User manual ROXIO DVDIT PRO HD

DVDit Pro HD User's Guide Copyright and Disclaimer © Copyright 2006 Sonic Solutions. All rights reserved. This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Sonic Solutions. Sonic Solutions assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book. Except as permitted by such license, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Sonic Solutions. SONIC SOLUTIONS ("SONIC") MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING THE SOFTWARE. SONIC DOES NOT WARRANT, GUARANTEE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE SONIC SOFTWARE IN TERMS OF ITS CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, CURRENTNESS, OR OTHERWISE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SONIC SOFTWARE IS ASSUMED BY YOU. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN NO EVENT WILL SONIC, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR INDIRECT DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE EVEN IF SONIC HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. Sonic, Sonic Solutions, Roxio, the Roxio burning disc logo, MyDVD, eDVD, DVDIt!, Open DVD are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by Sonic Solutions in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, and QuickTime are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Dolby Digital is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories, Inc. Microsoft, Microsoft Windows XP Internet Explorer, Windows Media Encoder, Windows Media Player, Microsoft Direct X, and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation, Inc. TARGA is a trademark of Pinnacle Systems, Inc. All other company or product names are either trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. 2 Contents Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 About the documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Chapter 2 Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 DVD authoring workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Blu-ray projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Examples of DVD projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 DVDit Pro HD windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Chapter 3 Creating projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Starting a new project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Setting the project's Disc Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 The OpenDVD setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Changing the project settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Setting the DVD Jacket Picture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Editing MyDVD projects in DVDit Pro HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chapter 4 Importing assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Importing files into DVDit Pro HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Importing DVD+VR content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Removing assets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Changing a video asset's Field Dominance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Supported video files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Supported audio files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Supported image files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Creating buttons and menus in Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Compliant video and audio requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Choosing bit rates for video and audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Chapter 5 Creating and editing movie titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Creating movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Adding subtitle tracks to movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 3 Setting audio and subtitle languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Locking and unlocking tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Previewing movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Trimming movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Offsetting audio and subtitle tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Creating and editing chapter points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Chapter 6 Creating and editing slideshow titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Creating slideshows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Removing slideshow images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Reordering slideshow images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Changing the slideshow duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Rotating slideshow images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Changing the transitions between slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Adding soundtracks to slideshows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Removing slideshow soundtracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Changing the slideshow Aspect Ratio and background color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Archiving slideshow images on the DVD (DVD only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Chapter 7 Creating and editing menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Tools to help create menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Using menu templates to create menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Using individual elements to create menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Using layered Photoshop files to create menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Using audio in menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Setting menu durations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Editing menu subpictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Duplicating menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Chapter 8 Creating and editing links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Creating and editing playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Naming titles, playlists, and menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Setting the First Play title, playlist, or menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Linking content to menu buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Reassigning menu button numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 4 Defining menu Button Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Setting menu button images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Animating button images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Setting buttons to Auto-activate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Forcing selection of a menu button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Setting title, playlist, and menu End Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Changing the Title and Menu button actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Chapter 9 Testing playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Simulating playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Using the Simulation window controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Rendering motion menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Chapter 