Any problem with PDFs on DVDs?

We have a client that wants a DVD with simple chaptering but it also needs to contain PDFs so that they will be accessible when the disk is put in a computer with a DVD reader. Will this kind of disk still work OK on a standalone DVD player? Can DVD Studio Pro do this without problems - that's the software our vendor is going to use, but I don't think he's put both types of materials on a DVD before.
Is it necessary to make the DVD two-sided, or can both types of content (video and PDFs be linked from the same menu on a one-sided DVD?
Any snags or challenges I should be aware of?

No problem at all. In DVD Studio Pro, you can make the contents in a hard disk folder become a DVD-ROM section on your DVD. You can put any kind of file, including PDFs, in that folder. You could even open the PDFs from a DVD menu, but that has its shortcomings (including Windows users having to install the DVD@ccess technology and Mac users having to enable it in DVD Player's preferences). But yes, just adding PDFs to a DVD is very easy.

Thank you for your answer.

So the DVD would be playable on a standalone DVD player, the pdfs would not interfere with it playing ... and the pdfs could be played by themselves on any DVD capable computer, do I have it right?

If the pdf folder was not made accessible through the DVD screen menu, would the user just find the folder in the directory (or Finder) when the DVD was inserted into the computer?

Sure., as long as you let them know there's data inside the DVD
The data section is a separate folder and doesn't interfere with playback, at least in the mayority of players. Hundreds or even thousands of DVDs come with some kind of computer extras in the disc.

So I know how to link to the folder using @ccess, but how do I put the folder on the dvd? This is very frustrating, I am sure it is easy but i just cant figure it out!!
Thanks in advance for your help, Sr

No problem, Scott.
Select the disc in the outline tab and that will show you the general disc properties in the inspector. There, in the inspector, there's an item called "DVD ROM folder". It will allow you to navigate in your hard drive to pick the right folder. When you build or burn the project, the DVD-ROM folder will be included.



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com

thanks alot!! That is awesome. I have also converted the pdfs to slides incase people want to view them on a dvd player. But they show up black. Any idea why this would be?

I don't know what you mean exactly but here are two guesses. One possibility is the PDFs don't have a real background and that's why they appear with a black background. Or, they are taller or wider than the screen, so DVD SP fits them with a surrounding background. I would open them in Photoshop, resize them for video size and make sure there's a white (or whatever color you want) background and export them as graphic files (PSD, TIFF,etc).



Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com