There is definitly a problem. I submitted the problem to tech support. It looks like jacket image's left edge is aligned on the left boundry of the title safe area.. Image compliations using the same images line up fine.

Ed B

I replaced the JACKET_P folder with one from a commercial DVD and burned a DVD. The jacket picture displays fine. DVDA-3 must be creating the jacket picture(s) incorrectly.

Ed B

I've read a couple of posts about creating jacket pictures, in 3 sizes, with specific names, on a different forum. Seems as though they are in mpeg format and must meet certain requirements to be compliant. The manual for DVDA-3 doesn't seem to provide any information about this, other than telling you where to stick your photo, er, so to speak...

Does DVDA-3 accept just one "standard" picture (say, a jpeg, png or bmp) and do all the rest in the prepare stage, or is there a better set of instructions somewhere to be had in the Sony documentation?

DVDA-3 accepts a PSD, JPG, PNG,... photo as a jacket photo. If the photo is not the correct format DVDA-3 will post an error message. DVDA-3 will do all the rest and generate the 3 mpeg files in the JACKET_P folder. The problem I am reporting is DVDA-3 does not generate the mpegs correctly. If I copy a "correct" JACKET_P folder from another source to the DVDA-3 project directory and burn the DVD with DVDA-3 the jacket picture works fine.

Ed B

I have run some additional tests that may clarify the problem and included some pictures that I hope will help.

The jacket image appears to be sized incorrectly by DVDA-3. The screen capture of the jacket picture from the DVDA-3 JACKET_P folder is http://ecbaldwin.home.mindspring.com/DVDA-3%20Jacket%20Picture.jpg Note the picture does not fill the frame horizontally. There are black bands on the left and right. Next is a screen capture JACKET_P folder from a commercial DVD. http://ecbaldwin.home.mindspring.com/Commercial%20Jacket%20Picture.jpg Note the image fills the frame. There are no black bands. I hope this clarifies the problem.

In summary, the jacket picture created by DVDA-3 appears it is not resized correctly. The jacket picture just fills the "Action Area" and I believe it should fill the whole screen as commercial DVD's jacket pictures.

Ed B

What size was the image that you gave DVDA? 720x480? 720x540? 654x480?

Maybe you need to take DV's pixel aspect ratio into account when you create images for jacket pictures. (Still don't know if my player supports jacket images, still haven't experimented with them.) I have no idea if DVDA corrects the PAR for them. The fact that there are black bars on the left and right would seem to indicate, though, that the issue has to do with either the aspect ratio of the picture itself or of its pixels. If your images have been 720x480, try 720x540. If they've been 720x540 or 655x480 (or in that ballpark), try 720x480.

Doubt it's a safe area issue -- safe areas are just guides for the DVD designer (you).

Rob