I am going to be selling DVD's from a web site. This will not be Video on Demand it will be actual sale of a finished DVD.

What format is the best to render to and then make copies. MPEG1 MPEG 2, AVI, WMV, etc.

I am assuming that the purchasers will want to play the DVD's either on a computer or a home DVD player.

Also, what DVD format to burn to +R or -R

What format is the best to render to and then make copies. MPEG1 MPEG 2, AVI, WMV, etc.

I am assuming that the purchasers will want to play the DVD's either on a computer or a home DVD player.

Also, what DVD format to burn to +R or -RIf you want the DVD to play on a home DVD player, than you have to use DVD authoring software and MPEG-2 encoding to create a disc that's compatible with the video DVD specification. You can't just put the encoded video file(s) on a data DVD. There's lots of software out there to choose from to do this.

Also, there seems to be an impact that the media/manufacturer has on player compatibility. Many of us like Taiyo Yuden media because of its reputation to play well in most standard players. I use their DVD-R media. Use single-layer discs only if compatibility with standard players is important.

- Martin

I have been using Sony Movie Studio Platinum and I can render the edit to a MPEG-2 file.

If I burn this file to DVD-R will that give me a playable disk? Or, is there something else between the file and the burn to disk that I will have to do.

I checked the rendering portion of the program and there are variety of choices with a MPEG-2 render. The two that directly relate to what I will be burning are.......

DVD NTSC

&

DVD Architect NTSC DVD Video Stream

The default that comes up is the DVD NTSC

I have burned a lot of MPEG-1 and WMV disks for computer use and those work well.

I have a 4 up DVD tower and I can burn two more in the computer.

Hi Michael,

As Martin said, in order for your DVD's to play on all set top DVD players you will have to "author" the disc using a program that will make it readable. the most basic disc will just play when put into the player. Discs with menus subtitles, etc. can also be created using the authoring software. The files on the disc will have an extension of .vob, .ifo, or .bup. They will be in a directory named VIDEO_TS. There may also be a directory named AUDIO_TS with nothing in it. These are the standards for DVD's.

The video encoding itself will be MPEG2 but will have some specific parameters required to ensure that they will play on DVD's. If your authoring software can take correctly encoded MPEG2 files and just make the vob's without rerendering then you can have your editing software render to dvd compliant MPEG2 files. If your authoring software will rerender no matter what I would render to an AVI. If you have it render to an MPEG2 then on top of that your authoring software rerenders it, you will loose a lot of quality.

The best way to make multiple copies is to create an image of the finalized disc, then burn the image to the each blank DVD. ImageBurn is a free program that is excellent for this. I shoot and produce local plays, dance recitals, festivals, and sell the DVD's. I average about 50 copies per event so it is not enough to make outsourcing of the DVD duplication practical so I have to do it all in house.

I have found fewer compatibility issues using DVD+R discs but that does also depend on the maker of the burner you use. I also use DVD+R DL discs for longer DVD's. This is where it is important to use an image to burn the discs so your sure the break point is consistent and occurs where you don't notice it. All my discs I sell are inkjet printed so for the DL discs that leaves only two options and I've found that only Verbatim discs give acceptable results. For the DVD+R's I use Memorex and Verbatim discs (again all inkjet printable).

I don't use Sony Movie Studio but from what you said it sounds like it passes the rendered file off to DVDA which prepares the DVD. I use Sony Vegas and DVDA (separate program) so maybe Movie Studio just bundles the two functions. From what you wrote it sounds like it should work. If you choose the "DVD Architect NTSC DVD Video Stream" options it probably won't have sound so you'll have to render that separately and pass it onto the authoring software. This is a good idea anyway. I usually render the Video stream to a DVD compliant MPEG2 file and then render the sound as an AC3 fiile. This saves a lot of space and allows me to have a higher bitrate fo the video.

Good luck,
Garrett

If you want the best DVD player compatability then author to the DVD standard, bypass the make your own process and go with replicated disks. Figure about $1,000 for 300 discs in cases with printed cover, assembly, shrinkwraped and barcode. This works out to about $3.30 per disk. Check out companies similar to discmakers.com. I have had 0 returns with this process. If you anticipate sales well below 300 then its best to go back to DVD-R. You can still have a company duplicate 100 and package retail ready for much less. Remember if you go the replicated route you can save money by doing your own artwork and DVD authoring. If you have to buy the software to do this (Illustrator or other high end graphics software that can produce .eps files) then it might be cheaper to have the replication company do it for you. Although Adobe Illustrator can be downloaded as a fully functional 30-day trial. I think some companies are just beginning to take lower quality .psd artwork files. I heard of some company that can convert .psd files to .eps (cmk) files for a fee but can't recall there name right now.

Good Luck.

I have dug further and included in the Sony program is DVD Architect Studio. I will be loading that program into the computer tonight.

Then I will learn how to use it and author my programs.

I am not looking a big volumes of DVD's. Really onesy, twosy kind of deals. I can burn 10 of each and inventory them. If they sell I will burn more.

I'm sure once I start learning the Archtect program I will have more questions

Thanks all.

I'll be back soon with more newbie questions.