How to make your own DVDs. (I presume that you use Windows XP. )

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- DVD formats and bits budgeting - video_system - what do you need? - hardware - computer specs - software - misc DVD tools and links	- Adobe Premiere - Adobe Premiere KeyShortcuts - Adobe After Effects - Adobe Encore DVD

DVD Formats and bits budgeting

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DVD = "Digital Video Disc". A standard recordable DVD-R for a home PC is a disk with 4.7 GB capacity. It can store a bit more than 2 hours (133 min) of good quality video + audio. Or you can use higher compression to fit 4 hours or even 6 hours. The quality of 6-hour DVD is close to a regular VHS. It will play normally on your DVD-player or computer.

DVD size standards are as follows :
DVD-5 - single-sided single-layered (up to 4.7 GB).
DVD-9 - single-sided dual-layered  (up to 4.7 x 2 = 9.4GB).
DVD-10 - double-sided single-layered  (up to 4.7 x 2 = 9.4GB).
DVD-14 - dual-layered on one side and single-layered on the other  (up to 4.7 x 3 = 14.1 GB) - very rare.
DVD-18 - double-sided dual-layered   (up to 4.7 x 3 = 18.8 GB).

Writable DVDs:
DVD-R - one time recording. DVD-R(A) ("authoring") is not compatible with DVD-R(G) ("general").
DVD+R - one-time recording
DVD-RW -  rewritable, for movies
DVD+RW -  rewritable, for movies
DVD-RAM - rewritable, for data, not for movies (most players will not read it)

Note: 4.7GB in DVD notation means 4,700,000,000 Bytes. It is equal to 4.377 GBytes in normal computer notation reported by Windows Explorer, because in Windows notation:
   1 KB = 1024 Bytes,
   1 MB = 1024*1024 = 1,048,576 Bytes,
   1 GB = 1024*1024*1024=1,073,741,824 bytes.
Typically hard disk capacity in Windows notation as a power-of-2
    (1 KB = 2^10 bytes = 1024 Bytes),
whereas optical disc capacity and video bit rate are calculated as a power-of-10
    (1 KB = 10^3 = 1,000 Bytes).

A 4.7 GB (gigabyte) disc contains 4,700,000,000 bytes; each byte contains 8 bits. 4,700,000,000 x 8 = 37,600,000,000 bits.

Files on a DVD:

A DVD contents has a Video Manager and one or more Titles (Title = VTS = Video Title Set). Each VTS is defined by control data (IFO & BUP files) and Video Objects (VOB files) for both menus (if present) and titles (stills and video). Each VOB consists of individual cells internally linked together by Program Chains (PGCs). If you open a typical DVD in your computer - you will see a directory VIDEO_TS, which will contain 3 types of files: *.IFO, *.BUP, *.VOB: Video Manager Files (if present) have names: VIDEO_TS.IFO, VIDEO_TS.BUP, VIDEO_TS.VOB Other files contain VTS (titles) info - movie, menu, etc. VOB (Video Object) files - usually contain multiplexed Dolby Digital Audio and MPEG2 video. Plus linking info. VOB files have standard naming:     vts_01_0.vob     vts_01_1.vob     etc., where the first number () can change from 01 to 99, and the second number (part) can change from 0 to 9. The very first file of every title (the one looking like VTS_XX_0.VOB) usually contains just menu and navigation. IFO files contains the formatting information of the VOB files (aspect ration, subtitles, languages, menus, etc.). BUP files - just backups for IFO files (in case they are corrupted).

What can fit on a DVD.
DVD standard requires 133 min of video minimum (on a 4.7GB disk). But it can be more if we sacrifice quality.

Video is stored on DVD in MPEG-2 format, which can store different movie time length depending on the quality of video signal (number of bits per pixel, pixel per frame, frames per second), and the level of compression. For a movie typical bit rate is 4 Mbps (Million bits per second). This is the rate of transfer of the compressed signal from DVD when DVD is played.

