Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
---|---|
Initial release | January 9, 2001 |
Final release | '11 (v7.1.2) / July 11, 2011 |
Operating system | Mac OS 9, Mac OS X |
Type | DVD authoring |
License | Proprietary |
Website | Homepage at the Wayback Machine (archived January 18, 2012) |
iDVD is a discontinued Mac application made by Apple, which can be used to create DVDs.
iDVD lets users design DVD menus (like a main menu and chapter selection menu) and burn movies, slideshows, and music onto a DVD that can be played on a commercial DVD player. It was created as part of Apple's "digital hub" strategy, as a companion tool to iMovie. Early versions were received positively, but later versions languished as internet video overtook DVDs, and iDVD was abandoned in 2011.
iDVD includes over 150 Apple-designed themes. Themes set the layout, background art, typography, and soundtrack for DVD menus and submenus, and each theme includes a main DVD menu, a chapter navigation menu, and an Extras screen. Users can customize the fonts, add freeform text boxes, and change the position and style of buttons. [1] (In iDVD, the term button refers to thumbnails like "Play" and "Scene Selection" in DVD menus, that can take viewers to different parts of the movie; these buttons can be selected with the TV remote when playing a burned disc. [2] )
Most themes include "drop zones," decorative placeholders for movies, slideshows, or individual photos. On the burned disc, these "drop zone" movies and slideshows play on a loop while viewers are in a menu. Depending on the selected theme, each menu screen can have between 6 and 12 buttons. If users add more movies than can fit on one screen, iDVD adds submenus to fit those new movies. Users can also manually create submenus. Each menu can have its own theme. [3]
iDVD integrated tightly with the rest of the iLife suite. iMovie projects and iPhoto slideshows can be exported from those applications to iDVD. [4] In the case of iMovie projects, scene selection menus are automatically created in accordance with chapter markers that were set within iMovie. [5] iDVD's Media panel can be used to import media from the user's iTunes library, iPhoto library, and Movies folder. [6] iDVD also has a Map view, which shows a flow chart of the project's menu hierarchy. The Map view includes an Autoplay tile, and any video dragged onto that tile will automatically play when the DVD is inserted into a player, before the menu appears; the DVD may consist of nothing but Autoplay material, and hence contain no menus. [7] A menu bar button lets users enable gridlines showing the TV-safe area (as old televisions often cut off some of a video's outer areas). [8] iDVD also incorporates a "OneStep DVD" function, which automatically rewinds the connected miniDV-tape camcorder, imports its footage, and directly burns it to a DVD. [9]
iDVD was part of Apple's push into digital video in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Apple had already released iMovie, and Steve Jobs thought users would want to burn their iMovie projects onto a DVD to show their movies to friends and family. Apple executives decided to add DVD-R drives to Macintoshes and make a simple tool to burn these movies. [10] In April 2000, Apple bought Astarte's DVD department and used their software as the basis for DVD Studio Pro, while also creating a simpler version for consumers, iDVD. [11] [12] [13] One of the acquired Astarte employees was Mike Evangelist, responsible for iDVD's product marketing and design. Jobs rejected Evangelist's early design proposal in favor of a simpler single-window interface. [14] [10]
Steve Jobs introduced iDVD at Macworld Expo SF in January 2001, as a companion tool to iMovie. The intended workflow was for users to be able to record footage with a digital camcorder, import it and edit it in iMovie, and then use iDVD to add DVD menus and burn their movie to a writable DVD. [15] iDVD was bundled with Power Mac G4 models with a SuperDrive, and Apple also began selling writable DVDs for $10 each. Simultaneously with iDVD, Apple announced DVD Studio Pro, a DVD authoring tool for professional users sold separately from Final Cut Pro. [16]
