DVD authoring refers to the process of creating the menu and navigation system for a DVD. It also includes adding chapter points and other fun things like background music.

In the editing section I mentioned that I save my edited movies in the AVI format and then bring them into Ulead DVDMovieFactory to author the DVD’s.

I also mentioned that the any video length over an hour would have to compromise quality to fit onto a DVD. You can stretch this to close to two hours thanks to the AC3 encoder in DVDMovieFactory and the excellent MainConcept Encoder that DVDMovieFactory uses behind the scenes.

MPEG movies consists of two parts. The video and the sound. Most cheaper encoders only allow you to encode with something called Linear Pulse Code Modulation (LPCM). This format can take up almost 1/4 of the space of a movie. If we could use less space for the soundtrack we then have more space available for the audio. That’s where AC-3 audio encoding comes in.

Dolby Digital is the trademarked marketing name for Dolby Laboratories’ “lossy” AC-3 format. You can think of AC-3 as a cousin of MP3. The same sound quality as LPCM but with a lot less space.

Ulead DVDMovieFactory has the option to encode audio as AC-3. Something no other program has in it’s price class. For the most part you should always choose AC-3.
BitRates And Video Size
In very simplistic terms the bitrate controls how much information is sent to the screen or display. A lower bitrate may produce visible artifacts. The picture will have more of a “mosaic” look to it. Usually fast action sequences require a higher bitrate.

The total bitrate for a DVD can be about 10Mbs (Megabits/second). There are reports that anything over 9MBS may cause problems with certain DVD players.

Choosing a bitrate is all about compromise. If you encode at higher bitrates you may exceed the space on the DVD. Too low and the quality will suffer.

A way to determine the maximum bitrate to encode at is to use a bitrate calculator like this one:
VideoHelp.com BitRate Calculator
or you can try my own bitrate calculator.

You simply enter the length of your movie and the calculator will tell you what to set your bitrate to.
How Low Can You Go ?
You can go as low as what looks good to you. Personally I don’t like to go below 5.6Mbs (5600 Kbs or about 1 3/4 hours).

There are some graphs at DigitalFaq.com that show rather nicely the correlation between quality and bitrate. Keep in mind you will be looking at the 720X480 chart.

In summary a range 5.6-8 Mbs is what you will be working in most of the time.
Burning Your Masterpiece
As mentioned before some authoring software titles will allow you to burn to a DVD. Some people like to burn with other programs like Nero. More about burning here.

It is worthwhile to discuss test burns. Nothing is worse than wasting a few hours encoding and finding out your DVD looks like crap on the TV.

I like to create small clips (1-5 minutes) of the movie and burn them at the calculated bitrate onto a DVD-RW. I then play on the TV to see if the quality is what I expect. If it’s not looking too good I may try to increase the bitrate or reduce the length of time from the movie to reach a certain bitrate.

Burning is the process of writing your MPEG2 movie file onto a DVD. As mentioned before some authoring software titles will allow you to burn to a DVD. Some people like to burn with other programs like Nero.

Whichever method you choose I think it’s a good idea to create either a DVD VOB(Video Objects) or an image file on your hard drive first and then burn to the DVD. The reason I like to do this is in case I need to make multiple copies. It just seems to make subsequent burns go faster. I like to save the VOB to my hard drive so I can watch it with a DVD player on my PC.

Media Choices
In all the years I have been burning CD’s I never though about what brand of media I was using. Unfortunately it is not the same way in the DVD world.

+R or -R ?
Blank DVD’s come in two major flavors +R and -R. Overall there seems to be just about equal compatibility with players between the two formats. Ultimately I chose to use -R.

• It works on all the players in my house.
• It’s the format all local wedding and event videographers use to create disks
• I have created and sold hundreds of -R disks and have not received any complaints.

Quite honestly I wouldn’t hesitate to use +R either. It’s just that at this point I know what to expect with -R.
Media Brands
This is where things get crazy and honestly I wish ignorance was bliss. DigitalFAQ.com (by Kevin Pieper aka LordSmurf) maintains one of the most comprehensive pages on the subject.

The current list of decent quality disks from a recent post by LordSmurf at VideoHelp.com:
Sony DVD+R (made in Japan) = YUDEN media
Sony DVD+R (made in Taiwan) = SONY media
Sony DVD-R (made in Japan) = TY or SONY media
Fuji DVD+R (made in Japan) = YUDEN media
Fuji DVD-R (made in Japan) = TY media
Verbatim DVD-R (made in Taiwan) = MCC media
Verbatim DVD+R (made in Taiwan) = MCC media
Maxell DVD-R (made in Japan) = MXL media
Maxell DVD+R (made in Japan) = MAXELL media
TDK DVD-R (made in Taiwain) = TDK media

Each Brand uses different companies to manufacturer their disks. It’s not the label on the package important but the media code of the disk, which is usually not printed anywhere on the disk. You must insert it into your PC and read it from the disk with software. Some burning software titles have the ability to read the media code.

