Burn mp4 file to a standard DVD?

Use iMovie + iDVD?

Yes, import the mpeg-4 file into iMovie, Send it to iDVD, burn the DVD or export as a VIDEO_TS.

Do you have a menu selected in iDVD? That takes up extra space. (plus a long time to render)

That depends on two things: The MPEG-2 bitrate (which you don't get direct control over in iDVD) and whether the discs are single-layer or dual-layer. Most commercial DVDs (with movies on them) are dual-layer discs.

What version of iDVD are you using?

You could easily do it with Quicktime Pro.

Open the movie, go to FILE>EXPORT. Select your export setting from there. Get the current information of your file, and model the export on that.

If you have DVD Studio Pro it would be real easy. I think you can remove them in iDVD by going to the asset map, dropping the movie file into the first box that says something like "play this concent automatically" then delete all the assets after that (menu, submenus, etc.).

You have an MP4 already that is too big, export as an mp4, but with a lower bitrate.

I'm on my laptop right now and don't an mp4 to test with, I will be home in a couple hours and reply then if someone else doesn't.

Encode it in h.264, leave the bit the same, then try it in iDVD. Did the menu asset removal instructions work?

-Justin

QuickTime Pro cannot help you here.

DVDs for standard DVD players store their content as MPEG-2. Importing your movie into iMovie, sending it to iDVD and then burning a DVD is the easiest way to convert the .mp4 into a suitably-formatted MPEG-2 .VOB. Compressing the .mp4 with QuickTime first will do no good, it'll just degrade the picture quality.

More soon...

It will degrade the quality, but if it doesn't fit on a single layer DVD and he needs it to then he doesn't have a choice.

You don't understand:

1.) The final video format must be MPEG-2 in a .VOB container, otherwise it will not play in a standard DVD player.

2.) QuickTime cannot export MPEG-2.

3.) Exporting his .mp4 with QuickTime to another file format will do nothing apart from waste time and degrade picture quality.

Alright, I guess I was wrong, I thought MPEG2 bitrate affected the file size.

Yes, MPEG-2 bitrate does affect the file size. But QuickTime cannot export in MPEG-2 format. iDVD, DVD studio pro, open-source utilities such as ffmpeg, and Toast, amongst others, do/can export in MPEG-2 format.

Using QuickTime Pro first with iMovie and iDVD would result in a dataflow like this:

.mp4 --> H.264 (exported from QuickTime) --> .dv (iMovie converts to .dv) --> MPEG-2 (iDVD converts to MPEG-2)

I just thought the file size was be smaller along the way.

Would a program like mpeg-stream do the trick for him?

I've realised you can cut-out the iMovie step, which is good for picture quality as you'll be going straight from .mp4 to MPEG-2 rather than going via iMovie's .dv. Here's what you need to do:

1. Make sure your .mp4 file is in your "Movies" folder in your home folder.

2. Launch iDVD.

3. As you are trying to squeeze two hours onto a single layer, I suggest going to preferences and selecting "best quality" for the encoder settings. This will increase encoding time.

4. Create a new project.

5. Press the "customize" button.

6. Select a low-motion theme such as "Transparent Black" (found in 4.0 themes, which is selected from the drop-down menu).

7. Press the "Map" button, which is to the left of the play button.

8. Press the "media" tab (on the left, in the customize drawer), and then choose "Movies" from the drop-down menu. In the browser, find your .mp4 and drag it over the "Full Frame 1" picture in the tree structure. A new extension to the tree should be created under/next to "Full Frame 1".

9. Press the "return" button (in the GUI, not the keyboard).

10. Edit (by clicking once to select, waiting, then again to highlight; e.g. like editing a file name in the Finder, not a quick "double click") the titles in the theme. I suggest deleting "Transparent Black" altogether, and renaming whatever appears underneath to "play"

11. Now, if you press the preview button, clicking on "play" (or whatever you chose) should play your .mp4.

12. Press the preview button again to end the preview.

13. Now, burn the movie.

If iDVD still says the movie is too long, do you have Toast?

Did the iDVD instructions not work? Did it still say that the movie was too long?

I'd use ffmpegX to convert the mp4 straight to mpeg-2. That gives you the choice of bitrate.

DVDs hold 4.4GB so you'd need a bitrate around 4mbits/sec to squeeze two hours onto one DVD.

When you select the aspect ratio, make sure you choose DVD 16:9 to get it in widescreen. Also make sure to check it's coming out ok by opening it in VLC to preview it.

You could also split your movie into two 1 hour segments onto two discs if you didn't want to encode again. MPEG Streamclip would do this but you need the Quicktime mpeg-2 component. I'm sure you can do this with ffmpegx though.

You can also requantize your movie so it shrinks a bit but you have to pay for most requantizers.

Indeed. ffmpegX looks like the way to go.

Here are some pointers to get you started:

1.) Download and install FFmpegX. Make sure you read all the information at versiontracker, you have to install other components too in order for ffmpegX to work.

2.) Launch ffmpegX, click "open...", and choose your .mp4 file.

3.) In the "to" box under "target format" on the right, choose "DVD mpeg2enc"

4.) Click on the "video" tab, choose "1" CD of "DVD 4GB" in the drop-down menus on the left, and click the "rate" button. This will automatically choose an appropriate bit-rate. Make sure the dimensions and frame rate on the right are correct.

5.) Click audio and choose .ac3 from the drop-down. Select the bitrate etc. that you want.

6.) Click on "options" tab, and on the right, choose profile as "DVD" and click the "author as" tick box (at the bottom) and choose "DVD (VIDEO_TS)"

7.) Click back to summary, press "save as..." and choose a destination location and file name.

8.) Press encode. When it is done, you should find a new folder, whose name ends .DVD, in the destination that you chose. That folder should contain an "AUDIO_TS" folder and a "VIDEO_TS" folder.

9.) Launch Toast.

10.) Select the Video tab, and in the drawer on the left, choose "DVD-video from VIDEO_TS", then drag and drop the VIDEO_TS folder created in step 8.) above to the main window.

11.) Burn disc.

This may require some experimentation on your part to get just right. Good luck.

Calling unixguru!

Did you get your video onto standard DVD yet?