iLife '05: iDVD 5 Review
Make movies on your Mac
28 January 2005 Matt Willmore Skip to comments
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When iLife '05, and specifically iDVD 5, were released at MacWorld San Francisco, I was eager to see how Apple had improved iDVD. What's new for this release, what's improved from iDVD 4, and is any of it worth buying iLife for?
When iDVD was first released, I was really blown away. Apple was shipping a complete app that would let technical, though creatively and financially inadequate, people like me create professional DVD's with my PowerBook, and share my photos and videos with friends and family. It seemed so simple, and for the most part, it was. Since then, iDVD has grown a great deal, and eclipsed itself many times over. At heart, it's still an easy-to-use home DVD authoring tool, only now with a strong, proven Swiss Army knife of tools and oohs-and-aahs to impress even the strongest critic.
When iLife '05, and specifically iDVD 5, were released at MacWorld San Francisco, I was eager to see how Apple had improved iDVD. Although I thought the feature set was impressive in iDVD 4, I knew that more could definitely be added. Also on my list of to-do's for Apple was stability problems that has plagued iDVD users when burning, specifically on G5 towers. I've never seen so much frustrated feedback on a MacZealots.com article, tutorial, or review as I witnessed with people's problems creating DVD's once the last artistic touch had been made. Therefore, more than any new theme or feature, I was concerned about iDVD's simple ability to burn at a high success rate, and to maintain that rate. As the product is new and few people possess it right, it remains to be seen whether the burning performance has improved. Personally, I never had any problems burning DVD's, so the mere fact that iDVD continued to successfully burn media was good enough for me.
Stepping past iDVD's long-standing problems with writing media, what's new for this release, what's improved from iDVD 4, and is any of it worth buying iLife for? In short, yes. First, let's look at what's new in this release. I'll follow with a summary of what is improved, and end with initial observations.
OneStep DVD Creation
How cool is this? Very similar in nature to Magic iMovie, OneStep DVD skips iMovie entirely, and whips out a ready-made DVD for you, complete with themes, transitions, and everything. When you plug in your DV camera, and set it to VCR/VTR mode, you simply click the OneStep DVD button, sit back, and let iDVD do it's thing. Like when you import video into iMovie, iDVD will discover the individual video clips, import them, place them in order, and create your DVD.
As neat as this sounds, though, why would anyone do this? A major part of the draw of iDVD, besides the ridiculous ease of use, is the ability turn the creation from *a* DVD into *your* DVD. By selecting themes, slideshow transitions, background music, clips, etc., you make it yours. This is not to say that OneStep doesn't have it's place, but I for one will stick with the great process of creating my own DVD, beginning to end.
Multiple DVD Media Support
Like so many other growing technologies, DVD media was a well-worn battle that did nothing but confuse and frustrate the consumers. Even if users DID know which format to buy, few actually knew *why* they had to choose DVD-R/RW, while many PC users were told to choose DVD+R/RW. Now, iDVD doesn't care - pretty much everything across the board is supported. Without any firmware upgrades or new hardware, we are now able to use both DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW. This is a smart move that takes the guesswork out for the budding DVD creator, which is rapidly becoming a larger percentage of iDVD's user base.
Themes
With every new release of iDVD, new themes are pretty much a given. iDVD 4 brought us some gorgeous new themes, and iDVD 5 delivers again on this promise. All of the old themes are still available for your use, but some of the new ones are impressive, in particular Travel Cards, Memories, and Baby Mobile. I'm also anxious to see the new round of 3rd-party themes that seem to pop up with a new iDVD release. For those who are just starting out, however, the Apple-supplied themes are more than they'll ever need - simple, creative, and beautiful to watch. A proper, well-executed theme is the first step to making the best impression on your DVD.
Animated Drop Zones
Once you have your theme, what do you do with these new drop zones? If you remember back to iDVD 4, some of the themes included "drop zones", which would let you insert photos into certain parts of the theme, which made the theme much more personal and involved from the start. iDVD 5 takes this a bit farther by using animated drop zones; not only can you use photos, but now also video. The Travel Cards theme is perfect for this new feature. With short video clips of your latest trip panning across the theme, the finished product takes on a whole new level of professionalism (and downright coolness).
