Hello people!

Can anyone help me regarding getting my HDV 92 minute feature onto a DVD? I only have idvd 5 and was wondering what settings I have to use on Compressor from FCP? I am using FCP HD 4.5 version. Do I have to go buy DVD Studio Pro or can I get away with using iDVD? I realize I have to put this film onto a 4.7 GB dvd. Is this possible?
Please, any advice would be great!

Jesus G.


My system

G4 800dp
1.5 GB ram
1 TB external harddrive?.
running 10.3 ( i think it's panther?)

You can't use Compressor to pre-convert anything to MPEG-2 if you're using iDVD. iDVD doesn't take MPEG-2s; you have to use a QuickTime movie exported straight from Final Cut Pro.

To continue on what Derek said, iDVD will do the compression for you to make it fit on the DVD. However, 92 minutes is asking a lot of iDVD. It does a fine job on 60 minutes or less, not so fine between 60 and 90 minutes, and I'm not sure what to expect from 92 minutes. Choices are to shorten your movie or invest in DVD Studio Pro for the control you would need for 92 minutes.

Scott

Also is your movie actually being edited in HDV on FCP 4.5 or did you capture in DV or DVCPro? I didn't think it was possible to do HDV on FCP4.5.

Frank, Scott, Derekmok,

Thanks for all your responses! I'm afraid I might have to take the plunge and get the DVD Studio Pro! I was thinking that maybe idvd6 would do it but I doubt that it would go past 60 minutes per DVD. Unfortunately, I can not shave my feature down. It was 96 minutes before and cutting it more is not an option...
I had a tough of a time editing this since it involved LumiereHD as a workaround. FCP HD 4.5 is not compatible with my JVC HD10u camera and therefore had to jump many hoops to get a finished product. Yes I did edit it in the DVCPro timeline but once I finished with the timeline, I made HD timeline with no loss in quality! It looks awesome but since my computer is not the fastest on the block (G4 800dp), and I can't aford to by a spanking new computer, I had to deal with the slowness of getting a quicktime movie! it's roughly over 500GB! then with LumiereHD, I get the master mov and make a transport stream and I get it on miniDV with a JVC deck....just trying to explain it is tiring, but the final product is what counts right?
I think I have become an expert dealing with HDV on FCP 4.5 through LumiereHd!

thanks once again!

You might try converting the QT movie to DV Stream. You can do that in FCP 4.5. Then open it in iMovie and burn it onto iDVD from there. The conversion to DV Stream might give you the necessary compression for iDVD. I made this work for me before I learned how to use DVD SP. This might be an option if you can't spend any money now and you just need a DVD copy of your movie for submission, etc. I'm not sure this will work for you, but I like to bang my head on concrete walls sometimes.

i'm pretty sure that converting to a DV Stream will re-compress your footage,
giving it a (slight but real) quality drop.

nick