainly not so amazing that it is worth paying for the whole suite.

Sounds like I'm going to use Toast.

Thank you both for your help!

[smax013]

 robnjoyt, on 07 February 2013 - 07:59 AM, said:

I am using DVD+R and have been thinking I should switch as it seems that DVD-R's are winning out, but I may be wrong. Not using DLs. I did consider buying iLife, but as you pointed out, I would be paying for the whole suite which I already have most of, just to get iDVD. And from what I have read, although iDVD was great as part of the suite, it is certainly not so amazing that it is worth paying for the whole suite.

That might be the reason for it not working on the other DVD player. DVD-R was around before DVD+D. As a result, they tend to be more compatible with older DVD players. So, I would try the Burn program again with a DVD-R disc and see how that works. Overall, a DVD-R disc should give you the best compatibility, but there still may be some player that choke on it.