After getting my new powerbook, loaded with the iLife suite of media applications, I thought iMovie and iDVD would help create custom dvd's to allow a cool distribution method for my various digital media projects. I do music, graphics and video. If I could create a dvd that held all of these and could be played on a tv, well then, great. Ok, a dvd cannot hold anything but a dvd movie and stills. So I created a few that did just that. I also worked on a fairly important (to me) music video that I sent to my partner in L.A. He got a dvd and a cd that contained various quicktime versions as well, so both a tv and a computer could preview the work. The dvd would not play on his high end Sony player though it played fine on my cheap Memorex player. I was getting pissed at Apple and iDVD till I read up and figured that it's really the media, the dvd-r discs that you buy that make the difference. And that, like the early cd formats, compatibility issues should be resolved soon. Until then I'll send the movies and stills and music in both quicktime cd's and dvd's.
Then I heard about a new piece of software called iVCD($30). Their product allows you to burn a movie onto a regular cd for play in a stand alone dvd player. Great! Now, could iVCD let me make a cd that contained stills, audio files and a dvd that would play anywhere? No. And what a shame. First, iVCD can convert any .mov file into it's own format. It then let's you burn that package to a cd. And it did play on my stand alone dvd player . Though some intermittent horizontal lines would show in the dark sequences of the video. Then I popped it back into my powerbook expecting the DVD Player (Apples player software) to start. No go. Quicktime wouldn't play the file either. iVCD's website tells me you gotta buy their player software($20).
Such promise...I liked iVCD's interface and simplicity. I did not like the results. Let me make an all in one media format that works on stand alone players and computers and I'll buy it.
If anyone out there knows of a solution please let me know