Note, that if we multiply:    24 bit per pixel,    720x480 pixels per frame,    30 frames/second then we get ~240 Mbps. So how we get only 4 Mbps bitrate? Well, it is compression, of course. But also it is the nature of the video signal, where you can pass just the changes between the frames instead of the all pixels in the frame. Also note that when you capture a video from your miniDV camera into an AVI file (using something like "Adobe Premiere") - you will get a huge AVI file: 12.1 GByte/hour. Thus standard DVD duration - 133 minutes - will occupy 26.8 GBytes of your hard drive disk space. In order to fit it on DVD, we will have to compress it to less than 4.38 GBytes. This requires approx. x7 compression.

Audio is generally 192 Kbps (0.192 Mbps).
Simple menu and pictures don't take much space on disk.
Motion menus and especially subtitles can take lots of space.
When calculating, always add ~ 5% for overhead.
1 h of video = 3600 sec * 4 Mbps = 14.4 Gbits = 1.8 GBytes (here G=10^9).
So with audio etc. 1 hour of video is ~2 GB
Thus we can fit a bit more than 2 hours of video on a standard DVD-R recordable DVD.

Note: You can use higher bit rates (up to 9.8Mbps). You can also use lower (~2 Mbps) - but quality will suffer.
Note: For rates lower than 6 Mbps use VBR option (Variable Bit Rate).

Example: budget for a 120-minute video with three audio tracks, two subtitle tracks, two motion menus, and a one-minute movie preview to be burned to an 8.54 GB disc proceeds as follows:
Total bits = 8.54 GB * 8 = 68,320 Mbits
Out of it:
Video: ~59,000 Mbits (at 8.16 Mbps)
3 Audio streams: ~6,000 Mbits
4% overhead ~2,700 Mbits
2 Motion menus ~ 400 Mbits (2 menus * 24 sec each)
1 min movie preview ~270 Mbits
Two subtitles ~144 Mbits (rate ~0.010 Mbps each)

Compression:

MPEG - Moving Picture Experts Group - develop standards for digital audio and video formats (since 1988). MPEG-1 - up to 1.5 Mbit/sec - movies and audio. Used for video on Internet (.mpg files). Used in VCD (Video CD) movies. Level 3 of MPEG-1 is the most popular audio compression standard (also called mp3). MPEG-2 - up to 15 Mbit/sec. DVDs and Digital Television. It is based on MPEG-1. Efficiently supports broadcast TV needs, like interlaced video. MPEG-4 - object-based very efficient compression. AVI - old Microsoft audio/video file format. It is a container format, meaning it can contain A/V pieces compressed using many different combinations of codecs. AVI files all look the same on the outside, but on the inside they may be completely different. Codec (compressor / decompressor) - software to compress/decompress audio/video content. The codecs may be designed for real-time convertion (for streaming), or as file converters. One codec may support several formats.

Video System

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You need:

• a digital camera - or a capturing card to digitize your video signal
• a really fast computer with a really big and fast hard drive
• software to capture and edit the movie
• software to make a DVD (menu, etc) and burn a DVD

Here are some useful links:

• www.pugetsystems.com - solid high-performance computers (1 or 2 CPU)
• www.alienware.com/workstations_dv.aspx - computers for DV editing
• www.videoguys.com - lots of reviews. Advanced stuff - using external hardware accelerators, Real-Time Non-Linear Editing (NLE) solutions, etc. Computer system (both hardware and software) for video editing.
• www.dvgear.com - turn-key computer systems for DV processing
• www.biwaymedia.com - turn-key computer systems for DV processing
• www.adamwilt.com - lots of useful information about video formats, cameras, etc. collected by Adam Wilt

Hardware

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OK, let's discuss this a bit more. Starting with your video camera.

You should buy a miniDV camera.

Format	Description
DV	Video tape miniDV - 60 or 80 min 10 microns track width, 18.81 mm/sec tape speed
DVCAM (Sony)	Video tape DVCAM - up to 185 min Format is similar to DV, but wider track (15 microns) and faster tape speed (28.215 mm/sec)
DVCPRO (Panasonic)	Video tape DVCPRO - up to 125 min Format is similar to DV, but wider track (18 microns) and faster tape speed (33.82 mm/sec).

DV (= DVC = Digital Video Cassette) - 1/4 inch (6.35mm) metal evaporate tape, records very high quality digital video (NTSC resolution 720x480, percieved quality is ~450 lines - in comparison to only ~ 230 of VHS, or only ~330 of BETACAM SP).