iDVD 1 had a brushed-metal, single-window interface, and includes pre-made themes, as well as the ability to create custom themes. It encoded movies to the MPEG2 format required by DVD players, using the PowerPC G4's AltiVec SIMD execution unit (called the "Velocity Engine" by Apple). According to Apple, encoding an hour-long DVD with the Velocity Engine would take 2 hours, as opposed to 25 hours with software encoders. During the keynote where he introduced iDVD, Jobs criticized competitors' predictions that the personal computer was "yesterday's platform" and would be supplanted by internet-connected mobile devices. Instead, Jobs said the PC would become the "digital hub" linking these peripherals, including camcorders and DVD players. [15] [16] iDVD 1 could not burn movies longer than an hour. [16]
iDVD 2 increased the maximum movie length to 90 minutes. [17] iDVD 3 gained support for movie chapters, and "drop zones" where users can replace a theme's default photos and video clips by dragging and dropping their own. [18] iDVD 4 extended the maximum movie length from 90 minutes to 2 hours, by adopting the same MPEG encoding techniques as Apple's DVD Studio Pro and Final Cut Pro. It also added the Autoplay tile and the Map view showing a hierarchy of all menus. [19] [20] iDVD 5 added support for DVD±RW, and gained the "OneStep DVD" feature, which could automatically rewind the tape of a connected camcorder, import its footage, and burn it to a DVD. [21] [22] iDVD 5.0.1 added support for burning double-layer (DVD+R DL) discs with compatible SuperDrives; French Mac news site MacBidouille found a way to enable double-layer mode with third-party drives, and described the restriction as arbitrary. [23] [24] iDVD 6 added widescreen support, and a "Magic iDVD" feature that automatically chose a theme and arranged clips and photos. [25] [26] [27] iDVD '08 gained new themes and a "Professional Quality" setting, [28] which does a 2-pass variable bitrate encoding. The Professional Quality setting improves colors and sharpness, and can fit a two-hour long movie onto a single-layer DVD. [29]
iDVD received no new features or themes after version '08. [30] [31] [32]
After the announcement, Andrew Gore described iDVD as "the most easily misunderstood new product" Apple announced in January but predicted that iDVD "will be to DVD-R what iTunes is to CD-RW". [33] In the following years, several news outlets described the reaction to iDVD as positive. [34] [35] Macworld and EMedia magazine said that iDVD would help popularize DVD authoring among the masses. [36] [37]
In a three-part review of the first version, Jason Snell said it was easy to use but buggy. [38] CNET rated iDVD 2 a 7/10, criticizing the need to switch to iMovie to edit footage and the inability to burn DVDs with third-party DVD drives. [39] CNET reported several bugs with iDVD 4, [40] [41] [42] and iDVD 5. [43] [44] [45] Reviewing iDVD 5, PCMag gave it 4.5 stars, and said its burning speed was superior to most competing apps. [46] In a 2006 review of iDVD 6, reporter Jeff Carlson described iDVD's preview as choppy, even on a fast Mac, but said that this didn't affect playback of the burned disc on a DVD player. [26] Ars Technica criticized iDVD 6's performance and menu customization features. [47]
In 2007, Macworld's Jeff Carlson called iDVD an "afterthought" and framed its future as an open question, after Steve Jobs unenthusiastically referred to "people who still want to make DVDs" in a media event. [48] Apple executives and Gartner researcher Mike McGuire said that the neglect of iDVD and DVD Studio Pro was caused by reduced customer interest following the rise of internet video. [49] In 2009, Ars Technica described iDVD as a "quaint anachronism as more and more video is shared and streamed online". [50] Several outlets noted that iDVD was not mentioned during the iLife '09 keynote presentation, and was not mentioned on the iLife '09 retail box despite being included in the bundle. [51] [13]
Until version 3.0.1, iDVD could only run on Macs with a built-in SuperDrive. In July 2002, Apple-certified vendor Other World Computing, which sold third-party external DVD drives, released a "DVD Enabler" patch that allowed iDVD to work with their Mercury Pro drive and presented iDVD compatibility as a selling point. In response, Apple threatened a DMCA lawsuit, and OWC backed down, withdrawing DVD Enabler. Journalists criticized the SuperDrive restriction, with Ars Technica's editor-in-chief calling it a "scheme to promote hardware sales". [34] [52]
