Power User Monday Tip of the Week

iDVD/DVD Burning FAQs

Brought to you by: James

((Update: Updated to reflect changes introduced by iDVD v5 and v6. This FAQ is now obsolete and will not be updated beyond this point.))

Ken Tidwell has a very informative Unofficial/ad-hoc iDVD FAQ & Troubleshooting Guide.

DVD-R(RW)s and DVD+R(RW)s only have one layer. Many commercial DVDs have dual-layer technology which allows twice the amount of data on one disk. (Burnable dual-layer DVDs can now be purchased from your favorite blank media retailer.)

DVD+R(RW)s have a longer shelf-life while DVD-R(RW)s are more compatible with house-hold DVD players.

iDVD versions prior to v5 are only capable of burning to internal Apple Superdrives.

iDVD requires its movie files to be any QuickTime-supported media file.

iDVD (v1-v3) can only burn 60 minutes to a DVD-R, or 90 minutes if you're willing to sacrifice quality. (iDVD will ask to sacrifice quality for a 90 minute DVD when you choose to burn a project that is 60-90 minutes in length.) iDVD v4 (iLife '04) can burn up to 2 hours on a single-layer DVD-R (sacrificing quality).

Toast 6 will burn to any DVD-R(RW) or DVD+R(RW) drive with any QuickTime-supported media file, and can burn "over 60 minutes" to a disk with optimal quality at 60 minutes or less (quality slowly decreases over 60 minutes). See Create a Quick and Simple DVD for details.

Apple's DVD Studio Pro is a full, professional DVD authoring suite. Among several, more powerful features, DVD Studio Pro supports burning to several DVD-R(RW) and DVD+R(RW) burners and allows you to change compression settings, which enables you to choose the correct balance between video/audio quality and the amount of video on the disk.   


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