Improved Map View
iDVD's Map View has also been improved in version 5. Besides dual-view capability (left-to-right or top-to-bottom), there's also an iPhoto-esque sliding controller that dynamically zooms in and out of the map view, making larger maps much easier to read. It's also great for focusing in on a specific section of the map to get a better idea of how the DVD is laid out.
HDV Support
As Steve Jobs proclaimed 2005 as "the year of DV", it's only fitting that iDVD 5 ships with native support for HDV. To make it easy, iDVD supports everything that iMovie HD does - HDV, 16:9 widescreen, MPEG-4, and iSight video. Clearly, we can see the implied connection and integration with iMovie, although nothing says that your video *must* come from iMovie - they just make it easy if it is.
Save as Disc Image
One feature I see a lot of hope for is the ability to save projects as disk images. One major complaint of iDVD users without SuperDrives was that there was such a convoluted (and undocumented) process to move projects to a machine that DID have a SuperDrive. Apple has now eased this process by allowing users to "burn" the DVD project to a .img file, which can then be burned to a DVD later.
It's important to note that Apple has not been clear on whether or not non-SuperDrive DVD writers are allowed when burning from a disk image. While the information on the iDVD page always mentioned the SuperDrive as the writing hardware, and the system requirements for iLife state "Compatible SuperDrive required to burn DVDs", other support documents on Apple's web site simply say that Disk Utility can be used to burn the DVD, and with this, I would assume that 3rd-party burners can be used to burn DVD's. If anyone has success (or failure) with this, I would like to hear from you. Until then, let's keep our fingers crossed.
Now that we've discussed the new features in iDVD 5, let's move on to improvements in existing features.
Slideshows
Apple says -- often -- that slideshows are even better in iDVD 5 than in 4. How true is this statement? Certainly, some of the new themes seem to be built for photo displays, but that doesn't link directly to slideshows. iDVD also now supports RAW format photos and videos from still cameras, but again, it's not a direct slideshow feature. Really, the only new feature in slideshows is the increased number of transitions (which you can also see in iPhoto's slideshows). Other than that, it's exactly the same. Same controls? Yep. Same slideshow editor? Of course. Same 99 photo limit? You got it. Slideshows are cool and all, but not worthy of the hype in iDVD 5.
Performance
The performance of iDVD 5 has also been heavily touted. Unfortunately, this seems to be another false alarm. After using iDVD 4 and iDVD 5 on the same 1GHz 17" PowerBook G4, I have yet to notice any speed difference. This may be due to the fact that the new themes are more complex, or that I work from large iPhoto libraries, but regardless, the performance did not noticeably change for me between iDVD 4 and 5.
iLife Integration
As with every new release of iLife, tighter integration is always touted. In this version, all of the integration "improvements" in iDVD 5 are basically support for improvements made in the other apps. Now that iPhoto supports RAW photos and video from digital still cameras, iDVD supports those files. With iMovie's increase format support for HDV, 16:9, and iSight video, iDVD now supports those for DVD authoring. iDVD is also compatible with iTunes' custom playlists. All of these add up for tighter integration with iDVD, but not significantly so.
In all, should you upgrade iDVD? Yes. The new themes, animated drop zones, support for HD, ability to save as a disk image, and support for multiple DVD media types makes this upgrade a wise decision. Others may benefit from features like OneStep DVD or the map view, but I think iDVD 5 ships with several smart new features that everyone will appreciate and take advantage of quickly. You can see Apple's honesty and effort in improving this product, and though we all too often harp on the negative features, under it all is a solid, quality product worthy of your desktop.
Matt Willmore is a founding partner of MacZealots.com. Matt is also a Resident Assistant at Owen Hall and does Mac support at ECN, and is active in PUMUG. He can be reached at .
