My Short Film is 14.5 gb and a DVD is only 4.5 gb. I must be skipping a step...

[Ivan Jasper]

Doing the self taught thing with FCE, the only editing program I've ever used. I have about 17 minutes of my short film rough edited and it comes to 14.5 gb, so I need to compress it (if that's the right term) so it can be viewed on a standard DVD. (Not as a file, but played on a DVD player.)

And is there something besides iDVD, or can it be simplified? For now I don't need track listings and graphics, just a DVD that plays a movie.

[Jonathan Jones]

Yes, you are correct, it will need to be compressed. Many DVD authoring programs may recommend that you have your content compressed (typically to mpeg-2 through means of a compression program, or whatever method may be packaged with your NLE.) But if you are working with iDVD (as it sounds like you are) I don't believe you can drop the compressed mpeg-2 into iDVD - as iDVD imposes its own flavor of compression to the content during the authoring process.

So, if you are using iDVD, you should be able to import your 14.5 GB file into your iDVD project, and iDVD will compress it appropriately.

While there are a number of thing you can do in iDVD to author a pretty snazzy DVD interface, your needs are fairly simple. You could just choose the Magic IDVD process - its fairly self-explanatory, though providing limited control.

Otherwise, just choose to create a new project - you'll be presented with a default template, keep it or select one more to your liking. (there are options to create your own backdrop- but for sake of simplicity I'll just keep with the simple and straightforward options).

Once your theme is selected, (and assuming you've already exported your feature content as a Quicktime file), just import your content via the import command, or drag your Quicktime file content directly into the iDVD interface.

Then, re-adjust your title information as needed and click the burn button to initiate the compression and burning process. iDVD will prompt you to insert a blank at the appropriate time.

The compression will take a while, depending upon the settings you've allocated in the iDVD preferences, and the capabilities of the machine you are working with.

When it is all done, you should have a completed DVD that should play just fine on a standard DVD player.

None of this takes into account potential factors of disruption, such as the quality of the media you are using, etc - but if all is in order, its a pretty straightforward process that generally works most of the time.

iDVD has a lot of options for adding a bit of complexity to your project, as well as customizing it more to your needs, but that is for another time.

-Jon

[Ivan Jasper]

SUCCESS! Thank You.

[Jonathan Jones]

Indeed.

You're welcome.

-Jon