Creating DVD with DVD Studio Pro fails

[Erik Norgaard]

Hi:

I have exported HDV project from FCP 6.0.3 using Compressor MPEG-2 6.2Mbps 2pass and Dolby Digital Professional 2.0 to get output for DVD Studio Pro, video and sound tracks respectively. But it just won't work.

I import the two files using Import Asset and drag them onto Track 1. This time, I decided not to waste time on menus and just burn it right away.

The result is a HVDVD_TS directory with some EVO files? VLC nor QuickTime will play this, VLC no sound track is found and aborts playing because of missing menu.

I find DVD Studio pretty daunting, is there a way to export to iDVD or a faster way to produce DVDs with DVD Studio without menus, chapters. Just autoplay?

Thanks, Erik

[Scott Anderson]

You're almost there. Don't get discouraged about DVD Studio Pro. It really can be a pretty simple application once you learn a few basics.

It sounds like you did all the right things in Compressor. The problem is everything in DVDSP must be linked, or targeted, to work: Menus, buttons, tracks, etc. You probably just didn't link the Track 1 to the overall DVD structure.

The way to make a "put the DVD in and the video plays" DVD is to make sure the Inspector window (lower-right) says "Disc". This is where you adjust settings for the overall disc. You can get there by selecting the Disc in the outline view in the upper-left window. The Inspector is a context-sensitive window that will change depending on what you have selected.

See, what you've got now is a blank, grey menu, with no buttons, not linked to Track 1. There's no way for the DVD to even know to play your video. By changing the First Play to Track 1, The video will Play First.

Make sure that the First Play dropdown box, which defaults to Menu 1 is changed to Track 1. The only problem with this is the video will play as soon as the DVD boots up, then after playing, some DVD players may revert back to a system screen.

What I like to do instead is to leave Menu 1 the First Play for the disc, but Target a big, invisible button to play the Track. First, Make an all-black background picture, 640x480 or 720x480. This can be a Photoshop, jpeg , pict, png - anything. Import it as an asset. Select Menu 1 in outline view to bring up the Menu 1 Inspector. In the Background dropdown, select this all-black file as your background.

Go to Menu 1 in the Canvas, then click and drag across the whole screen in the Canvas to create a new button (Button 1). Then, right-click anywhere on that button and select Target>Tracks and Stories>Track 1>[Track]. This Targets (links) that button to play that Track.

Then, select Track 1 in outline view to bring up the Inspector for the Track. Make sure the End Jump dropdown points back to Menu 1.

When you doubt that you've set something up properly, you can always hit the "Simulate" button at the top to bring up a software simulation of your disc, complete with virtual remote control. You should always thoroughly test your DVD in the Simulator before committing to a burn.

By setting it up this way, what you get is a DVD that will play a black screen until you hit either the Enter or Play buttons on your remote, then after the video plays it will go back to a black screen. This is ideal for DVD that need to be played at a conference or other live setting.

[Rick Jones]

I had Scott's response pretty much written but he beat me to the Post button. So do what he said! ;-)

[Martin Mayer]

Originally Posted by Erik Norgaard

Hi:

I have exported HDV project from FCP 6.0.3 using Compressor MPEG-2 ........

The result is a HVDVD_TS directory with some EVO files?......

Are you trying to burn an SD-DVD or HD-DVD? Not really clear from your post, and it makes a huge difference to your workflow!

[Scott Anderson]

Oops, I totally missed that this was an HDV project. I assumed he was trying to author an SD DVD. I honestly don't know the setup for burning a Blu-Ray. You need Adobe Encore or Roxio Toast 9 to do that, right?

Anyone care to chime in on current HD workflow?

[Robert Lane]

Right; Erik if you could explain further what you were trying to setup: HD-DVD or SD-DVD?

[Erik Norgaard]

Thanks for the response.

The source is HDV, but since HD is still rare in Europe, I export to create a SD-DVD. In compressor I use the DVD 90 Best Quality settings to create an ac3 sound track and m2v video track in SD.

