DVD Menu Creation Tools

[Pierre Souchar]

Hello Robin,

I agree with you iDvd is a option.
Would you mind to share with me/us what is your workflow to handle HD in iDVD.
Here is my case:
Editing in FCP X, exporting a Master in ProRes 422 1080 (1h 15 min long film) and iDVD is able to read it and I can do menus, but when I try to burn a DVD, the encoding is not working.
What I am doing wrong?
I am trying to downconvert via Compressor for a ProRes 422 in 720 x 576 (PAL), but I am not shure of the result and since the encoding takes for years, I rather ask before wasting my time and ressources.

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

Pierre Souchar

[Nicholas Zimmerman]

Even though it’s EOL (and not nearly as great as DVD Studio Pro), I tend to use Encore for all of my authoring needs. Encore’s biggest fault is that it’s missing the logic based scripting of DVDSP, but the fact that I can burn a DVD & Blu-Ray from the same project and include motion menus makes up for not being able to add easter eggs.

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NickZimmerman.net
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[Bill Rabkin]

Hello, Pierre —

Just yesterday, I finished a 1hr 16min video in FCPX. I exported the master file using a “Compressor Settings” destination that I created in Compressor and added to the destinations list on the “Destinations” tab of FCPX Preferences. This destination compresses video to H.264. My video has 12 chapter markers.

I then launched iDVD and dragged in the video. Although iDVD creates the Chapter Menus with a link to each chapter and the video frame associated with each Chapter Marker, it does not bring in the text that I defined for each Chapter Marker. (It began losing the marker text around Mountain Lion, I think.) I typed in the text for each Chapter Marker, added background music to each menu, and burned the disc. Unfortunately, iDVD failed; it displayed a “Multiplexor Error” message.

This happens to me on about 10% or 20% of my iDVD projects. iDVD transcodes all of the videos and menus, but when it gets to the “Multiplexing and Writing” step it dies. Sometimes, this happens before it actually writes anything to the disc; sometimes it happens part way through the burn process, and the resulting disc is a coaster.

The best solution I have found is to re-compress the movie in Compressor, using the same settings, and then recreate the disc from scratch in a new iDVD project using the new movie file. (If I simply drag the new movie into the existing iDVD project, iDVD messes up all of the chapter links. iDVD is nice enough to warn you that it has done so :-)).

While Apple and Adobe think that optical discs are dead technology, clients still want them. I have been searching for an iDVD replacement for several years, without success. Disc creation apps on the Mac App Store are junk, IMHO. None of them handles FCPX Chapter Markers properly.

If anyone finds a good replacement for iDVD, please inform the community of your find.

[Philip Fass]

When I switched from DVD SP to iDVD, I found this lesson extremely helpful for setting chapters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBwxleD3OS8

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[Pierre Souchar]

Hello Bill,

Thank you very much for your reply !
Everything that you describe happens to me !
And I handled to make a DVD with iDvd, mostly the same way you do.

1.- Export film from FCPX to Compressor
2.- Did a ProRes export with chapters (put some noise reduction and black level options)
3.- iDVD did see my chapters but not its names and images
4.- Try to burn without success
5.- Create a new iDVD project with the same file and it worked !

Yes, Apple and Adobe may think that dvd is dead, but it is not! Not everyone has bought a Blu-Ray and it’s still an easy way to share productions… Youtube is a good one, but you can not always have HD and USB drives are still too expensive and they don’t show well on a shelf or desk.

Again, thank you for your input and waiting for a good replacement to iDVD !

Best regards,

Pierre Souchar

[Robin S. kurz]

[Pierre Souchar] “Yes, Apple and Adobe may think that dvd is dead”

I think one needs to differentiate between thinking it is dead and thinking it’s not worth the horrendous effort (and money) it costs to keep something alive that only a tiny fraction of people even ever need. Especially when there are in fact still fully functional authoring solutions out there.

[Pierre Souchar] “Not everyone has bought a Blu-Ray and it’s still an easy way to share productions”

The exact same goes for BD, so that’s not actually a factor that plays into the decision.

[Pierre Souchar] “Youtube is a good one, but you can not always have HD”

Huh? If you upload HD, you get HD. All the way up to 4K even. Be it YouTube, Vimeo or any other of the top streaming sites. And I don’t see how distributing DVDs gets anywhere near the simplicity of distributing online. Not to mention the exponentially higher quality that goes with it.

– RK

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Deutsch? Hier gibt es ein umfassendes FCP X Training für dich!

[Tony Rocha]

I’m new to iDVD, and I like the menus, but it wouldn’t take my file generated in FCP, because it was over 2 hrs long. I was trying to get it onto a single layer disk. It took it, if I changed the setting in Profile Info to Double Layer. Only problems are that I don’t know if everyone my client is distributing them to has a dvd player that will handle double layer disks, and the processing company requires an order of 300, and I probably only need 200-225. I’ve gone back to using Premiere Elements 13. The menus aren’t great, but ok, and you can actually make them dynamic. it’s serviceable, and I’ve wasted too much time already trying to make iDVD work or trying to find an alternative that’s as nice. I’m disappointed, because I really liked the menus on iDVD.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Tony Rocha] “I was trying to get it onto a single layer disk.”

Sorry, but that’s madness regardless of the software used. iDVD (fortunately) won’t do that for obvious reasons. You’d be left with a nasty, blocky MESS. Yes, even worse than the one you’re already getting. Even trying to put 90 mins. on a single layer would be highly questionable. If set to “Professional quality” and it says “nope”, do yourself a favor and take its word for it.

[Tony Rocha] “I don’t know if everyone my client is distributing them to has a dvd player that will handle double layer disks”

You realize of course, that pretty much every commercial DVD is a dual-layer disk (DVD9)?? Especially if you’re getting them mastered, to not be able to play it would mean you’re using a prototype player from the 90’s or something worse.

– RK

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Deutsch? Hier gibt es ein umfassendes FCP X Training für dich!

[Tony Rocha]

Thanks, Robin, but I’ve been creating 2 hr single layer disks for yrs without creating a blocky mess. I didn’t say I was sane. 🙂 Actually, I have put the same video on both a single and double layer disk and haven’t noticed a tremendous difference between the two, though I thought I should have. Maybe it’s just me. Anyway, I appreciate and respect your input; it gives me food for thought.

But I didn’t know that just about all DVD players will play double layer disks. Thanks very much

[Robin S. kurz]

If anything, then single-layer disks are the exception. Commercially speaking.

– RK

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Deutsch? Hier gibt es ein umfassendes FCP X Training für dich!