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Can You Produce Your Own DVDs?
BillGodfrey asks: "I'm a small director (okay, I'm not, this is just academic
question) and I would like to produce DVDs for use on regular players.
However, I don't want to buy into any cartels, and I'd like
to avoid as many 'stupid moves' as possible (no region codes, allowing
fast forward, etc). How would I go about producing a master and getting copies produced?" Would non-profits and small time organizations need to pay the same production fees for a small run of content as major motion picture firms pay? Or is there still a loophole which the general public can use? We're not necessarily talking free, here...a discount would suffice. Update: 09/15 03:49 PM by C :Ugh! The atrocious grammar in the title has been fixed.
Okay. Here goes.
As far as I know, CSS is completely optional. I am not 100% sure on this point, but pretty close. Thus, you can make a DVD with just straight MPEG2 system-streams and it will play fine on any player.
I know for SURE that region coding is optional. All you do is have the region code be at zero.... actually, just forget about it. TOTALLY FORGET about it. It only really applies if you're using CSS to scramble the content; otherwise, no need to unscramble it.
Macrovision is something that is done in the player hardware, it has nothing to do with the bits on the disk. Thus..... to sum it up.... all you need, to make a DVD, is the ability to create MPEG2 system streams, put them in the proper VOB files, and make a few other files of which I don't really know how they work. Then, just slap it all into a gigantic UDF filesystem, and burn.
As for the burning side.... well, that's another matter. Someone else can answer that bit.
Have a nice day!
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OK so I didnt write a book on it, but the company I work for builds systems for DVD authoring, Non-linear editing and 3D... basicly here is how it works. You edit your video to a finished product and output it in either a .avi or Quicktime depending on your platform. From there you take the final file and encode it to a Mpeg2 using either a hardware encoder board "real time" or a software encoder "long render" hardware cost more, software less all... basicly how much you want to pay or wait. Now the product is a Mepg2 "note there are many flavors of Mpeg2, only a few will make a DVD" You also can encode to different bit rates "within the DVD spec" depending on what your doing witht he output. Kinda like TiVo, high bit rate for sports or action, lower for talking heads. Now the Mpeg2 can be authored with a application that puts in menu's, titles, chapters... etc. Now you create a master on the harddrive of the DVD, then burn the DVD to a DVD-R for mastering... its not yet an exact science. Need more info or interested? Email me
DVD-R Burner. Pioneer makes a DVD-R drive (Model DVR-S201) which according to spec will write a DVD-R which is readable in a Consumer DVD player. It also will support "Cutting Master Format" which will (in theory) allow you to burn a DVD and send it off to be pressed into "real" DVD's. About $5k.
Mastering Software and Capture Hardware. There's a whole bunch of options. I was looking at the stuff from Pinnacle Systems. I was more specifically looking at the DV500 product. It runs about $1000, but includes not only a Video codec (ala capture card), but also all the software you need to get going with DVD production. There are also other options, but this seemed to be the best value.
The best store I located on the net which has all of the above, plus more is videoguys.com
Good Luck!
Check out this website:
It should answer some questions. It IS possible to do it all with a decent PC and DVD-R burner. Total cost for hardware plus software? Prolly $15K. Maybe less if you shop around or get by with a lesser PC.
Good luck!
-sid