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THE HIGH STORAGE CAPACITY OF DVDS MEANS<br />
THEY CAN OFFER A DEGREE OF INTERACTIVITY<br />
Alternatives<br />
Although there is a proliferation of DVD software for the prosumer, higher-end<br />
systems are available. Chief among these is the Scenarist line by Sonic Solutions.<br />
This is the weapon of choice for professional DVD authoring houses such as<br />
Abbey Road Interactive. There is a wide range of configurations that include an<br />
audio hardware converter, PCI encoder cards, dual monitors, and specialized<br />
software. The power of Scenarist lies in its ability to access the programming<br />
level of the DVD specification, providing a <strong>com</strong>plete tape-to-disc solution that<br />
encodes, authors and outputs DVD projects for any purpose.<br />
Sonic’s SD-series Encoder hardware lies at the heart of the system, working<br />
in conjunction with real-time hardware video output that allows you to preview<br />
your project in real time on an external video monitor. The authoring process itself<br />
allows multiple video angles with audio/subtitle switching, jacket picture, subtitle<br />
effects, text data, 96KHz PCM Audio, DTS Audio, and even full karaoke support.<br />
The key factor in the success of Scenarist however is its cell-level access<br />
to the scripts that control DVD players. This allows precise control over every<br />
<strong>com</strong>mand and parameter available in the DVD specification, including access to<br />
all 16 General Parameter registers (GPRMs). Multiple users can work on parts of<br />
the same project at once thanks to a powerful workgroup management system.<br />
Pioneer also has a high-end solution in the form of the PRV-LX10 Professional<br />
DVD-Video recorder. This features a modular design with a 120GB hard drive and<br />
up to two DVD-R/RW drives in one unit. It allows one-step conversion of video<br />
assets to DVD, easy authoring of video projects and video archiving to DVD-<br />
Video format. Designed for those with limited knowledge of DVD authoring<br />
on <strong>com</strong>puters, it can create DVD-Video on DVD-R or DVD-RW 4.7GB discs<br />
and allows real-time recording and menu creation.<br />
Basic editing features allow users to trim VOB files, precisely remove<br />
and replace chapter points and reassign the title order. The internal hard drive<br />
allows storage of over 20 DVD projects, as well as libraries of menu backgrounds,<br />
button layout files, and EDL data. The recorder offers multiple analogue and<br />
digital connections and RS-422A and FireWire control capabilities. An ethernet<br />
port allows you to transfer files to the internal drive via a network connection.<br />
Many DVD authoring applications will only accept video and audio assets<br />
1 2 3<br />
Discreet Cleaner XL (1), Canopus ProCoder 2.0 (2), Optibase MPEG MovieMaker 200S (3)<br />
In authoring terms, the standard<br />
designation for single layer and<br />
dual layer media is DVD-5 and<br />
DVD-9 respectively. Until now,<br />
consumer DVD-9 projects were<br />
largely confined by the recordable<br />
media available. So, disk images<br />
had to be saved to DLT drives<br />
for pressing to DVD-ROM by<br />
<strong>com</strong>mercial authoring houses.<br />
Older <strong>com</strong>mercial dual-layer DVD<br />
formats weren’t <strong>com</strong>patible with<br />
existing DVD Video players either.<br />
In a breakthrough in dual-layer<br />
recording however, <strong>com</strong>peting<br />
DVD-RW DL and DVD+RW DL<br />
formats are now available, so a<br />
new stage of DVD-authoring is set<br />
to be played out. The new formats<br />
virtually double data storage<br />
capacity on DVD recordable discs<br />
from 4.7GB to 8.5GB, allowing<br />
recordable media to provide space<br />
similar to the discs pressed by the<br />
major studios for their movies.<br />
Most of the applications tested<br />
encoded in formats that are ‘legal’ for the DVD specification. For encoding<br />
purposes, a third party hardware system or application is often required. One<br />
such system is the MPEG MovieMaker 200S from Optibase. Available in Basic<br />
or Xpress configurations, MPEG MovieMaker 200S is an MPEG-2 and MPEG-1<br />
encoding platform for DVD creation that ships as a half-size PCI card.<br />
Encoding options<br />
It offers a range of video and audio interfaces, video resolutions, audio encoding<br />
format and MPEG multiplexing capabilities. Integrated with Optibase’s developer<br />
tools and video streaming and networking platform, the boards are bundled with<br />
the MPEG Composer 200, a well-featured encoding-management application.<br />
ProCoder 2.0 by Canopus provides powerful tools to prepare source video<br />
for conversion. Stitching allows multiple source clips in different formats and<br />
resolutions to be linked together to create one or more target clips. Video and<br />
audio filters provide high quality enhancement tools, such as bitmap overlay,<br />
cropping and volume adjustment, and to protect input before encoding, while<br />
target filters allow specific adjustments to be made for particular output formats.<br />
You don’t need specialized hardware for the encoding process. A software<br />
solution that content creators have been using for years is still going strong in<br />
the shape of Discreet Cleaner. Available for both Mac and PC platforms, Cleaner<br />
provides support for more than 60 media formats, including QuickTime 6, MPEG-<br />
4, Windows Media 9 (including support for HD and multi-channel audio),<br />
RealSystem 9, and AAC.<br />
High performance, high quality MPEG-1 and 2 VBR encoding allows<br />
users to create top quality video for DVDs and Video-CDs, as well as providing<br />
a way to tweak the video with Cleaner’s controls to get the highest quality.<br />
Professionally designed presets are available, allowing users to understand<br />
trade-offs between encoding output and quality, as well as allowing them to<br />
tweak the presets to get exactly what is required without starting from scratch.<br />
Both Cleaner 6 on the Mac and Cleaner XL on the PC platform have the<br />
ability to set watch folders to encode footage automatically as well as output<br />
the encoded material to multiple local, network, and FTP destinations.<br />
here have had point updates<br />
rushed out in the past month to<br />
provide support for dual-layer<br />
authoring, while hardware<br />
manufacturers are bringing out<br />
dual-layer burners. We used one<br />
such device as the baseline drive<br />
for the test – a new standalone<br />
FireWire burner from Plextor (the<br />
PX716UF), which we used with<br />
both Mac and PC applications.<br />
Drives like this can support<br />
a dizzying number of formats, so<br />
if you’re serious about authoring<br />
it’s worth looking around to take<br />
advantage of the latest technology.<br />
The recordable Dual-Layer discs<br />
will be priced at a premium until<br />
they be<strong>com</strong>e more widely accepted.<br />
For that reason we’ll use the DVD-5<br />
<strong>com</strong>patible single layer DVD format<br />
and its rewritable derivatives. It’s<br />
best to use branded disks, so we<br />
used a selection of 8x and 16x<br />
speed TDK DVD+Rs and 2x speed<br />
DVD-RW discs for the test.<br />
d 99
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