Welcome to the DVD Studio Pro forum

With DVDSP 2 to ship in about 2 weeks I predict DVD authoring to be one hot topic and dvdsp-2 to be one hot issue after another.

On any dot 0 release there are bound to be issues and hopefully this forum and the smart people that work it will be able to isolate any issues that may arise and find those interim work arounds.


Should be fun.

:-)

mike

very awesome!!!

Placed my order yesterday - can't wait.

You want to be a moderator Jim?

mike

Whats a Moderator, what do they do and how do they do it?

...Im trying to expand my knowledge

A moderator in this case is simply someone who has knowledge of the application and checks into the forum every so often to help folks solve their problems. They also report any spam or posts that require deletion or any folks who "get out of hand" and require a fierce slapping in the mouth.


:-)

It's just giving back as much as one can.

mike

I'm on board. Very experienced with all the older DVD SP apps.

Just putting the finishing touches to English and French DVD's fo the Canada Safety Council, so I thought I'd see what's going on.

I've been DVD Studio Proing for quite a while now... I'm happy to check in and help people and moderate.

Graeme

This should get exciting!

Great Graeme, then I prouounce you a moderator.

Thanks

mike

me 2 please

Marty

Whats your last name?

mike

Already got you down Jason

thanks

mike

[www.lafcpug.org]

Marty Marsh

Now we just need some participants and some software and we'll be all set!

Well we can always talk Dodgers Jim. :-)

Usually it takes a good 3-4 months to get a forum going.

mike

Really glad to see this new forum - planning to purchase DVDSP 2 this Fall.

dave b.

This forum won't take two DAYS to get going. As usual, you have your hand on the pulse of the media community Mike.

Hey! Get your hand off my pulse!

Finally, I can ask the experts:

WHAT'S THE BEST DVD MEDIA???

Also, does DVDSP need a KeyGuide?

- Loren
Today's FCP Default Keytip:
Deselect All
-- in FCP 3 with Command-D.
-- in FCP4 with Command-Shift-A

The FCP4 KeyGuide now available.
Visit KeyGuide? Central at
www.neotrondesign.com

Originally I used to say only use Maxell. But then too many people bought it and it was always out of stock from the factory. Now I use TDK.

I have burned about 700 Maxells without a problem. About 250 TDKs with no returns as well. Prior to these two I had many problems as I tried to save a little money.

I'm beginning to hear from several people that Princo has been delivering a very reliable product at a very low cost but haven't tried them yet.

Also check out dealmac.com for Pio 4x DVD-R media. They claim Pio is Pioneer OEM version of media and the prices are getting to be very good.
Yesterday they had two competing vendors at 100 for $146 and $132, Printable media is slightly higher.

I dont know if dvdsp2 needs a keyguide. I do know its awfully like a FCP interface.

mike

Well, I don't know anything about being a moderator, nor where to get the best deals on DVD-R media. All I want to do is thank Mike for starting this forum. Could have used it a week ago when I was authoring my first DVD. But now that I've dipped my toes in the water, I might as well jump the rest of the way in.


TD

Very cool forum of greatness to be . . .
I just completed a DVD job that involved a lot of sub-menus using DVDSP. No big deal until you try to make it so the "Commander" with the remote can navigate back out of them in a logical fashion. You know, when you hit MENU you want to go back to the item you were on and if it finishes playing a section it goes to the next choice. These are tasks that will probably be a whole lot less time consuming in DVDSP 2. I look forward to seeing this site becoming very active, as we know it will. Thanks Mike.
Kevin Carr

I have been using IDVD 3 lately for simple quick projects as I like some of the themes. I understand DVDSP 2 will have templates and themes as well.
for the guy who hasn"t got time to do al lot of authoring.
IDVD would take hours to encode a 50 min project.

Yes there are themes in DVD SP2. But your comment about encoding is different from the authoring itself. DVD SP can use compliant streams encoded from almost anywhere. Very early on I became dissatisfied with the supplied encoder. I picked up a Digital Media Press board (only works in 9) and began to encode in real time. Great quality. It's the same board that came as the Cleaner "supercharger." When used with the freely available drivers it works on it's own. I also encoded with the TMPEG encoder on my dual processor PC when I needed two pass VBR. Still very fast.

Now I'm beginning to play with Compressor but on my G4 733 it is very time consuming, tieing up a machine that should be used for authoring and editing. The bottom line is that encoding on a software encoder is time consuming. And without segment re-encoding if there's anything you don't like you have to start the encode from the beginning. But there are "work arounds."

One way is to break up your video (leaving the audio intact) in different pieces on the timeline based on how much movement, color patterns and so on. Talking heads don't require much in encoder horsepower (time). Fast movement, patterns, and some colors like red require more. So you can encode your easy stuff on faster settings and the harder parts with two pass VBR and motion estimation. When you are through there's a great app called Mpeg Append that will seamlessly join all the pieces.
[homepage.mac.com]

Thanks Marty,

I bought a Media Press Board via the Internet from some place in the US about 16 months ago when they were getting scarce. Loaned it to a friend who complained about audio sync problems and I have never used it myself since. Downloaded software that was recommended for the sync problem but have never got back to it.
I have a download of MPEG append also but have never used it either.

I too have a G4 733 which is slow on using the Quicktime encoder.
I have a Panasonic HSR2 DVD Burner for DVD's that don't require authoring but have never been overly impressed with the image in XP mode, particularlly panning shots.

Looks like I will have to play with the board. Is the Compressor in FCP4 a good software encoder?

Compressor is a good encoder, at least as good as the DMP , but once you've had real time....

The audio problem is well known with the DMP however I've always figured that it was immaterial since I don't use the board for audio. I use either a reference or self contained movie for the encode but only encode the video. I export the audio out of the timeline through quicktime as an aiff. I encode the audio with apack, here's how:

Apack:Launch apack

Under audio tab
1. target system - leave as DVD video
2. audio coding mode - 2/0 (L,R)
3. data rate - 192 kbps
4. dialog normalization - change to -31 then press enter
5. bit stream mode - leave as complete main
6. drag your audio file (.aiff exported from FCP under quicktime) to the left and right box, press ok at prompt

Under bitstream tab
leave everything as is

Under preprocessing tab
1. Compression - change to none
2. uncheck everything else you can

Finally press encode ( this all takes very little time )

The resulting file gets imported into DVD SP to use with your video file in your track.


Using this procedure I have never had even a one frame loss of synch.

Looks like this forum will be getting a lot of attention.

dave b.

I am a new user to DVD Studio Pro ver. 1.5
I created 9 Tracks and a menu with links to each.
When I attempted to build and format the DVD-R
it went through the process without a hitch leaving an image on the desktop and the DVD unformatted.
What did I do wrong?

Kevin G.

You need to turn on te Radio button For Record To device and choose your burner. Uncheck Save as Image File.
/jason/