| Author |
Message |
    
ess
Citizen
Username: Ess
Post Number: 1399
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 2:48 pm: | 
|
I have all 10 episodes of "Weeds" in iTunes,and would like to burn them to DVD.
Do I need special software for this? If so, what software? And which drive do I insert the blank DVD into - the D drive or the E drive? And how do I get the files out of iTunes? Should I drag them to the desktop?
I tried using iTunes for this, but wound up burning a data disk only that did not play in my DVD player.
Advice is appreciated! Thanks! |
Project 37
Citizen
Username: Project37
Post Number: 13
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 3:55 pm: |
|
Hi,
When you say that you have the episodes "in iTunes", do you mean that you purchased them through the site? If that's the case, then the .mov/h264 format won't work on your DVD player - you'll need to convert the episodes before burning.
If you have a Mac, you *might* be able to use iMovie to burn them, although you probably won't get more than 2-3 episodes on a single disc. I've never tried it, so I can't say if it'll work for sure.
It's my understanding that the resolution used for iTunes/iPod video won't look so great when blown up on a TV screen. Keeping the resolution small helps keep the filesize down. They're really only intended for the tiny iPod screen (someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that).
What format are the files?
-Brian
|
ess
Citizen
Username: Ess
Post Number: 1400
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 4:00 pm: |
|
Thanks, Brian.
I have a PC, not a Mac.
Yes, I did purchase the episodes through iTunes. The format is MPEG-4 Video File. It will open with iTunes, but there is an option under "Properties" that will let me change the application. (I was able to move some of the files to my desktop.)
If I still need to convert the files, how do I go about doing that? I am new at this DVD thing.
Thanks! |
Project 37
Citizen
Username: Project37
Post Number: 14
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 4:51 pm: |
|
I haven't really messed around with creating DVD video on a PC (I use a Mac at home). I'd suggest looking here:
http://www.videohelp.com/convert
You should be able to find a conversion guide for getting MPEG-4 (a.k.a. "mp4") to DVD. Heads-up, it could be a bit involved - you may need to do a conversion on each file (which could take quite a while) before getting to the actual burning part.
As far as the burning process goes, I'm not sure what burning program you have (besides iTunes), but I believe that the newer ones can burn video files (mpg or avi) as playable DVDs. Toast for Mac does this, although it takes a few hours. The end result is nothing fancy, just a basic menu with chapter stops every few minutes. I'm sure you can find an equivalent for PC. I just don't know what that is.
And again, it might be worth trying to find out more about the picture quality on a larger screen before diving in. 
Hope that's of some help! Sorry I couldn't offer more...
-Brian |
Monster©
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 2510
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 5:40 pm: |
|
The movies are protected, and at the moment there is not a way around the encryption, if burned to a DVD you would only be able to view them via iTunes, or possibly QT, of course you could always send that video to a television, or another recording device perhaps.
If you want more info on converting DVD video/audio, do a search under this section, it's been discussed recently, you may even find a couple of posts on this page that haven't been archived yet. |
Eric
Citizen
Username: Ericactive
Post Number: 87
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 6:20 pm: |
|
I-tunes movies are not intended for duplication onto DVD's for play in regular DVD players on regular television screens . That's why they are 2 bucks. As monster stated they are also copy protected. You probably won't be able to convert them to a file capable of burning to a standard DVD without defeating the copy protection scheme. Even if you did do this the quality will be pretty poor. Have you tried watching them full-screen on your computer? The video is very noisy and blocky. |
ess
Citizen
Username: Ess
Post Number: 1408
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 9:41 pm: |
|
Bummer!
Thanks to all. Guess I will have to suck it up and just watch them on my computer screen....and wait 'til they come out on DVD (if they ever do). Two bucks a pop didn't seem too steep! |
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page