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Frequently Asked Questions...
Optical Media (DVD and CD) Frequently Asked Questions
What do the letters DVD stand for?
a. Dead, very dead. (from naysayers who predicted DVD would never take off)
b. Digital Video Disc
c. Digital Versatile Disc
d. Nothing
The official answer is "nothing". The acronym originated from Digital Video Disc. Some members of the DVD Forum wanted to change the phrase to Digital Versatile Disc but the forum never adopted it. It was officially made an international standard in 1999, simply using three letters, DVD.
What's the quality of DVD video?
DVD quality can be as high as broadcast studio-quality video and better than CD-quality audio. DVD is vastly superior to consumer videotape. However, quality depends on many production factors.
VHS is good enough for me, why should I care about DVD?
The primary advantages of DVD are video quality, audio quality, and extra features. In addition, DVD will not degrade after many uses like videotape will. The better your TV, the bigger the difference in picture quality between VHS and DVD.
Why should I have DCA Media Solutions convert my videos into DVD?
We use Hollywood-level DVD hardware to encode and author your videos to DVD. No cheap software conversions here. Using the best available hardware allows us a wide range of control to make sure your videos come out looking their best and adhere to the DVD standard.
Why should I use DVD to communicate my message?
In a word, there are a lot of DVD players out there and the numbers are growing everyday. DVD didn't take off as fast as some predicted but once those discs started spinning, it has sold faster than CD, Laserdisc and VHS.
- There were 16 million DVD players sold in the US alone in 2003.
- The estimated installed base at the end of 2003 is 73 million players.
- Consumer DVD purchases jumped to $12 Billion in 2003, up 46% from the previous year.
- 65% of US households will have at least one DVD player by the end of 2004, up 50% from the end of 2003.
What are region codes or "country codes" and can DCA put them on my DVD?
Movie studios wanted to control the release of motion pictures in different countries since they don't release a movie in all countries at the same time and often sell the rights to different foreign distributors. They wanted to maintain control over this so they came up with region codes. When a DVD player is manufactured, it is given a region code for the region where it will be sold. DVD discs, when manufactured, are given region codes as well. The player will refuse to play discs that are not coded for its region. This means that a disc bought in one country may not play on a player bought in another country.
Recordable DVD discs, such as general purpose DVD-/+R cannot contain region coding. If you are planning on ordering a "short run" of recordable DVD's from DCA you won't have to worry since your discs will play in any DVD player capable of playing DVD-/+R discs.
With our high quality DVD systems at DCA Media Solutions, we have the ability to turn on only the region codes you want or produce a disc that is playable in all regions.
The regions are as follows:
1. USA and Canada
2. Japan, Europe, South Africa & Middle East
3. Southeast Asia and East Asia
4. Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean
5. Eastern Europe, Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, Mongolia
6. China
7. - Reserved -
8. International venues such as Airlines and Cruise Ships
There is no such thing as region zero.
Will my DVD play anywhere in the world?
Almost all DVD players sold in PAL countries play both PAL and NTSC discs. Most NTSC players can't play PAL discs, and most NTSC TVs don't work with PAL video.
I've heard about copy protection on DVD discs. Can DCA Media Solutions put copy protection on my DVD so it can't be copied?
Yes, if we are providing the authoring services and you request this feature.
There are two main types of copy protection you'll hear discussed, CSS and Macrovision. CSS is to prevent a digital or disc-to-disc copy from being made. Macrovision is to prevent an analog or VHS copy from being made. www.macrovision.com
Copy protection cannot be put onto general purpose DVD-/+R discs.
What is the difference between replicated and duplicated discs?
Replicated discs are manufactured from raw polycarbonate in an injection molding process. Duplicated discs are written onto recordable blank discs by a computer.
Duplication is usually less expensive for orders of under around 1000 discs and replication is less expensive for larger orders.
Duplication turnaround times are much faster because of the process time required.
You may have heard that duplicated discs may have compatibility problems with some players that replicated discs do not have. This used to be somewhat true, but has not been a problem for DCA Media Solutions customers. This is because the players have improved over time. Also, DCA uses top quality media when duplicating. Although this costs more, we have found that the quality of the media has a large influence on overall quality and playability. We suggest you avoid vendors using lower quality media for duplication.
What are encoding and authoring?
