The Quick and the DVD
by Brent
Hurtig
newmedia.com
Over the past year, do-it-yourself DVD authoring systems
have dropped from Rolls Royce to Mercedes territory.
However, sticker price is one thing, cost of ownership
another.
Developers with CD-ROM experience may be
surprised to learn how little of their expertise applies to
DVD-Video titles. "With CD-ROM, you had to be a
computer geek," explains Scott Katzenoff, vice president of
Advanced Media Concepts, a New York-based service
provider with clients such as Texaco and Lucent. "But with
DVD-V, you also need to be a video geek."
Creating a DVD-Video title
requires expertise in many areas:
authoring concepts, user interface
and graphic design, encoding and
compression techniques, video
and audio editing,
surround-sound mixing, project
management, troubleshooting,
and more. For a DVD-ROM
title, as soon as you add
interactive video playback or
joystick control, the demands can
be even more intensive. And
when the replication plant calls with problems, don't be
shocked if you have to start again from scratch.
The good news is that there are people who not only
feel your pain but have the skills to alleviate it. DVD service
providers will turn your ideas and assets -- such as
videotapes, audio files, and digital artwork -- into DVD
titles that actually work. In the process, they'll perform
encoding (for MPEG 1 and MPEG 2 video and Dolby
AC-3 audio), authoring (for example, creating menus and
button highlight areas and premastering (compiling disc
images and writing replication-ready digital linear tapes).
Some also offer turnkey services for everything from
conceptualizing a project to disc replication and packaging.
Service providers, such as DVant of Ignacio,
California, can be true lifesavers. Often, for example, new,
"easy" DVD authoring tools -- particularly inexpensive
programs that require third-party encoders and other
hardware -- can lead developers in over their heads.
DVant's CTO, Mark Johnson, whose customers include
CBS and Brøderbund, has other clients who have tried
authoring their own titles, only to learn that certain
"lower-priced tools have removed functionality, such as
multiple camera angles, in order to simplify the user
interface and keep costs down."
For instance, DVD-Video discs need to look good on
a television, not just on a computer display. Katzenoff
advises DVD developers to preview all of their assets --
especially still-image graphics -- on an NTSC/PAL video
monitor. Only by using an actual video monitor -- and not
just the software's NTSC/PAL Preview mode -- can you
be certain your assets will fit within the safe-area
dimensions, that the colors will not bleed, and that type will
remain legible.
There are also developers who have only a limited
familiarity with the creative capabilities of DVD-Video. "At
the very least, buy a DVD player and watch lots of rentals
before you create your first DVD," encourages Katzenoff.
"Eighty percent of the titles out there have been authored in
any of 200 different ways, so there's lots to be learned by
going to the video store. It surprises the hell out of me how
few people do that."
Service provider costs vary, depending on the project
and assets. Encoding ranges from $10 per minute for stereo
audio to more than $60 per minute for MPEG-2 video,
plus modest setup charges. Authoring and premastering a
DVD-Video title can run from $3,000 to more than
$20,000 for a Hollywood-caliber production. Elaborate
titles, such as an interactive DVD-ROM game, can cost
$25,000 to $50,000, or as much as $200,000 for a
turnkey project, including all production costs. And
currently, DVD replication costs range from less than $1 to
more than $3 per disc, plus one-time mastering charges of
roughly $2,000 to $4,000.
But don't let price be your only consideration. Advises
John Town, vice president of research and development at
replication facility Nimbus CD International in Ruckersville,
Virginia, "Go see their facility and ask to see some discs
they've done. A picture paints a thousand words." One
day, do-it-yourself DVD authoring will be relatively cheap
and easy. In the meantime, it's wise to know when to seek
help -- and for many developers, that means earlier rather
than later. As DVant's Johnson says, "This is still
bleeding-edge technology -- and it can still hurt to use it."
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The following companies
specialize in DVD-Video
and DVD-ROM
encoding/compression,
authoring, and
premastering. Many
maintain relationships
with DVD replication
facilities and can
manage your title
through to delivery of
replicated, packaged
discs. Some also offer
detailed, free information
about DVD authoring at
their Web sites; another
resource is the
DVD Developer Club.
Note: The ® symbol after
a company's name
means that it is also a
replicator.
Advanced Media
Concepts (212) 229-1348
AIX Entertainment
(213) 655-4116
Cinram/POP
DVD Center®
(310) 899-7200
Crawford
Communications
(800) 831-8027
Crest National®
(800) 309-3472
Crush Digital
(888) 278-7448
Digital Outpost
(800) 464-6434
Digital Video
Compression Center
(818) 777-5199
International
Digital Centre
(212) 581-3940
Kao Infosystems®
(510) 657-8425
Pacific Coast
Sound Works
(213) 655-4771
Panasonic
Disc Services®
(310) 783-4800
Pioneer Video
Manufacturing®
(310) 518-0710
Rainmaker Digital
Pictures Group
(604) 874-8700
Stonehenge Filmworks
(416) 867-1189
Sunset Post
(818) 956-7912
Video Transfer
(800) 242-3827
Wilderness Films
(403) 543-8233
Zuma Digital
(212) 741-9100 |