There is absolutely no consistency between brand and manufacturer. Sometimes the supplier of the disk is different between 25 or 50 packs of the same brand. The 25 pack of BrandX may be Made In Japan but the 50 pack is Made in Taiwan. Also brands frequently change their suppliers. You need to stay on top of the changes until the manufacturing becomes consistent.

If your in a bind and need to buy disks locally I would look for disks manufactured in Japan.

The one manufacturer that seems to consistently receive favorable reviews is Taiyo Yuden.

If are using VirtualDub to process DV you will need the Panasonic DV Codec.

WARNING ! These instructions are intended for experienced computer users. Editing your registry can cripple your PC. If you are using XP I would do a System Restore Point.

Install Instructions:

* Download here
* Unzip the files and right click on PANADV.INF and select install.
* That’s it !

To use the codec in VirtualDub select Video/compression from the menu. Select the Panasonic DV Codec.

UnInstall Instructions:
Here’s where things get tricky. You have two choices here, and both involve editing the registry.

* Open the registry editor by clicking on the Start button and then click Run.
* Type in regedit.
* You can disable the codec by navigating down to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32\vidc.dvsd=pdvcodec.dll and rename vidc.dvsd to xidc.dvsd
* If you need to enable the codec in the future just rename it back

Alternatively you can delete the files pdvcodec.dll and panadv.inf from your System or System32 directory. Then remove the following entries from the registry:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\drivers.desc] “pdvcodec.dll”=”Panasonic DV Codec” [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32] “vidc.dvsd”=”pdvcodec.dll” [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaResources\icm\vidc.dvsd] “Driver”=”pdvcodec.dll” “Description”=”Panasonic DV Codec”

The Panasonic codec only works with Type-2 DV files. For Type-1 DV files the directshow built-in MS DV codec gets used.

I was converting a VHS tape to a DVD that was close to two hours in length. Therefore I was not going to be able to encode at much higher than 5300 Kbs. At VideoHelp I once read that noise in the video can waste bitrate trying to recreate the noise, instead of improving the picture. The solution is to run the AVI through filters prior to encoding.

VirtualDub is a poplar free product that allows you to install filters and apply them to an AVI. However it required the Panasonic DV codec, which was not installed on my system.

I installed the codec along with some filters and ran my video through VirtualDub. The filters worked very well for cleaning up the video. I was pretty impressed.

Everything worked great until I went to author the DVD in Ulead DVD Movie Factory. All of the sudden some of the AVI’s would not work in MovieFactory. What was puzzling is that the clips I ran through VirtualDub looked fine but other AVI’s were having issues. I re-rendered a few of the bad AVI’s and discovered that if I rendered as Type 1 AVI they worked fine in MovieFactory.

After a few hours of investigation I learned that the Panasonic DV codec can cause problems with other applications. This codec is for the older Video For Windows (VFW) format. When you install the codec it adds a line to the registry that tells programs to use the codec for that file type of DVSD.

In the header of an AVI file there is something called a 4CC (4 character code) code. This let’s Windows know which codec is needed to play an AVI file. On my XP machine this registry entry is at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32\vidc.dvsd=pdvcodec.dll

When software encounters an AVI with a 4CC of dvsd it knows to use the Panasonic codec.

The Panasonic codec only works with Type-2 DV files. Also VirtualDub must use Type-2 DV since it is a VFW based program.

There are two types of DV format. Type-1and Type-2. Type-1 has the video and audio in one interleaved stream. Type-2 splits the video and audio into separate streams. Not all software will open both types. Type-1 DV AVI files are not compatible with VfW.

VFW(Video For Windows) is the old standard developed to allow Windows software to interface with a wide variety of Video hardware such as Capture cards, webcams and TV-cards. It’s been around since Windows 3.1 and although it is widely supported Microsoft is phasing it out in favor of WDM and DirectShow. DirectShow allows complete access to type-1 and type-2 files.

So anyways…
Ulead MovieFactory was getting confused on which codec to use for the AVI’s I ran through VirtualDub.
There are multiple codecs that can play 4cc(four character codes)=DVSD including
Microsoft DirectShow qdv.dll
Panasonic Codec VFW
For type 1 DV avi files, the directshow built-in MS DV codec gets used.

I had to go into the registry to disable the Panasonic Codec by renaming vidc.dvsd to xvidc.dvsd. Everyting worked great after this.