10 Finishing the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Removing unwanted material from projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Burning discs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Writing Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Writing disc images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Editing an OpenDVD disc or DVD Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Writing to a Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Chapter 11 Changing DVDit Pro HD's preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 General tab preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 File Control tab preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Edit tab preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Author tab preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Simulation tab preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Quality tab preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Appendix A Disc specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Recordable discs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 DVD-ROM discs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Appendix B Appendix C TV Standards and DVD regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 TV Standards and DVD regions by country/territory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 File menu shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 5 Edit menu shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 View menu shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Timeline menu shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 DVD Menus menu shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Simulate menu shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Burn menu shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Window menu shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Appendix D Subtitle script files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Supported file formats and text encoding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Subtitle script structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 6 Chapter 1 Introduction Welcome to DVDit Pro HD, a professional DVD production system that integrates authoring and disc creation into a single, easy-to-use application. DVDit Pro HD lets you quickly build stunning, professional DVD-Video and Blu-ray discs. This section includes the following: · · "About the documentation" on page 8 "System requirements" on page 8 Chapter 1 Introduction About the documentation DVDit Pro HD includes the following documentation: · DVDit Pro HD User Guide: Documents how to use DVDit Pro HD to author DVD discs. This includes project planning, asset preparation and importing, authoring projects, testing, and writing to disc and digital linear tape (DLT). DVDit Pro HD Tutorial: Takes you step-by-step through the authoring process of importing media assets, creating movies and titles, adding links between the content, setting playback order, and writing to disc. · System requirements Software · · · Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later. Microsoft Windows Media Player 10.0 or later. QuickTime Player 6.5 (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/) is required for some video, audio, and image formats. Use Windows Update to ensure you have the latest Service Packs and fixes for your operating system. To use Windows Update, click the Windows Start button and choose Windows Update or All Programs > Windows Update. n Use only "official" releases of the above software with DVDit Pro HD. "Beta" versions are not supported. Hardware · · · · · · · 800 MHz Pentium III (2 GHz Pentium 4 or better recommended; 3 GHz Pentium 4 required for Blu-ray projects). 128 MB RAM (512 MB recommended; 512 MB required for Blu-ray discs). DVD recorder or DLT drive (BD recorder required for writing BD discs). AGP video graphics adapter with at least 16 MB VRAM (64 MB recommended). Monitor supporting 16-bit color at 1024 x 768 minimum screen area (24/32-bit color and larger screen area recommended). Windows-compatible sound card. At least 10 GB free hard drive space (20 GB or more recommended; 75 GB required for authoring Blu-ray projects). If your C: drive does not have enough free space, you must change DVDit Pro HD's Temporary Storage location to a drive with enough space (see "Changing DVDit Pro HD's preferences" on page 159). 8 System requirements Sonic recommends using NTFS-formatted hard drives. See Windows help for information about formatting hard drives. 9 Chapter 1 Introduction 10 Chapter 2 Getting started This section provides a basic workflow for creating DVDs, some examples of what you can do, and an overview of the main windows in DVDit Pro HD. It includes the following topics: · · · · "DVD authoring workflow" on page 12 "Blu-ray projects" on page 12 "Examples of DVD projects" on page 13 "DVDit Pro HD windows" on page 18 Chapter 2 Getting started DVD authoring workflow Authoring a DVD with DVDit Pro HD involves the following basic steps (although you don't have to perform the steps in this order): 1. Prepare the assets (video, audio, and images) that will go into the DVD presentation, using common video and graphics applications. 2. Start DVDit Pro HD and create a new project. 3. Import your assets into the project. 4. Use the imported assets to create titles (movies and slideshows) and menus. 5. Link the titles and menus together using button links and End Actions. 6. Test how the project will play back to make sure that everything works as desired. 7. Burn a disc or write a DLT from the project. DVDit Pro HD makes it easy to create professional DVDs with complex menu navigation, chapter points, subtitles, and other special features such as playlists and DVD-ROM content. n DVDit Pro HD often provides many different ways to perform a particular task. For example, you can add a chapter point to a movie by pressing the Insert key, choosing an option from the Timeline menu, using a Right-click menu, or clicking a button. Generally, this User Guide shows only one or two ways to perform these tasks. Blu-ray projects Blu-ray Disc (BD) is a 25 GB optical disc format (50 Gb for dual layers) that offers highdefinition video resolutions (up to 1920 x 1080), high-definition surround audio, and expanded interactivity, beyond standard-definition DVD titles. DVDit Pro HD lets you create and burn Blu-ray projects with high-definition video and audio assets that are compliant with the format. However, in authoring the interactivity of the project in DVDit Pro HD, the same constraints of the DVD-Video format (number of titles, number of menu buttons, available link destinations, etc.) apply. 