Reader Comments (36)
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#1) On January 29, 2005 2:13 PM
The slideshow is limited to 99 by the DVD specification, not Apple. Let’s all take a breath and GET OVER IT :)
#2) On January 29, 2005 2:24 PM
If I’m not mistaken, the 99 picture limit of the slideshow is not an iDVD restriction, but rather from the DVD spec itself.
#3) On January 29, 2005 9:19 PM
iLife has been selling extremely well, as have the new iMac, the Mac mini and the Shuffles. I think the rate at which the general computing public is discovering the Mac has begun to reach critical mass. Floor traffic has been phenomenal. Dave…something wonderful is happening. :-)
#4) On January 30, 2005 11:25 AM
Does anyone know if iDVD saves images in a format that can be burned on a PC using something like Nero? My Mac only has a combo drive, but I have a DVD burner in my PC.
#5) On January 30, 2005 1:00 PM
In iDVD5 if you drop in a widescreen video, does it automatically LETTERBOX the video for DVD playback? Or can you ask that it LBX? And is that the same in iMovie5?
I have a Superdrive A-105 which only supports DVD-Rs, is it really true with only iDVD5 I an also burn DVD+Rs?
#6) On February 5, 2005 9:03 AM
I would like to know how useful iDVD 5 would be for the following application:
I want to make a slideshow of photographs and burn it onto a DVD with the result being that it is viewable on TV sets by putting the disk in a DVD player.
#7) On February 5, 2005 3:26 PM
In combination with iPhoto it is absolutely perfect for creating DVD player viewable slideshows, it’s one of the prime features of the software.
#8) On February 5, 2005 8:59 PM
Ralph -
You’re in luck - iDVD would be perfect for that. iDVD allows for several slideshows with up to 99 pictures per slideshow (an industry restriction, not Apple’s), as well as gorgeous transitions, music, and more. You can read all about it on Apple’s iDVD slideshow page.
#9) On February 5, 2005 9:01 PM
Frank -
If you have widescreen (HD) video, iDVD will automatically letterbox it for you. It does not do anamorphic widescreen DVD’s, as many of us had hoped. The same applies to iMovie.
As for DVD+R/W support with your SuperDrive, most newer SuperDrives are capable of doing this. In fact, most all SuperDrives have been able to do it, but Apple never enabled the firmware that would recognize that format. You can find every DVD+RW-compatible SuperDrive at Apple’s support document on the subject.
#10) On February 5, 2005 9:02 PM
Mike -
The images that iDVD saves are .img format, which is readable by Apple’s Disk Utility. This enables you to move the image to a SuperDrive-equipped Mac, or simply burn it later. There are other programs for the Mac (such as Roxio’s Popcorn) that will burn DVD’s for you as well.
Also, as you later emailed me, copying the TS_VIDEO to a PC and burning it seems to work.
#11) On February 10, 2005 2:40 AM
Having read your report, I bought iLife ‘05. While I am happy with many of the new features, iDVD will still not accept my blank “Verbatim digital movie DVD+R discs”. Perhaps it is the drive - I use a 17: Powerbook, but after inserting these discs, after 2 minutes, they simply eject. Anyone got a workaround ?
#12) On February 10, 2005 8:17 AM
John -
What revision of the 17” PowerBook do you have? The way Apple stated that iLife was compatible with DVD+R/W, it sounded like everyone could - heck, I went and bought DVD+R/W’s too. In reality, newer 17” PowerBook’s (and other recent machines) can burn +R/W’s, but not all machines. Here’s the site that tell’s you what’s good and not so good:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300665”
As you can see, you have to have the 1.5GHz model of the 17” PowerBook to burn DVD+R/W.
#13) On February 14, 2005 10:48 PM
If you were to try burning a DVD disc image file (that was not more than 640 or 800MB) would it be possible to burn it to a regular CD-R and then still play it through a standard DVD player, and have it recognised as a DVD?
