DVDA - Mastering for DLT
 

Are there any primers or sites that might be able to help me master my project from DVDA2 to DLT for a service provider? Apparently it's necessary for CSS or Macrovision.

My searches of the forums seem to only hit talks about DLT drives and media.

Thanks,
Kevin

DVDA2 does not provide all the tools for mastering to DLT. I don't know if the prepared folders could be modified by some other application for use in mastering.

no unfortunately not.. :( spewing..
it doesnt even do DL discs either.. spewing even more..

i love the app, but its sorely in need of an update... (april.. oops did that slip...;) )

Kevin: if you are only going to do mastering for macrovision or
CSS then don't bother. Neither will add much or anything to your
product and will cost you tons of money.

Some facilities also seem to accept harddisks or one or more
data/video DVD's to master from these days.

Well to say that it does nothing isn't fair or true. I know that there are various software programs out there that make it easy to get around copy protection schemes but that doesn't mean that it should be left off.

I'd rather stop the passive purchaser who doesn't know what's out there from being able to put the DVD in their computer and using Nero or some other burning program from being able to make a one-to-one copy.

Besides, in this case, it's the client who wants the protection and CSS isn't adding *ANY* cost to the run from one or two of these vendors (I imagine that's because of how easy is has become to get around it).

** As for DVDA for DLT mastering... so is this a blatant "It's not possilbe" that I'm hearing? Couldn't I author the project out and then use some other program to read the VIDEO_TS folder and master from that to DLT?

-Kevin

Kevin, I don't know if some other program could read the prepared folder and create a DLT from that.

However, you may have another option. Check with your replicator and ask:

1) Will they accept DVD-R for replication?
2) Can they add the CSS flag when receiving a DVD-R?
3) Can they add Macrovision when receiving a DVD-R?

The replicator may already be able to handle this situation without DLT.

Thank you for the reply Edward.

Unfortunately, the specs for each of the vendors that I've dealt with so far specifically states that copy protection jobs require masters on DLT.

I will double check with the reps I'm dealing with to see if there are any other options... perhaps an external hard drive or something along those lines.

I guess I should be looking into other authoring programs anyhow. One trick ponies don't usually get too far, eh?

-Kevin

I didn't say it does nothing. I said it doesn't add much or anything.

I know this sounds harsh, but the moment I saw all sort of un-
informed computer users and general people with no knowledge
rip and copy commercially protected DVD's was the moment I
started thinking that it isn't worth it anymore.

I look at it in this way:

- to my understanding you need to pay licensing to use both CSS and Macrovision for every disc (so it can cost a lot)

- I and other people (even if it is done for a commercial client) have such small runs that you won't loose massive income

- If a copy do lands in someone else's hands they get to be familiair with the product (whether it is a movie or a promotional DVD etc.) and your work, which is a bit like free advertising

- the question is if someone did not copy it, would they buy it? (it may even work the other way: they get a copy and decide to buy it for themselves or others)

The last one is a pretty famous one in the world of pirates versus
the big hollywood studios. They seem to claim that every download
or illegal copy is one sale lost. Which I think is incorrect. Not everyone
is going to buy it if that is the only option. Ofcourse that doesn't
make it right to download or copy.

So my point in the end is: is it really worth it (both in time and
money the client or you looses and the money you will gain from
this) when you look at all the aspects?

1. you will need a DLT drive + tapes

2. you will need an authoring program that supports DLT mastering (in your case requiring you to redo your work)

3. as I understand it you need to pay licensing fees

In theory you could add Macrovision protection yourself (if you can
find a tool or make one), since it is just a bit in the IFO files, but
that would no doubt be illegal as well since you are not paying any
fees (unless I'm incorrect with that part).

Also Curious
 

I'm in a similar situation. I just authored a project and we are nearly ready to ship it to the replication center. But we do not have a DLT drive and are pretty sure we want copy protection. I'm curious to hear what other opinions are on having copy protection versus not having it. Obviously it is a little more work(exporting to DLT), or maybe not if you can give the replicator a DVD-R ready for copy protection. In my case I authored with DVDSP4, Itd be so simple to just send that off but, maybe I should go the DLT route based on being less prone to errors and supporting CSS and Macrovision.

Also does anybody know if you need to pay a fee for CSS or Macrovision, I've never heard this before?

I think most replication facilities accept a(n) (external) harddisk as well. Ask
them what they require for CSS / Macrovision support. If you have a professional
authoring system (like Scenarist) the replication facility can provide you with
a CSS license and instruct you on how to get everything correctly to them.

I seriously doubt DLT is still the only way.