12 Examples of DVD projects Examples of DVD projects DVDs can have many different designs, from a single movie title that plays automatically when the disc is inserted in a DVD player, to complex menu hierarchies with multiple titles, special features ("making of" videos, cast biographies, and so on), and even hidden material, sometimes called "Easter eggs." It's a good idea to sketch a rough design of your project, showing the links among titles and menus, before you begin authoring. See the following for examples of basic DVD projects that you can create in DVDit Pro HD: · · · · · · "Single movie title (with chapter points)" on page 13 "Multiple titles" on page 14 "Single menu and multiple titles" on page 14 "Multiple menus and titles" on page 15 ""Play all" menu button" on page 16 ""Easter eggs"" on page 17 You can create far more elaborate presentations quickly and easily from these simple beginnings. Single movie title (with chapter points) Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 This is a very basic project with no menus and just a single movie title containing four chapter points. The movie is designated the First Play. The First Play is an instruction that tells the DVD player to start playing this movie when the disc is inserted in the player. The viewer can jump from one chapter to another by pressing the Next and Previous buttons on the remote control. When the movie finishes, the movie's End Action tells the DVD player to stop. n The first item that you create in a project is automatically designated the First Play, but you can make any menu or movie the First Play -- see "Setting the First Play title, playlist, or menu" on page 129. 13 Chapter 2 Getting started Multiple titles Movie 1 (FP) Movie 2 Movie 3 Movie 4 Here are four movie titles that are linked together using End Actions so that they play in succession. Movie 1 is designated the First Play and starts playing when the viewer inserts the disc into the player. When Movie 4 finishes, its End Action tells the DVD player to stop. Each movie can also contain chapter points. Due to limitations of the DVD-Video format, the viewer can only jump from one chapter to another within each movie; the viewer cannot jump from one movie to another. One way around this limitation is to place a chapter point close to the end of each movie. This works well when the end of each movie fades to black for a few seconds. Another way to link titles together is by putting them in a playlist. See ""Play all" menu button" on page 16 for more information about using playlists. Single menu and multiple titles Menu 1 (FP) Movie 1 Movie 2 Movie 3 Movie 4 In this project, Menu 1 is designated the First Play. The menu has buttons that link to four movie titles. When a viewer inserts the disc into the player, Menu 1 is displayed until the viewer activates a menu button; then the movie linked to that button starts playing. Each button link has a Link End Action that causes Menu 1 to appear when the linked movie finishes. n 14 The DVD-Video format allows up to 36 linked buttons per full screen menu, and 18 linked buttons per wide screen menu. DVDit Pro HD prevents you from exceeding these limits on any menu. Examples of DVD projects Multiple menus and titles Movie 1 (FP) Menu 1 Play movie Movie 2 Chapters Menu 2 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Menu 1 This shows the beginnings of a more complex project: · Movie 1 is designated the First Play, and contains a short introduction (for example, the FBI warning displayed at the start of Hollywood DVDs). Movie 1's End Action links to Menu 1. Menu 1 has button links to the start of Movie 2 (the main feature) and to Menu 2. The "Play movie" button's Link End Action causes Menu 1 to appear when Movie 2 finishes. Menu 2 is a chapter selection menu, with button links to different chapter points in Movie 2. The last button in Menu 2 links back to Menu 1. · · 15 Chapter 2 Getting started "Play all" menu button Menu 1 (FP) Play 1 Play 2 Play 3 Movie 2 Movie 1 Movie 3 Play all Playlist 1 Movie 1 Movie 2 Movie 3 This is a variation on "Single menu and multiple titles" on page 14. In addition to the buttons that link to individual movie titles, there is a "play all" button that causes all movies to be played in succession. This is a common design for DVDs containing multiple episodes of a TV series. To achieve this, all the movies are linked together in a playlist, which simply instructs the DVD player to play a selection of titles in a particular order, overriding the titles' End Actions. Buttons that link to playlists cannot have a Link End Action, so the playlist's End Action causes Menu 1 to appear when the last movie in the playlist finishes. 16 Examples of DVD projects "Easter eggs" Menu 1 (FP) Play 1 Play 2 Movie 1 Movie 2 This example shows how to hide material from viewers. Menu 1 contains a button that is invisible to the viewer unless the viewer accidentally selects it -- for example, by playing the DVD on a computer and moving the mouse over the button. This is done by setting the button's Opacity to 0%. The button links to Movie 2, and is the only way that a viewer could get to see this movie. Another way to hide such a button is by having no subpicture on the button (the subpicture is an image that changes color and opacity when the button is selected and activated). If the button has no subpicture, viewers cannot tell that it is a button; all they will know is that the button selection has disappeared. Menu 1 (FP) Movie 1 Movie 1 Menu 2 Menu 1 Some DVD authors don't hide material with invisible buttons, but design their projects so the viewer must watch the main feature in its entirety before they can see the extra material. In this example, the button that links to Movie 1 does not have a Link End Action. Movie 1's own End Action links to a special menu (Menu 2) that can only be seen if the viewer watches Movie 1 to the end. If the viewer gives up and presses the remote control's Menu button or stops playback before Movie 1 finishes, they will never see Menu 2. 17 Chapter 2 Getting started DVDit Pro HD windows DVDit Pro HD main workspace comprises several floating windows where you import content, create menus and titles, and develop the DVD presentation. Use the Window menu to display or hide windows. You can arrange the windows to suit the way you work, and save arrangements as layouts. DVDit Pro HD also provides several predefined window layouts. n In the procedures in this document, it is assumed that all floating windows are displayed. For more details, see: · · · · · · · "Using window layouts" on page 19 "Main Toolbar" on page 19 "Palette window" on page 20 "Project window" on page 21 "Timeline window" on page 22 "Preview window" on page 24 "Attributes window" on page 27 18 DVDit Pro HD windows Using window layouts To arrange the windows in a predefined window layout: t Choose from the Window > Layout submenu. The Basic layout is useful for creating menus and titles quickly. The Advanced layout displays all windows. To create a custom layout: 1. Arrange the floating windows and resize them as desired. 2. Choose Window > Save Layout. 3. Enter a suitable name for the layout and click Save. The new layout is listed in the Window > Layout submenu. To return the windows to their default locations: t Choose Window > Reset Window Locations. To delete an unwanted layout: 1. Choose Window > Delete Layout. The Delete Layout dialog box opens. 2. Select the layout you want to delete from the Names pop-up menu and click Delete. n You cannot delete the predefined layouts. Main Toolbar The Main Toolbar is hidden by default. To display it, choose Window > Show Main Toolbar. · · · · · Edit Movie: Click to display the Movie Creation window layout. Author: Click to display the Menu Creation window layout. Navigation: Click to display the Navigation & Linking window layout. Simulate: Click to open the Simulation window so that you can test the project. See "Testing playback" on page 143. Burn: Click to open the Burn to Disc dialog. See "Burning discs" on page 150. 