[somdobrasil]

Can anyone suggest a good solution for this problem? I split my computing functions between three networked computers -- two Macs and a PC. I use iMovie 2.0.1 on my iMac, running OS 9.0.4 with QuickTime 4.1.2. My DVD burner is on my Pentium 4 Dell, running WinME, with Roxio's DVD Builder software. I'd like to export my completed iMovie projects to my PC to burn DVDs. I've tried exporting them as DV-NTSC files, which DVD Builder will accept but with a warning that the video quality will be bad (it objects to the slow bitrates). And, in fact, they do look bad.
I'm looking for an inexpensive solution to this problem. I'm reluctant to upgrade to OS X because I'm afraid many of the applications I use won't work with OS X, and I don't want to have to pay to upgrade them. One possible solution I've looked at is buying software that will convert QuickTime MOV files to MPEG2. There's one that sells for $30. Before I try that, can anyone suggest a better, simpler or less costly solution? Thanks!!

[ftaok]

Take a look at this and see if it fits your needs.
http://homepage.mac....rnc/MMT-EZ.html

[Daft&Dewey-eyed]

It seems that you have the right idea, but have implemented it poorly somewhere along the way. It's been quite some time since I've worked with media in OS 9, so I'll see if I can make any sense here. (By the way, it would be a good idea to at least upgrade to 9.1. It's more stable than 9.0.4.)
Exporting your movie to DV should result in a rather large file, approximately 13 GB per hour of video. This file should have a bit rate of 25Mbps, and your DVD creator should not balk at it. Make sure your exported movie is indeed in the DV format.
Another thing that could be problematic is that DV can be brought into a computer in several different flavors, and Windoze naturally uses a different flavor than the Mac. For that matter, iMovie uses a different flavor than Final Cut Pro. Try playing the movie on the PC in QuickTime or some other video player to make sure it operated properly.
That's about all I can think of at the moment.

[ftaok]

Disregard my post. I hadn't noticed that you're still on OS 9.

[somdobrasil]

Thanks for your suggestion to upgrade my OS to at least 9.1. Do you think also upgrading to QuickTime Pro would make any difference for my dilemma?
I checked, and my movie did export as DV-NTSC. The file opens with QT player on my iMac, but the picture quality is just as bad as in DVD Builder on the PC. That's weird, isn't it?
On the PC, the file was recognized by Roxio's DVD Builder as a QuickTime Movie (.mov) and shown as "opens with Play32" (the PC's QT player). But both the audio and video bit rates were shown as 1. DVD Builder opened the file and played it, but the quality (as I described in my original post) is terrible. I also tried opening the file with the PC's QT player, Play32. The file opened, and the bar indicated the movie was playing, but there was no picture at all.
The fact that the picture quality is terrible when played on QT player on my Mac makes me think that iMovie is not exporting the file properly. But I don't know if the exporting problem is caused by iMovie or QT. And I don't know what to try next. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.

[somdobrasil]

Thanks for your suggestion. As I was reading the description, I thought "this is a great product for what I'm trying to do." Then, like you, I saw it requires OS X. :-(
Anyway, now it looks like the problem may be iMovie not exporting the QT file correctly. If that's the case, converting to MPEG-2 is a moot point.
Thanks again for your help. Any other ideas?

[tahoe3]

I don't have my iBook here at the moment. But, there should be a slider buried under iMovie's options which will increase or decrease the bitrate of the exported file. I was having the same sort of problem when I dropped in a couple of iPhoto 2 slideshows in iMovie 3's timeline and the exported QT files were full of jaggies. I increased the bitrate and the jaggies disappeared. I was a bit concerned because I was taking iPhoto 2's slideshows, putting them on cd with Toast and dropping them into Ulead Video Studio 6 on the pc. They looked great right off the bat. I thought, iMovie can't be this limited. So, I checked iMovie 3 thoroughly and sure enough, there was that slider.

[somdobrasil]

Thanks for suggesting that I adjust the iMovie slider to increase the bit rate. Unfortunately, that won't work for me because iMovie 3 is for OS X and I'm using OS 9.
Here's another piece of the puzzle. To test whether the bit rate problem I'm having is caused by something in my Mac setup (eg. no bit rate slider in iMovie 2.0.1), I took iMovie's splash.mov file and tried opening it with the PC's QT player. I got the error message: "Could not open movie splash.mov." Then I tried importing splash.mov into Roxio's DVD Builder on my PC. It imported it but warned that both the audio and video bit rates were 1 -- just like the iMovie file I created. It looks like DVD Builder finds all QT DV-NTSC files too slow.
I've got another idea, but I think it belongs in a new thread, so I'll post it as "Direct connect PC and Mac via firewire for DV capture?"