iDVD 3.0.1 gained the ability to run on Macs without a SuperDrive, though on these machines, it could only create and save projects, not burn them to a disc. [53] iDVD 5 remained unable to burn DVDs with third-party drives, though it gained the ability to save finished projects as a disk image, which could be burned with third-party drives using other applications like Roxio Toast. [21] [22] iDVD 6 added the ability to burn DVDs with third-party drives. [26]
iDVD 1 only worked on Mac OS 9, while later versions only ran on Mac OS X. [39]
Until 2011, [54] iDVD was bundled with all new Macs that had a SuperDrive. [55] iDVD was no longer preinstalled on Macs shipping with OS X 10.7 Lion, [54] [56] and was not available on the Mac App Store unlike other iLife apps. It was, however, still available in the boxed copy of iLife '11. [57] Since iDVD is a 32-bit application, [58] it is not compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina. [59] Alternatives include Toast Titanium, and a free and open-source application called Burn. [60]
Version | iLife | Release date | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
1 | — | January 9, 2001 | [15] |
2 | — | October 31, 2001 | [61] |
3 | iLife | January 31, 2003 | [18] [62] |
4 | iLife '04 | January 16, 2004 | [63] |
5 | iLife '05 | January 22, 2005 | [64] |
6 | iLife '06 | January 10, 2006 | [65] [66] |
'08 (v7) | iLife '08 | August 7, 2007 | [48] |
'09 (v7.0.3) | iLife '09 | January 27, 2009 | [67] [68] |
'11 (v7.1) | iLife '11 | October 20, 2010 | [69] |
macOS, originally Mac OS X, previously shortened as OS X, is an operating system developed and marketed by Apple since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and laptop computers, it is the second most widely used desktop OS, after Microsoft Windows and ahead of all Linux distributions, including ChromeOS.
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple. It is built into Apple's operating systems, including macOS, iOS, iPadOS and visionOS, and uses Apple's open-source browser engine WebKit, which was derived from KHTML.
iMovie is a free video editing application made by Apple for the Mac, the iPhone, and the iPad. It includes a range of video effects and tools like color correction and image stabilization, but is designed to be accessible to users with little or no video editing experience. iMovie's professional equivalent is Apple's Final Cut Pro X.
iLife is a discontinued software suite for macOS and iOS developed by Apple Inc. It consists of various programs for media creation, organization, editing and publishing. At various times, it included: iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, iWeb, and GarageBand. Only iMovie and GarageBand remain and are now freely available on Apple's Mac App Store. iDVD and iWeb have been discontinued while iTunes and iPhoto have been succeeded by Music and Photos respectively.
In Apple's Macintosh operating systems, labels are a type of seven distinct colored and named parameters of metadata that can be attributed to items in the filesystem. Labels were introduced in Macintosh System 7, released in 1991, and they were an improvement of the ability to colorize items in earlier versions of the Finder. Labels remained a feature of the Macintosh operating system through the end of Mac OS 9 in late 2001, but they were omitted from Mac OS X versions 10.0 to 10.2, before being reintroduced in version 10.3 in 2003, though not without criticism. During the short time period when Mac OS X lacked labels, third-party software replicated the feature.
Aqua is the graphical user interface, design language and visual theme of Apple's macOS and iOS operating systems. It was originally based on the theme of water, with droplet-like components and a liberal use of reflection effects and translucency. Its goal is to "incorporate color, depth, translucence, and complex textures into a visually appealing interface" in macOS applications. At its introduction, Steve Jobs noted that "... it's liquid, one of the design goals was when you saw it you wanted to lick it".
Mac OS X 10.0 is the first major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It was released on March 24, 2001, for a price of $129 after a public beta.
