DVD Proofing

[motown01]

Hi there,

Is there any software out there to quickly proof DVDs - check the functionality of each menu button, spelling errors, making sure that each button links to the correct chapter by comparing it to the title graphic in the actual timeline?

I receive DVDs from many different editors and they need to be proofed before duplicating and mailing - unfortunately they often have mistakes, so they have to be proofed.

This involves sitting at a DVD player, and manually going through each button on the menu.

A program that reads a DVD and provides a flowchat graphical representation of each button / chapter link, sound level check, etc. would be much quicker.

Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks,
Billy

[guns1inger]

As all text elements are in fact visual elements by the time authoring is finished, you would be looking for something that can

a) identify what is text and what is not
b) OCR the text with a good level of accuracy
c) proof the converted text
d) know what chapter or title should be loaded by a particular button and test if that occurs

While it might be possible to create something that performs the first three tasks, I have not seen anything that does it. It would be a complex piece of software.

As for the final option - how would a piece of software know if the button is pointing at the right chapter ? All it could know is that button a is programmed to point at chapter 2, and see if it does it. If the authoring contains an error and points at chapter 3, then the tool would not know this was incorrect.

The idea of a flowchart of the function of the DVD sounds like a good idea, however I have not seen anything that does this after the fact.

[motown01]

I'm not asking for something that requires the software to check these things. I'm aware that a DVD Menu becomes a visual element and cannot be spell checked.

I'm looking for something that would speed up the process of checking everything manually.

Something similar to the DVD Flowchart that Adobe Encore displays when creating a DVD: http://www.adobe.com/products/encore/images/flow_chart.jpg

Except large enough to read what's on each menu - where each button links, and then an ability to play each chapter quickly.

[filmboss80]

There is no substitute for good, thorough human quality control. Wasteful man-hours and money is usually saved by taking the time to get it right the first time.

Why is everyone so impatient these days?

[motown01]

Haha, because I have hundreds of DVDs to proof from various editors under my supervision.

Perhaps it's their impatience to finish the edits too quickly without checking spelling and functionality that causes my impatience.