Burning Hd I-Movie On Standard Dvd

[alnote]

I just bought a new Canon HD camcorder (HF G20) and had an impossible time trying to burn a DVD from i-movie. Will Toast 11 be able to burn a standard DVD based on HD video that I import into i-movie? I.e. does Toast down-convert the HD video in i-movie so that it looks good when burned on a standard DVD?

 

If not, can you recommend a blu-ray burner that works well with an i-mac and Toast?

 

This is my first time here, so be gentle!

[tsantee]

I want to be certain what it is you're wanting to do. Toast with the Blu-ray plugin can burn a Blu-ray-format HD video to standard DVD media that is playable with a Blu-ray player. Toast (with or without the Blu-ray plugin) can also encode a standard-definition version of the video and burn it to DVD media for playing on any video DVD player. I'm guessing you want the HD version to play on a Blu-ray player. Is that right? Do you have the Toast Blu-ray plugin?

 

Presuming that's what you want to do you can access the iMovie project file via the Video tab in the Toast Media Browser. Add it to the main Toast window with High-Definition DVD video selected as the format. You should be able to preview the movie by clicking the Edit button that appears when you add the video to the Toast window. Toast will re-encode the video when it prepares to burn the disc but it retains the high-definition resolution.

 

I hope you realize that you can't fit very much HD video on a standard DVD. You may want to get some DVD-DL discs because they provide more space. Blu-ray burners are much less expensive now so you can buy one of those, too. They connect to the iMac via USB 2.0. LaCie sells a good one. I have a Sony VBD-MA1 that can even burn a Blu-ray disc connected directly to the camera; bypassing the computer entirely.

 

I do suggest choosing Save as Disc Image instead of clicking the burn button. The encoding takes a long time and sometimes Toast has trouble awakening an optical drive that's gone to sleep. When the disc image is done you can burn it to disc using the Image File setting in the Copy window.

[alnote]

Thank you for your reply. I should have been more clear. I guess I want the best of both worlds. I want to preserve the HD video in i-movie for future use if I get a blu-ray burner, but for now I'm just interested in burning standard definition video on a standard DVD. So the question is, can Toast take the HD video in an i-movie and convert it to standard for burning on to a standard video without losing a whole lot of quality (I understand it will not look HD, but I want it to at least look decent in standard D).

[tsantee]

Yes. Add the iMovie project file or an export (share) from iMovie to Toast with DVD video selected as the format. Toast will make a standard-definition video DVD from it. The encoding will take awhile. It should look about as good on your TV as does other DVDs.

[alnote]

When I was about 11 years old I met a girl from Eugene Oregon. She was nice. So are you. I guess all you Eugeners are good folk! Thanks again.