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iMovie and iDVD
iMovie and iDVD

IMovie & IDVD:

iMovie: Capturing video

Capturing video in iMovie from MiniDV, Hi-8 tapes or VHS, etc

Digital Tapes (miniDV or Hi-8):

Connect DV deck to computer through FireWire cable:

For Hi-8 tape:
make sure that Digital8 tape deck is connected to computer through Firewire and turned on.
For miniDV tape: Connect MiniDV camera or a MiniDV tape Deck through Firewire and repeat the process above.

Make sure iMovie is set to camera and not editor using switch in lower left hand corner.

This switch will appear different depending on the version of iMovie.

A blue screen should appear that says Camera connected.
If this does not happen turn the Digital8 tape deck off and back on again without closing iMovie.

When screen says Camera connected, click Import;

Click the Import button again to stop the capture;

Analog Tapes: VHS

1)	Make sure the VCR is connected to converter box with a RCA cable; Make sure that converter box and VCR are both turned on and VCR is in playback mode. Make sure that the light on the front of the converter box is above the A. To do this press either the Mode (or Reset) buttons on the front of the converter box. (This allows you to capture from analog video to digital video.)
2)	Connect converter box to computer through Firewire.
3)	Press play on VCR. You should be able to see the video in the iMovie monitor as well as hear the audio.
4)	Click import in iMovie.

Please refer to other relevant wikis:

Export iMovie to VHS;
Export iMovie project to digital video on a CD;
Export iMovie projects to iDVD;

Digitizing Video Clips (from VHS / DVD): with iMovie

For academic projects involving multimedia, students can digitize clips from source media to incorporate into a larger composition. The LRC only supports such academic uses of this technology, and our policy strictly forbids the copying of entire works of copyrighted media for personal use.

1)	Setup: Use the Firewire cable to connect the Formac converter to the computer you are using. Connect the Firewire to the Out plug in the back of the converter, and then connect the other end of the cable to your computer.
	� Firewire Cable	Formac Converter
2)	Turn on the Formac converter using the power switch on the back. A green power light should come on.
3)	Set the switch to either VHS or DVD. S-Video Switch
4)	Turn on the VHS or DVD player and put in your VHS tape or DVD disc.
5)	Open iMovie and create a new iMovie project.
6)	On the Formac Converter, always switch the mode to analog in (this will show an orange light on the left and turn off the red light on the right.)
7)	Begin to import your project!

NOTE: Please do not touch the red, yellow, and white cables connected to the converter. We use the AV switch so that our users do not have to bother with the composite connections.

Export iMovie to VHS

After film editing is complete, make sure to save your project before exporting.

Make sure there is no tape in the Digital8VCR.
Make sure the firewire cable is connected to both the Digital8VCR and the Mac on which you are working. The RCA cable (red/white/yellow) must be connected to both the Digital8VCR and the IN jacks of the regular VCR(Panasonic) you are exporting to.
Both the TV and VCR must be turned on. TV should be on channel 3, and VCR input should be set to Line1.
Insert VHS tape into VCR.
Now you are ready to export: In iMovie select File > Export Movie.
Select Export to Camera. Wait time should be set to 5 seconds. Click Export.
If there are any special effects to render, select Render Now. If not, you will not see this option, proceed to the next step.
A dialog box will warn that there is no tape in the camera - that is fine, continue with export.
Have a partner at the VCR waiting for your cue to press Play and Record at the same time. As the wait time ticks from 5 down to 4 seconds cue your partner to start recording. If you wait too long to start, you might miss the first few frames of your movie. You can safely stop exporting and start over if this happens
You should see REC on the VCR's display, and your movie project coming through on the TV.
Press stop when you have finished recording.

Export iMovie projects to digital videos on a CD

Save your project before exporting.

1)	Go to File > Share (or press Apple/CMD E);.
2)	A screen comes up and click on Share > To Camera;
3)	To get the option of exporting to QuickTime:
4)	There are several options here in the Formats section: To export to CD select the CD-ROM settings. For best quality audio choose Expert Settings and optimize the audio levels, since the default CD-ROM audio is pretty atrocious (IMA4:1, sounds like people are talking over a tin can phone). Language projects should definitely make use of the best possible audio settings. After selecting Expert Settings another screen will pop up. Click on the Options button to change settings

Under Video, change the settings so that frame rate is 15. Under Sound change the format to MPEG-4 Audio for optimal picture and sound. These settings are recommended for films 10 minutes and under, since the CD-R capacity cannot hold longer films. If your project is longer than 10 minutes, use the standard CD-ROM settings.