This is also why I am puzzled about the HVDVD_TS directory I get. I get no directory for sound - shouldn't I? I don't know how DVD Studio decides that this is HD DVD. Sure, I'd like some day to learn to make a 30min HD-DVD on normal DVD-5 since the videos I make are no longer than that, but for now, I wish to do just plain old DVD.

It's rather confusing that when I simulate things work as expected, just with the assets dragged onto track 1.

Thanks again, Erik

[Robert Lane]

Check your default project settings; chances are it's set to HD-DVD rather than SD-DVD and you don't know it. Go into Preferences to verify.

Also, if you want to make a quick test burn of whatever you're testing there's a very fast and simple way to do it:

Import whatever assets you're working with; go into the "Graphical" veiw option and drag the M2V/AC3 (or whatever combination files you have) directly to a single track. Right-click (control click) on that track icon and select "first play"; make sure this track lives alone - no other tracks or menus should exist - then do a direct burn to DVD. When you insert the disc it will auto-play that track and simply stop at the end (unless you go into it's properties and make it loop on itself by making the end-jump the start of the track). Fast and easy.

[Erik Norgaard]

Originally Posted by Robert Lane

Check your default project settings; chances are it's set to HD-DVD rather than SD-DVD and you don't know it. Go into Preferences to verify.

Thanks, that was it. I assumed that it was smart enough to guess that when you drop SD track then you probably want SD DVD. One question more: My src is 16:9, which kind of display mode should I use?

Thanks again, Erik

[Martin Mayer]

Originally Posted by Erik Norgaard

One question more: My src is 16:9, which kind of display mode should I use?

If your source is 16:9 anamorphic, you should use the confusingly- and inaccurately-named "16:9 letterbox" option for your DVD, tracks and menus.

It's NOT letterboxed (i.e. no black bars will appear anywhere), don't worry.

[Robert Lane]

Originally Posted by Martin Mayer

If your source is 16:9 anamorphic, you should use the confusingly- and inaccurately-named "16:9 letterbox" option for your DVD, tracks and menus.

It's NOT letterboxed (i.e. no black bars will appear anywhere), don't worry.

That's not entirely accurate. DVDSP4 knows that "SD" refers to the previous 4:3 NTSC/PAL standard which means that 16:9 material *is* letterboxed with the black borders on top and bottom on a 4:3 SDTV. However on any HDTV or 16:9 flat-panel screen the DVD player sends a flag to the set to indicate a "full screen" display, in which no borders are seen and the image fits perfectly.

[Brian David Melnyk]

i have recently had some problems with DVDSP (as well as with Compressor, which seems to work or not depending on which way the wind is blowing... can't figure that one out.) and of course, on the day of output to meet the deadline.
i brought video/audio assets into a previously used DVDSP project so i could reuse the background pic, menu music, layout etc. i deleted the previous tracks on the menu and dragged in the new and then tweaked. the project played fine when simulated and everything worked as it should, but every disc or disc image i burned would only play the menu, and the tracks could not be activated, no matter what i tried. i finally started a fresh project and just imported the old assets and set it up as the old project. it was pretty quick to do compared to beating my head against the disk burning wall, and i wish i did it sooner. it worked fine, but i really don't understand why the old project wouldn't work?
has anyone else had this experience? i will not be reusing old project frameworks again...

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Robert Lane

That's not entirely accurate. DVDSP4 knows that "SD" refers to the previous 4:3 NTSC/PAL standard which means that 16:9 material *is* letterboxed with the black borders on top and bottom on a 4:3 SDTV. However on any HDTV or 16:9 flat-panel screen the DVD player sends a flag to the set to indicate a "full screen" display, in which no borders are seen and the image fits perfectly.

Close. The 16:9 material is not letterboxed in the video stream. It is anamorphic encoded ("squeezed") and played back on 4:3 sets with black bars in place as a DVD player function, not as a video stream function. This lowers the lines of horizontal resolution on the 4:3 set. When played back to a 16:9 display, the anamorphic media is then stretched out to it's native aspect thereby NOT resulting in vertical scaling (and with no loss of resolution).