Learn to stop making coasters with iDVD
Creativity aside, it doesn't do any good to master the iDVD if you can't get the application to burn the DVDs correctly. With the high cost of blank DVDs, you want to be able to get your presentation on them without ending up with expensive, though nice and shiny, coasters. The following tips will help you make sure your DVDs burn correctly and that your coaster collection is kept to a minimum.
• Make sure that iDVD has completed encoding the assets before you attempt to burn a DVD. To do so, open the Status pane and make sure it says Done. If it isn't wait before you burn the DVD. Encoding is very system-intensive process and is best done separately form the burning process.
• When you're burning a disk, close all other applications, including any background processes you might be running.
• Open the System Preferences > Energy Saver settings and choose DVD Playback from the Optimize Energy Settings. This will keep your computer from sleeping.
• Open the System Preferences > Screen Effects, choose the Activation tab and set it to Never.
• Deactivate AppleTalk, File Sharing, and Web Sharing in their respective control panels.
• Store all assets on an internal drive. External drives often have slower response times and increased timeouts.
• Run the Software Update System Preference before you burn the DVD. There are often firmware updates as well as upgrades to QuickTime and iDVD that will improve the overall performance of the program.
• If you're having quirky problems with iDVD, navigate to ~/Library/Preferences and delete the iDVD preference file named com.apple.iDVD.plist.
• Use only brand name media-if only one out of five inexpensive discs are burnable, they aren't that good a deal. Since Apple has dropped the price on their DVDs, they're a good bet.
• Run any drive utilities you have to make sure the disk that contains the original file is operating properly and not significantly fragmented.
• Use a good CD/DVD cleaner disc to make sure the SuperDrive's lens is free of dust.
iDVD 3 is available as part of iLife along with iTunes 4 ,iPhoto 2 , and iMovie 3 . (iDVD 3 requires a Macintosh computer configured with an Apple SuperDrive.) http://www.apple.com/idvd/
