DVD Class - Class 4

Class 4

^top

• Menu Intro Effects
• Combine intro clip with menu's background video
• Able to achieve seamless transistions
• Major drawback is user is forced to watch intro each time
• Use Loop Point to set beginning of loop
• Put intro clip on separate menu
• Able to bypass intro menu to avoid multiple viewings
• Even though written on same area on DVD no guarantee of "seamlessness"
• Creative use offers best compromise

• Markers
• Markers, GOP and I-Frames
• MPEG-2 streams are made up of Groups of Pictures (GOP)
• Inside a GOP are I-Frames (keyframe), P-Frames (Predictive), B-Frames (most efficent)
• Markers can only be placed on an I-Frame
• Use FCP if you need to place on an exact frame
• Note the "Snap To" under preferences
• QuickTime uses IBBP pattern for encoding
• Rules for marker text files
  • Must be plain text
  • Order must be "timecode" and "name" with comma, space, tab
  • Ignores lines without timecode value
• Most markers are chapter markers (purple)
• Button highlight markers can add interactivity (orange)
• Dual-layer break point markers (black dot)
• Cell markers are used for DVD access, turn off button highlight, mixed angles (green), Slideshow tracks with transitions

• Chapter Index Templates
• Start with Apple's and modify
• Note the button names and order of the buttons
• Preference for order of buttons
• Special button names (__PREV__, __UP__, __NEXT__)
• When finished will have customized index menu
• Using QT as an encoder

• Slideshows
• Recommend working with Photoshop
• Scales down pictures better (use "Sharper" to scale down)
• Able to run batch scripts on images
• Able to "proof" colors
• Crop at exact resolution (720x480 - NTSC)
• "Fit to Slides" plays at slides pace
• "Fit to Audio" plays at audio pace (duration adjustment)
• Can also convert slide show to a track
  • Want multiple audio tracks
  • Subtitle streams
  • 16:9 aspect ratio
  • Buttons over video

• Build and Format
• Recommend working with Photoshop
• Good idea to set the Build to a different drive or folder
• First Build and test folder using DVD Player
• Able to find errors before committing to disc
• Then you can Format or Burn the disc using DVDSP or Toast
• Even though the project will be contained in the VIDEO_TS folder still need AUDIO_TS
• Some of the files that are creating after building
  • DVD Studio Pro Layout file - Formatting info about DVD project
  • VIDEO_TS.IFO - Info about the disc such as capacity, navigation, menus, buttons, links
  • VIDEO_TS.BUP - Backups of IFO files
  • VIDEO_TS.VOB - The actual video, audio and subtitles. Each VOB ma contain up 1 GB.