DVD Burning Fully Operational

[MovieStuff]

Previously, Alex claimed:

"When you are talking about a major motion picture release...Studios spend a lot of money paying DVD designers to get the maximum ratio of a good looking picture to the gigabytes available. Sure there are software packages that do a good job, but that is not good enough for the studios."

I mostly restore classic films for a living and they all go out on DVD and most are around 90-120 minutes. The places that do them are a dime a dozen and charge my client about $2000 to author a DVD complete with chapters and a DLT. They look perfect.

Where do you get the information to support your claim above? I mean, it sounds like impressive "inside information", but I just can't imagine the "suits" getting involved in such minutiae as the quality difference between what my client produces and what you are talking about. The DVDs my client puts out (VCI Home Video) are considered by DVD critics to be some of the best in the business, especially where classic films are concerned. They just use the automated program like Mattias spoke of. Nothing special.

Also, you wrote:

"Guys in suits show up to see how a DVD looks before it is released to the general public, it is a politically explosive situation for major DVD releases because if the DVD is not compressed in the optimal fashion and the look of the picture or of the sound is compromised in an unacceptable way....heads will roll."

Again, where do you get this information? Not trying to start a fight but, like so many things you write about, you speak as if you know it for a fact. How do you know this?

Also, regarding your comment about D1, every authoring house I've had contact with prefers Digital Betacam. In fact, they specify it. I have never had any of them request D1.

And finally, since you are so versed in the technology of DVD production, can you please tell me what a glass master is, how it is produced and how it is used in the mass duplication process? I really want to know how mass duplication of DVDs differs from mass duplication of CDs.

Roger Evans

[This message has been edited by MovieStuff (edited September 08, 2001).]

[Alex]

Here's a simple question.

Do you think a Major Motion Picture that is released for home video spends $2,000 for the glass master?

Trevor provided the following link many posts back....http://www.disctronics.co.uk/manuf/dvdmanuf/mfgdvd3.htm

Are your classic movies in BW, do they have 5.1 sound (or is that standard for all DVD's?) do they have behind the scenes footage in them?

And D-1 or Digital BetaCam...you can interchange them as far as I'm concerned.....Digital BetaCam has only been around about 5-6 years, before that it was D-1 and D-2, although D-1 is noticeably better.

The point still remains, that is a lot of information to put on a DVD.

The higher the production value that went into the movie, the more care is taken in making sure the DVD is as good a rendition as possible of the movie.

-Alex



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[This message has been edited by Alex (edited September 09, 2001).]

[MovieStuff]

Previously, Alex wrote:

"Here's a simple question. Do you think a Major Motion Picture that is released for home video spends $2,000 for the glass master?"

I'm sure they spend far more than they need to, but so what? Here's a (presumably) simpler question for you:

What's a glass master?

Roger

[Alex]

Ask me what Kodachrome 40 is...

I'll tell you it's reversal film, and I like the colors...

...what's your point, that if I don't know the chemical and elemental make-up of Kodachrome 40 that I don't know how to use it?

Sorry, but you're barking up the wrong Tree.

-Alex



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[Matt Pacini]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mattias:
[B" D1? what on earth are you talking about? ...i make my living doing digital video editing for christ's sake."

You do?
And you never heard of D1?

Wow, is there a time warp in here, or are you doing barmitzvah video editing on VHS?
It feels like that movie, Frequency.
How long has D1 been around, Roger?

And Roger, don't make me explain again what a glass master is, I already did that once!
(Personally, I prefer the zircon encrusted masters, but hey, that's just me.)

Matt Pacini


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[mattias]

duh, i have heard of d-1, but never as a dvd format -- all the ones i've seen were mpeg-2. whenever somebody tells me it's impossible to fit two hours of video on a dvd because of the bandwidth requirements of d-1 video, i will ask him again what on earth he's talking about. ok?

/matt

[Alex]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mattias:
duh, i have heard of d-1, but never as a dvd format -- all the ones i've seen were mpeg-2. whenever somebody tells me it's impossible to fit two hours of video on a dvd because of the bandwidth requirements of d-1 video, i will ask him again what on earth he's talking about. ok?

/matt<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What does the transfer to MPEG come from...

....It comes from a very high quality video master, such as D-1, D-2, or Digital BetaCam.

-Alex

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[mattias]

no shit! what's your point? i said 4.7 gig was enough to fit a two hour movie, and you asked if i had any idea how much bandwidth was required for d-1 video. makes no sense to me whatsoever. but then again, i can't see how anyone but you can make much sense out of anything you write here since you toally change the subject every time you post.

/matt

[MovieStuff]

Mattias-

Of all the things that we do NOT agree on, this is something that we certainly see eye to eye on.

Roger

[Alex]

Mattias, if a D-1 master holds over 50 gigabytes of information...and a DVD holds only 4.7 gibabytes of information, than why do you insist on the belief that it is "easy" to fit the information froma a D-1 master onto a DVD?

I haven't changed the discussion one bit.

Compressing by a factor of over 10-1 onto a DVD is not that easy, and it certainly isn't done in real time when you are talking about the creation of a glass master from a D-1 or Digital BetaCam Feature Film Video Master.

-Alex

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[This message has been edited by Alex (edited September 09, 2001).]