Stephen Mann
Forum Replies Created
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If it’s in a commercial (advertisement), then copyright releases are absolutely required. Parody or not.
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA -
The delay that you are seeing is normal, and it depends on the player as to how noticeable it is. Hollywood DVD authors minimize this by being able to optimize the location of the media on the disk (to reduce seek time). Basically, in the DVD authoring programs that most of us can afford, you have little control over the transition.
But, if I read your post correctly, you don’t need introductory media. Just make the menu background your “intro” media. In the General tab of the menu properties page, set a loop point at the time that you want the menu buttons to become visible and active.
Steve M.
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA -
The SATA spec changed about a year ago to a locking connector for this very reason, but I don’t think they is backwards compatible.
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA -
Still sounds like a memory issue to me.
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA -
Welcome to the world of DRM (Digital Restrictions Madness). What was the source? Something in the video is triggering the copy protection circuit.
Can you re-edit to avoid the fail point?
(Think this is fun? Just wait until the some of plethora of copy prevention schemes in HD start to backfire and burn ordinary consumers.)
Steve M.
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA -
You don’t say which Canopus product, but I’ll bet it’s not the ADVC-300 with TBC. The distortion that you describe says that the converter box was receiving a weak analog signal from the VCR. A better VCR would help as would a Time Base Corrector (TBC). Also, use s-video if possible. If you are using the composite or (yecch) RF connector, you are seriously compromising the quality from the beginning.
Steve M.
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA -
Nice story, Ed, but way too techie….
I include a nice glossy business card with every DVD that I deliver that reads:
“DVD Compatibility:
If your DVD player is more than two years old, it may not recognize this DVD. In general, the newer your DVD player, the more likely that it will play recordable DVD discs.
If you encounter difficulty playing any DVD disc that MannMade Digital Video made for you, please send an e-mail to: steve@mmdv.com and we will make a new DVD or provide the program on VHS tape.”
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA -
“[Steve spoke of “cheap” which I’ll assume doesn’t mean store bought since you can usually buy Ritek for 30-40 cents a piece.] With Ritek and Prodisc your also buying from the maker and not like some brands that farm out their disc making to different places and then put their name on it.”
Actually, I’ve had extremely good luck with the “GQ” brand of DVD-R discs at Fry’s. Tempting fate, I bought some Ritek discs for a recent project and I immediately had three returns from the clients. Up until then I could claim that I’ve never delivered a coaster to a customer. Bummer – there goes my bragging rights.
The consumer brands – Panasonic, TDK, Toshiba, etc, are a commodity item and the disc in the box is usually not made by the manufacturer whose name is on the label.
Steve M.
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA -
Define “glitchy”.
Recordable DVD’s are hardly an established science, and what plays on one DVD player is not necessarily going to play on another. In fact, if a DVD player is more than three years old, it’s not likely to play recorded DVD’s.
The $35 DVD players at WalMart will play anything that you can put into it.
There’s several posts here about how to deliver a reliable DVD. In my case, and I rarely have a return from a client, I use cheap DVD blanks, burn at the median speed and never more than 6MBPS. If my burner program says that the speed options are 2X to 8X, I burn at 4X. If my burner says 2X only, then it probably doesn’t recognise the manufacturer’s code and is defaulting to 2X. (You’re in untested waters then).
Steve M.
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA -
As Ed said, if you capture via Firewire, you are only doing a file transfer, so the video is exactly the same. The problem may be in how you are viewing the captured video. You aren’t making an apples-to-apples comparison with the LCD on your camera and whatever display device that you are making the judgement from.
Steve M.
Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA