serious questions about architect 3

[freenow]

hello my friends.
there are my questions.
please help...
im trying to use in maximum sony dvd architect 3.
because i think it is the most professional dvd authoring software right now.
(or not?which is more professional-better in your opinion? from it?)
when i prepared a dvd there was a choice:
WRITE MASTER
PREPARE THE CURRENT PROJECT AND create mastering files to be sent to an authoring facility , or create mastering files from a previously prepared project.
i searched a lot in web but i did not find
what is (create mastering files)&(what is an authoring facility?)
my last question:
how can i burn on a dvd the mastering files???


ps.
in a review of dvd architect i readed that.
Copy-protection tools (CSS and Macrovision®)

[jtoolman2000]

Most of the time ywhen you create a master it is refering to putputting to Digital Linear Tape which then goes to the authoring house for production. A master can also be a DVD r burned a certain way. Not too sure about those particular settings. Macrovision and CSS have to be paid for in the form of licenses.
Does not do much good as you can playing see in this forum.

By the way Architect is good but not look upon as the best. I use it and several others depending on what I need.

[Cunhambebe]

In spite of the fact I've never burned a DVD choosing <Master> I think this particular way to burn a DVD is intended to send your project to mastering facilities....please check out the help hile <mastering>..let's see:

Output format
Choose a setting from the drop-down list to indicate the file format used for writing master files:

DDP 2.00
DDP (Disc Description Protocol) 2.00 is widely supported by replication facilities, but this format does not support CSS copy protection or region coding.

DDP 2.10
Similar to DDP 2.00, but with added support for region coding.

CMF 1.0
CMF (Cutting Master Format) supports CSS and region coding.

-So if you intend to burn a master DVD to send it to those "mastering facilies", you'd better choose this mode. Otherwise, Prepare and Burn is enough

Sony DVDA is an excellent software. It allows you to go to the beach, to enjoy a good time with your family and friends and at the same time you can author and burn practically state-of-the-art DVDs. DVDA has some little issues that have been discussed at DVDA's forum and probably here. Here they are:

THE NEXT BUTTON
1.It configures end actions for all movies (what the DVD player has to do, where it goes after a movie is played). This is great but unfortunately these End Actions will not work for the NEXT button on the remote control. There, movies are skipped in a row, not the way they were configured in those End Actions, but in a different way: in the sequence the movies were dropped into the apllication. Some people consider this a problem because they say the NEXT button must play all files this way:

main menu - movie1;
NEXT
movie 1 is played
NEXT
back to main menu, next button (movie 2) is highlighted
NEXT
movie 2 is played...and so on

DVDA cannot do that, BUT we can configure the NEXT button in DVDA this way

main menu- movie 1
NEXT
movie2
NEXT
movie3...and so on
last movie (NEXT is disabled) - return to main menu

Personally I don't think this is a big problem, but there are some purists...Anyway, I guess this issue won't ruin you DVD, on the contrary, you can still burn your almost there state-of-the-art disc

2.SUBTITLES:
a)subtitles outlines are too thin in DVDA - but nothing that will ruin you DVD, and;
b)DVDA cannot make subs that fade in and out like in the most recent DVD releases.

Sony DVDA has other features such as Macrovision protection, tools for correcting brightness and contrast (but this way DVDA will recompress your files) and many more new features that make DVDA a serious authoring application, much better than many others of its kind. Some other friends around here prefer DVDLab Pro, because this one lets you configure all menus and all buttons the way you want. It's true that it is cheaper than DVDA - that is sold along with Vegas -, but I guess DVDA, in spite of its limitations as configuring buttons, has much more to offer.

Finally, on the other hand, there are applications such as Sonic Scenarist that are considered full state-of-the-art software. But...the price and the learning curve will certainly not let you go to the beach

[guns1inger]

DVDA also does not author with DTS audio, cannot author disks that have multiple aspect ratios because it is limited to a single VTS, cannot author disks with more than 99 titles (again, because of the single VTS limit), and has clunky playlist features (sometimes used to try to beat the VTS limitation). It is far from capable of producing truely professional disks.

