Using iLife '11: How to Transfer Video to Disc in iDVD

By Tony Bove from iLife '11 For Dummies

If you have a videotape or cartridge that you want to burn to a DVD-R disc without editing, and without menus, you can transfer video directly from a digital video (DV) camcorder (a mini-DV or Digital-8 tape camcorder connected by FireWire) to a DVD-R disc in one step with iDVD in iLife. The disc you burn starts playing the video automatically after you insert it into a DVD player.

If your camera records video in high definition (HD), you can’t use the iDVD OneStep feature — use iMovie first.

iDVD records the disc in whichever video mode (NTSC or PAL) that’s selected in your iDVD preferences. (Choose iDVD→Preferences and click the Projects tab to switch the video mode from NTSC to PAL or vice versa.) If your taped footage is in a different format, iDVD warns you before burning the disc.

Don’t create a OneStep disc from your camcorder if you’ve already imported the video into iMovie. Creating a OneStep disc from the camcorder can take longer than simply burning an iDVD project to a disc, because the video needs to be captured to your hard drive from the camera first. If you’ve already captured the video on your hard drive using iMovie, you save a lot of time by adding the video to iDVD and burning a project. You can also choose File→OneStep DVD from Movie to create a OneStep disc from a video file on your hard drive.

To burn a OneStep disc, follow these steps:

Turn on your camcorder and insert the tape or cartridge.
Connect the camcorder to your computer.
Switch your camcorder to VTR, VCR, or Play mode.
Open iDVD and click OneStep DVD (or choose File→OneStep DVD).
Insert a blank DVD-R disc into your computer’s SuperDrive or external DVD burner when you’re prompted to do so.

After rewinding the tape (if necessary), iDVD captures the video from the beginning.

You can also set the tape in the camcorder to the point where you want to begin recording. Then, when you insert the blank DVD-R disc and the tape begins to rewind, press the Play button on your camcorder to stop rewinding. Video capturing starts and then stops automatically at the end of the tape or after ten seconds with no video. You can also manually stop capturing at any time by pressing the Stop button on your camcorder.
When the process is complete, remove the DVD-R.

You may need to press the Media Eject key on your keyboard (if it has one) or hold down the F12 key.

You can also click Cancel to stop capturing video at any time and leave the DVD-R untouched. A dialog appears and lets you either cancel the entire OneStep DVD or stop capturing and begin burning with the video that was already captured.