Save As Disc Image

How is this process different from the "Archive Project" on the opposite page? When you archive a project, it remains in the iDVD format so you can open and revise it at any time. When you save as disc image, the iDVD files are converted to special DVD-specification files. These files cannot be opened and edited without special softwarethey can only be played (by a desktop or computer DVD player). The "Save As Disc Image" command does everything to create a final DVD except burn the files to a disc. The disc image that's created contains the final files that can be burned to a DVD disc. A disc image file is an easy way to copy your entire project, completely encoded, to another computerready to burn to a DVD. If you want to create a copy of your project that can be edited, you should archive the project as described on the previous page.

This is an iDVD project saved as a disc image file.

Double-click the disc image file (top) to see the contentstwo folders.

The "AUDIO_TS" folder is empty, but required by DVD specifications.

The "VIDEO_TS" folder contains all of the specially encoded project files.

You can create a working DVD movie by burning these two folders to a disc.

1.	Open a project. From the File menu, choose "Save As Disc Image…."
2.	In the "Save Disc Image As…" window that opens, type a name in the "Save As" field and select a location in which to save the file.
3.	A drop-down sheet (below-left) shows the DVD creation progress. The "Burn" button in the bottom-right corner glows and rotates, but it's not going to actually burn a disc. It will, however, do everything necessary to create a DVD except burn the disc.
4.	When the disc image has been created, the drop-down sheet (below-right) shows a "Burning Finished" messageeven though a disc was not burned. Click OK.

If you want to play a VIDEO_TS folder that's not inside a disc image, open DVD Player. Then from the File menu, choose "Open VIDEO_TS Folder…."

In the window that opens, locate the VIDEO_TS folder you want to play, then click the "Choose" button.

You can use the DVD Player application (on the right) to play a DVD project that's saved as a disc image. Open DVD Player (it's in the Applications folder); a black DVD window appears. Press Command 2 to make the screen "normal" sized. Double-click the disc image to mount it and show its VIDEO_TS folder. Click on DVD Player again. The project starts to play in the DVD window.