Today (November 2003) you can buy a new digital (miniDV) camcorder (JVC, Panasonic, Canon) for as low as $300. Sony starts at $400. I like Sony DCR-TRV38 ($600) or DCR-TRV80 ($960). You will also need extra battery (8 hours) - "Sony NP-FM91" - $80. I also use a Sony wide-angle lense. The cassettes are 60 or 80 min. Current price for a cassette ~$4 ($40 for ten). To record instructional videos you may also need a wireless microphone (consider "Samson UHF Micro 32 System with QE Headset" ). Camera usually connects to a computer via iLink cable (also called firewiere or IEEE 1394).

If you have old records which you want to digitize - then you need a video capture card - see comparison of many cards here:
- www.sharbor.com/catalog/501.html

Hard Drive:
When you capture your video (import from your camera into the computer) - you will need a lot of disk space. One hour of video will translate into ~10 GB avi file. As you start editing - you will see many files created. So you end up needing ~ 4..5 times more disk space. Plus, when you are close to your disk space limit - programs tend to behave strangely. Conclusion - in adition to your standard 40GB system drive, get yourself a special fast (serial ATI or SCSI) 120 or 200 GByte hard drive just for DV editing. If you do a lot of editing - then good idea to get a removable hard drive so that you can swap the drives easily.

CPU:
Video editing takes a lot of CPU power. Especially transcoding the original video into files for DVD. For example, transcoding of 1 hour video on a 2.8 GHz Pentium-4 computer with 1 GB of DDR RAM takes ~2 hours. During transcoding computer may overheat. You need to monitor the CPU temperature and use several funs (on CPU and in the case).

So - get yourself a fast computer. Use 3 GHz Pentium-4 with Hyper Threading (it looks like two CPUs on the Task Manager). Or get a motherboard that can accomodate two of Pentium-4 Xeon CPUs in your computer (it will look like 4 CPUs in the Task Manager). Note - Adobe Encore DVD supports and takes advantage of multiple CPUs when doing transcoding. So you will cut your transcoding time from hours to minutes. Eventually 64 bit CPUs may be a good choice, but as of today this is an expensive professional choice with limited software support.

DVD burner:
You will usually write in DVD-R format. Try Sony DRU-510A or Pioneer DVR A06. They both write DVD-R at x4 speed. Plus they read/write in many other formats.

Computer Specifications

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I recommend pugetsystems.com - they sell custom-built systems at reasonable prices. You can customize your comptuer on their web site. They are experienced in building video-editing computers. They can build for you a very good Single-CPU desktop for ~$2100, or a Dual-CPU for ~$2,600 (plus ~$600 for the monitor). You can also order a good notebook system for ~$3,000 (this includes 3-year warranty and external large hard drive). The prices are as of November 2003.

Desktop box

Motherboard Asus PC-DL Deluxe	$267.80
(2) - CPU Intel Pentium4 2.8GHz XEON 533FSB	$809.90
(2) - RAM Kingston 512mb PC2700 CAS2.0 DDR-SDRAM 333MHz	$256.10
CD/DVD ROM Sony DRU510A DVD+RW/CD-RW Drive	$211.00
Hard Drive Western Digital Raptor SATA 36GB 10,000 rpm	$153.00
Hard Drive Western Digital WD1600JD 160.0GB SATA 7,200 rpm	$172.90
Video Card ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9000PRO 64mb DDR	$193.70
Case Lian-Li PC6077 Mid-Tower w/front audio/usb/firewire ports	$165.10
Case Mods IDE 24inch Round Cable Silver	$5.52
Power Supply Sparkle 550W Dual Xeon Power Supply	$111.80
(2) - Additional Cooling Vantec HDC-502A Hard Drive Cooler	$18.18
3Com network card	$40.00
Audio Card	$50.00
Extra:
Removable Drive Teac 3.5inch 1.44 Floppy Drive	$9.04
Case Mods Floppy 18inch Round Cable Silver	$2.92
Removable Drive Lian-Li 6 in 1 Flash Reader (silver)	$33.80
External 120GB 7200 rpm firewire/usb2 Hard Drive	$135
Total:	$2635.00

Notebook system:

If you want to build your own system - here is some info to consider:

Note: all CPUs listed above are Hyper-Threading. That means that in the Task manager each CPU looks like 2 CPUs.

