Create a DVD, Blu-ray disc, AVCHD disc, or disk image

You can burn your project to a standard-definition DVD or to a Blu-ray-compatible disc. There are two ways to create a Blu-ray-compatible disc:

  • Use an external optical drive that supports Blu-ray disc burning to blue laser media.

  • Use a standard DVD burner and standard red laser media to create an AVCHD disc with HD video content and menus. You can play AVCHD discs in Blu-ray players if they’re compatible with AVCHD discs.

You can also create a disk image (.img) file that you can copy to an external drive. You can take the disk image to a disc replication facility or burn it to DVD or Blu-ray disc media at a later time using Disk Utility.

Markers are added to the file on disc at 30-second intervals, making it possible to use the DVD or Blu-ray player’s remote to skip forward or backward 30 seconds each time you press the Next Chapter or Previous Chapter buttons. Each disc format has a maximum allowable number of disc markers:

  • Standard DVD: 99

  • Standard Blu-ray: 999

  • AVCHD: 50

Note: If Compressor is installed on your computer, you can use the Send to Compressor option to open the project in Compressor, where you can add and name chapter markers using the Preview window. For more information, see Compressor Help.

Burn a standard-definition DVD or create a standard-definition disk image file

  1. Choose Share > DVD.

  2. In the Options pane of the Share window, choose your preferred export settings:

    • Output device: To burn a disc, choose an optical drive. To create a disk image (.img) file that you can copy to an external drive or burn to DVD media later, choose Hard Drive.

    • Layers: Choose whether to burn a single-layer or dual-layer disc.

      Important: Selecting “Dual-layer” when using a single-layer disc can result in an error during burning, depending on the project’s length.

    • Disc template: Choose an available template.

    • Title: Enter the name of the disc in the Title field. By default, the name of the disc is the project name.

    • When disc loads: Specify the DVD player’s action when the disc is inserted: Show Menu to have a main menu appear; Play Movie to begin playing the movie immediately.

    • Background: To add a background to DVD menus, click the Add button and choose a graphic (navigating to where you keep your graphics files on your computer or connected storage device). To choose a different background, click the Clear button, then click Add again.

    • Main Menu/Project: Click Main Menu to see a preview of menus included with the selected template and background; click Project to see a preview of the movie.

  3. To specify additional Motion-specific options, click Render.

    For more information, see Render settings.

  4. To see details about files to be output, click Summary.

  5. In the Options pane, do one of the following:

    • If you’re burning to a disc (instead of creating a disk image): Click the eject button at the right of the Output device pop-up menu, insert a blank disk into your disc-burning device, then click Burn.

    • If you’re creating a disk image file: Click Next, enter a name for the file, choose a save location, then click Save. (By default, Motion burns disk images as single-layer media, and adjusts the bit rate accordingly.)

Burn a Blu-ray or AVCHD disc, or create a disk image Blu-ray file

  1. Choose Share > Blu-ray.

  2. In the Options pane of the Share window, choose your preferred export settings:

    • Output device: To burn a disc, choose an optical drive (identified in the list by the type of output it supports: Blu-ray or AVCHD). To create a disk image (.img) file that you can copy to an external drive or burn to Blu-ray media later, choose Hard Drive.

    • Layers: Choose whether to burn a single-layer or dual-layer disc.

      Important: Selecting “Dual-layer” when using a single-layer disc can result in an error during burning, depending on the project’s length.

    • Disc template: Choose an available template.

    • Title: Enter the name of the disc in the Title field. By default, the name of the disc is the project name.

    • When disc loads: Specify the Blu-ray player’s action when the disc is inserted: Show Menu to have a main menu appear; Play Movie to begin playing the movie immediately.

    • Include loop movie button: Select this checkbox to add a Loop Movie button in the exported movie’s the playback menu. (This option is not available for all disc templates.)

    • Background, Logo graphic, Title graphic: To add a background, logo, or title to menus, click the Add buttons, then choose graphics (navigating to where you keep your graphics files on your computer or connected storage device). To choose a different graphic, click the Clear button (an “x” in a circle), then click Add again.

    • Main Menu/Project: Click Main Menu to see a preview of menus included with the selected template and background; click Project to see a preview of the movie.

  3. To specify additional Motion-specific options, click Render.

    For more information, see Render settings.

  4. To see details about files to be output, click Summary.

  5. In the Options pane, do one of the following:

    • If you’re burning to a disc (instead of creating a disk image): Click the eject button at the right of the Output device pop-up menu, insert a blank disk into your disc-burning device, then click Burn.

    • If you’re creating a disk image file: Click Next, enter a name for the file, choose a location, then click Save. (By default, the Share feature assumes single-layer media for disk images and adjusts the bit rate accordingly.)

    Note: Blu-ray and AVCHD menus are best suited for displays set to show 1080 lines of vertical resolution.