#14) On February 16, 2005 4:24 AM
You can appreciate One Step DVD creation if you are distributing the same raw video to a group of people working on the same project or if you just want to log tapes for archival purposes. I would be interested in seeing a One Step DVD function that allowed you to automatically digitize clips to AVI files on a DVD.
#15) On February 19, 2005 7:39 PM
16:9 PROBLEM
The iDVD preview shows letterbox widescreen but when I burn the CD it plays as 4:3 with the sides cut off. The aspect is normal. ie: no one is squashed or tall.
Any ideas ? Filmed on XL1 16:9 and edited in iMovie 5. Looks great until DVD is burned.
#16) On March 7, 2005 7:43 AM
iDVD 5 will burn anamorphic DVDs. If your DVD is playing as 4:3 with the sides cut off, it’s probably your DVD player cropping for you - check its menus. I’ve had DVDs edited in FCP, burnt in iMovie, playing in anamorphic on a widescreen TV using the trick discussed here:
http://funwithstuff.com/blog/2005/02/as-ive-been-wrestling-with-this.html
#17) On March 9, 2005 12:07 PM
When I burn my movie using iDVD 5 the audio and video don’t match up on playback. I’m relatively new to the iLife suite and have destroyed several DVD’s trying to correct this. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Mike
#18) On March 12, 2005 11:04 AM
My first project with dvd5 resulted in a movie where audio and video are seriously out of sync by several seconds. I had upgraded from dvd2 to dvd5 and on previous projects had never experienced this problem before.
#19) On March 12, 2005 4:57 PM
I burnt another set of DVD’s and this time I made sure that no other programs were running and I did not disturb the process for the 3.5 hrs it took to render the project. Audio and Video are now synced OK. I made no other changes and that’s my idvd5 story for what it’s worth.
Juerg
#20) On March 15, 2005 1:18 PM
My video looks great in imovieHD and then I try to burn in idvd 5 and the audio and video are off by a second or so. I am using an emac 1ghz G4 512mb running 10.3.8. I have just wasted 4 dvds. Today I downloaded the patch from apple but that hasn’t helped. What gives?
#21) On March 21, 2005 2:54 PM
Drop zones in version 4 weren’t limted to still images. I used clips taken from the movie going on the disc, as well as created animations or slide shows to put in the drop zone.
After you create the .IMG file, you can burn it to any DVD writer connected to your Mac, including third-party externals, using Toast. Don’t know whether there’s an app on the PC that can recognize the .IMG format.
It should go without saying that you can’t use +R/+RW media if your drive is -R/-RW only, which is the case with older Macs.
So the audio sync problem has been resurrected? Bad news.
#22) On March 22, 2005 2:00 PM
Regarding HDV support, are you saying that iDVD 5 will burn widescreen video to DVD without cropping or stretching the video all out of shape?
#23) On April 28, 2005 5:00 AM
PC does not recongnise the .IMG format, you need to mount the .IMG file and open the Disk Utility, and convert it to CD/DVD master .CDR file. Copy the .CDR file to the PC and rename it .ISO, and now you can burn it with most PC software.
#24) On June 9, 2005 8:20 AM
I am desperately trying to create a disc image from a project file so I can transfer it to a PC to burn on DVD to surprise my girlfriend tomorrow. The burn button is greyed out and archive / save as only save project files. Sorry for newbie question but I can’t find the answer anywhere. Thanks!
#25) On June 9, 2005 8:34 PM
Dan -
The Burn button is most likely grayed out because of the lack of a SuperDrive. However you should be able to save it as a disk image and burn it with something like Toast. To do that you should select “Save as Disk Image” from the File menu (or cmd-shift-R). Is that option still available to you?
#26) On June 27, 2005 5:21 PM
Thank you DCHAO! Following your advice, I was able to create a playable DVD using the DVD burner on my PC and the image file from iDVD. There was only one other problem I ran into. Using Sonic RecordNow, the type of project that you need to use is a “backup” project. If you use a data project, you just get the .iso file as a data file on your DVD, and it doesn’t actually run. And unfortunately, backup projects are not allowable in the version of RecordNow that is bundled with a Dell PC. I downloaded DeepBurner and it correctly expanded the .ISO file into the files and directories needed for creating a playable DVD. Thanks!
