[George Wing]

[Joe Kaczorowski] “I was planning on using Adobe Encore, but if there are programs that will simply convert it in the authoring i can use one of those. What are those programs? I think that the quality for what i’m doing would be fine. Thank you for the reply, that is very helpful.”

A couple that come to mind are Corel’s Moviefactory 6 Plus, and Sony’s DVD Architect 4.x (either Studio or Pro version, but the Pro version only comes with Vegas Pro 8).

NOTE: some older versions of these packages can also do it (in case you find a good deal). I believe MovieFactory 4.x/5.x, and DVD Architect 3.x (maybe others too).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Preview the timeline and move the playhead to the spot you want. Then select the chapter mark (left click), then rt-click the chapter mark and Set Poster Frame

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

What software are you using to Author your DVD? Some packages will allow you to simply change the project from NSTC to PAL, and it will do the conversion for you (Titles, menus, chapter marks, etc…). NOTE: it might not be the “best” conversion in terms of video quality/smoothness, but it is handy for making those copies you need to send to friends/relatives where the CONTENT (i.e. bride/groom/family/etc.) is the most important thing to the viewer…

Also, most PAL DVD Players will play NTSC DVD’s — so you could try just sending them the NTSC version to see if they can play it properly (then you wouldn’t need to do any conversion).

Of course, mass/retail distribution would call for a quality standards conversion, but this type of need might be eligible for the “simple” solution…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[Bob Cole] “re: BOV’s in DVDSP — Does that have the 1GB limit?”

It should allow you to go over 1gb, but you should disable some uops such as FF/REW so that you don’t lose your BOV’s during playback.

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

DLP does not have a “Mastering” function (creating DDP images).

What some folks do is use 3rd-party software such as Gear Pro ME to make Master Images.

Of course, if your replicator will accept DVD-Video burned to DVD5/9, then that should work — but depending on what they are charging (and how often you need replication services), it might be cost effective to invest in software that can create the DDP Images for you…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

[Bob Cole] No more than 15 clips, about 40 minutes total.”

40 minutes with audio will put your video bitrate down about ~3,100 kbps (if you need to stay under 1gb). The visual quality might take a hit (depending on your source content and encoding methods).

[Bob Cole] “How does BOV in DVD SP differ from Motion Menus in Encore? I’m a little reluctant to jump to DVD SP for this project just because I also need to program using eDVD, which seems easier on the PC side.”

The BOV’s go over the Title clips (in he Title Domain) — so you can author with Chapters and playlists as usual, and still have some button options (btw, they can always hit the menu button on the remote to go back to a menu — assuming you have not disabled menu calls).

I don’t use eDVD — but can’t it take an authored dvd from either package, and add a “layer” to it for the “extras” from a dvd-rom drive?

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

It seems like that approach might work considering your source content.

Out of curiosity, how many short clips are you talking about, and what is the total duration/playing time?

One thing the viewer won’t be able to do is FF/REW through video (a menu in your case). But that might actually be a good thing (depending on how long each segment is).

Does DVDSP have Buttons Over Video — perhaps you could keep your video Titles, and insert BOV’s (instead of using all menus)? You could add some UOPS to prevent FF/REW so that the BOV’s stay active.

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Along the TOP — use MENU / Edit Menu Color Set

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Which version of Encore are you using?

Have you tried to just import the VOB?

In the Project window, rt-click / Import As / Timeline / then for file types select ALL FILES, and select the corresponding IFO file — or the VOB file). This doesn’t always work, but might be worth a shot…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Is this a one-time conversion, or are you making it for duplication/replication?

If a one-time job, then have you tried just playing the NTSC DVD in a PAL DVD Player (I understand most PAL DVD Players will play NTSC DVD’s).

Regards,
George