2 ? re DVD spec
 

I have an upcoming project to create an information DVD for a local electronics retailer's show window - to be played on a large flat panel display. It will promote in-store seminars, store policies, product lines and information. I'm wondering whether the DVD spec requires that there be an audio track, even if it is a silent one.

I have created playable DVD-R video by copying the Video_TS folder to DVD-R. I believe I read somewhere that good disks required an Audio_TS folder even though it's empty. Is there a risk to compatibility in omitting it?

Thanks for any input.

David Hurdon

You should not worry about things like VIDEO_TS folders etc. Let
your authoring/burning program(s) worry about such details. I
never even check if Nero for example makes an AUDIO_TS folder
and I've seen plenty of discs without one.

I'm not sure whether a movie requires an audio track or not. I
think it does. Just include a silent one to be safe? Shouldn't be
too much of an effort to do this.

I agree, Rob, that when the DVD is created out of the authoring application there's no reason to notice the file set involved. The disks I was referring to were made as data disks by burning the Video_TS file in a DVD writing application, not the authoring package. It's much faster to duplicate a disk this way than to have each copy created in, for example, MyDVD 5.2, which is mainly what I use. I tried writing the DVD to hard disk and then burning it to DVD-R like any other data backup. When I found it played properly in my DVD set top boxes AND took so much less time to create I got interested.


David Hurdon

NEVER EVER make a DVD-ROM/data disk for playing in a DVD
player. That is NOT the way to go forward.

However, I do believe you are using the incorrect words to
describe what you are doing.

First: what DVD writing application is this you are using and
what burning / project mode / setting did yo use for this?

A DVD data/ROM disk does not have the correct layout. It might
work, but it is not DVD-Video compliant AT ALL.

In the instance I described, Rob, I used MyDVD 5.2 to author the project and then "burned" it to the hard drive. Then I used PrimoDVD to burn that disk image to DVD-R. I don't specifically recall the settings but I do recall burning a couple of coasters, for the first time in recent memory, before I got the right settings for closing the disk etc.
To be clear, are you saying that if you had a DVD-ROM deck and a DVD burner in the same PC that you would not advise doing a disk to disk copy for reasons of player compatibility?

David Hurdon

You are mixing up a load of things and it is hard to explain them.

You can most definitely do a disc-to-disc copy, heck you could
do that even with a hollywoord disc if it weren't protected (yes,
I know there are tools, but that's besides the point).

So if you have burned one disc you can use any burning program
to burn another.

When you say "burn" to the harddrive that is not possible. That
is called making a disk image. This can be either one file in
formats like iso/bin/img etc. or a VIDEO_TS directory on your
harddisk.

If it is the former (iso/bin/img) you have no problem since the
layout is already contained inside these files. If it is the latter
you must be careful. In this case it is nothing more than just
files which need to be transformed into the right order.

I do not know PrimoDVD but since it has DVD in its name I assume
it will take care of this for you in the correct order which you being
able to play the disc seems to concur with that.

In this case you actually HAVE created a DVD-video disk, not a
DVD-rom/data disk. But you say, if I put it in my DVD player/burner
I can see the files so it must be a data/rom disk. Well yes and
no. It is *A* form of a data disk, but it is NOT the same as when
you would make a true data/ROM disk!!

Anyway, it sounds like we are talking about the same thing just
using different words. In Nero for example I can specifically
choose for a DVD-Video or DVD-Data disk. Just make sure if you
have the choice you choose the right one. Again, I'm not familair
with either Primo or MyDVD. Sorry.

Always include the AUDIO_TS folder. Some players will choke if it's not there. It's empty so it's really no big deal and good authoring practice.

Yep add a silent audio track, and the main audio track order rule is that the first audio track can't be a DTS track.

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman :

When you say "burn" to the harddrive that is not possible. That
is called making a disk image. This can be either one file in
formats like iso/bin/img etc. or a VIDEO_TS directory on your
harddisk. -->>>

If you format to the HD that is not a disc image. So the directory on your harddisk way isn't making a disc image. Many apps will write different things to HD than direct to disc or DLT.

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman :

In this case you actually HAVE created a DVD-video disk, not a
DVD-rom/data disk. -->>>

Yep always use the dvd-video option but it doesn't make it a dvd-video. Only replicated projects are dvd-video.

Jake