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Burning a OneStep DVD directly from a DV camcorder

iDVD can transfer video directly from your digital video (DV) camcorder and burn it to a DVD disc in one step, skipping the creative process involved in starting a DVD project from scratch or using Magic iDVD. The resulting disc begins playing your movie automatically when you insert it in a DVD player; the disc does not include a menu or any other formatting.

If your camera records video in the high definition HDV format, you can’t use the iDVD OneStep feature to transfer the footage to a disc. Instead, you must use iMovie HD to capture all the footage from your camera. Then, within iDVD, you can add the movie to a project, just as you do with all standard iDVD projects (projects that are not OneStep DVDs or Magic DVDs).

Note: Creating a OneStep DVD can take longer than simply burning an iDVD project to a disc because the video needs to be captured first. You may want to do this when you don’t have work to do on your computer for several hours, depending on the amount of video on your tape.

To burn a OneStep DVD:

Step 1

Insert the DV tape with your movie or footage into your camcorder.

Step 2

Connect the camcorder to your computer using a FireWire cable.

If your camcorder uses a dock, put the camcorder in the dock and connect the dock to your computer. See your camcorder’s instructions if you’re not sure how to do this.

Step 3

Switch your camcorder to VTR, VCR, or Play mode. If necessary, turn your camcorder on.

Step 4

Open iDVD and click OneStep DVD. Or choose File > OneStep DVD.

Step 5

Insert a blank DVD disc into your computer’s SuperDrive or external DVD burner when you are prompted to do so.

iDVD rewinds the tape in the video camera and captures the video from the beginning. You can also set the tape in the camcorder to where you want to begin recording. Then, when you insert the blank disc into your computer and the tape begins to rewind, press the Play button on your camcorder immediately. This stops the rewind process and starts video capture.

Video capturing stops automatically at the end of the tape or after 10 seconds with no video. You can also manually stop capturing at any time by pressing the Stop button on your camcorder.

In iDVD, you can click Cancel to stop capturing video at any time and leave the DVD untouched. A dialog appears to let you either cancel the entire OneStep DVD or stop capturing and begin burning with the video already captured.

Note: iDVD records the DVD in whatever video mode—NTSC or PAL—is selected in iDVD preferences. If your footage is in a different format, iDVD warns you before burning because the burned disc may have some visual distortions.

After burning, to eject a disc from your computer’s internal disc drive, press the Media Eject key on your keyboard, if there is one. On keyboards with no Media Eject key, hold down the F12 key until the eject icon appears and your disc is ejected.

Go to Mac Help for more options for ejecting discs.

Related Topics

Burning a OneStep DVD from a movie on your hard disk

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