DVD authoring

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DVD authoring refers to the overall process in which the prototype (master) of a DVD is generated from different content (film, video, images, soundtracks, subtitles, etc.). DVD authoring is an intermediate step between post- production and duplication. Post-processing includes film editing , animation , retouching and synchronization , while duplication means pure replication in the DVD press shop . Everything in between belongs to the generic term authoring.

The result of authoring in the professional and conventional sense is therefore not an executable burned DVD-R, but corresponds to layer data in DDP format , which are made available to the press shop by standard on DLT tapes (nowadays also on removable hard drives, etc.). With a single-layer DVD-5, one data record or tape is generated, with a two-layer DVD-9, two tapes and records are generated. The pressing plant then uses the layer data made available to it to create the so-called glass master , the positive for the subsequent physical pressing. Although all authoring programs are now able to generate executable burned DVD-R, such a self-burned DVD is only suitable to a limited extent for playback purposes and not at all for the preliminary stage to the pressing plant, as it is important for the latter Memory areas are missing.

On the one hand, authoring focuses on encoding , which means the process by which film and sound content is converted in accordance with standards. On the other hand, the focus is on the consumer-friendly preparation of content, consequently on the design of interactive menus and the associated, also case-dependent programming, so that it is ultimately possible for the user to navigate through the contents of the DVD in a simple manner or even play simple interactive games. The characteristic feature of DVD-Video is essentially the ability to consume one and the same audiovisual content (e.g. film) from different perspectives ( = multi-angle view ), with different audio tracks ( = multi-language ) and different subtitles.

DVD authoring also includes presetting the region code ( = country code ) and, above all, applying copy protection , which, according to the DVD spec sheet, primarily includes Macrovision and CSS . Here, the protection itself is not applied, but only the information about which parts of the DVD are to be protected. With CSS, a so-called VOBTABLE is generated for this purpose, a table with the relative memory addresses of the individual objects to be protected, for example the physical start addresses of the video objects ( = VOBs ).

There are various DVD authoring applications on the market with widely differing functional ranges and price structures. However, only a few programs meet the full standard, such as Sonic Scenarist for PC and, to a certain extent, DVD Studio Pro from Apple , the majority of them are more amateur and semi-professional due to the lack of functionality and testing options .

Software (selection)

Proprietary software

Not further developed software:

Free software

  • DVDStyler (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)
  • GUI for dvdauthor / MuxMan (Windows)
  • QDVDAuthor (Linux)
  • dvdflick (Windows, Linux)
  • IsoBuster (Windows - allows reading unfinalized DVDs)
  • Bombono (GNU / Linux)

See also