It’s a pain but I now leave the Panasonic Codec disabled most of the time unless I am going to be using VirtualDub. To enable the Panasonic Codec I go onto the registry and just rename xvidc.dvsd back to vidc.dvsd

I have compiled a quick list of DV camcorders that have “pass through” capabilities. It is not a complete list since I did not include all brands or discontinued models. I will keep adding to this list and start to include older models. If you have any input send me an e-mail

What I found is that DV pass-thru is available on most DV cameras except for the lowest priced models. Pass through does not seem to be as common on DVD camcorders. I suppose it doesn’t make sense to have pass through on a DVD camera but it would be nice to have analog inputs to record to the DVD.

As I mentioned in the capturing section one of the best ways to convert analog sources like VHS and 8mm is to use the pass through feature of a DV camera. When I was starting out I looked at a few different hardware solutions to convert analog sources to DV. I was able to buy a Canon ZR60 camcorder to do the conversions. The fact that I also got a nifty little camcorder out of the deal was a bonus.

You may be able to score a good deal on Ebay for an older Canon or Sony. Just make sure you check the manuals to make sure the camera has pass through capabilities. Pass-through is not always listed as a feature and you may need to dig through a manual at the manufacturers site.

Canon
ZR60
ZR100
ZR200
ZR300
ZR400
Elura 80
Elura 85
Elura 90
Optura S1
Optura 50
Optura 60
Optura 400
Optura 500
Optura 600
No pass through on the DC10 or DC20

Sony
DCR-HC42
DCR-HC32
DCR-PC55
DCR-HC90
DCR-PC1000 (3cc)
DCR-HC21-NO analog
DCR-TRV480
DCR-TRV460

JVC
GRD72US
GR-D73 and GR-D93
GR-DF430US
GR-DF450US
GR-DF550US
GR-DZ7US has analog input but not sure about pass-thru
GR-X5US has analog input but not sure about pass-thru

Panasonic
PV-GS120
PV-GS150
PV-GS250
PV-GS400
PV-DV852

Samsung None

My first machine that was capable to perform video editing was a Dell Pentium 2.4Ghz and worked perfectly fine. My current machine is an HP with an Athlon 64 3700+ 2.2 GHz, 1G Ram, 200GB primary drive, 160GB drive slave and a 250GB external drive.

The good news is that you can get a pretty decent PC for under $1000. The most important features to look for in a video editing machine are the processor and the hard drive.

Minimum features to look for:

• A Real P4 or AMD processor. Avoid the Celeron or Sempron lines.
• At least 160G drive (it is HIGHLY recommended to get a second hard drive of at least 200G)
• 512K ram, 1G is better, more is better still.

I was able to recently price a Dell Dimension 9200 System that had an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 processor, 1G RAM, 250GB hard drive, 19″ monitor and a Firewire port for $849. If I was in the market video editing computer this is what I would buy. I would also upgrade to 2G RAM.

The Processor - AMD VS Intel
Recenty Intel introduced the Core 2 Duo Processors. These processors are THE choice for home video editing at the moment. According to Tom’s Hardware if you compare a Intel Core 2 E6400 to a AMD X2 3800+ there is over a minute difference in their benchmark to encode a 24 second clip.

Last year I essentially said it was a toss up between an Intel or AMD processor. That is no longer the case as I now recommend an Intel Core 2 processor. If you are going to buy an intel based system I would make sure it is a Core 2 system. The Core 2 processors are a major leap in performance from the Pentium 4 and Pentium D.

The Hard Drive - Two is better

There are some that recommend two hard drives for better performance. One for the operating system and programs and the other for your video files. I never had any performance issues using one hard drive. However the reason I recommend two hard drives is to prevent fragmentation of your operating system files. Fragmentation occurs when the operating system stores parts of files in gaps that surround existing files, instead of saving the file in a contiguous space on the hard drive.

When you are saving Gigs and Gigs of video files it is rather amazing how fragmented your hard drive can get.

Windows comes with a utility to defrag a hard drive located at
Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools

Luckily hard drives are rather cheap. I would not buy one less than 200G. An hour of DV video uses about 13 Gigs. If you’re like me you may use two cameras to shoot a concert or recital. Before you know it you need to store 4+ hours of DV video to begin the editing process. Also the programs themselves create scratch or temp files when editing and authoring.

The Video card

For video editing you do not need a high performance video card. For DVD playing and video editing the standard graphics cards work well. If you are a gamer then you will need a high performance video card.

The Monitor

If you can afford the extra $$ get a 19″ LCD. I thought a 17″ would be fine but now I can’t imagine not having the 19″.

The choice of video cards for home movie editing is not important at all. You will be able to capture movies from your camera via firewire, edit and play AVI and MPGEG movies with just a basic video card or your on board graphics.