Encoding is the conversion of video tape into Mpeg-2 digital video and Dolby Digital audio. Mpeg-2 video and Dolby Digital audio are the most commonly used formats for DVD. Authoring is the process of assembling various media assets (video, audio, menus, subtitles, etc.) and programming the interactivity between those elements.
Why won't my DVD disc play in my computer?
An often overlooked and simple mistake occurs when you try to play a DVD disc in a CD-ROM drive. Make sure you're playing the DVD in a drive that is capable of reading DVD discs.
I want to create my own DVD menus. What specs to I need to follow?
- Create your NTSC menus in Adobe Photoshop.
- The size will be 720x540 pixels.
- The DPI setting will be 72 d.p.i.
- All layers need to be left as layers, not flattened.
- All text should be left as text layers, not rasterized.
- Maintain video safe and text safe margins. There is a template in Photoshop for this.
- Place your highlight on a separate layer and provide RGB values.
- Upload all menus in one folder if using the client upload area.
Video Tape Frequently Asked Questions
Will my VHS copies look and sound the same as my master?
Technically speaking the answer is no, they will not. In general, VHS is a lower quality format than the master format and is inherently inferior in quality. However, due to the processes we have implemented at DCA Media Solutions (tape loading, clean rooms, industrial record decks, quality control) we consistently produce the highest quality dubs that current technology permits. In fact, in many cases your copies will look and sound as good as your master.
What is the best way to record VHS copies, SP or LP?
The answer is SP. SP refers to the speed at which the tape travels in the video playback unit. SP means standard play, in other words the tape is traveling at the optimum speed designed to give you the best picture and audio quality. Tapes recorded in LP travel in the video playback unit three times slower than SP. This greatly reduces your audio and video quality; Real Time LP tapes can experience severe tracking problems.
High Speed duplication is a method of recording where the audio and video signals are dubbed at a much faster rate than the program time. This generally requires the creation of special masters and is run on high speed equipment. The quality is comparable to Real Time in SP.
We at DCA recommend recording your dubs in SP. It has been our experience that the few cents you may save by recording your copies at other than SP is not worth the quality loss / customer service problems that will occur.
What video formats make the best duplication masters?
In no particular order: D2, BetacamSP, DigiBeta, DVC-PRO, and DVCAM make for the best duplication masters and will give you excellent video copies. However, VHS copies can be run from other formats, including: VHS, SVHS, ¾ inch, ¾ inch SP, Mini DV. Each of these formats has its drawbacks, but if the master picture and audio signal are clean then chances are your VHS copies will be clean also.
Will my VHS copies have color bars, audio tone, or slates on them?
No. Bars, tone, and slates are not recorded onto the VHS copies. We only include them if you request it. What will be recorded is seven to ten seconds of black on the head of your copies followed by your program. At the end of the program we generally record thirty seconds of black.
I have a two-hour program that is mastered on two Betacam SP tapes (60 min. each) and I want my VHS copies to be recorded on one tape; can you do this?
Yes we can! It's called a switchover; as your first master tape ends, the second master tape begins and is recorded to the VHS copies in a seamless manner. In fact, you cannot detect if the program was recorded from one master tape, or two master tapes. However, there needs to be a logical switchover point between the two masters. For example, if the first master tape ends with someone in mid sentence then it is unlikely that the second master tape will complete the sentence seamlessly. Most programs that require a switchover will dip to black at the end of the first master and will come up from black at the beginning of the second master.
Another way to ensure a seamless transition from the first master tape to the second tape is to create a digital sub master that contains the entire program. Many of the newer digital formats (DigiBeta, DVCAM, DVC-PRO, D2) will record two hours of program and have virtually no generation loss.
Is there some sort of set up done before my copies are run that ensures that video and audio levels are properly set?
Yes, absolutely! Our duplication engineers set up the video signal to your color bars with the use of waveform monitors and vector scopes. They then set the audio levels to your tone with the use of sophisticated audio level meters. However, we understand that many times the bars and tone at the beginning of the master may not accurately reflect the true levels your program. Therefore, our engineers will fast forward into the master and adjust the video and audio signals based upon your actual program.
A word of warning: we can only make one setting for audio and one setting for video. We cannot "ride the levels". For example, if your program starts out with the audio signal being 3 db low we can adjust that up to a proper level. However, if later on in the program your audio is 2 db too high then we have a dilemma. If we adjust for the low levels of audio then the high levels of audio will be exacerbated. Creating a new master with the proper levels edited in is the only solution to this dilemma.
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