- http://www.jncs.com/index-google.asp?page=../content/xeonbuns.htm - more motherboard options

Lowest Prices for (motherboard + CPU) combo - from pricewatch.com:

• Single CPU: $380 ($230 - Pentium 4 2.8GHz 800 FSB, $150 - DESKTOP BOARD, D875PBZLK i875P P4 (800FSB))
• Dual CPU: $870 ($327 - Xeon 2.8GHz 533FSB * 2 = $654, $216 - Asus PC-DL Deluxe)

So it looks like single CPU model has support for faster memory and is $500 cheaper. But dual CPU has more CPU power. Well, more power is better. Question is - is it really much faster?

Here are some examples of DV processing systems:

- http://www.alienware.com/system_pages/roswell_intel.aspx - both single and dual CPU models cusomizable
- http://www.pugetsystems.com/desktop.php?symbol=d - dual CPU cusomizable

Software:

There is many software packages for movie capturing and editing. The best is, of course, "Adobe Premiere". You may also consider "Adobe Photoshop" to create some graphics, and "Adobe After Effects" for motion graphics and special effects. Note: you need Windows XP to run the latest version of Adobe Premiere.

To produce a DVD you may use "Adobe Encore DVD". Other popular packages are: "Pinnacle Expression" (very simple and good for home movies), "Pinnacle Impression DVD-Pro", "Ulead DVD Workshop".

- www.adobe.com
- Adobe Premiere
- Adobe Premiere KeyShortcuts
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Encore DVD
- www.classondemand.net - have video training on Adobe Premier

DVD links

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- http://www.audio-video-affair.com/audio-video-glossary.html - Audio-Video Glossary
- http://www.dvdmadeeasy.com/glossary/b.html - glossary of DVD terms
- http://www.gocyberlink.com/ - CyberLink PowerDVD, PowerDirector, PowerProducer - play and create DVDs -
- http://www.dvdr-digest.com/articles/ - good intro articles
- http://www.dvddecrypter.com/ - DVD Decrypter (rip DVD into .iso file -> and then burn a new DVD)
- http://mpucoder.kewlhair.com/Derrow/index.html - IfoEdit - This is a program for editing *.ifo files. With it, you are able to correct the sector addresses in .ifo files, after you stipped out unwanted .VOB files on DVD. Now comes with integrated DVD player to test changes made. So now you are able to burn DVD Movies, that work with standalone players.
- ??? - ImgTool 0.99.7 - a tool that will burn your DVD root directories to DVD-R using the Nero-API routines.

- SmartRipper (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/smartripper.cfm)
- http://www.labdv.com/dvdx/ - DVDx - DVDx allows you to convert DVD to VCD2.0 or SCVD1.0 or DivX in one step (Including multiplexing, splitting). It produces good quality movies in MPEG1/2 format and you don't need to have 5GB or more free on your hard disk. DVDx has been designed especialy for unexperimented users, it is a simple and intuitive program. You only need Nero to write your VCD/SVCD.
- http://www.vcdeasy.org/ - VCDEasy - free software to create VCDs
- http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23668 - DVD2SVCD Quick Guide and FAQ
- http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/94288.php - VCD beginner's guide
- http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/index.php - DVD Help Forums
- http://www.doom9.org/ - DVD backup resource
- http://www.flexion.org/ - Flexion.org
- http://www.digital-digest.com/ - Digital Digest
- http://www.riphelp.com/ - RipHelp.com
- http://dvd.box.sk/ - dvd.box.sk
- http://www.dvdwriters.co.uk/ - DVD Writers

- http://www.easy-dvd-player.com/ - Easy DVD Player
- http://www.dvdtodivx.net/ - Super DVD ripper 1.86 is an easy to use DVD copying and ripping software which can copy DVD to DIVX AVI files or MPEG1 MPEG2 files. Super DVD Ripper can then copy DVD to VCD or SVCD.
- http://www.convertdvd.info/ - CopyDVD (and burn VCD)
- http://www.backupdvd.info/ - Backup DVD Pro - rips DVDs into VCD, avi, etc.

- www.ulead.com - Ulead DVD MovieFactory,
- http://www.dvdxcopy.com/ - DVD Copy - copy (burn) DVDs on a DVD burner ($99) - real bit-by-bit copy, www.321studios.com
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