19 Chapter 2 Getting started Palette window The Palette window is where you import video, audio, and image assets for use in a project. Images tab Templates tab Media tab Buttons tab Frames tab View Details View Thumbnails Import Media Show filter Assets · · · · · · · · Templates tab: Contains predefined menu templates. See "Using menu templates to create menus" on page 105. Images tab: Contains images for menu backgrounds and slideshows. Media tab: Contains video and audio. Buttons tab: Contains images that can be used to create menu buttons. Frames tab: Contains images that can be used to create menu buttons that display an image of the linked title or menu Import Media: Click to import files onto the current tab. Show: Choose from this pop-up menu to see only a certain kind of asset. Assets: Drag assets from the Templates, Images, and Media tabs into the Project window to create menus and titles. Drag assets from the Buttons and Frames tabs onto the menu displayed in the Preview window to create menu buttons. View Thumbnails: Click to show thumbnail images of the assets. View Details: Click to show asset file details. · · 20 DVDit Pro HD windows Project window The Project window provides an overview of the project contents. It is where you create menus, titles (movies and slideshows), and playlists. View Thumbnails View Details View Project Settings First Play Menu button Menus group Chapter point Titles group Playlists group · · · · View Details: Click to show the project contents in a hierarchical list, as seen in this image. View Thumbnails: Click to show thumbnail images of menus, titles, and playlists. View Project Settings: Click to edit project settings (see "Changing the project settings" on page 33). Menus group: Drag image or video assets into this group to create new menus or replace existing menu backgrounds. Double-click a menu to display it in the Preview window. Titles group: Drag video assets into this group to create new movies. Double-click a movie title to display it in the Preview and Timeline windows. Double-click a slideshow title to display it in the Edit Slideshow window. · 21 Chapter 2 Getting started · · · · Playlists group: Drag titles into this group to create new playlists. Double-click a playlist to display it in the Edit Playlist window. Chapter point: Double-click to display the movie in the Preview window at the chapter point location. Menu button: Double-click to select this menu button in the Preview window. First Play indicator: The green triangle indicates that this menu will appear when the disc is inserted in a DVD player (see "Setting the First Play title, playlist, or menu" on page 129). Timeline window The Timeline window is where you add audio tracks, subtitles, and chapter points to movie titles. Add/Delete Chapter Zoom controls Timecode indicator Playhead Chapter point Timeline ruler Timeline Options Solo Track language indicator Lock Subtitle track Audio track Video track 22 DVDit Pro HD windows · · · · · · Zoom controls: Click to zoom the Timeline in and out. Add Chapter: Click to add a new chapter point at the Playhead location. Delete Chapter: Click to delete the selected chapter point (except Chapter 1). Timecode indicator: Shows the timecode location for the Playhead. Enter a timecode location to move the Playhead. Playhead: Drag to scroll through the movie. The Preview window (Title tab) shows the frame at the Playhead location. Chapter point: Drag the yellow diamond or label to move the chapter point along the Timeline ruler. Double-click to edit the label or move the chapter point to a specific location. Chapter 1 cannot be moved or deleted, but you can edit its label. Change Timeline Options: Click to choose whether to display drop-frame or nondrop-frame timecode in the Timeline ruler (NTSC projects only). See "Changing the Time Display format" on page 75. Timeline ruler: Click in the Timeline ruler to move the Playhead to that location. Video track: Drag video assets onto the track to replace the existing video. Audio track: Drag audio assets onto a track to add or replace the audio in the track. Movies can have up to eight audio tracks. Subtitle track: Movies can have up to 32 subtitle tracks. You can import subtitle script files or add subtitles manually. See "Adding subtitle tracks to movies" on page 77. Lock: Click to lock or unlock the track for editing. Language Code: Click to set the language code for the track. See "Setting audio and subtitle languages" on page 81. Solo: Click a track's Solo button to hear/see it when previewing the movie. · · · · · · · · 23 Chapter 2 Getting started Preview window The Preview window has two tabs: · · "Menu tab" on page 24 "Title tab" on page 26 Menu tab The Menu tab is where you lay out menus and create button links. Highlight tool Selection tool Text tool Add SubMenu Add Slideshow Background Color Align Objects View Safe Area Show Grid Snap Add Movie View Subpicture Layer View Background Layer View Highlight Layer Menu under construction Background Layer drop zone Subpicture Layer drop zone 24 DVDit Pro HD windows · · Selection tool: Use this tool to select, move, and resize button and text objects. See "Using individual elements to create menus" on page 106. Highlight tool: Use this tool to draw and edit button highlight rectangles on menus created from layered Photoshop files (the highlight rectangles define each button to the DVD player). See "Creating a layered menu" on page 119. Text tool: Use this tool to create and edit text blocks. See "Adding text blocks to menus" on page 111. Add Sub-Menu: Click to create a new button on the current menu. The new button is linked to a new sub-menu that has the same background as the current menu. Add Movie: Click to import a video file and create a new movie. Add Slideshow: Click to create a new slideshow. Align Objects: Use this pop-up menu to align selected menu objects. Background Color: Select to replace the menu background with a solid block of color (see "Choosing the menu background" on page 106). Use the pop-up menu to choose the background color. View Safe Area: Click to show/hide the menu Safe Area guides, which show where buttons and text can be placed without being cropped when viewed on a TV. See "Safe Area guides" on page 104 for details. Show Grid: Click to show/hide gridlines to help you place menu objects. Snap: Click to turn on/off "snap to grid and guides." Subpicture Layer Drop Zone: Drag image assets here to add or replace the menu's subpictures. See "Replacing the menu background and subpicture layers" on page 121. Background Layer Drop Zone: Drag video or image assets here to replace the menu background (or the entire menu, when creating menus with layered Photoshop files). See "Replacing the menu background and subpicture layers" on page 121. View Highlight Layer: Click to show/hide the button highlight rectangles, which define the buttons to the DVD player. View Subpicture Layer: Click to show/hide the button subpictures (the images that appear over menu buttons when the viewer selects them). View Background Layer: Click to show/hide the full-color menu artwork (background, button images, and text). · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 25 Chapter 2 Getting started Title tab The Title tab is where you preview and trim movies. Timecode counter Playhead Start Trim Point In Point Out Point End Trim Point Stop Play/ Pause Previous Frame Previous Chapter Next Frame Next Chapter Grab Frame · · · · Playhead: Drag to scroll through the movie. The preview area shows the frame at this location. Timecode Counter: Shows the timecode at the Playhead location. End Trim Point: Drag left to trim the end of the movie. Out Point: Shows the timecode at the end of the movie, relative to the start of the source video file. Enter a timecode value to trim the end of the movie. 