No, DLT is not the only way. You can implement Macrovision and CSS flags on an external hard drive or data file on a DVD-R. We do this with Evatone on a weekly basis. This is exactly what the Mastering option is for, in addition to generating a DLT.

Thread resurection from 2006
 

This was the only thread I found on all of DVInfo regarding DVDA and use of CSS / macrovision.

So am I to understand that even with DVDA5 Pro, that you can set the CSS & Macrovision options all you want, but that doesn't mean the .VOB files will actually be encrypted (because external software that is strictly controlled and requires a per disc license fee is required to do this)?

Does it then cause problems to set the CSS & Macrovision options to true but create a normal disc? In other words, is setting the bit enough to tell some DVD copy programs (like Nero) "you cannot copy this" or does that do nothing? Or worse, does it screw up the disc so it cannot be used?

You can set the encryption flags, and no...they don't pass to anything desktop-created. But a replication house can see them on a layer 0 or layer 1 disc made as a master (can't be played in a DVD player).

Ok, thanks Douglas. So I'll just ignore those flags until such time as I make a wildly popular video that goes to a distribution house.

Thread resurrection.........
 

Which has just happened! I have a commercial DVD that I am delivering for a client to send to replication for a 1000 DVD run.

I'm using the latest version of DVDA (v5) and need to deliver a disc (or multiple copies of a disc) for use by a place like discmakers.

I have never mastered a project for DVD replication before, so I probably have holes in my understanding of the process.

The production does NOT need css / macrovision (or at least I'm 100% confident the client will not pay for it), so I just need to deliver a DVD in the most compatible method possible for whatever replication facility they choose to use.

Can I deliver several copies of the project burned to DVD-R (as slow as possible obviously)? I talked on the phone with a discmakers rep who said they do not accept HDD copies or data disc copies of the projection. That seemed odd. But whatever they want is what I'll deliver. The rep said to deliver a bunch of copies of the DVD-R disc so they can be sure to work around any burn errors / abnormalities.

Q1: Will this process work for most other replication facilities as well?

Q2: Do I need to use DVDA's "master" option and create a mastered file from the project?

Q3: Both of the above for max compatibility?

Thanks for the assistance for the seasoned mastering pros.

you need to understand how CSS works to properly handle DVD mastering.

CSS is encrypting the content of the files on DVD (the VOB files) and for this needs two things.

The track at the center of the disk that is not available on DVD-R. This track will contain part of the key used to scamble content. That is why you need something like a special "DVD-R for Authoring" and a burner that can handle this.

The second that CSS require is a sector size on disk that is a bit larger than the one used on DVD-R, even if left empty at time of authoring, it is required, because for example it will cause the layers to cut at a different place. So you cannot use DVD-R for this reason.

Additionally, DVD-R is written using a lossy scheme. Data are written by the laser on disk as a "cloud" of data, with some redundancy, to make sure in case of dust, the reading is still possible. Unfortunately, video DVD and mpeg use error correction allowing some data to be lost without being noticed. So there is no real way to guarantee that a video DVD is 100% correct. If you use it to master a DVD, chance are the data could be corrupted on the final disk (with or without effect on playability).
So the best way is to make a DATA image (or also called Tape image ) of your DVD, you still can burn it on a DVD-R, but this time it will be seen as a data DVD, where each bit is set for sure. Some companies do not want to deal with such media and request DLT tapes , because the DLT format also include redundancy and error correction, so there is absolutely no place for mistake.

Another care for example is to stick to standard. If you edit a very simple DVD, the information for the menu for example will be very small. DVD standard include backup files (the .BUP files) for each .IFO file. If you burn it on a DVD-R with nero for example, if these .IFO and .BUP are very small, they could be recorded in the same sector on disk.

That is pretty useless to have the data and its backup in the same sector, because if sector cannot be read, the purpose of the backup is defeated and disk is useless.

Some burning application like IMGBurn are managing this (not NERO) and can pad (put enough blank space after each file) to make sure they will not be written in same sector.

This kind of mistake is not fatal, meaning you can burn a mishaped DVD and have no problem.

But many companies will return you the DVD-R reporting they cannot burn it like that.

Jason,

I've worked with Discmakers and two other nationwide replication houses on projects that didn't require DLT/Macrovision, etc. and in all instances at their recommendations sent them 2 or three copies of finished DVDs that I was able to view on a variety of playback devices.

They will glass master from that copy and press your silvers based on that. It's the least troublesome thing that you're likely to deal with. Getting the art copy to them in a perfect format poses more problems if you're not savvy in that area.

Good luck!

-Kevin

p.s. I never used the "master" option for my products and we've sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 discs with very few problems.