If you work within its limitations it can produce nice output, but being restricted to either 4:3 or 16:9, 99 titles maximum, and the audio track restrictions that also come from a single VTS make it firmly a high-end home authoring environment.

[BogieV]

"home authoring environment" for 700 USD? Remember you can't get it without Vegas.
I dare to say it is pirated if used in such a manner.
My observation is that mostly event videographers are using it for wedding, etc. small busnes aplications.

[Cunhambebe]

Let's see what happens with DVDA version 4. I'm sure Sony will try to fix these limitations. Although yes, there are limitations, that doesn't mean the application is intended only for home users or could only be classified as non-professional. On the contrary, DVDA is one of the best softwares of its kind and is able to author practically state-of-the-art discs once you don't bother with those restrictions/limitations - and this is something everyone should know before buying the software.

DVDA also does not author with DTS audio, cannot author disks that have multiple aspect ratios because it is limited to a single VTS

Hey guns, besides Scenarist, please tell me the other applications that let you author DVDs this way. Thanks in advance!

[guns1inger]

DVD Lab Pro does all of this.

The price is beside the point. I see DVDA as a cheap addon to Vegas, not something you would eve consider purchasing in it's own right. Most of the videographers out here use Encore, which isn't much better in many respects.

[Cunhambebe]

Thanks for your instant reply guns. Please how do you know most videographers use Encore? Is there any survey on this subject? Anyway, I agree with you on Ecore DVD. Adobe is an amazing entreprise, but I guess Encore DVD is too far away from being considered a good option.

[guns1inger]

I am just going by the work I see around me. I have involvement with a number of schools and performing arts schools around our area. All of these hire in various locals to shoot, edit and ultimately produce DVDs of their plays and performances. Many of them have moved to Encore, probably because most grew up with Premiere and figured encore would be a good fit.

In many respects, Encore and DVDA are similar in that they have both been produced by outfits with a pretty good pedigree in video and associated areas, yet both have missed the point in getting the fundamentals right for their target audience. Both are limited in ways that, in some cases, mean they cannot produce work entirely to spec (see Encore's inability to handle all spec resolutions, for example), and that certainly limit their potential outside the enthusiast/semi-pro arena.

I have DVDA, because an opportunity arose to get it at a good price when purchasing Vegas and the AC3 plugin. But I use DVD Lab Pro most of the time. It also has it's quirks, and it is certainly an aquired taste while navigating the initial learning curve. But I find it's less structured approach works with my creativity, and gives me usually a couple of options on how best to skin any particular cat. I understand that it is not to everyone's taste however.

But when you compare the capabilities of Encore, DVDA and DLP point for point, then compare the relative size of the development budget/team behind the 3 products, there really is not excuse for Adobe and Sony to be so far behind.

[Cornucopia]

guns1inger and Cunhambebe--

right now, I would put DVD authoring capabilities in this order:

1. Sonic Scenarist (I would stick the Mac sister-DVD Creator in with this)
2. Apple DVDStudioPro
3. Spruce Maestro (yeah, it's defunct, but it's still loved by many)
4. DVDLab Pro
5. Sony DVD Architect
6. Sonic DVD Producer
7. Adobe Encore (mainly because of it's relationship with Photoshop, otherwise too buggy)
8. ALL THE REST

What DVDLab Pro is still lacking (that DVDA has, BTW) is Multi-angle video support. I'm very glad it has multiple VTS support and GPRM/SPRM control, but it can't really be considered completely "Pro" until it has that, IMHO.

I would venture to guess that 90% of Hollywood titles are done on those top three.

.......
Back to original post...

