What is DVD Authoring mean?

rddag wrote on 1/28/2005, 4:50 AM

Hi everyone I'm new here and a beginner, hope you can help me.
I have a Digital8 camera and want to get them on to DVD's whithout loosing any picture quality, which I haven't been able to figure out yet. but would also like to do some editing to make them look nicer.

1. My first question is what is DVD authoring mean? what does it do?

2. If Vegas Movie Studio can Burn DVD's (which the trail version I downloaded wouldn't let you do) why do I need DVD Architect? What will it do that I need? I have Screenblaster 2.0 so I'm a little familar with Vegas Movie studio.

3 How do I burn DVD's from my Digital8 camera without loosing any picture quality? That's my main concern.

Thanks for any help I can get.
Rich.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 1/28/2005, 5:31 AM

1. A DVD is more than just a video file. It (usually) includes menus, title screens, clickable buttons for chapters, etc. Setting up all these extra features is authoring. The authoring software will also format the video files properly for DVD players to read them. It translates the MPEG-2 files into the VOB files that you see on a DVD.

2. Vegas Movie Studio is able to burn DVDs because it includes DVD Architect Studio. DVDAS is the part of the package that handles the authoring and burning. VMS by itself can only burn VCDs, not DVDs.

3. You can't. There will always be a loss of quality. Even the commercial Hollywood DVDs are lower quality than the original material. This is simply a fact of compressing the information to fit on a DVD. However, you can retain most of the quality by using higher bitrates, 2-pass encoding, and starting with good video to begin with. Lighting is a very critical factor. Dark video does not compress well. Dark video also usually contains a lot of noise, and the noise will steal a lot of the bits from the rest of the picture. Well lit, composed, and focused video will retain more of the original quality than dark, noisy, blurry images will.

RBaker wrote on 1/31/2005, 10:05 AM

Hi rddag, I am using a Digital8 camera as well.

1. DVD Authoring just means taking your own video footage and adding music and menus if desired to create a DVD that can be played in most DVD players.

2. I have Screenblast 3, but I have usually been using Nero or TMPENG to burn my DVDs. I can't remember if Screenblast 3 will burn DVDs. DVD Architect is included in the lastest Screenblast/Movie Studio so you can burn DVDs.

3. You can create high quality DVDs. Just expriement a little with the settings.