Mac OS X Public Beta was the first publicly available version of Apple Computer's Mac OS X operating system to feature the Aqua user interface. It was released to the public on September 13, 2000 for US$ 29.95. Its release was significant as the first publicly available evidence of Apple's ability to ship the "next-generation Mac operating system" after the Copland failure. It allowed software developers and early adopters to test a preview of the upcoming operating system and develop software for it before its final release. It is the only public version of Mac OS X to have a code name not based on a big cat until the release of 10.9 Mavericks in 2013. The US version had a build number of 1H39 and the international version had build number 2E14.
The iMac G5 is a series of all-in-one personal computers that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from 2004 to 2006. The iMac G5 returned to a more traditional design after the "sunflower" iMac G4, with the computer components fitted behind a liquid-crystal display and mounted on an aluminum foot. The computer was designed around the need to cool its PowerPC 970 processor, and features an interior divided into zones for cooler, quieter operation.
Automator is an application developed by Apple Inc. for macOS, which can be used to automate repetitive tasks through point-and-click or drag and drop.
The Apple community consists of the users, media, and third party companies interested in Apple Inc. and its products. They discuss rumors, future products, news stories, and support of Apple's products. Apple has a devoted following, especially for the Apple II, Mac, iPod, iPhone, and luminary staff members. The personal computer revolution, mixed with Apple's vertical integration of its products and services, has increased popularity. Apple's corporate policy of extreme secrecy about future products intensify interest in the company's activities.
Unsanity was a macOS shareware software developer founded in May 2000, notable for coining the term "haxie". Unsanity produced Mac utilities that relied on their own Application Enhancer, a utility that modified the system and other applications. Software incompatibility with Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion ended Unsanity's offerings.
Toast is an optical disc authoring and media conversion software application for macOS. Its name is a play on the word burn, a term used for the writing of information onto a disc through the use of a laser.
The iTunes media platform was first released by Apple in 2001 as a simple music player for Mac computers. Over time, iTunes developed into a sophisticated multimedia content manager, hardware synchronization manager and e-commerce platform. iTunes was finally discontinued for new Mac computers in 2019, but is still available and supported for Macs running older operating systems and for Windows computers to ensure updated compatibility for syncing with new releases of iOS devices.
Mac, short for Macintosh, is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple. The name Macintosh is a reference to a type of apple called McIntosh. The product lineup includes the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, and the iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro desktops. Macs are sold with the macOS operating system; the latest release is macOS 15 Sequoia.
Mac Mini is a small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. As of 2022, it is positioned between the consumer all-in-one iMac and the professional Mac Studio and Mac Pro as one of four current Mac desktop computers. Since launch, it has shipped without a display, keyboard, and mouse. The machine was initially branded as "BYODKM" as a strategic pitch to encourage users to switch from Windows and Linux computers.
OS X Mountain Lion is the ninth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mountain Lion was released on July 25, 2012, for purchase and download through the Mac App Store, as part of a switch to releasing OS X versions online and every year, rather than every two years. Named to signify its status as a refinement of the previous OS X version, Lion, Apple's stated aims in developing Mountain Lion were to allow users to more easily manage and synchronise content between multiple Apple devices and to make the operating system more familiar.
OS X Mavericks is the 10th major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mavericks was announced on June 10, 2013, at WWDC 2013, and was released on October 22, 2013, worldwide.
macOS Sierra is the thirteenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. The name "macOS" stems from the intention to unify the operating system's name with that of iOS, watchOS and tvOS. Sierra is named after the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California and Nevada. Specifically, Lone Pine Peak is the location for macOS Sierra's default wallpaper. Its major new features concern Continuity, iCloud, and windowing, as well as support for Apple Pay and Siri.
The iMac Pro is an all-in-one personal computer and workstation sold by Apple Inc. from 2017 to 2022. At its release, it was one of four desktop computers in the Macintosh lineup, sitting above the consumer range Mac Mini and iMac, and serving as an all-in-one alternative to the Mac Pro. After the cylindrical Mac Pro redesign went years without any update, Apple hosted a roundtable with journalists promising a redesign and commitment to professional Mac computers; the iMac Pro was introduced in the interim before the revised Mac Pro shipped in 2019.