will I get better playback results in DVDSP rather than iDVD

Whenever I'm in a hurry and need to get a client a DVD quickly, I obviously use iDVD. The problem is, after a few weeks almost all these DVD's begin to have problems playing back. But it seems like the DVDs I burn in DVDSP rarely have issues.

Is there a reason for this and should I just consider burning ALL my projects in DVDSP?

thanks,
Epp
www.eppicfilms.com

Epp, when you say the DVDs have trouble playing back, do you mean skipping, unreadable, hanging up, or what?

Assuming you're using the same burner and same brand of disk, there should be no technical reason why you would see a difference if the disk are produced to the same specs. One possible reason could be the bit rates. If you're using AC3 audio and/or lower bit rates in your DVDSP projects, that could give you a leaner, easier to play version.

Check file sizes on the two versions. Are the iDVD disks the same file size as those you're producing in DVDSP? If not, I would expect the one with larger files to be more susceptible to playability problems.

Have you tried different brands of disks to see if the problem goes away?

bob rice
frameworx media

epp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Whenever I'm in a hurry and need to get a client a
> DVD quickly, I obviously use iDVD. The problem
> is, after a few weeks almost all these DVD's begin
> to have problems playing back. But it seems like
> the DVDs I burn in DVDSP rarely have issues.
>
> Is there a reason for this and should I just
> consider burning ALL my projects in DVDSP?
>
> thanks,
> Epp
> www.eppicfilms.com

As Bob Rice infers, it's unlikely that there is a any characteristic difference between the burns.

The big difference between iDVD and DVDSP at the basic level is the ability to use AC-3 audio which (in the general sense) provides better playability due to reduced bandwidth requirements. In a project I was on last week, one of the editors burned a "quick preview" in iDVD which was badly pixelated. My no-frills DVDSP "replacement" used AC-3 audio and played flawlessly. I will only use iDVD in the total absence of an alternative.

how do I use the AC-3 audio? Is there a conversion process, or can I simply choose this option in DVDSP?

You tell Compressor to create it. Or if you have an older version of Compressor (as I do), use A.Pack.

bob rice
frameworx media