Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 10/27/2009, 7:18 PM
Let DVDA pick your break point.
If you choose your own, DVDA might not like it.
ImgBurn will also give you break point options.
Jessariah67 wrote on 10/27/2009, 8:45 PM
I guess my question is - where does that happen? Is it part of the render process, or something you can set in one of the project settings?

Thanks.

K
musicvid10 wrote on 10/27/2009, 9:39 PM
Assuming your project properties are correct, it pops up when you prepare or burn your project.

There are options for "Project Media Size" in Project Properties.
4.70 GB is understood to mean "Single Layer," or DVD5 disc.
8.50 GB is understood to mean "Double Layer," or DVD9 disc.
MPM wrote on 11/1/2009, 7:15 AM
Background:
On a DVD, audio/video content is divided up into cells. Some or all of these cells can also be chapters, and they have special flags marking how 1 cell will transition to the next. The Layer Break is normally at the [only] cell that does not have the seamless flag set, & will also be noted elsewhere specifically as the layer break when the DVD's prepared using some other software. A layer break is ideally at the 50% point of *all* the data that goes on a DVD, including menus etc, but that's a target, not something you'll often achieve.

Design:
When a player encounters the layer break, the laser is going to reverse direction. Depending on the player (& it's amount of RAM buffer etc), the layer break can be noticeable as a break in continuity, so best/common practice it to set the break when there's a minimum going on. If you've got multiple titles, in between the titles it a great place. If you've got a large video that has to be split, the quietest scene possible (visually & audio) works very well. It's not unheard of to go the extra mile and edit your layer break scene in Vegas before encoding, for example creating a dip in audio levels.

Creating:
DVDA will only create a cell when you insert a chapter point. If you want a chapter where your layer break occurs, that's fine. If not, create/design your DVD as normal, then as a last step before prep add the chapter where your layer break goes, prepare the DVD to hdd, then open it in PGCEdit & remove the extra chapter.

Burning/creating ISO:
ImgBurn is pretty much a standard, & it will allow you to choose your layer break, BUT, an extra step in PGCEdit will often help ensure success if you're burning to disc... With your DVD open in PGCEdit, create the ISO there -- using cheaper DL blanks I rarely have a problem, whereas using ImgBurn alone I've had between 30 & 40% failure rate.