Every now and again clients will ask how to burn QuickTime movies to a DVD they can show on TV using a standard DVD player. In the past, we’ve recommended looking at Apple’s iDVD which comes pre-installed on all new Macs. The problem is, iDVD is a bit overkill if all you want is something simple to play a couple movies on your TV.
That’s where Burn, a free lightweight CD/DVD burning utility comes in so handy:
Burn is certainly not the fanciest disc burner available. But it is free, simple, and it burns a variety of formats including CDs, DVDs, VCDs, DivX Disc and Audio CDs. This rest of this tip includes a quick tutorial on burning movies to DVD.
Tutorial: Burning QuickTime Movies to a DVD using the Burn utility.
Here is a quick 3 step tutorial on how to burn a QuickTime movie into a self-playing DVD.
Step 1: Click the Video tab and name your DVD.
Launch the Burn utility, and in the main window:
- Select the Video tab.
- Name your DVD
- Choose “DVD” from the pop-up menu.
Step 2: Drag your QuickTime movies into the file list.
Drag some video files right into the Burn file list. Most video files are supported, however some protected QuickTime files may not work. If they are not in the correct format for DVD, Burn will ask to convert them to the right format. Most of your movies will require conversion.
Once you click “Yes” you’ll be prompted to tell Burn where you want to save the converted movies. In that save dialog box, in you live in North America, make sure the NTSC format is selected (Read about PAL format).
Note: This conversion process can take some time depending on the size of your movie, and the speed of your Mac.
Step 3: Click the Burn button and insert a blank DVD.
Your computer will display a dialog indicating the DVD is burning. When it’s done, eject the disc and try it out in your TV’s DVD player.
Enjoy.
Source: This tip comes from a recent question from graphic designer Nicola Leonard with the in-house creative department of fundraising agency Merkle Inc. located in Downtown Seattle. This tip is also inspired by requests sparked by our holiday tip downloading the holiday yule log.