#27) On July 20, 2005 10:11 PM
Have tried multiple times now trying to burn an 80th birthday slide show project but it has failed every time. I’ve spent weeks putting this together and now it fails! I’ve followed suggestions on discussion groups but all to no avail.
Does anyone out there know the real solution to burning a DVD project? There has to be one. Apple—get on the ball and get this fixed. This SHOULD NOT be happening. This is so Microsoft!
#28) On July 25, 2005 2:22 AM
KC -
I feel your frustration. I created an end-of-year DVD for the Resident Assistants in my residence hall at Purdue and encountered every excuse in iDVD’s book. Eventually I discovered I had faulty media, but that may not be your case. Could you clarify where your DVD burning is failing so that we may more accurately diagnose the problem? We want to get this fixed as much as you!
#29) On August 1, 2005 5:04 PM
Where are the Widescreen Themes in iDVD5? I can’t accept that they forgot to put them ther, so I’m blaming myself that I can’t find them.. Anybody any luck?
#30) On October 22, 2005 8:09 AM
I have made an imovie 52 minutes in length in ilife ‘05 with all current upgrades on top of line mac mini 1 gig Ram and 30 gig spare on HD. The simple step of opening iDVD and burning has been nothing short of a nightmare. Numerous failures “multiplexing problems” and disc failed to burn. Solution seems to have been share imovie as Qt file to compact and simplify it a bit. Reopen in imovie to get chapters back in. Open in IDVD, burn as “image” then burn image from disk utility. This is a great way of turning enthusiastic users to analogue solutions.
Incidentally iDVD won’t boot from imovie if the movie is not in the “movie” folder
#31) On November 6, 2005 11:07 AM
Am I doing something wrong or is it normal for iMovie, using Make a Magic Movie, to take 10 hours to pull a 50 minute video off camera, add 8 songs and burn to iDVD? (Using a PowerBook G4, 1 gig, 50gig space). OK it worked, end result was fine, but background music way too loud even though I moved volume slide almost all the way left (quieter).
Also, it seems you can’t Make a Magic Movie from video already downloaded to disk, it will only work if you pull directly from camera, annoying.
#32) On November 30, 2005 10:59 AM
I’m not very computer savvy but I have just managed to use iDVD to make a really nice slideshow. But now I would like to email it to people and to but a DVD that can be played on PC’s and TV’s. I am working on a MAC with iDVD5 and have an external SuperDrive. I am using Roxio Toast to burn the disc.
Any help would really be appreciated - thanks
#33) On December 6, 2005 12:24 PM
iDVD5 on my Powerbook G4. Successfully created a number of Slide show projects via iPhoto using the ‘Send to iDVD’ route which creates a movie type format allowing me to have over a thousand slides in the one show. Have also added interesting themes. Problem I am getting is that now even with a short show, after using the Burn button, sometime later a message comes up that there were problems found while burning, no indication of what they are and the disk fails to burn. Have got this with a number of disks. I am failrly new to iDVD and I would appreciate any input that might resolve this problem,.
Thanks
#34) On December 23, 2005 6:19 PM
Peter Thorpe: If you switch to the “Map” layout in iDVD, you can drag a movie from disc to play automatically when the DVD is inserted. Then you make a menu as well, and that’s where the DVD will jump to after the movie. But that’s how you make it play automatically if that’s what you’re trying to do.
#35) On January 11, 2006 3:05 PM
I am having problems with the audio pausing while my slideshow is playing. Also, is there a way to improve the image quality on the photos- they look great on the computer but very grainy on the TV (even high definition). Any recommendations?
#36) On March 7, 2006 5:03 AM
I am trying to get a Lacie external DVD drive working with IDVD on my G4 emac. I can copy from the internal CD ( source) to the external DVD but not from IDVD. Anyone help
Do I need to upgrade IDVD ?