INTRODUCTION
DVD Authoring & Production is the result of more than six years of practical experience authoring and producing DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, and WebDVD titles. When I started developing DVD titles in early 1996 there was almost no documentation or literature available that described the process of producing a DVD title. In 1997 Jim Taylor’s DVD Demystified was published and has since become the bible for everyone in the DVD business. DVD Demystified is a great book, and I strongly encourage anyone getting into DVD to buy a copy, but it is primarily a technical book. While both books cover some of the same material, DVD Authoring & Production provides an in-depth look at the process of authoring and producing DVD titles. Conversely, DVD Demystified provides an in-depth look at the technical details of the DVD specifications, the history of DVD and it’s predecessors, as well as the future of the format. To sum it all up, DVD Demystified answers the question “Why DVD?”, while DVD Authoring & Production answers the question “How do I make a DVD?”. Although I am somewhat biased, I truly believe having both DVD Demystified and DVD Production & Authoring is worthwhile, particularly if you are directly involved with the authoring or production of DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, or WebDVD titles.
In writing DVD Authoring & Production I have drawn on my knowledge and experience gained in designing, authoring, and producing over 200 DVD titles. Developing a DVD title is still a fairly complicated process. A large number of issues can delay the completion of the project and result in a final product that does not meet all of your requirements. As you read DVD Production & Authoring you will see that there is more to producing a successful DVD title than just using a DVD authoring program to create a valid DVD disc image. In fact, the actual authoring of a DVD disc is just one of a dozen steps in the process, and is often the easiest part of the project.
During the year 2000, I completed over 25 new DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, and WebDVD titles. I am planning on releasing another 25 or so during 2001. Every time I complete a project, I feel that I have learned something new about the process of producing and authoring DVD titles. When I start a new project, I try to use a DVD feature in a new or different way, or some new combination of features that I have never used before. The DVD-Video format is an extremely rich multimedia-publishing medium. I am convinced that just about anything is possible in DVD as long as you have the desire, and patience, to make it happen.
As with skinning cats, there is more than one way to author and produce a DVD title. I will outline a process that has worked well for me over the past five years, and one that I believe will also work for you. However, as you become more proficient at developing DVD titles you’ll find you need to use your own experience and knowledge to amend or modify the process I discuss in this book to suit your own specific business needs.
Who Should Read this Book?
Anyone who is involved in the production or authoring of DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, and WebDVD titles should read this book. The book covers every aspect of the DVD production and authoring process, so it may not be necessary for everyone to read every section of the book. For example, if you are only involved in the process of authoring DVD-Video titles, then you should definitely read Chapters 1–6, which discuss the process of producing DVD titles as well as the details of DVD authoring, and refer to Chapters 10 and 11, but you probably won’t need to read Chapters 7–9, which cover Enhanced DVD, DVD-ROM, and the business aspects of producing DVD titles. Similarly, if your primary interest is in the production or sales of DVD titles, then you should read Chapters 1–3, covering the process of producing DVD titles, as well as Chapter 9, which covers the business of producing DVD titles.
Naturally, I would like everyone to read every chapter. Realistically, this is simply not practical in the fast-paced world of DVD title production. I have organized the book so that you can either read it from start to finish to fully understand the DVD production process, or read a chapter at a time to bone up on one specific DVD production issue. Finally, it is my hope that this book will become a useful tool for DVD producers and developers to improve their projects as they learn more about the process of developing DVD titles and bringing them to the market.
How Is this Book Organized?
DVD Authoring & Production includes eleven chapters and an index. Chapter 2 provides details on each of the DVD formats (DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, and DVD-RW). Chapter 2 also discusses the “unofficial” DVD formats (DVD+RW and SACD). Chapter 3 presents a step-by-step process for authoring and producing DVD titles. Chapter 4 covers entry level DVD authoring, concentrating on the use of low-end or consumer authoring tools. Chapter 5 covers mid-range DVD authoring, while Chapter 6 covers advanced DVD authoring. Chapter 7 covers enhanced DVD authoring, and Chapter 8 covers DVD-ROM authoring. Chapter 9 provides an in-depth look at the business aspects of DVD production and authoring. Chapter 10 reviews most of the major software and hardware tools required to develop DVD titles, as well as major DVD authoring service providers. Finally, Chapter 11 provides a detailed glossary of DVD terms and acronyms with definitions.
