To choose encoding settings:
Choose Project > Project Info.
Select one of the three encoding settings from the Encoding pop-up menu.
See Related Topics below for more information about each of the encoding settings.
It’s a good idea to select the encoding setting for your video when you begin your project, but you can change the setting at any time before you burn your project to a disc.
With the Best Performance setting, iDVD encodes your video as you work on your project instead of at the beginning of the burning process, which saves time and makes the most of your computer’s resources. If you switch from Best Performance to one of the other two settings, all video that’s been encoded will need to be reencoded when you burn your DVD.
Choose Project > Project Info.
Select one of the three encoding settings from the Encoding pop-up menu.
See Related Topics below for more information about each of the encoding settings.
You can use the amount of video in your project as a rough determination of which method to choose. If your project has an hour or less of video (for a single-layer disc), choose Best Performance. If it has between 1 and 2 hours of video (for a single-layer disc), choose High Quality. If you want the best possible encoding quality for projects that are up to 2 hours (for a single-layer disc), choose Professional Quality. This option takes about twice as long as the High Quality option, so select it only if time is not an issue for you.
Use the Capacity meter in the Project Info window (choose Project > Project Info) to determine how many minutes of video your project contains.
Note: With the Best Performance setting, you can turn background encoding off by choosing Advanced > “Encode in Background.” The checkmark is removed to show it’s no longer selected. Turning off background encoding can help performance if your system seems sluggish.