1. Encode using software outside of DVD Studio Pro, such as Quicktime Pro, Compressor, etc..

 

2. Encode within DVD Studio Pro. The software allows you a few different options in how you encode the video. You can encode on build which makes your first DVD you burn take longer, or you can encode in the background as you author you DVD.

 

The advantages of encoding outside of DVD Studio Pro are that you have assurances that your video assets will fit on the DVD, you can fine tune the file size of the audio and video before you go into the authoring environment. It can be more time consuming to encode everything ahead of time, but it can save significant headaches later.

 

File sizes in video can be problematic. MPEG-2 encoding allows for a few options to optimize file size and  image quality. Variable Bit Rate (VBR) works by changing the data rate of the encoded video based on the amount of movement from frame to frame. If few pixels change in a frame, a lower data rate can be used because the encoding does not have to reproduce redundant frames for every encoded frame. This has some limitations, not every frame of MPEG-2 actually contains a full frame of video. The video is encoded in 15 frame group of picture segments refereed to as GOPs. For instance if you land on a frame it MPEG decoder has to search through these 15 frames in order to assemble one true frame. So by using VBR encoding you can save file size and still preserve image quality. This process takes longer and works best using a 2-pass process which analyzes the motion of the video in one pass, then encodes based on that information in a second pass.

 

Constant Bit Rate (CBR) is faster and can yield good results at the expense of file size. It will maintain a constant data rate throughout a video clip regardless of the amount of motion. This is faster, but less efficient.

 

In general the highest Bit rate you want to encode at is 8 mbps (mega bits per second) for video. The total bit rate for audio and video is 9.8 mbps.

 

With VBR encoding you can achieve decent looking images at lower bit rates between 3-6 mbps.

 

 

 

Tracks are basically containers for your video elements. Tracks can be used to combine several video clips together. You can do rudimentary editing with DVD Studio Pro. Chapter markers can be used either in DVD Studio Pro or Final Cut Pro to create specific areas of a video track that can be played.

 

Menus are spaces that allow for the interconnection of tracks, or an area that choices can be made. Menus can have either static or motion backgrounds and contain audio. Motion menus can be made up of  plain video, or animation.

 

Stories use chapter markers to create new orderings of tracks. By assigning a track with chapter markers to a story you can re-order the chapter markers, breaking the initial ordering of a video track. You can create multiple stories for different variations.

 

Buttons are used to select what tracks are to be played. Buttons can be created from images masks, photoshop files, tracks, or generated within DVDSP. Buttons have three states, normal, selected, activated. These states can be assigned different colors from within DVDSP. You can use a grey scale image to create an overlay file for creating custom button shapes. The most simple way to color buttons is from within DVDSP. based on the colors in the overlay file you can assign colors to the buttons.

 

 

The DVD format works by linking together these components. Usually this is done through very conventional button and menu paradigms. The challenge is to find unique ways to link together the elements in a DVD. This can be achieved through transitions and linking together transitional tracks.