[Jeff Carpenter]

Download the free flip4mac player:

https://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_download.htm

You just use Quicktime, it’s a plug-in that lets you view and export WMV files. The free one will let you do a 30 second test export. You can play with that and see what you can do. If you like it, you can buy one of the full version to export the whole thing:

https://www.flip4mac.com/store_wmv.htm

[Jeff Carpenter]

Check the manual in the Help menu.

Basically you have to drag a video compression and an audio compression onto your imported video file. Then export them.

Find a preset video you like, duplicate it, and mess around with the copy. Then use that. Just use the standard audio settings from any of the DVD settings. They’re all the same.

Then import the 2 files you get into DVD Studio Pro and put them both onto a track. They’re already compressed, the DVD will build much quicker than if you brought a Quicktime file into DVD Studio Pro.

[Jeff Carpenter]

That’s all correct assuming that your original footage is something standard like DV. What format are you editing with?

(Oh, and as long as the DVD is being made on this same computer, you can UN-check “Make Self Contained” in that export. That will save you a lot of hard drive space. Only use it if you’re going to take the Quicktime file or DVD Studio Pro Project to another computer.)

[Jeff Carpenter]

H.264 is usually a good choice. Quicktime, iTunes, and Flash can all play it. Generally a computer will have at least one of those on it.

Well, home computers. If this is for a corprate environment you might have to go with Windows Media. You’ll need to buy a Flip4Mac encoder to do that. THen Windows can see it fine, but in that case a Mac can only view it if they’ve downloaded the Flip4Mac player.

So it comes down to your audience and who they are. Do you want to:

A) Tell PC users to download QT or upgrade to the newest Flash.

B) Tell Mac users to download the free FLip4Mac plugin.

C) Put both an H.264 and a Windows Media File on the same disc and let users choose which one they want to play.

I’d pick a different answer depending on where the discs are going, so I can’t tell you which one to choose.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Quicktime is just a player. It plays many different formats. We’d have to know what video format you’re using to answer the question.

Tell us what the footage you are editing is within Final Cut and what settings you used when exporting it.

[Jeff Carpenter]

What kind of hard drive is the media on?

[Jeff Carpenter]

In Final Cut use EXPORT -> USING COMPRESSOR

Pick the setting you normally would for DVD, just make sure that the aspect in the export setting is set for 16:9. (You may have to duplicate the setting and alter the copy.) Other than that, same old MPEG II at 720×480.

Once you get into DVD Studio Pro with it, make sure that that track options are set to 16:9 with either letterbox or pan-and-scan picked, depending on which you want to happen on a 4:3 TV.

[Jeff Carpenter]

No, if it’s your main drive, that’s not the problem. Just a guess that didn’t work out.

I’m afraid I don’t have any other ideas.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Snapz pro is useful because of the options it gives, but it’s still giving the same exact quality as the grab utility. You’re getting every pixel no matter what method you use.

Now, if you’re talking about national TV ads where they zoom in and do all kinds of cool stuff with the web site, those are re-created by artists. Each element is re-done on a large scale and those pieces are animated. If that’s what you’re thinking of, a screen-grab won’t be able to do that.

[Jeff Carpenter]

Are you exporting to a drive formatted as FAT32? Maybe a flash drive or external drive that’s used as a go-between for a Windows and Mac system?

It sounds like a file management problem with the drive itself.