There are other ways to begin a new iDVD project:

• Click the iDVD button in iMovie HD to open an iDVD project that contains your movie. Use this method when you want to make a DVD that has links to the movie you have just created on its main menu.
• Starting in iMovie HD, use the Magic iMovie feature to automatically transfer autogenerated movies to an iDVD project.
• In iPhoto, send slideshows directly to iDVD to create a project with slideshow buttons.

Quickly Creating a DVD:

The choice is yours in iDVD. If you don’t have the time to spend creating a DVD, you can choose one of the quick DVD features built into iDVD.

Use the OneStep DVD method to create a DVD directly from your DV camcorder.
This is useful if you want to transfer your unedited video footage from your camcorder to a disc that plays automatically and doesn’t include menus.

For a quick DVD with a professional menu that includes buttons, take a step up from
OneStep DVD and create a Magic iDVD.

When you open iDVD, just click:

• “Create a Magic iDVD.”
• Then choose a theme and select the media and music you want in your DVD.

iDVD builds your DVD and burns it to the DVD disc format of your choice.

For more information about OneStep DVD and Magic iDVD, see iDVD Help.

Create a New Project:

With your music, movies, and photos ready for use and in locations where you can easily access them, you’re ready to get started.

To start a new iDVD project:

• If iDVD isn’t open, double-click the iDVD application icon in the Dock. If this is the first time iDVD has been opened, click the “Create a New Project” button in the dialog.
• If the opening dialog isn’t showing, choose File > New. Select a location where you
• want to store your new project, and click Create.
  

  iDVD welcome screen

If the iDVD window opens with an animated menu and music, click the Motion button, shown below, to stop the animation and sound.

Note: If you created a Magic iMovie and selected the checkbox to send your movie to iDVD, then you already have an open iDVD project that contains Play Movie and Scene Selection buttons.
Follow the instructions in the next section to choose a theme for your DVD, then read through the information.

Set the Encoding Quality:

iDVD encodes your project’s information before it burns it to a disc.
Encoding takes some time when you burn your DVD, so you may want to consider setting an iDVD preference to let iDVD encode in the background as you work on your movie.

To set the encoding quality:

• Choose iDVD > Preferences and click Defaults. Then choose one of the encoder settings.

If you choose Best Performance, you can also select the “Enable background encoding” checkbox.

• This lets you work on your project while the files are being encoded in the background.
• This makes the most of your computer’s resources, and saves time when you are ready to burn your DVD.
• This is useful if you have 60 minutes or less of video, or when you want faster results.

• If you want the best quality possible (or have more than 60 minutes of video), choose Best Quality.

When you are ready to burn your project to a disc, iDVD evaluates the amount of video and chooses the best quality setting possible, filling the entire disc, if appropriate.

• The DVD will take longer to burn, but will be optimized for quality.
• The quality of your DVD ultimately depends on the quality of your source material.

Lower resolution movies, such as QuickTime movies downloaded from the Internet, or VHS video, will not give as good results as video taken with a DV or HDV video camera and edited in video-editing software such as iMovie HD, Final Cut Express, or Final Cut Pro.

Choose a Theme for Your DVD:

A theme is a menu design that defines how your DVD looks to viewers.
The theme is made up of the background image or movie that appears on your DVD menu, along with the button style, fonts, sizes, and locations of titles and button labels.
A theme family is a collection of menu designs that work together, providing a unified appearance to submenus.

You can use one of the themes that come with iDVD, or you can customize and create your own theme. In this tutorial, you will learn how to select an existing iDVD theme and customize it.

Note: Use the theme specified in the tutorial so you can follow along easily.
If you choose another theme, you may not be able to follow the steps in order.
After you finish the tutorial, you can use what you’ve learned to choose a different theme and make other changes before you burn your DVD.

To choose the theme for your DVD menu:

1. Click the Themes button at the bottom of the iDVD window.
The Themes pane opens on the right side of the iDVD window.

2. Move the scroller up and down to see the themes.
Themes that contain animation and music have a motion icon that looks like the Motion button in the bottom-right corner of the theme thumbnail.

3. Click the pop-up menu and choose 4.0 Themes, and then scroll down until you see Fish.

4. Click the triangle next to the theme, then click Fish One to select it for your project.
This theme has a motion background, indicated by the small motion icon in the bottom-right corner. Some themes also contain an autoplay movie, a short movie that plays before the main DVD menu appears.

Themes with an autoplay movie have an autoplay icon in the upper-left corner of the theme thumbnail.

Good luck!

Source: http://idvd-tips-and-tricks.blogspot.com

Many of you have probably used third-party software like Compressor, Cleaner or Sorenson Squeeze to compress your videos. The following steps are basic compression settings for QuickTime Pro, should you not have any of the above applications.

In the next couple months, I’ll post another guide for using Compressor that will delve deeper into encoding—stuff that you probably didn’t even realize Compressor was capable of doing.

1. Always use the highest resolution source files possible

First things first, when encoding your video for the web, preparation is the key. The final output of your video will depend heavily on your source video. So it is in your best interest to encode from the original source content, i.e. high resolution renders from Final Cut, After Effects or AVID.

2. H.264 Basic Settings

All the codecs (Compression Type) out there right now may be tempting to try out, but H.264 still comes out on top. Stick with it, as it will give you the best quality for the file size.

Leave the Frame Rate to Current to make the video flow just as you desired your original audience to view it. Because we’re using the H.264 codec, I recommend sticking with Automatic for Key Frames. And always keep Frame Reordering enabled for web viewing.

For the Data Rate, you want to keep the Restrict to around 1300 Kbits/sec and have the video Optimized for Download (this gives you the best quality). The higher the bitrate, the better the quality—but you get stuck with a bigger file. If you have the time, play around with this setting and see the difference in quality and final size. You can go up to 2000 Kbit/sec, but no more for SD 640 x 480.

You’ll also notice now that the Quality under Compressor is locked to High because you have the video Restricted to xxxx Kbits/sec, which is perfectly fine.

Lastly, the Encoding is kept to Best quality (Multi-pass). It takes longer than the Single pass (obviously), but you’ll get a cleaner product.

3. Use 640×480 minimum for your export dimensions.

Keep the Dimensions at 640 x 480 VGA or higher. There is no reason you should be displaying your work at any lower resolution. Make sure you have enabled Preserve aspect ratio using: Fit within dimensions. This option will fit the video to the longest side, scaling if necessary.

Should you choose a larger size (e.g. 720 x 480 NTSC SD or 1280 x 720HD), please make sure your source video is at least within the same dimensions; it would look ridiculous if you tried to stretch your video bigger than the source.

Also check Deinterlace Source Video, if available.

4. Always enable Fast Start.

Make sure Prepare for Internet Streaming: Fast Start – Compressed Header is checked before clicking OK under Movie Settings.

Not checking this option will cause your viewing audience to wait until the full spot has downloaded before it starts playing. This one checkbox could make the difference between your work being seen or being closed before it even plays.

5. For audio, use AAC at 128 kbps.

For the Sound Settings, keep it simple and use this screenshot as your guide.

This is pretty routine, so no explanation is needed here.

6. Name with care.

Lastly, file naming is highly important when it comes to uploading your file. Here’s a rule of thumb: Always name your file starting with the artist’s name, title of piece and the compression type. Never leave spaces between words. I highly recommend separating words with hyphens and underscores, never periods, which could cause problems in URLs.

Most importantly, make sure your final output has a file extension (e.g. .mov, .mp4, etc). This will enable the browser to know which plug-in to use for playback.

Source: www.motionographer.com