DVD Authoring and Duplication

Currently we are using 1 Apple G4 PowerMac computer with an internal DVD-R drive and Apple's iDVD to author DVD's. It takes the complexity of DVD authoring and simplifies it. Unfortunately for those that want to create or duplicate DVD's quickly, we don't currently have a solution.

Our current system requires you to capture your entire video to the Hard Drive of the computer, set it up with menus in iDVD, encode it for DVD, then burn it to a DVD-R disk (which can then be played on almost any set-top DVD player.) The whole process usually takes 4-5 times the length of your video. So if you have a half hour video it will take you 2 - 3 hours to put it to a DVD. Subsequent copies do not require you to re-do the first three steps, only the fourth (burning) which usually takes 1 - 2 times the length of your video.

Apple's Pro DVD authoring software DVD Studio Pro encodes faster and is more feature rich than iDVD but I have always avoided it, not because of the extra cost but because to the extra complexity. But with the current version of DVD Studio Pro you can set the interface to basic making it less complex for new users who want to create a simple DVD without all the extra features. Because of it's versatility we will probably purchase the Pro software when we do our next hardware upgrade.

For quick authoring from digital (DV over FireWire) or analogue (video over composite or component cables) sources we are planning on adding a DVD recorder such as Panasonic DMR-E100 or the profesional Pioneer PVR-LX1 to one or more of our video editing suites. This type of device would hopefully allow employees and students to convert video from mini DV and VHS to DVD in realtime without having to use complex authoring software.

For duplication we have been looking at solutions such as the 1 - 3 and the 1 - 7 towers that allow you to copy a DVD without the use of a computer. We have had success with CD versions of these type of duplicators and hopefully this could allow simple and speedy duplication of course materials on DVD.

What are you using for DVD authoring and duplication? Have you tried any of these products or do you have others to suggest? Please comment on your DVD creation experiences.

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Macintosh Video Editing Suite schematic

In order to accommodate imputing and outputting to multiple media I have setup the Macintosh Video Editing Suites with a Kramer firewire switcher. This set-up allows users to input and output video from VHS, DV (standard and Mini) and 8 mm (8, Hi8 and Digital8.) To streamline the system I have also added a Canopus A/D converter.

Here is a PDF schematic of our current iMovie based video editing suites (drawn in OmniGraffle)

As you can see from the illustration the analogue video and audio passes through all of the VCRs ending with the VHS and monitored through the NTSC monitor. This means that anything you see on the NTSC monitor passes through the VHS VCR and can be recorded at any time. To have this work properly iMovie needs to have the preference Play video through camera checked, the D8 VCR set to digital (Firewire) input, the Mini DV VCR set to analogue (S-Video) input, the VHS VCR set to Video input (S-Video) and the Canopus A/D converter (which digitizes the video and passes it to the TV) set to analogue input.

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Creating a template for new accounts in Mac OS X

Whenever you create a new account in Mac OS X the default settings of the account come from a template file stored on the computer. It is possible to alter this template so that all new accounts will have default settings that are better suited to your needs.

For example I have set the template so that it it has the following settings:

• Auto start iMovie on log in
• Maximize iMovie to full screen
• Alter iMovie preferences such as turning on the Play Video through Camera option
• Have only necessary applications shown in the Doc and turn on auto hiding
• Add the machine specific license for QuickTime Pro into the account so that it doesn't have to be manually entered for each user
• Turn off the screen saver (I found it sometimes interferes with transcoding video, especially during MPEG 2 encoding)
• Set CD behavior to not auto load iTunes when music CDs are inserted
• Turn off auto update scheduling
  
• I've tried to set iMovie to set a different location for it's default save location but have not yet been successful.
  

The following instructions will set up your Mac OS video editing station with custom preferences for all new accounts created on it:

1. log in with a local admin. account and create a new user and call it Template, then log out
2. log into the new account and change all the preferences and settings that you want all new users to have (such as the suggestions above), then log out
3. log in as root and copy the Users/Template/Library folder to System/Library/User Template/English.lproj and say yes to replace all.
4. Log out and create new user accounts.
   

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Windows Network Authentication on Mac OS X Part 1

At Malaspina we are running a Windows 2000 network using Active Directory. Students log into the computers using individual Windows accounts. I have set the Mac OS X computers up so that when students try to log in using their Windows student account a temporary local version of that account is created on the Mac. This means that I don't have to manually create local accounts on the Mac computers or have to check to make sure they are registered students (at Malaspina Windows accounts only are only active for currently enrolled students.) It also means that students are spared from having to remember yet another user name and password.

Here is a step by step guide to adding this function:

1. In Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) go to Applications -> Utilities -> Directory Access.
2. Click on the padlock on the bottom left corner of the box to authenticate with a local admin. account.
3. Double click on Active Directory and in the Services tab fill out the top 2 fields with your institution's Windows information and the third filed (Computer ID) with the name you want your computer to be called on the Windows 2000 network (I would contact your Windows Network Admin. and find out how they want you computer to be named within your Active Directory.)
   
4. Click the Bind button and OS X will ask you for a Network Administrator password in order to add your Macintosh computer to the Windows Active Directory structure. The computer does not need to exist in Active Directory prior to being bound. If the machine does exist, you will receive a notification, asking if you wish to bind to the existing account.
5. Click Apply.
6. Click the Authentication tab and select Custom path form the Search drop down menu and then click the Add... button.
7. An entry for the Active Directory path should exist. If it does not, your machine is not bound to Active Directory. Once selected, click Apply.

With Mac OS X 10.3 logging onto multiple domains was not supported (even though it gives you the ability to turn it on in the Advanced Options) so originally I set up logging onto only the student domain and created manual local accounts for employees. I have now installed Mac SO X 10.4, which fully supports multiple domain login. Students and employees can now login with there windows accounts.

To set this up make sure that the Allow authentication from any domain in the forest check-box is checked in the Administrative tab of the Active directory plug-in.

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