But what if you do your editing on a machine where you play an occasional game ? Games do require a special graphics card that is more powerful. The reason is that unlike video streams games send mathematical data to the card describing how to draw items. Some games need very complex commands and huge amounts of data describing how to draw textures and shading for objects to make the games look more realistic.

Following is a list of what I recommend for video cards. Whenever I buy products I want my purchase to be future proof. I want a product with technology that will last a few years. I also stay away from bleeding edge technology. Often brand new products are have a high price/performance ratio. In the computer world prices will drop after a product has been released for a while.

Nvidia and ATI are the two primary players in the graphics card world. Vendors take the basic cards by the vendors and place them into their own packages and layer other applications into the package.

Nvidia

• GEforce 6200 - This is the minimum card I would buy from Nvidia. Current prices are in the $55-$75 range. Make sure you do NOT but a 6200TC or Turbo Cache.
  Although it sound it will be faster it is not. Rather than having memory on the video card it uses system memory. The need to pass information to system memory takes time and processing power, which slows things down.
• GEforce 6600

- Good solid card in the $75-$100 dollar price range.

• GEforce 6600GT

- The current sweet spot for video cards. High performance in a price range of $120-$150.

• GeForce 7000 series

- For the video gaming enthusiast. Typically in the $180+ range. Includes
the GeForce 7300, GeForce 7600, GeForce 7900 and GeForce 7900 series.

ATI

• Radeon 9600PRO

Minimum card from ATI. Typically in the $50-$75 range.

• Sapphire Radeon 9800
• Radeon X700 Pro

- This is the competitor to the Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT. $140-$150

• Radeon X800GTP

- a lower clocked version of the X800PRO

• Radeon Radeon X850 XT

- Typically in the $150+ range

• Radeon 1xxx series

- Thes are the enthusiasts models and include the x1300, X1600, X1800 and X1900.

Who’s not for ?
If you enjoy making nice DVD navigation menus and want to create custom chapters then a stand alone DVD recorder is not the end all solution. However a stand alone player can still save you a lot of time because you a bunch of time. You can import the recorder DVD into your computer and re-author it with your custom navigation and chapter points. Your goal is to not re-encode the MPEG stream if you can avoid it.

What to look for in a stand alone recorder
There are a whole bunch of stand alone video recorders on the market starting at prices as low as $100. For the home video enthusiast a feature you will want is noise filtering capabilities. With this feature you can almost always improve the quality of the VHS source. You may want to consider a DVD Recorder that contains the LSI Chipset.

Some recorders also allow you to do some basic “time interval” based menu systems for the final DVD.

The two primary companies that have the best reputation for stand alone DVD recorders are JVC and Panasonic. Let’s take a look at a few of the choices available. The JVC DR-M100 is one of the favorite stand alone DVD recorders with video enthusiasts. The price is about $240. It features noise reduction circuits but not TBC. This unit has a firewire DV input terminal to connect and record digital video content from a DV Camcorder.
The JVC DR-MV5S is essentially the same as the DR-M100 with the addition of a built in S-VHS player/recorder.

The JVC SR-MV40 is part of the JVC professional line of equipment. This is a combo VHS/DVD recorder as well. It is built a little more rugged and features TBC in addition to the other noise reduction circuits. It also features a firewire input so you can transfer directly from a DV camera. The price for this unit is about $380. For this price you are essentially getting a pretty decent S-VHS deck and DVD Recorder in one unit.

JVC issued a press release announcing the DR-M101S DVD recorder and the DR-MV7S is a DVD/VHS recorder combo that includes all of the DR-M101S features plus a Hi-Fi VHS deck. the expected release date is in May 2006. There is no word if the DR-M101 is replacing the M100.

The Panasonic line seems to get favorable reviews at Amazon.com. However some claim if you’re looking to record for up to 4 hours the performance of the JVC decks is superior. After about 2.5 hours of recording time the JVC units will use Half D1(352×480) resolution while Pansonic uses 720×480 D1 resolution out to four hours. Because of this the Panasonic has to use a lower bit-rate which creates macroblocks and artifacting.

Which unit is right for you depends on your needs. If you’re recording TV shows and using the unit as a VCR and VHS Transfers then the JVC wins hands down. If you’re using the unit to record or transfer less than 2 hours of material the Panasonic will do a fine job.

One cool feature of the Panasonic units is something they call Time Slip. This feature allows you to perform TIVO like functions.

The Panasonic DMR-ES10 is a stand alone recorder for leas than $200. The ES20 adds a firewire connector. The DMR-ES40VS has a built in VCR player as well.

Each of the major companies also have models with built in hard drives. The addition of a hard drive allows these units to get more TIVO like in features such as the ability to freeze live TV and store shows to a hard drive and decide what to burn later on. Some of the hard drive models also feature enhanced menu authoring tools.