What's the best way to burn a DVD?

[MK25toLife]

I just got my iMac and I never thought it could be this hard to burn a DVD. Can someone help me out? Thanks in advance!

Sorry, I meant I want to copy a movie that I have and burn it onto DVD.

 

[MK25toLife]

I just got my iMac and I never thought it could be this hard to burn a DVD. Can someone help me out? Thanks in advance!

 

[mkrishnan]

A DVD of what? What's the source material?

 

[FJ218700]

insert the dvd, drag what you want to back up onto the DVD icon on the desktop, and drag the dvd icon to the trash.

 

[rainydays]

 

[Kinetic]

I'm not quite sure I understand. Do you want to backup a DVD movie that you have and create another copy? If so, you'd need something like MacTheRipper. But, if you just want to take a file, you just drag the file onto the DVD icon. Also, you could use a program like Toast.

 

[motulist]

If you're talking about copying a commercial movie dvd disc, then you can't do it from any OS's built in systems (OS X, XP, vista, or whatever) because it's considered against the law.* Since it sounds like you're new to Mac, the beginners guide should answer most of your questions, including how to rip and copy a DVD movie.

* = the legality of DVD ripping is still very much being decided by the courts at the moment. So simply copying a DVD for personal use, as backups or whatever, isn't actually officially against the law at the moment, but due to the undecided legality of the issue no major software manufacturer will incorporate this feature at the moment.

 

[Nabooly]

I think hes asking how to burn a dvd so he can stick it into a dvd player and itll start playing. Ofcourse hes most likely burning a home movie right OP?

 

[lugesm]

I'm having the same problem.

I don't want to make a movie. I don't want to burn my mp3 library to a DVD.

I just want to use the DVD burner to make a DVD backup of some of my data files . . . . not music or video.

When I insert a new, blank DVD-R into the SuperDrive I get a dialog box with 4 options, all of which pertain to music or video.
If I close the dialog box I have to restart my iMac to get the blank disk out.

I am sure I am doing something dumb, but I am new to the Mac, and I have done a LOT of dumb things since I got this machine. Please help.

 

[rallycars]

For burning data, just drop the files you want to copy onto the DVD or CD icon that shows up on the desktop when you insert a blank disk.

 

[JAT]

I've turned off that dialog box when inserting a blank disc, so I can't remember. Isn't that an option in that box? Also, isn't Finder an option? Finder is where you copy files, so that would be your best choice.

Side point:
Trying holding down F12 to eject a disc.

 

[billy920]

Another recent convert (new iMac) with some experiences to share.......

System Preferences > CDs & DVDs allows you to set actions when media are inserted (blank DVD for example).

The dialogue box that opens to ask you what to do: I choose Open Finder and don't check the box for Make this action...

When finder opens the disc, you should see an Untitled DVD icon in Finder - think of this as a temporary folder into which you can drag any files you want to burn. Once you have added all files, click the Burn button. Burn folders can also be used to do this (right click on desktop select Burn Folder). Your temporary (burn) folder only contains links to the original files.

Eject a disc that does not appear in finder - Go to Applications>Utilities>Disc Utility and this should let you eject a disc.

I bought Toast the other day and have found it to be very useful for burning Movie DVD's once they have been extracted by Mac the Ripper. Good for many other things too but the DVD movie part justifies the spend on it's own.