If you turn to the back of DVD Production & Authoring you will see that we have included a copy of StarGaze, one of my recent consumer DVD releases. I am a firm believer that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I wanted to include supplemental content to illustrate the DVD authoring and production processes discussed in the book. Rather than include a custom disc, which demonstrates specific features of the DVD specifications, I thought it would be better to include an example of a real world DVD title.
Real World Example
As you read DVD Production & Authoring you will see Real World Example boxes like this. These boxes will refer to a section of StarGaze that illustrates a specific step in the authoring and production process, or explains a concept discussed in the book.
In the end your goal is to author and produce DVD titles that do well in the consumer, corporate, or educational market places. I think you will understand this process better with a thorough evaluation of a real world DVD project, such as StarGaze. If you would like to see a DVD title that demonstrates as many DVD-Video features as possible, I suggest you buy the second edition of DVD Demystified, which includes just such a demonstration and test disc.
Tips, Tricks & Techniques
Throughout DVD Production & Authoring you will also find Tips, Tricks & Techniques boxes, which offer some common sense advice on how to author and produce DVD titles.
A Brief History of DVD
DVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc, was born in 1996 from a marriage of two competing optical disc technologies. DVD was developed by a group of ten consumer electronics companies, called the DVD Forum, who agreed on a set of technical specifications for each DVD format. Initially five specifications were published, including DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, DVD-R, and DVD-RAM. Recently a specification for DVD-RW has also been added to the list of “official” DVD formats. The DVD Forum has published “official” DVD formats, while “unofficial” DVD formats are those that are compatible with at least one official DVD format, but provide other features as well. DVD+RW is an example of an unofficial DVD format as it can read DVD-ROM discs, but can also read and write DVD+RW discs, which are not documented in any DVD Forum publications. The original members of the DVD Forum included Hitachi, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. LTD (also known as Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Philips Electronics, Pioneer Electronics, Sony Corporation, Thomson Multimedia, Time Warner, Toshiba Corporation, and Victor Company of Japan.
Prior to 1996 there were two competing groups of companies, one led by Sony, and the other by Toshiba. Each group was trying to develop proprietary high-density optical-disc formats to be used in the next generation of consumer electronics and personal computer products. Fortunately these two groups joined forces and agreed to form the DVD Forum. The DVD Forum actively encouraged participation from members of the entertainment and computer industries so that the DVD format had a broad base of support in both the consumer and computer electronics areas. The DVD Forum now has over 200 members representing a broad spectrum of companies offering a wide variety of DVD related products and services.
The early years of DVD were difficult and in many cases frustrating. DVD was viewed with some interest by many Hollywood studios looking to publish their content on a high quality medium, but they were concerned over copyright protection and conditional access issues. Several major motion picture studios such as Time Warner and Universal Pictures were committed to releasing their movies on DVD, while the rest of the studios remained uncommitted pending resolution of these copyright issues. The issue of how to protect content once it was distributed on a DVD-Video disc was the topic of a number of discussions between members of the DVD Forum and representatives from the motion picture and software industries. In late June of 1996 representatives from the computer, consumer-electronics and movie industries signed off on a technical working group recommendation for encrypting all data stored on DVD-Video discs and including decryption hardware in DVD Video players. During September and October of 1996 proposals from the computer industry recommending an alternative method of encrypting just the video content were considered and accepted by the Copyright Protection Technical Working Group. Finally in November 1996 all parties agreed to a specific set of analog and digital copy protection methods.
The first DVD-Video players were sold in Japan starting in November of 1996. The U.S. market for DVD-Video players and DVD-ROM drives was launched during early 1997. Initial projections for sales of DVD-Video players were quite optimistic, with many estimates as high as 2 million units or more sold during the first year. Actual sales fell far short of these initial projections due primarily to the high cost of consumer DVD-Video players as well as the limited number of DVD titles released by the major motion picture studios. When the DVDVideo format was officially launched in the U.S. on March 17, 1997 there were less than 200 titles available in only seven regional test markets. DVD went nationwide in the U.S. on August 22, 1997, although there were still several major motion picture studios not supporting the format, including Disney, Fox, and Paramount.
