Watermarking a DVD?

[Nifty360]

I am trying to add a watermark to a DVD that I have already burnt to DVD. I no longer have the source files, the avi's and mpegs, and was wondering if there was a way to edit the DVD to contain an overlay/watermark/logo. One similar to those that are shown in the lower right hand corner on TV.

Thanks for the help.

[LloydAZ]

Not without ripping the DVD, adding the watermark and reencoding, then reauthor the disc. You'll lose quality doing this.

[gadgetguy]

Not without reencoding and taking a quality hit but it can be done. Extract the video to your HHD. Open it in VirtualDub_MPG2 or VirtualDubMod, apply the logo filter then re-encode and reauthor.

[Nelson37]

I haven't tried this but how about a forced, semi-transparent subtitle?

Could be done without re-encoding.

[Nifty360]

How would I go about forcing "semi-transparent title?" I would love to be the guiney pig for this. Heck I might even document my path so we can get a guide written up. For now, I will start the exausting reencoding process. Thanks guys for your support, and I can't wait to hear your ideas, Nelson37.

Thanks guys.

Jake

[mats.hogberg]

Don't think there's any support for semi transparency in subtitles, I'm afraid. But a forced subtitle could be used as watermark (if you can live with it being opaque). OTOH, a subtitle stream is easy to get rid of, if you're thinking about the watermark as some kind of copyright/copy deterrent.

/Mats

[manono]

Semi-transparent subs are pretty easy. Just make the sub the way you want, have it play for the whole video, and make it forced and a PUO if you like. When done, open the DVD in DVDSubEdit and make it as transparent or as opaque as you like. I have some retail DVDs where the subs are semi-transparent. You can kind of see what's going on behind them. Done this way, no reencoding is necessary. I hope you have a good reason for doing this, though, because I also have a couple of DVDs with a semi-transparent watermark, and I hate them with a passion.

Changing the transparency of your subtitles can easily be done using the transparency slider.

Section 2.2:

https://www.videohelp.com/~DVDSubEdit/UserManual/helpfile.htm

[Nelson37]

It kinda depends on your purpose for using the Watermark and the relative techno-intelligence of your intended market. The size of the market also has a bearing on whether outside sources would be interested in "fixing" your "protected" content.

[Nifty360]

Here is the skinny. I work for an A/V company that installs high priced home theaters and distributed audio and such. We just finished a project that contains five home that are show homes. We have media control over what is shown on all the screens (11 plasmas, and 2 projector screens) and would like to advertise. I made a video of clips of video and pictures of some of our prized theaters and such, and they really don't have our logo plastered all over them. I would like to add our logo, as obnocious as it may be, to the video to show on all the screens. If I have to do forced subtitles then that is what I will do. If there is any other options I would like to consider them. Thank you all, maybe this will help explain my situation a little better. Thank you for the links, manono, I will be checking them out shortly. Thank you, gadgetguy, VirtualDubMod is the way I was going, it is giving me good results, except the quality of the reencode, but my original quality left some to be desired, so..., oh well? Again, thanks to all, I will be exploring all these possibilities in the next few days and let you guys know the results.

Jake

[kschang]

Why not just print some transparent sticker and stick them over the TV/screen/whatever?

[Nelson37]

whoa, COMPLETELY different situation. You have some dollars to spend and an expensive product to advertise.

If the video you are using is not HD I would stop right there and do whatever is necessary to make it so. You do not advertise multi-thousand dollar installations using a $200 camera.

I also would not screw up the video with a logo. Put your company name in a short bit every few minutes. The people who buy your product are interested in the very best video quality available, demonstrate that your company is, as well.

Spend some time and $ to get it right. Consider how many potential customers will know absolutely nothing about your company but what they see of this vid. Possible broadcast usage as well, very likely you will use this vid in dozens of venues for a couple of years. Profit generated could easily run into 6 figures.

Depending on your location, you may want multiple audio and/or subtitle tracks in different languages. Video and graphics really should be professionally done.