You would need to create the optional video in Vegas. Then make it another DVD track option, same as if it was another video.

Dave T2

Consider subtitles too.
That's very easy to do in Vegas or, if the video is already edited, in DVD Architect.

Mike

The way I'd do it (and I am not certainly not saying that this is "best" or even great) is as follows:

1. Render my original project (without PIP) to MPEG-2 file. Render the audio to AC-3. Put these into DVD Architect and create your navigation, etc., etc.

2. Go back to Vegas. Add another track. Put your signer on that track and sync up to the original track (how do you do this if you don't know sign language??). Use track motion on the signage track to create the PIP effect.

3. Render this alternative version to another MPEG-2 file.

4. Go back to DVD Architect and add this second MPEG-2 file as a track below first video track. This will create an "angle." Go to the DVDA help file and look under "angle" to get more information on how to do this.

Make sure to keep your bitrate low enough to handle both video tracks, the audio track, subtitle track, etc. The maximum bitrate is lower for multiple angles.

How low can the bitrate be without noticable loss of quality?

How low can the bitrate be without noticable loss of quality?

You have to do your own tests. Take about thirty seconds of footage that has a fair amount of motion in it. Encode it at various bitrates and put all of them on a DVD re-writeable. Watch on a really good monitor. Watch each one multiple times.

Make sure to include one encode with a REALLY low bitrate (and these are average bitrates!!) like 2,000,000 bps. That will help you easily see the kinds of artifacts you are looking for.

You have to do this test; I can't give you an answer. The reason is that every combination of framerate, content, contrast, brightness, motion, color, and dozens of other variables DRAMATICALLY affects the quality of the encode at lower bitrates. You could do a well-lit talking head interview at virtually zero bitrate and it would probably look great.

DVDA re compresses the video when you use angles. So if you render it as mpeg-2 it will re-compress that. I just did 15 DVD's with 3 angles & found it easiest to render to DV-AVI with no audio. Then let DVDA do the compressing/resizing.