DVD Authoring Hardware and Software Buyer's Guide (page 2)
DVD and Blu-ray Disc Media
DVD and BD media is ever-evolving, and BD capacities are getting bigger and bigger. A single-layer DVD-R/-RW disc (there are also DVD+R/+RW discs, which are very similar) can hold up to 4.7 gigabytes (GB) of data, video and/or audio.
A dual-layer disc can hold up to 8.54GB. A dual-layer disc is a DVD that has two layers within one side of the disc, as opposed to dual-sided discs, which have 4.7GB capacities, but on both sides of the disc. Next time you're watching a major studio DVD release, you may notice a quick pause about halfway through the movie. This is your DVD player's optical system re-focusing to the second layer of the DVD. DVD-9 discs are industry-standard and hold up to 8.54GB.
Many of the discs have special coatings on the top to make printing directly onto the disc easier. These coatings make the discs water- and smudge-proof, providing protection to the labels.
Blu-ray Discs (BD-R/-RW) have capacities ranging from 25GB to 50GB, with newer discs coming out with capacities of 100GB or more. Thanks to the larger size discs, you can add less compression to the original source material during encoding, which makes for higher-quality discs.
Conclusion
There are many different types of software, hardware and DVD media for a DVD author to choose from, and also different encoding options. My advice is to consider what system you're using (Mac or Windows PC) and then try out the various software applications on the market, which are usually offered as a limited trial. With hardware, look for solid reviews and talk to colleagues to see what they recommend.
When it comes to encoding, the professional software applications provide options that help you determine how long the project is (total running time), how much compression to use and the size of the disc. It's good to experiment with these options, or you can use the fully-manual commands. Then, burn and watch the DVDs to see if audio and video quality is being maintained and whether or not the final encode can actually fit on the DVD. Consumer applications usually do all the encoding automatically.
Finally, when choosing DVD media, try not to use brands you're not familiar with. There have been many instances where cheap discs fail during burning or playback, producing more unusable "DVD coasters" than ones that actually work.
Heath McKnight is a filmmaker and writer who co-wrote the book, HDV: What You NEED to Know, Volume 2, from VASST.
Disc Burner Manufacturer's List
Click here to download a PDF Disc Burner Manufacturer's list of Videomaker's DVD Authoring Hardware and Software Buyer's Guide.
Disk Authoring Manufacturer's List
Click here to download a PDF Disk Authoring Manufacturer's list from Videomaker's DVD Authoring Hardware and Software Buyer's Guide.