During 1997 a number of respected industry analysts expressed concerns over the viability of the DVD format. Some experts predicted that the DVD format would fail in its effort to become a viable home entertainment format, becoming a niche product only for high-end audio and videophiles. These predictions seemed justified by the failure of the Laser Disc format to break into the mainstream consumer market.
In September 1997 things started to look up for DVD as Disney announced that they would be releasing their non-animated movies on DVD, leaving only Fox and Paramount as major studios who were still not supporting DVD. Actual sales of DVD-Video players in the U.S. market during 1997 were only about 315,000 units, well below the industry predictions. While the future of DVD was looking brighter, total sales of DVD players and titles were below expectations, and it was not clear that DVD would become a success.
In April 1998 Paramount decided to release DVD versions of their movies, and Fox followed suit in August 1998. With all of the major motion picture studios now on board the future looked much brighter for DVD. Over 1,000,000 DVD-Video players were sold in the U.S. market during 1998, while at the same time the European DVD market was launched. Initial sales in Europe were slow due to a lack of Region 2 titles, as well as resistance by many consumers who did not want to purchase DVD players that due to region coding prevented them from watching movies released in the US. To this day most Europeans despise the use of Region Coding by the studios, while most American consumers don’t even know that their players can only play Region 1 titles. By the end of 1998 with a worldwide installed base of over 2,000,000 players and more than 1,000 titles available, most of the critics of DVD had been silenced. All of the major motion picture studios had commitments to release their entire catalogs on DVD, as well as many independent distributors and smaller studios.
By the end of 1999 DVD had become the fastest growing consumer electronics product ever. Over 4,000,000 DVD-Video players were sold in the U.S. market alone during 1999, and remarkably there were almost 4,000 DVD titles available by year-end. Perhaps the biggest news during 1999 was Circuit City’s decision to abandon DIVX, its proprietary pay per view version of DVD. Circuit City had spent several years, and over $200,000,000 to develop DIVX, but in the end bowed to pressure from consumers who did not like certain technological aspects of the DIVX business model, including the ability to track consumer viewing habits and advanced copy protection features that only allowed movies to be played on DVD players registered to a specific household.
DVD solidified its claim to the most successful new consumer electronics format during 2000. In the U.S. market over 8,000,000 new DVD-Video players were sold and over 8,000 titles were available in the DVD format by the end of the year. The European market also grew significantly during 2000 with most major motion picture studios releasing specific versions of their movies for Europe, rather than simply repackaging the US versions of each release. The year 2000 was also a watershed year for DVD in several other areas. DVD branched out from the movie business to become a mainstream technology for corporate, educational, and government applications. DVD-ROM drives became common options for new consumer and corporate personal computers, and a large number of products and services were announced to help corporate, educational, and government clients move into the world of DVD. DVD-Video players were available in the U.S. for less than $100, and DVDROM drives became a no-cost option on many higher-end personal computers. The year 2000 ended in a bang for DVD with several recordable DVD products released worldwide, addressing the only major drawback to widespread adoption of the DVD format — the inability for the consumer to record their own content onto DVD discs.
While it is always difficult to predict how consumers will react to new technologies, it is clear that DVD will be successful for many years to come. DVD-Video is firmly entrenched as a mainstream high quality, low cost home entertainment format. Over the next few years DVD-ROM will replace CD-ROM as the standard optical disc format in all consumer and corporate personal computers. DVD-Audio products will come on the market during 2001, and it will compete directly with the new Super Audio CD format. It is too early to tell if DVD-Audio or Super Audio CD will be accepted as a mainstream replacement for CD-Audio technology, which is firmly entrenched worldwide. Finally the DVD-R, DVD-RAM, and DVD-RW formats will start to offer consumers the ability to create and record their own high quality content on recordable DVD discs. The future of DVD looks very bright; in fact, DVD is likely to be a dominant technology over the next decade.
Figure 1.1 shows the projected growth of DVD over the next ten years. (Source: DVD Intelligence, and independent market surveys.) It is easy to see from this graph that DVD has just begun its dominance as a critical component in consumer home entertainment products.