26 DVDit Pro HD windows · · · · · · · · · Grab Frame: Click to capture and save the current frame as an image file. Next Chapter: Click to skip to the next chapter. Next Frame: Click to move forward one frame. Previous Frame: Click to move back one frame. Previous Chapter: Click to skip to the previous chapter point. Stop: Click to stop playback. Play/Pause: Click to play/pause playback. In Point: Shows the timecode at the start of the movie, relative to the start of the source video file. Enter a timecode value to trim the beginning of the movie. Start Trim Point: Drag right to trim the beginning of the movie. Attributes window You use the Attributes window to set the attributes for a selected item in the project, such as a movie, menu, or button. Each item has its own Attributes window. 27 Chapter 2 Getting started 28 Chapter 3 Creating projects A project links together all the items that will go onto a DVD. The project also includes important settings such as the TV Standard and transcoder settings for converting video and audio to compliant formats. You can have only one project open at a time. This section includes: · · · · · · "Starting a new project" on page 30 "Setting the project's Disc Type" on page 32 "The OpenDVD setting" on page 33 "Changing the project settings" on page 33 "Setting the DVD Jacket Picture" on page 44 "Editing MyDVD projects in DVDit Pro HD" on page 45 Chapter 3 Creating projects Starting a new project When you launch DVDit Pro HD, it creates a new, untitled project automatically, using the default project settings. When a new project is launched, the New Project dialog is placed on top of it to allow you easy access to TV Standard and Menu Aspect Ratio project settings. If you click cancel, you can immediately begin importing assets and creating movies and menus. If you change the New Project settings and click OK, DVDit Pro HD will start a new project with your custom project settings. See "Changing DVDit Pro HD's preferences" on page 159 to change the default settings. If you want to use other settings temporarily -- for example, to create a PAL format project when your default TV Standard is NTSC -- you must create a new project after launching DVDit Pro HD. To create a project using other settings: 1. Choose File > New. The New dialog box opens. 2. Select the appropriate options for your project: Project Name: Project names should be no more than 25 alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers). This name will become the burned disc's volume name (the name displayed when you view the disc in Windows Explorer). TV Standard: Choose the appropriate TV broadcast standard for the country and region where the DVD will be played. See "TV Standards and DVD regions" on page 173 for more information. Once you have set the project's TV Standard, it cannot be changed. Menu Aspect: Choose either Fullscreen for 4:3 menus or Widescreen for 16:9 menus. This option determines the size of the Preview window for menu design. When Fullscreen is selected, menus created in DVDit Pro HD are 720 x 480 for NTSC and 720 x 576 for PAL; when Widescreen is selected, menus are 1280 x 720. - - 30 Starting a new project n The menu compositor will accept images that are smaller or larger than the sizes referenced above. If you are creating a 1080i/p Blu-ray project, you may want to use a 1920x1080 menu background and appropriately sized buttons to ensure the highest quality menu output. Note that if you then choose to output a DVD from the same project, DVDit Pro HD will automatically scale the background and buttons to fit DVD standard specifications. Location: Either accept the default location or click Browse and choose a new location to save the project file. It is recommended that you store project and asset files in folders at the root level of the hard drive. For example: C:\DVD Projects (for project files) C:\DVD Video (for video and audio assets) C:\DVD Images (for image assets) C:\DVD Builds (for writing DVD Volumes and disc images) This makes it easier to manage projects and asset files. 3. Click OK. Preventing the sample files from loading DVDit Pro HD comes with sample backgrounds, buttons, and menu templates for you to experiment with. By default, these sample files are loaded into every new project you create. To prevent DVDit Pro HD from loading the sample files: 1. Choose File > Preferences. The Preferences dialog box opens. 2. On the General tab, deselect the Load Sample Media option. 3. Click OK. The change takes effect the next time you launch DVDit Pro HD or create a new project. 31 Chapter 3 Creating projects Setting the project's Disc Type As you add, edit, and delete menus and titles, the Project Size indicator in the main window's status bar shows how much disc space the project will require. The Disc Type pop-up menu determines the available space for the project. n The Project Size indicator shows an estimated value. To set the Disc Type for the project: t Select the disc size that you plan to use from the pop-up menu next to the Project Size indicator: See "Disc specifications" on page 169 for more information about the different disc sizes. The DVD-9 (8.5 GB) option is for dual-layer discs. If the project is too large to fit on the selected Disc Type, you can: · · · Choose a larger disc size if possible. Delete titles and menus from the project. Change DVDit Pro HD's transcoder settings (for example, lower the video bit rate). See "Changing the SD Transcoding settings" on page 40 for details. n If you choose the DVD-9 option and you plan to send a DLT to a replicator, you can choose how each layer is formatted. See "Setting the Track Path for dual-layer projects" on page 36 for details. 32 The OpenDVD setting The OpenDVD setting An OpenDVD disc contains the DVD-Video content plus extra information that lets OpenDVD-compliant applications edit the disc just like a normal project. This feature allows multiple authors to collaborate on a single disc. You can also create OpenDVD-compliant DVD Volumes. See "Writing Volumes" on page 152 for more information about DVD Volumes. You can edit OpenDVD discs and volumes created by DVDit Pro HD and other Sonic applications; see "Editing an OpenDVD disc or DVD Volume" on page 154 for instructions and limitations. Other Sonic applications may be able to edit OpenDVD discs created by DVDit Pro HD. The OpenDVD setting is turned off by default. To create an editable disc or volume, you must turn this setting on. To turn the OpenDVD setting on: t Select the OpenDVD option in the status bar at the bottom of the main window: The OpenDVD option remains selected until you deselect it, or quit and relaunch DVDit Pro HD, or open another project that does not have this setting selected. Changing the project settings DVDit Pro HD's Project Settings dialog box displays