2-hour DVD

Hi Emily and the gang of Four:

Thanks for all of your presentations last Wednesday. You said ask for help before turning on the gas jets, so here goes. I can't find anything  appropriate on the check list.

I hope there is one among you who understands the mysterious ways of both Mac and Windows as I am doomed to using them both.

Ever since Hardwick, I have spent a long week doing trial & error on the iMac and have become more or less comfortable with the whole VMX process.

However, I cannot solve a particular problem, and I would appreciate help.

Ch 37 Stowe is on DVD & VHS players controlled by an old Leightronix Mini-T Pro. It is an unmanned channel, so we need to operate in 2 hour blocks on the DVDs, since we have only two players and cannot program the Mini-T remotely to suit each particular VMX program, whose times vary widely.

What I have done in the past is to place several Mpeg2 or AVI programs into my PC editing system, add filler to block out the exact 2 hour program, then create one long meg2 file, and burn a DVD from it, selecting auto play and repeat. The first program starts up automatically and the others follow in succession without a problem as there are just part of a long mpeg2. If there is a timing error, there is no black screen as the programs repeat.

This process works fine. Now I have to do the same on the iMac.

On the iMac, following Emily’s excellent video, I can burn single shows to play automatically. But I have discovered if I place more than one mpeg4 on a DVD, only the first show will play automatically; then up comes an endless menu.

Question No.1: is there a way to play the mpeg4s from VMX in succession when burned to an IDVD disc?

Question No.2: Can I do it if I convert them first to mpeg2s using VMX?

The best solution is a positive answer to question No 3: Is there a way to combine either mpeg4s or mpeg2s into a single mpeg2 on the Imac? This also would allow me to add the filler time to make the two-hour block. Then I could follow Emily’s video.

I would think there would be a way to do this with Imovie, but I couldn’t figure it out

I would prefer to do all the work on the Imac, but if I can’t, then I have to get the files as mpeg2s onto my PC. a much slower process.

To use my PC , I have converted the downloaded mpeg 4 to mpeg 2 using the VMX process on the iMac, , then burned them to disc as a data file copy, then copied them into the PC. However, this is a long process with the longer programs, and puts my editing laptop on the shelf for long periods.

IMac tells me the mpeg2 it creates can be played on Mac or Windows.

Question No.4: How exactly do I connect a PC to the Mac and then tell it to copy over a selected mpeg2? I have done a lot of trial &error and gotten only error. Please tell me which cables and what software on both computers do I need to use.

Thanks for any help anyone can suggest or any better solutions.

Ted