You don't burn "the Mastering file" on a DVD. They are written to DLT (only).
What you can do with DVD-R is burn the standard DVD-video/rom contents, along with the CMF mastering info--IF YOU HAVE AN AUTHORING-TYPE BURNER. They are the only type of burners that support either the DDP or CMF protocols. All other burners only allow the standard DVD-video/rom contents.
This means that NO regular recordables would be considered "Final Pre-Masters" in cases where Macrovision or CSS is needed, and probably in many cases where Dual-Layer is needed. If you were to give a Mastering House/Replication Plant a DVD-recordable in these instances, they would either laugh and say "No Way", or accept it--remaster it--write it to DLT--and charge you $$$.

BTW, for all DVDA users out there, I just found a workaround for a Mastering BUG...
If you make a DLT (with the usual OTP method) for CSS/Macro/Dual, it will many times crash at the point of putting in Tape2. Like this:

Generic mastering error (13). Please contact technical support.

The tech support FAQ says that this is because of DVDA's trouble with OTP and that you should use PTP (even though it's frowned upon by most replication houses). However, doing so doesn't fix the bug. What does?

If you had set the protocol to CMF or DDP 2.10, set it back to DDP 2.0. Then it works! (Even OTP).
Whether CMF/DDP2.1/DDP2.0 is used is only marginally relevant because, even if a setting isn't explicitly supported (like CSS/RegionCoding), it is still flagged in the contents and will be "re-created" by the mastering house.

Hope that clears things up,

Scott

[Cunhambebe]

Back to original post...

You don't burn "the Mastering file" on a DVD. They are written to DLT (only).

Thanks for the input Scott. There's absolutely nothing better than hearing from a Master
About your list: I almost totally agree with you, I would only change DVDA and DVD Lab Pro positions since DVDA has also a very important feature to reduce interlace flicker on menus.
One more thing: when I said...

I think this particular way to burn a DVD is intended to send your project to mastering facilities

...in fact I meant I can only GUESS this particular way to burn a DVD....
Thank you really.
PS: I forgot to ask something...
Why in the hell would anyone want to author a DVD with more than 99 titles?

[guns1inger]

Depending on how you design a slide show, and what features you may require in navigating it, you could easily blow 99 titles.

I also have never found interlace flicker to be a problem. Most of my still menus are done in photoshop and imported in DLP (with a lot more freedom than either DVDA or Encore - no silly naming conventions and layer restrictions), and are preped before import to reduce the problem. On the few occassions I have used DVDA, I have never bothered with this feature.

[Cunhambebe]

I understand guns, since you have a lot more options and filters in PS such as Gaussian Blur that do the same thing - it blurs the image a bit, avoiding further interlace flickering. DVDA is able to import menus made in PS too. BTW, I'm not trying to highjack this post but I remember once you said you worked with DVDA and DVD Lab PRO. I seems you said you authored your DVDs with DVD Lab and then burned the projects with DVDA...Am I right here?
Thanks

[guns1inger]

I don't think I ever said I burned disks with DVDA. I don't think I ever have used it's burning engine. I generally burn with CopytoDVD or DVD Decrypter (and perhaps imgburn, going forward).

The mutli-angle thing isn't that great a problem with playlists being implemented in DVD Lab Pro, although multi-angle is being worked on. Using playlists makes it a hell of a lot easier to get around multi-angles (which a relatively small % of commercial disks use), than trying to get a round the single VTS limitation (which most commercial DVDs could not live without).

[MJPollard]

DVDA [...] is limited to a single VTS

You mean I really didn't author a DVD with DVDA 3 that has six separate VTSes? I see VTS_01_*.*, VTS_02_*.*, etc. in the output directory. Am I losing my mind or something?

[freenow]

cannot author disks that have multiple aspect ratios because it is limited to a single VTS, cannot author disks with more than 99 titles (again, because of the single VTS limit)

what you mean single vts???
what is vts???

[non-linear]

what you mean single vts???
what is vts???

http://www.digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/authorburn/intro.htm

Scroll down to the heading "Multiple VTS".

[guns1inger]

Apologies - it does now create multiple VTS's. However they are arbitrary, and you have no control over them. While this is better than it used to be, it is still not good enough for a pro environment, IMO.