basic information about the project, such as the project file's location, project size, and TV Standard. This dialog box lets you change project-wide settings, including the bit rates used when transcoding non-compliant video and audio, copy protection levels, and so on. It also lets you add data files (ROM content) to the DVD. See the following sections for details: · · · · · · "Adding ROM content to the DVD" on page 34 "Adding mastering information (DVD only)" on page 35 "Adding copy protection" on page 37 "Setting DVD Region Codes" on page 39 "Changing the SD Transcoding settings" on page 40 "Changing the HD Transcoding settings" on page 42 33 Chapter 3 Creating projects Adding ROM content to the DVD The Project Settings dialog box lets you add a ROM (read-only-memory) section to your DVDs. The ROM section exists outside the DVD-Video section of the disc, and can contain any kind of data files, including images, documents, video clips, and applications. These files can be opened and used when the disc is inserted in a computer, but are not available to DVD set-top players. To add a ROM section to a project: 1. On your computer hard drive, create a folder. The folder name does not matter. 2. Within this folder, create the file and folder hierarchy as you want it to appear on the disc. Don't create any shortcuts unless they point to files within the main folder. 3. In DVDit Pro HD, choose File > Project Settings. The Project Settings dialog box opens. 4. On the General tab, select the "Include ROM Data Files on the Disc" option. 5. Click Browse. In the Browse For Folder dialog box, select the previously created ROM folder and click OK. 6. Select the Joliet Support option if you want long filenames to be displayed correctly on Windows 95 computers. If you don't need to support Windows 95, leave this option deselected. 7. Click OK. 34 Changing the project settings n You can link the DVD-Video content to the ROM data files using Sonic's eDVD (http://www.sonic.com/products/edvd/). Inclusion of ROM data files is not directly supported for Blu-ray output, however, if you Burn to Disc from a Volume, you can add ROM files into the .bd folder and DVDit Pro HD will place the files at the root of your disc. Adding mastering information (DVD only) The Project Settings dialog box's Volume tab lets you add mastering information to a project prior to writing a DLT. This information is used by the disc replicator. You don't need to add this information if you will only burn a disc. To edit the Volume Information: 1. Choose File > Project Settings. The Project Settings dialog box opens. 2. Click the Volume tab. 35 Chapter 3 Creating projects 3. Enter the mastering information: Volume: If the project is part of a multi-disc set, enter the disc's position in the set. For example, if the project will go on the second disc of an eight-disc set, enter 2 of 8. Side and Total Sides: If the project will be mastered to a double-sided disc, select 2 from the Total Sides pop-up menu, and choose the Side that the project will be written to (a single project fits on one side of a disc). Disc Size: Change this option if the project will be mastered to an 8 cm disc. - - n The Project Size indicator in the main window's status bar does not update if you change the Disc Size to 8 cm. If you change this setting, make sure to set the project size in the status bar to DVD-RAM (1.4 GB). See "Setting the project's Disc Type" on page 32. Track Path: If the project will be mastered to a dual-layer disc (DVD-9, DVD-14, or DVD-18), you can choose how the two layers are formatted. See "Setting the Track Path for dual-layer projects" on page 36 for details. In the following fields, only uppercase letters A­Z, numbers 0­9, and the underscore ("_") character are allowed. If you do not know what to enter in a field, leave it blank: Volume Name: Enter a name for the disc (up to 32 characters). The default name is "SONIC_DVD." Provider ID: Enter a unique identifier for the content provider. POS Code: Enter the disc's Point of Sale code. Mastering ID: Enter a unique identifier for the disc's masterer. Publisher ID: Enter a unique identifier for the disc's publisher. 4. Click OK. Setting the Track Path for dual-layer projects n Dual-layer recordable discs do not support changing the Track Path. The following applies only when writing to DLT. The Track Path setting controls how the replicator formats each layer of a dual-layer disc. The two Track Path options are: · Opposite: The data track for the first layer (Layer 0) is written from the disc center towards the outer edge, then the second layer (Layer 1) is written back towards the disc center. Parallel: The data tracks for both layers are written from the disc center towards the outer edge. · 36 Changing the project settings The point where the DVD player stops reading Layer 0 and starts reading Layer 1 is called the Layer Break. There is always a short pause in the material at this point. Opposite is best for projects containing a large movie title that spans both layers, where the Layer Break must fall within the movie. This option provides the shortest interruption in playback. This is the default setting. Parallel is better for projects containing several smaller titles, since the Layer Break does not fall within a title and therefore the viewer will not notice it. To change the Track Path setting: 1. Set the project's Disc Type to DVD-9 as described in "Setting the project's Disc Type" on page 32. 2. Choose File > Project Settings. The Project Settings dialog box opens. 3. Click the Volume tab. 4. Select the desired setting from the Track Path pop-up menu. 5. Click OK. Adding copy protection If your project contains copyrighted material, you can use copy protection to protect the intellectual property rights of the material's owner, as well as the rights of the disc's publisher. The following copy protection schemes are available in DVDit Pro HD: · · · Copy Guard Management System (CGMS): Limits the number of digital and analog copies that can be made. Copy Scrambling System (CSS): Encrypts the data to prevent digital copying. Macrovision: Prevents analog copying. CGMS is simply a "flag" that is added to the video stream when you burn a disc or write to DLT. However, many DVD players do not respect the CGMS flag. CSS and Macrovision are applied by the disc replicator. For that reason, you can only use CSS and Macrovision when writing to DLT. n You must obtain licensing rights to use Macrovision. For more information, contact your disc replicator or Macrovision (http://www.macrovision.com). 37 Chapter 3 Creating projects To add copy protection to the project: 1. Choose File > Project Settings. The Project Settings dialog box opens. 2. Click the Protection tab. 3. Select the Enable Copy Protection option. 4. To use CGMS, select an option from the CGMS pop-up menu: Unlimited Copies: Provides no copy protection. One Copy Allowed: Permits any number of copies to be made from the original disc. The copies, however, cannot be copied again to create second-generation discs. No Copies Allowed: Permits no copying. - 5. To use CSS, select No Copies Allowed from the CGMS pop-up menu, then select the Format for CSS option. 