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.
posted by Johnny at 15:11
7 Comments:
well, I haven't used some of the alternate ideas you've posted, but here's what I do:
create my master copy of my FCP/E movie, create the iDVD (or DVD Studio Pro) project, and burn a master of the movie to dvd.
once I've reviewed that master dvd, and made sure everything looks right, and plays right, I pop it back into my machine and open Toast 6 Titanium. I choose the copy option, and tell it how many I want.
if I've got an iDVD that took 3-5 hours to burn, (about 40 minutes of movie) then the Toast copies end up taking about 40 minutes +/-. Still takes time, but it's not 3-5 hours for each copy!!!
Another great looking program - which I've only demo'd thus far, is DVDFastCopy. It makes it really simple to create copies of your own work, or backups of owned dvds. (this is a real money saver if you've got a 2 year old who trashes his shrek disc daily...) And is good for weeding out the extra stuff you don't necessarily need in a backup or copy.
7:57 a.m.
oh - I forgot to mention this, but I post some similar DV editing content on one of my weblogs if you're at all interested. I've got some concepts down, but there's still a lot I don't know, so it's my way of sharing, but also trying to gain from others' knowledge.
http://phbz.org/dvedit/
thanks!
7:59 a.m.
Added Paragraph about DVD Studio Pro on October 11, 2004.
3:32 a.m.
Added paragraph about copying video to DVD with our current system November 9, 2004.
9:37 a.m.
Recently the College purcased one of the ProMax PMDVDR1X7s and we were not able to get it to duplicate CDs properly. We have sent it back for repair or replacement. I will Post here when this issue is resolved. November 27, 2004.
6:33 p.m.
With the new version of iDVD (iLife 05) "you can create a OneStep DVD, a one-click, camera- or videotape-to-DVD solution." This technology will simplify DVD authoring for those users who want to convert their video footage to DVD without editing.
January 21, 2005
3:09 p.m.
The PMDVDR1X7 (7 x DVD Duplicator) that we were having troubles with got a firmware upgrade from Promax and it has seemingly resolved all of our problems.
January 21, 2005.
3:11 p.m.
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