Authoring Interactive Discs with DVD Studio Pro

General notes

1. Desktop publishing: 1980s - Pagemaker – Reliable/affordable, personal computers
2. MIDI & sequencing1990s – Studio Vision/Personal Composer, Finale
3. Desktop audio: 1996 – Protools, 100 MHz processors
4. Desktop video: 2003 – Premiere, 2 GHz processors, cheap hard drives & RAM, consumer DVD cameras, affordable/reliable/easy DVD burning
5. Desktop virtual reality – multiprocessor PCs, the end of the information age

1. ROM: Read only, like CD but much more storage.
2. -R: 2 kinds (General/Super drive & Authoring/Professional drive Pineer DVR-S201)
3. -RW: Same as -r but read/write.
4. RAM: Multisession, but won't play in most drives so is not recommended
5. +R & +RW: Won't record in a superdrive, but plays in most drives AFTER recorded.
6. Double sided
7. Double sided double density Vrs Blueray
8. DVD Hybrids: Video and Data
9. DVD audio: much greater capacity AND higher quality audio. DVD Pro - No

1. Tracks - 99 maximum
2. Angles - 8 maximum
3. Menus - still or motion - a total file size of no more than 1 gig.
4. Buttons - 36 total on 4x3, only 18 on 16x9 video
5. Slideshow - maximum of 100 images in one show
6. Audio: AIFF, WAV, SDII, MPEG-1, AC3 - all OK in Studio Pro
7. Subtitltes: up to 32 streams with a maximum of 4 colors
8. Scripting: DVD can make decisions (loop x times, play random, create a random button, passcode protect a certain track.
9. Region coding: 9 total. Don't use them. Not on DVD -R. 1=US, 2=Europe, 3=Orient, . 8=special purpose (airlines)

1. A one-off disc is NOT the same as one pressed from a glass master.
2. No longer necessary to use digital tape masters.
3. There is no such thing as a one-off disc that is 100% reliable. The combination of blank media brand, playback drives, and authoring software produces more than 20,000 permutations.
4. Copy protection: CSS or Macrovision (APS) prevents copy to VHS tape.
5. Info Source: DiscDoctor.com
6. Double sided duplication is now cost effective
7. DVD/CD ROM double format discs duplication can be located with difficulty.
8. Don't create a track, slideshow or menu that you may not require - can't be deleted consistently.
9. Improve reliability by playing a 1 second video track, rather than a menu, first.
10. 3. Be sure your content will fit. Encoding quality determines maximum size. Don't plan on more than 80 minutes (not including slideshows, menus, ROM data, etc.) on a 4.7 gig DVD.

1. GOP: MPEG group of pictures is 15 frames. Markers go ONLY on GOPs.
2. VOBU: Video group of objects - usually 2 GOPs - .4 to 1.2 seconds long. Most common source of burn errors.
3. One chapter = A program
4. A story = a chain of programs (chapters)
5. VTS" video title set: maximum of 99 on any single video DVD

Create at 720x540, resize to 720x480 (don't bother to crop 6 pixels from 486)

An exception for Pros: Create at 640x480 and stretch up to 720x540 to accommodate thin lines that stretch horizontally, but not vertically)

Use VRB Variable Bit Rate 2 pass of higher