After everything is set as you like, press export and a window of where you want the file to be saved to will appear. Depending on the size of the file, it should take several minutes for the movie to be exported.

Export iMovie projects to iDVD

After you're done editing your iMovie, save it, and then click on iDVD. Click the Create iDVD Project button.

An option box will appear. ALWAYS choose Render and Proceed

Welcome to iDVD. Clicking on the customize button opens a sidebar. From here we can change the look of our menu.

THEMES

Clicking on the options menu above the listed themes will allow you to choose themes from different versions of iMac. Select all to view all the themes. For now, let's choose the Anime Pop theme.

Notice how there's a little person icon in the lower right of this option. This means that the theme contains motion.

Motion can be turned on or off using the motion button.

Since we've picked our theme, let's move on to settings.

SETTINGS

This is a complicated-looking sidebar, but not to worry. Here we can change our iDVD menu's titles and media and put pictures into drop zones. However, the first thing we notice is that there's a really irritating tune in the background. Let's get rid of it.

Audio

Let's face it - this song is terrible. Fortunately, it's really easy to trash. Simply click and drag the little audio file out of the sidebar and onto the desktop, where it will disappear with a satisfying little puff of air.

To add a different song to the menu, drag a sound file into this same audio box. Now on to titles.

Titles

The titles are stationary while the animation goes whooshing around the screen. The larger title (circled in blue) is the title of our movie, while the smaller title (circled in green) starts the movie. Each can be changed by single-clicking twice on it (click slowly). While a title is selected, the sidebar also gives you the option of changing its color and size.

There. But now we've decided that the menu will look better with just one title. Simply delete the larger title, and customize the smaller title that starts the movie.

Fabulous. Let's play with drop zones.

DROP ZONES

Drop zones are places to add pictures or video to the menu. To find a file, click on labuser down in the dock and go through the menu to choose media.

Drag the file from the menu and into a drop zone. You can add as many media files as there are drop zones.

APPLE WATERMARK

You may have noticed that the Apple logo is down in the bottom right hand corner of the iDVD screen. To get rid of it, go to iDVD preferences and uncheck Show Apple logo watermark. The watermark is now no more.

Creating a DVD Master image (DVD copy)

Note: None of the LRC computers may be used to make wholesale copies of commercial DVDs. The following instructions are for making disk image DVD masters for video and data DVDs that were authored by Colby students, faculty and staff.

Making the disk image:

The Application used to backup DVD-R disks is Disk Utility.

1)	Launch Disk Utility at HDD (name of hard drive) > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
2)	Insert your DVD-R. The Apple DVD player may launch automatically. Quit the DVD player.
3)	In Disk Utility, select your DVD disk from the list of mounted volumes on the left (the more specific of the options provided, most likely the bottom option.)
4)	Click on the New Image button.
5)	In the pop-up window, name your project and choose the following from the dropdown menu: �DVD/CD Master� for image format; �None� or �uncompressed� for encryption;
6)	Click Save to create the DVD master file for your DVD. This will create a .cdr file, from which you can make backups of the original disk.

Making a new copy from the disk image:

1)	Eject the original DVD and put in your blank DVD-R. Wait a minute for the computer to recognize it.
2)	Choose �Open Disk Utility� from drop down menu to launch Disk Utility application.
3)	To mount this volume, either: Drag the .cdr file to the left panel of �Disk Utility� Window ; Or locate the .cdr in Finder and double-click to mount it in Disk Utility;
4)	With the .cdr file highlighted, Select File > Burn or click the Burn button at the top left side.
5)	Click through prompts and watch the little blue bar.

iDVD and burn time

When burning more than one copy of an iDVD project, it is most time-efficient to burn them all in one session. If you quit iDVD, even if you save the project, you will have to re-render everything over again. If you insert a second disk when the app prompts you, after it burns the first disk, it remembers all the buffered data and skips to stage 5, and writes to disk. (This could save you hours.)

Edited on Jan 19 2007 04:46PM by Nikolai Barnwell