[Odetoacow]

We use FCP/DVDSP, but are not impressed with the performance of ANY of the available software MPEG2/AC3 encoders, one reason being that you can’t control audio levels during the encoding process.

For our workflow, we lay video back to tape, then encode via the Optibase Moviemaker 200 hardware MPEG2/AC3 encoder. The MPEG manager software inlcuded with the board allows you to adjust the audio input up to 12dB, which is more than enough to get you back to 0 (or -20 in digital audio) but we tend to ride our levels a little higher than that.

The boost in audio levels in the encoding process brings the DVD (AC3) up to pre-encoded levels, but does not introduce any extra noise.

[Odetoacow]

We have been using Intellidisc for enhanced DVDs. It is pretty solid so far and we haven’t had any client-side playback issues. You can create a Flash/html executeable that will automatically launch on a PC (will launch the Intellidisc executable, not your DVD player,) without having to install any additional software (no need for Interactual player.) The downside is the endhanced DVD will not auto-play on Mac, but you can use DVD@ccess to lauch the same set of Flash/html files from Apple DVD player (just make sure they’re optimized for Safari.) It is an elegant way to present your DVD-Video inside a web interface.