Final Cut Pro question

[bassetf5]

I'm exporting from FCP 4 to iDVD... export a Quicktime movie, drag it into iDVD 4.0.1, burn. Plays fine on the computer but not on the home DVD player... usually. Some of the DVDs work, some don't... they're all the same brand (CompUSA) DVD-R. Anyone else had that problem?

[Dave Putnam]

Have you finalized the DVD after burning it?

[bassetf5]

no, you don't do that in iDVD... it's a real training-wheels type of app, part of the suite that comes with the Mac. you just drag stuff into various frames and click "burn."

meanwhile... tried the burned DVDs on two other players. worked fine on a new one, wouldn't play on an old one.

went out and got some Memorex blanks, worked perfectly on my old player.

[at the plate]

"the problem may be that your DVD player doesn't support the disc format. Most newer players support DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW formats, but older players may not. There are more compatibility issues for rewritable media (DVD-RW and DVD+RW) than for single use media (DVD-R and DVD+R), even in newer players.

Check which media formats your player supports and use the appropriate media when burning your projects. With some inexpensive DVD players that don't provide adequate buffering, slideshows played with accompanying music may not display correctly."

[PHX Shooter]

Very common problem. Older DVD players can have problems reading off of DVD's created with computers. For whatever reason, and I'm sure there's a long detailed explanation if you Google it, buring DVD's off of duplicators can help overcome this issue.

[Run 'n' Get 'em]

DVD+R seems to be the most commonly accepted

[bassetf5]

my G5 doesn't like +R for some reason. and the weird thing about it is... some of them play on this old Sony player, some don't, even within the same brand. went back and tried other Memorexes and they don't work.

hmmmm.

[LeftEye]

Plus R works with the newer G5's, but not with those that came out a year or so ago. Generally speaking, you should use -R for Macs and +R for PC's. That life in the big city.

[Baltimore Shooter]

I solved that problem alltogether with the purchase of a DVD recorder. I bought a Panasonic DMR-ES20 from Best Buy for around $180. It plays back and records to DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW and plays DVD Rom. Now, recording to DVD is a cinch.

Warren

[bassetf5]

would be the obvious solution but this was just a one-time deal, had an obscure documentary on VHS that needed to get onto DVD.

I ended up cabling a VHS player to a Digital-8 camera, copying the movie in real time, running that into the G5 with Firewire and Final Cut, again in real time, taking the resulting 56-minute, twelve-gig file and converting to a 1.2-gig Quicktime movie, then burning that to disc through iDVD.

took 2 1/2 hours for the initial burn since iDVD converts to MPEG2 as part of its process... would have been a lot more flexible to use Compressor out of Final Cut and just make the MPEG and audio files, as far as I know iDVD can only handle straight QT movies though.

disc played fine on the computer and a newer DVD player so I'm assuming that I'm finally done with it... until I get fired up to copy all my Jesco White and James Rebel O'Leary tapes <G>