6. To use Macrovision, select No Copies Allowed from the CGMS pop-up menu, then select an option from the Macrovision pop-up menu: Off: Provides no copy protection. Type 1: Prevents copying to analog videotape by using Automatic Gain Control (AGC). AGC confuses the video recorder by sending it a video signal that is stronger than it actually is, thereby creating a copy with very low levels and degraded quality. This option is compatible with both PAL and NTSC projects. Type 2: Imposes two-line color stripes on the recorded video signal in addition to using AGC. This option is only compatible with NTSC projects. Type 3: Imposes four-line color stripes on the recorded video signal in addition to using AGC. This option is only compatible with NTSC projects. - 7. Click OK. n 38 If you use copy protection, you cannot burn discs or write to disc images, and you cannot select the OpenDVD option. Changing the project settings Setting DVD Region Codes The DVD Forum Committee divides the world into six DVD regions (1­6), and specifies one transnational region (8) for such applications as in-flight entertainment. Region 7 is currently undefined. Most commercially released movie DVDs contain one or more Region Codes. Every DVD player should play a region-coded DVD only if one of its codes matches a code embedded in the player. By default, projects created in DVDit Pro HD are coded to allow playback in all regions. You can set a project's Region Codes to allow playback in one or a few regions. See "TV Standards and DVD regions by country/territory" on page 174 for the Region Code for a particular country or territory. To set the project's Region Codes: 1. Choose File > Project Settings. The Project Settings dialog box opens. 2. Click the Protection tab. 3. Deselect the regions where you do not want the disc to be playable. At least one region must be selected. To select all regions, click Enable All. 4. Click OK. 39 Chapter 3 Creating projects Changing the SD Transcoding settings DVDit Pro HD's built-in transcoder lets you use "non-compliant" video and audio in your DVD projects. When outputting the project to a DVD disc, DVD Volume, disc image, or DLT, non-compliant files are transcoded with the values specified on the SD Transcoding tab in the Project Settings dialog box. You can also force DVDit Pro HD to re-encode DVD-compliant files. You might want to do this if the project contains DVD-compliant files and is too large to fit on a disc; this option lets you re-encode the files at lower bit rates so that they will fit. However, this is not recommended, as re-encoding degrades video quality. To view or change the SD Transcoding settings: 1. Choose File > Project Settings. The Project Settings dialog box opens. 2. Click the SD Transcoding tab. 40 Changing the project settings 3. Change the settings as desired. See "Choosing bit rates for video and audio" on page 67 for help: Encode Set: DVDit Pro HD comes with several sets of predefined transcoder settings. You can choose a predefined set or change the Video and Audio settings yourself. Encode Style: To fit a lot of video on the disc without losing too much quality, choose VBR (variable bit rate). CBR (constant bit rate) is suitable only for shorter durations. Min, Target, and Max Bit Rate: These set the quality level for all non-compliant video (including motion menus). Type: Generally you should choose Dolby Digital, especially if your movies have multiple audio tracks. DVDit Pro HD's transcoder creates stereo Dolby audio only. Select PCM if audio quality is more important than video quality. Bit Rate: The normal Dolby stereo bit rate is 192 kbps; you can choose higher or lower rates depending on the desired sound quality. The PCM audio bit rate cannot be changed. Video settings: - - Audio settings: - 4. Select the "Convert All Compliant Video and Audio Files" option only if you need to re-encode DVD-compliant files as well as non-compliant files. n DVDit Pro HD does not re-encode multi-channel Dolby Digital audio, even if you select the "Convert All Compliant Video and Audio Files" option. 5. Click OK. 41 Chapter 3 Creating projects Changing the HD Transcoding settings DVDit Pro HD's built-in transcoder lets you use "non-compliant" video and audio in your Blu-ray projects. When outputting the project to a Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray Volume, or disc image, non-compliant files are transcoded with the values specified on the HD Transcoding tab in the Project Settings dialog box. The HD Transcoding settings also determine how motion menus and slideshows will be transcoded for high-definition output. You can also force DVDit Pro HD to re-encode Blu-ray-compliant files. You might want to do this if the project contains Blu-ray-compliant files and is too large to fit on a disc; this option lets you re-encode the files at lower bit rates so that they will fit. However, this is not recommended, as re-encoding degrades video quality. To view or change the HD Transcoding settings: 1. Choose File > Project Settings. The Project Settings dialog box opens. 2. Click the HD Transcoding tab. 42 Changing the project settings 3. Change the settings as desired. See "Choosing bit rates for video and audio" on page 67 for help: Encode Set: DVDit Pro HD comes with several sets of predefined transcoder settings. You can choose a predefined set or change the Video and Audio settings yourself. Encode Style: To fit a lot of video on the disc without losing too much quality, choose VBR (variable bit rate). CBR (constant bit rate) is suitable only for shorter durations. Min, Target, and Max Bit Rate: These set the quality level for all non-compliant video (including motion menus). Type: For Blu-ray output where disc space is less of an issue, you should choose PCM to obtain the highest quality audio. You may want to select Dolby Digital if you are outputting high bit rate video with multiple audio tracks, or if you need additional space on your Blu-ray disc for video. Bit Rate: The normal Dolby stereo bit rate is 192 kbps; you can choose higher or lower rates depending on the desired sound quality. The PCM audio bit rate cannot be changed. Size: Determines the size and resolution of motion menus and slideshows when they are composited for output. Frame Rate: Determines the frame rate for motion menus and slideshows when they are composited for output. Video settings: - - Audio settings: - - Menus/Slideshows: - 4. Select the "Convert All Compliant Video and Audio Files" option only if you need to re-encode Blu-ray-compliant files as well as non-compliant files. n DVDit Pro HD does not re-encode multi-channel Dolby Digital audio, even if you select the "Convert All Compliant Video and Audio Files" option. 5. Click OK. 43 Chapter 3 Creating projects Setting the DVD Jacket Picture A DVD Jacket Picture is an image that is stored in a special location on the disc. Some DVD players will display this image when disc playback is stopped. To set the Jacket Picture, you simply select the image you want to be displayed. You can use any image you have imported into the Palette window's Images tab (see "Importing assets" on page 47). To set the Jacket Picture: 1. Click the Images tab in the Palette window. 