I still remember the resplendent Clarence Day when I first encountered writable compact disc . It was in the early 1990s in a $ 100,000 system design by Kodak to bring about its Photo CDs , discs that worked with its CD / DVD player and with computing gadget software to put up galleries to few and high - resolution scans . It take eld before CD burners were cheap and then included in inexpensive PCs ( and , late to the company , Macs ) , and the CD spiritualist dropped in price .
Then the DVD data formatting get through a like , but much more speedy cycle , and then on to Blu - Ray , the succeeder in the gamey - definition home video formatting years ago . But I have n’t owned a computer that can burn off DVDs for years and I ’ve never even considered writing to Blu - shaft of light . Once hard movement outstripped the mental ability to back up to more than a fistful of discs and drive also became cheap to use for support , pair with swarm storage and online communion , it all seemed senseless .
I ’m not alone in feeling this way , but two inquiry from lecturer trip this walk down writable storage lane .
Old iMovie, new Mac
Karl Hess wrote in to ask about superannuated iMovie data file . He writes that he has 2006 - era iMovie projects , but the latest reading of iMovie wo n’t import them . He wonders if it ’s still possible to obtain elder version to freshen the files as he wants to produce DVDs he can pass on to his child . “ There must be someone who has archived all the syllabus versions for Macs over the years . Any ideas about how I can retrieve these files ? ”
I consulted friend , confrere , and frequentMacworldcontributorJeff Carlson , who wrote extensively in the past about iMovie . He enunciate that while Apple used to extend iMovie HD 6 as a free download for people who did n’t need to stir to iMovie ’ 08 , but that ’s no longer the slip . ( I ’d avoid non - Apple land site that offer it free ; you have no way to determine whether the disk image has been tamper with . ) And the current iMovie ( variation 10 ) ca n’t import iMovie HD 6 projects .
One strategy is to find someone who has an older , work Mac with iMovie ’ 08 installed , import your labor there , then replicate it to your calculator . iMovie HD also works on OS X up to Mavericks if you could get a written matter to install . The late iMovie ( interlingual rendition 10 ) can spell versions 7 ( which Apple called iMovie ’ 08 ) , 8 ( ’ 09 ) , and 9 ( ’ 11 ) . There’sa host of provision from Applejust about the limitations of spell into rendering 10 , so it may require a comely amount of rework . ( you may also find the version number by take iMovie in the Applications folder , choosing File > Get Info , and refer to the reading phone number under the General department . )
Jeff says that although this might not be welcome advice , re - editing the original snip — which Karl should have because they ’re part of an iMovie project — might be the best strategy and involve the least workplace . ( For an old project , right - click and you ’ll see Show Package Contents . Choose that , and all the clips that were import are nestle in leaflet . )
The other question , however , about produce DVDs — let ’s connect that with another reader ’s query on putting photo on DVD .
DVDs and times gone by
Reader Lyn Cuneo writes to demand about nominate a sliding board show of holiday cracking that she can remove to DVD , which she was able to do in the past . With the demise of iDVD as brook software , she ’ll need to turn to a third - company solution ; iDVD used to roleplay as a conduit . Likewise for Karl , and his pic .
My Mac 911 harbinger , Chris Breen , pointed to a few optionsthat are still valid , including getting an old copy of iLife that let in iDVD and establish it under Mavericks . ( I have n’t tried running iDVD in Yosemite because … I do n’t have it installed anywhere . Some reports indicate it wo n’t work on . )
For photos , you may practice any variant of iPhoto to export a slideshow as a movie . Select an record album or event in iPhoto , then File > Export and click the Slideshow tab . For DVD , Standard Definition is all that ’s necessitate . Then with iDVD ( if uncommitted ) , Toast 12 Titanium , or Burn ( all mentioned in Chris ’s article ) , you may push that slideshow to a playable record .
However , in 2015 while it ’s a fair pick to apply a videodisk to make something ephemeral you require to divvy up with people who may or may not have wideband Internet access , it ’s no longer a dependable archival data format . That is , share holiday photos so a relative can crop up it into a DVD works , but if you look the disc to be a family heirloom , not so much .
Jeff Carlson notes that DVDs have relatively depleted result relative to most video produced in the last several years , as well as compare to the resolution of cameras in the last decade . Blu - Ray is much gamey resolve , but the job of media persists : discs do n’t last forever , and the writable kind are extremely variable in their long - terminus legibility . find out a 10 - year - old CD - R , and start it in — does it still mold ? Maybe . But magnetic disc degrade even in perfect humidity and temperature mastery , and more apace in garages in Ionic .
So what to do ? Backup drives ( more than one ) that you rotate and retreat ; secure cloud storage ; and distribution of digital asset to the great unwashed you need to have them . I ’ll indite more about this , but CD , DVDs , and Blu - rays — they’re not as good as paper books , much less spinning and newsflash media .
Photos! Photos! PHOTOS!
Your questions about the new Photos app for OS X continue to pour in ! ( admit one from Lyn , above . ) With no unexampled information since the last details from Apple , we ’ll get you have a go at it more when it ’s usable . plenteousness of takings are undecipherable , include how to develop multiple pic libraries to import into a single Photos assemblage .
My best advice at this moment ? When Photos for OS X shipsdon’t put in it and upgrade now . It ’s go to be a large shift , and you ’re well off await to read theme on what goes wrong ( which is inevitable ) and even wait for a 1.0.1 liberation .
Ask Mac 911
you’re able to netmail things that mystify you or involve solving tomac911@macworld.com , pinch them at me ( if brief)@glennf , or call 206 - 337 - 5833 and leave a voice mail substance . ( We ’ll be try out with some audio frequency in the future , and may put your question “ on the air . ” )
