MacMost Now 761: Burning DVDs With Compressor

Compressor is an app that is usually thought of as an add-on to Final Cut Pro. But it can be purchased by itself in the Mac App Store and used to compress video and burn DVDs. You can take a single video and set some options, such as menu and title screen backgrounds, chapter names and start times and disc name.

Comments: 30 Responses to “MacMost Now 761: Burning DVDs With Compressor”

    Haji
    12 years ago

    There use to be a time when cd's could be burned in iTunes. Is that still possible? If so, how is that done?

      12 years ago

      Sure. Create a playlist with the songs you want. Select the playlist. Choose File, Burn Playlist to Disc.

    Omar
    12 years ago

    Hello Gary. First of all thank you for all of your information on this website. I really appreciate what you do. My question is....Is it still possible that iDVD can be somehow uploaded on the new mac mini? I just bought one and I was looking forward to giving presents of slideshows through DVDs for Christmas. Anyways, thank you for any information.

      12 years ago

      If you have an old iLife install DVD, then you can install iDVD on your Mac. That's pretty much the only way. Otherwise, you'll have to try other DVD burning software. Several are available in the Mac App Store.

        Nilesh Parmar
        11 years ago

        Roxio Toast is a great addition to Apple Mac. It has converter for almost every format as well as buring capabilities for photos, slideshow etc. But you can use iPhotos for slideshows and burn to DVDs?

          11 years ago

          You can export from iPhoto as a video and then burn that to a DVD. Or use iMovie, Keynote, etc. Anything that can create a video.

    Piet van 't Zelfde
    11 years ago

    Hi Gary, Thanks for so much great stuff. I'm 71 years young and still learning a lot... just bought me a brandnew iMac 27". Now I have many relatives in the us but the disturbing thing is that I film in PAL and you guys have NTSC. How can I convert my PAL video's into NTSC? I hope you have the answer for me. Thanks in advance.
    Piet (Pete)

      11 years ago

      I'm not sure. I thought that DVDs were "digital" and so it didn't matter.

      Nilesh Parmar
      11 years ago

      i would love to know how to convert from ntsc to pal, cant find nothing on the interweb

        11 years ago

        I don't think that makes sense in a digital world. You import into your computer and it is neither NTSC or PAL. It is just video. Then if you were to make another DVD, you may have to choose NTSC or PAL. So "converting" might actually mean importing and then exporting. But maybe someone more familiar with it can comment about it.

          Joe
          11 years ago

          The option is in compressor, just takes a bit of looking.

          Select the dvd template you want to use, ie best quality 90 mins etc. Drag it to your job window as you would normally.
          This will show the settings in the inspector window, then click on the encoder tab (next to summary) and where it says video format you will need to click the gear icon, then change to PAL/NTSC.
          You can then save this as a new template. By default they are NTSC.
          Hope this helps

    steve
    11 years ago

    Hi Gary,
    Gt stuff, I still use idvd to burn looping dvds. Is there an option to do this in compressor? I use final cut a lot too, but it doesn't have the option to create looping dvds.

      11 years ago

      There aren't many options beyond the ones I show. If you still have iDVD, I'd keep using that.

        steve
        11 years ago

        Thanks Gary,
        I couldnt find any alternatives either. I had a quick look in case mountain lion wasn't compatible with idvd, but seems ok so far.

    Nilesh Parmar
    11 years ago

    Was iDVD part of the latest iLife?

      11 years ago

      There is no "latest iLife." iLife apps are now sold individually on the Mac Apps Store and have been for some time. I can't remember if iDVD was included the last time the apps were sold together on a DVD.

    John
    11 years ago

    Gary:
    I have put off upgrading to the new operating system, since Idvd will no longer be an option. When I do, would you say Roxio Toast would be the better choice?

      11 years ago

      iDVD works fine in Mountain Lion, if that's what you are asking. Why do you say it will no longer be an option?

        John
        11 years ago

        I was under the impression I would no longer be able to use iDVD in Mountain Lion, if I upgraded.

          11 years ago

          Where did you get that idea? Is there a specific article or post that says that?
          iDVD certainly does run under Mountain Lion. It is difficult to get it, if you don't have it already. But if you do then there is no problem.

    jorge
    11 years ago

    can i burn dvd in the compressor with format avi.

      11 years ago

      DVDs are all one format -- the format used by DVD players.

    alfonso
    11 years ago

    i have a movie format avi. can i put in the compressor 4 and them burn like dvd thank you for all the help have a good day Gary Rosenzweig

      11 years ago

      Hard to say because an AVI file can contain many different video compression types. If you can't go directly from your AVI file to burning a DVD, then you'll just have to convert the video using any number of video conversion tools first.

        jorge
        11 years ago

        i tried this movie that i have in format avi. i opened in the program final cut pro and this works but i just wanna make sure if the same format avi that i movie i have open in the compressor 4 to burn like dvd , thank you again for your help

          11 years ago

          All video DVDs are one special format. Otherwise they wouldn't work in DVD players. So as long as FCP and Compressor can open the video, it will work. The video will be re-compressed in the special DVD format so it doesn't matter what you started with.

    Mitch
    11 years ago

    Hi Gary, Once Compressor has created the DVD files (and might have even burned a DVD), how do you go back and burn additional discs without having to re-do the file conversions? Thanks.

      11 years ago

      Burn a DVD to a disc image instead of a disc. Then you can make as many copies as you want, quickly.

    Palas
    11 years ago

    Gary,
    I have two problems: First I've just gone thru an incredibly long compression in compressor to get maximum quality out of my Final Cut Pro X project. Read: 150 hours. The output is an Mpeg2 file under 4 gigs. When i drag this file into Toast
    it goes to work encoding it, and makes it smaller. The result is terrible quality video. ( I have Toast 10.) Why would toast, encode a file that's smaller than the capacity of a DVD?

      11 years ago

      DVD encoding is very specific -- it has to be a certain format to work in DVD players. Toast has no choice but to encode that in the special DVD format regardless of what you give it. Otherwise, it would not play in DVD player.
      So that 150 hour compression was unnecessary and counter-productive. Just feed Toast your original video file, or export it in a convenient high quality format (one of the iMovie or FCPX defaults).

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