Two Quick DVD Burning Tips

Posted on by Larry

If you are using Apple Compressor 4.1 or later to burn DVDs, here are two tips that can make your life a lot easier.

Q. If someone uses Compressor to burn a DVD, then quits the application, can they go back later and burn a second DVD without recompressing the original source file?

A. When you launch Compressor again, go to the Completed tab, and click Reuse (the curved arrow to the right of the job listing). Provided the M2V and AC3 files remain in the same location on the disk to which they were originally encoded, and you don’t change the settings from the job, Compressor will recognize that it doesn’t need to re-encode the files, and go straight to burning the disc.

Q. Can Compressor create a DVD disk image that could be used to burn multiple discs?

A. You have two options:


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14 Responses to Two Quick DVD Burning Tips

  1. Ross Hunter says:

    Those two screen shots appear to be identical.

  2. Ross Hunter says:

    Tks

  3. Michael West says:

    Good morning Larry:
    I set the Action part to “When Done-Create DVD” and the “Output Device” to my Super Drive (IMac).
    I start the processing but when I check on the Job after a while, it says “Do Nothing” in the Action.
    Where have I erred?
    Thanks.

    • Larry says:

      Michael:

      I’m not totally sure. However, once a job starts, the Share screen resets to its defaults. You can’t use the Share screen to monitor jobs in progress.

      Larry

  4. Michael West says:

    I only look in the Compressor windows after having used “Send To Compressor”. Once I leave FCPX 10.2, I don’t go back except to edit. The app stays open, but is not used.
    Sorry for not being clear.

  5. Kevin Stirling says:

    Larry, regarding this thread and using Compressor.
    I am trying to burn a DVD for Amazon of a video that I completed in FCP X
    Amazon is requesting an .iso file.

    From above notes: you said: “However, you can also create a disk image, rather than burning the disc immediately, by selecting the file you want to burn to disc, then go to the Job Action menu and set the Output Device to Hard Drive. (See the screen shot above.) This creates a Disk Image so you can burn multiple copies later using that disk image.

    My question: Is this disc image an .iso file or an .img file? If .img, is there a way to convert it to an .iso file and the burn a DVD to send to Amazon.

    Thanks Larry!
    Kevin

    • Larry says:

      Kevin:

      ISO files are disk images created on Windows. IMG files are disk images created on Macs. While Macs can mount and burn ISO images, as far as I know, we can’t create them.

      Amazon should be able to take an IMG file – which is also a complete copy of a CD or DVD. Just ask them.

      Larry

  6. Donald Davis says:

    Larry; I have a Project that’s over 2 hours and need to spread it out over multiple disks to reduce loss of image quality. How can I do that?

    • Larry says:

      Don:

      There’s no automatic way to do this. Instead, you’ll need to create your movie in parts, then create a disc for each part of your movie manually – as though it was a stand-alone DVD.

      Larry

  7. Irvine says:

    hey Larry thanx so much for the info greatly helps.i have a 106min project trying to create a dvd it seems to get stuck on creating disc

    • Larry says:

      Irvine:

      There are two potential issues here:

      1. You are using older software – DVD Studio Pro – on an operating system that is too new. It won’t work on OS X 10.11 or later.

      2. You may be using a version of Compressor that does not do well burning DVDs (version 4.3.0 has problems)

      If either of those is true and you can’t use anything else, try using Roxio Toast to burn your DVD.

      Larry

  8. Helen Nelsen says:

    Hi Larry,
    My client just wants simple conference event videos with fade in and fade out that I edited…”first play” is just the track. When I Share the File to DVD and then to Hard Drive, I erased the title because I do NOT want a menu. Also selected Play Video and not Menu. BUT, the img files created by FCP X for each video end with a clunky menu page that has original file name and unnamed Chapters with Chapter Lengths on the screen. Is it possible to omit that? Also, is there a way to tell FCP X to replay from beginning once reach the end?…or is this too much to ask? THANK YOU…for all the years of help you’ve given me without knowing it :).

    • Larry says:

      Helen:

      Truthfully, I don’t know – I’ve never used FCP X to create a DVD, I find it too limited.

      My best suggestion is to contact Apple Support, then, be patient until they find someone who knows what a DVD actually is.

      Larry

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