Chapter 15. From iMovie to iDVD
iDVD—the program, the legend—turns iMovie movies and iPhoto slideshows into Hollywood-style DVDs that people can watch on TV sets. iDVD is where you design DVDs’ main menu screens, add playback controls, and otherwise dress up iMovie movies, resulting in dynamic, interactive DVDs that look amazingly professional. iDVD handles the technology; you control the style.
iDVD 6, in particular, is a big step forward if your goal is to make your DVDs look like commercial Hollywood productions. Not only are there lots of pro-style features and effects, but you can now burn widescreen DVDs—that is, ones with wide, rectangular, cinematic proportions that fit today’s plasma and LCD digital TV screens.
The software requirement is iDVD. The hardware requirement is a DVD recorder, inside, or connected to, your Mac.
Why iDVD?
You already know from Chapter 11 that you can export your finished iMovie project back to a good old VHS cassette, one of the world’s most sure-fire distribution methods. But VHS tapes are quickly becoming old news. Why mess around with clunky old tapes when you can produce cool, shiny discs? Producing your work on DVDs offers a boatload of benefits:
DVD blanks are inexpensive. In fact, blank DVDs nowadays are much cheaper than VHS tapes (if you can even find blank VHS tapes to buy).
DVDs are durable. VHS tapes begin to deteriorate in 10 to 15 years. DVDs, though, are built to last—a century or more, if you believe the manufacturers. Store your ...
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