2. Locate the image you want to use. 3. Right-click the image and choose Set as Jacket Picture from the shortcut menu. The image's name in the Palette window turns blue and a special icon appears over the image (seen only in Thumbnails view). When previewing the project, the Jacket Picture is displayed if you stop playback. See "Testing playback" on page 143. To remove the Jacket Picture: 1. Locate the Jacket Picture image on the Palette window's Images tab. 2. Right-click the image and choose Remove Jacket Picture from the shortcut menu. 44 Editing MyDVD projects in DVDit Pro HD Editing MyDVD projects in DVDit Pro HD DVDit Pro HD can open most projects created by Sonic MyDVD 4.x through 6.x. If you edit and save a MyDVD project in DVDit Pro HD, you cannot open it again in MyDVD due to the greater complexity of DVDit Pro HD projects. To open a MyDVD project: 1. Choose File > Open. 2. In the Open dialog box, select Sonic DVD Project (*.dvd) from the Files of Type popup menu. 3. Locate and select the MyDVD project file, which has a .dvd extension, and click Open. DVDit Pro HD handles MyDVD projects as follows: · Each movie and slideshow in the MyDVD project is a title in DVDit Pro HD. Movies include any edits or transitions that were added in MyDVD's video editor (but you cannot change them). Chapter points in movies are preserved, and you can edit them or add more. Buttons and text appear in their original locations on menus as separate, editable objects. For example, if you move or resize a movie button, its text label does not move or change size. The project's video, audio, and images (slides, menu backgrounds, and buttons) appear in the appropriate asset lists in DVDit Pro HD's Palette window. For example, video files are listed on the Media tab. · · · 45 Chapter 3 Creating projects 46 Chapter 4 Importing assets Assets are the video, audio, and image files you use to create a DVD. DVDit Pro HD supports a wide range of asset file types, and can also import movies from DVD+VR discs. This section includes: · · · · · · · · · · "Importing files into DVDit Pro HD" on page 47 "Importing DVD+VR content" on page 49 "Removing assets" on page 50 "Changing a video asset's Field Dominance" on page 50 "Supported video files" on page 51 "Supported audio files" on page 52 "Supported image files" on page 53 "Creating buttons and menus in Adobe Photoshop" on page 55 "Compliant video and audio requirements" on page 64 "Choosing bit rates for video and audio" on page 67 DVDit Pro HD also supports import of subtitle script files. See "Subtitle script files" on page 191 for details on creating script files and "Importing subtitle script files" on page 77 for instructions on importing subtitles. Importing files into DVDit Pro HD To import files into a project: 1. Click one of the tabs at the top of the Palette window, based on the kind of assets you are importing: Images: For large images and files created as described in "Creating menus" on page 61. Media: For video and audio. Chapter 4 Importing assets - Buttons: For button images. Choose a button category from the pop-up menu, depending on the kind of files you are importing: · Button Images: For single-layer images. Files you import onto the Images tab also appear here automatically. · Button Objects: For general buttons, including two-layer files created as described in "Creating buttons and menus in Adobe Photoshop" on page 55. · Button Video: You don't need to import files into this category. Video files you import onto the Media tab appear here automatically. · Navigation Buttons: For buttons used to link menus, including two-layer Photoshop files. - Frames: For three-layer files that have been created as described in "Creating buttons and menus in Adobe Photoshop" on page 55. 2. Choose File > Import > Media, then locate and select the files. You can also drag files from Windows Explorer into the Palette window. 48 Importing DVD+VR content Notes on importing files · · · For performance reasons, all files must be stored on a local hard drive. DVDit Pro HD does not support files located on network drives or streamed over a network. You can mix NTSC and PAL/SECAM video files in the same project. However, you will get better results if the video is the same format as the project. If you attempt to import video or audio files that are not DVD or Blu-ray-compliant (for example, AVI video, or MPEG video that does not meet the DVD-Video requirements), DVDit Pro HD gives you the choice of either importing the files and transcoding when you burn a disc, or not importing the files. You can set DVDit Pro HD to always import or always reject such files in the General preferences -- see "Changing DVDit Pro HD's preferences" on page 159. Importing a video file does not automatically create a movie. This is done by dragging the imported video from the Palette window into the Titles group in the Project window -- see "Creating movies" on page 72. To import a video file and create a movie in a single step, choose File > Add Movie. You can get information about any imported asset by Right-clicking the asset in the Palette window and choosing Properties from the shortcut menu. · · Importing DVD+VR content To import movies from a DVD+VR disc: 1. Insert the disc in your computer. 2. In the Palette window, click the Media tab. 3. Choose File > Import > DVD+VR Content. The Import DVD+VR Content dialog box opens. 4. Select the movies you want to import and click OK. The selected movies are copied to your "My Videos" folder and appear on the Palette window's Media tab. 5. Eject the DVD+VR disc. See also "Using SAP audio in movies" on page 73. 49 Chapter 4 Importing assets Removing assets You can remove any asset from a project, including the sample assets provided with DVDit Pro HD, as long as the asset is not being used in a title or menu. This does not delete the source file from your computer hard drive. To remove an asset: t Right-click the asset in the Palette window and choose Delete from the shortcut menu. Changing a video asset's Field Dominance Each video frame comprises two sets of scan lines called fields. One field contains all the odd-numbered scan lines (the top field or field A); the other contains all the even-numbered scan lines (the bottom field or field B). Standard TVs display interlaced video, where one field is displayed followed by the other. Computer monitors and high-definition TVs display non-interlaced (progressive) video, where both fields are displayed at the same time. A video asset's Field Dominance (also known as Field Order) determines which field is displayed first. If the Field Dominance setting is incorrect, the video appears fine when viewed on a computer monitor, but displays badly on a standard TV. Different video formats use different Field Dominance settings, and some video editors can create files with unusual or incorrect settings. The only way to detect an incorrect Field Dominance setting is to burn a disc and watch the video on a TV. If you see motion artifacts that are not apparent when you play the same disc on a computer, you can change the problem asset's Field Dominance setting in DVDit Pro HD and burn the disc again. To change a video asset's Field Dominance: 1. Locate the asset on the Palette window's Media tab. 2. Right-click the asset and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. The Properties dialog box opens. 3. Select the Field Dominance property. 4. Select a different setting from the Value pop-up menu. For example, if the asset's current setting is Top Field, try changing it to Bottom Field. 5. Click OK. After changing the Field Dominance, burn a new disc and play it on a TV to see if the problem has been corrected. 50