Print to Video Vs. Authoring a DVD

OK. So I have just finished my project on FCP. Now I want to burn a DVD of it to make multiple DVD copies.

What, if any, are the advantages to "authoring" a DVD (using either iDVD or DVD Studio Pro) over "Printing to Video" and then using that (MiniDV) product to go directly (DV>DV) into a DVD recorder? Because I'll be keeping everything in the DV realm, although I realize that MiniDV has tape which is subject to "frictional degradation", is it really worth all the effort for me to learn how to use DVD Studio Pro (my past experiences with iDVD have not been good ones)?

> What, if any, are the advantages to "authoring" a DVD (using either iDVD or DVD Studio Pro)
> over "Printing to Video" and then using that (MiniDV) product to go directly (DV>DV) into a DVD
> recorder?

I haven't used the direct-to-DVD-recorder method very much, but on many occasions I have received and tried to play/extract from video DVDs created this way. I can tell you right now, they're a lot more buggy. I had one that wouldn't show on my one-year-old Toshiba DVD player, but it would play on my very old, multi-region, multi-system (NTSC/PAL) Samsung DVD player. Some wouldn't play on computers. Some couldn't be extracted properly. Not to mention that they tend to come out as one big chapter, and their disc name is usually something unintelligible.

Video DVDs very rare have a 100 per cent success rate on all devices, but in my experience, DVDs made using iDVD or DVD Studio Pro are much stabler, function better and have a broader success rate.


www.derekmok.com

For PTT, if your source is DV/HDV, without any filters applied, you don't suffer recompression to tape. However, you're likely to be sending a component signal (at best S-video) to the set top recorder. Then it's real time encoding, probably CBR with lots of bits thrown away for error correction.

My last foray into set top recorders wasn't good, as it was stuttery..

>is it really worth all the effort for me to learn how to use DVD Studio Pro (my past experiences
>with iDVD have not been good ones)?

That's what I've been using for the best part of the last few years.. Although my final master is usually to tape.



www.strypesinpost.com

The problem I have found with DVD recorders (I have two external Pioneers on two different FC P systems) is they tend to have a fixed bit rate that some other players (and PC's in particular) have a hard time reading - thus, they skip during playback (I've noticed when importing them with MPEG Streamclip, they also have LOTS of timecode breaks, too). I no longer send even one-off's direct to a DVD recorder, but export the FCP seq as Current Settings, uncheck Self-contained and then import/burn a simple auto-start with no menu in DVDSP. Works on virtually every DVD player/PC my clients use with no problems at all - it ain't real-time, but it gets it client-proof the first time, and that's the payoff.

I have the opposite experience with my FCP setup.

When doing SD out through the aja Io, I find I get much
better quality by "playing the timeline" directly to a decent
Panasonic recorder.

It is in outputting QT, converting to mpeg2 and audio in compresor
(or Sorenson) that the quality of the product takes a hit.

But again, different setups, different results!



qeditor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The problem I have found with DVD recorders (I
> have two external Pioneers on two different FC P
> systems) is they tend to have a fixed bit rate
> that some other players (and PC's in particular)
> have a hard time reading - thus, they skip during
> playback (I've noticed when importing them with
> MPEG Streamclip, they also have LOTS of timecode
> breaks, too). I no longer send even one-off's
> direct to a DVD recorder, but export the FCP seq
> as Current Settings, uncheck Self-contained and
> then import/burn a simple auto-start with no menu
> in DVDSP. Works on virtually every DVD player/PC
> my clients use with no problems at all - it ain't
> real-time, but it gets it client-proof the first
> time, and that's the payoff.

I'm usually pretty happy with DVD recorder versions. In DV the difference in quality is pretty minimal, and I haven't had complaints about compatibility, so far. That said, I use one or the other depending on what the system happens to be hooked up to.

I think the answer is to do it the way you want to and see if you like the results. If not, do it the other way.