Advanced Interactive Media/DVD Studio Pro

Authoring Interactive Discs with DVD Studio Pro General notes Historical Perspective 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 Formats 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 Things to Know 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) Help info you won’t find in Books 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. Terminology to Impress Your Friends 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 Storage Capacities 1. 4.7 gigs 2. 8.5 gigs Sony DRX 820UL-T $90, $3 per disc for under 50 in quantity. 3. 100 gigs Three steps in production (plus three more they don’t’ tell you about) 1. Plan 2. Author 3. Encode 4. Duplicate 5. Label 6. Packaging Still Image Formats Photoshop, Tif, JPG or TGA at 72 DPI (plus 6 other formats, if you care) Multiplexed into MPEG-2 stills To avoid square pixel, rectangular pixel distortion: 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) Compressor Tips Use VRB Variable Bit Rate 2 pass of higher Advanced DVDs 1. DVD@ccess 2. Widescreen 16x9 3. Multilanguage discs 4. Subtitles Issues That Matter 1. Assets 2. Tracks, markers 3. Layered Menus 4. Overlay Menus 5. Slideshows 6. Finishing: first play, hybrids, burn/format