User manual SONIC DVDIT - PREPARING FILES

TM STD-03-0001-ENG Preparing Files for DVDit! DVDit! has specific requirements for the video, audio and graphics files you can use. This document describes these requirements, and gives advice on creating suitable video, images, and buttons. Preparing Video, Audio and Graphics Video and Audio You can create video files from a wide variety of sources, including video captured from analog video tapes and cameras, digital video cameras, video editing applications, and even some graphics applications. These sources let you save files in various formats, including MPEG, AVI, and QuickTime. DVDit! accepts all these formats, providing they meet certain requirements; see the relevant sections of this document for the required parameters. DVDit! supports WAVE, MPEG-1 Layer II, and Dolby Digital audio files. Again, DVDit! requires the files to meet certain requirements, such as audio sample rate and bit-depth; see the relevant sections for these parameters. Codecs In most AVI and QuickTime files (and some WAVE audio files), the video and/or audio are compressed to save space. To use a compressed file, you need to have the appropriate codec (coder/decoder software) installed on your PC. Video and audio files produced by different applications require different codecs; if DVDit! cannot create thumbnails, or play the video files, or build a DVD from a project containing AVI or QuickTime files, you either do not have the correct codecs for the files you are using, or the video is compressed with an unsupported codec (for example, DVDit! does not support DivX-encoded video). SONIC TM Preparing Files for DVDit! 1 To see which codecs are installed on your PC: 1. Click the Windows Start button and choose Control Panel. 2. Open the Multimedia panel and click the Devices tab. 3. Expand the list of Video Compression Codecs or Audio Compression Codecs to see which ones are installed. Codecs supported by DVDit! include: AVI video: Intel Indeo Real Time Video 2.1 Intel Indeo 3.1, 3.2 Intel Indeo Video Interactive 4.1, 5.1 Microsoft RLE Cinepak Photo JPEG Editable JPEG VDOWave (VDOLive) ClearVideo (Real Video) H.261 H.263 DV types 1 and 2 Sorensen Video Cinepak Indeo 3.2 Intel Indeo Video Interactive 4 Apple Video Apple None Apple Animation Apple YUV Photo JPEG MJPEG-A MJPEG-B QuickTime video: Graphics You can use your own images for backgrounds, buttons, and stills. Create the images using any graphics application that can save files in one of the supported formats (see "Supported File Formats" on page 18 of the User Manual for details). Note: NTSC televisions have problems displaying certain colors. Most graphics applications can make your artwork "NTSC-safe" by adjusting the colors automatically; see your graphics application manual for details. This problem does not occur on PAL televisions. sonic.com Preparing Files for DVDit! 2 Video/Image Sizes Your video and images must use the following sizes: Aspect ratio 4:3 File type MPEG-1 MPEG-2 (see Notes) NTSC 352 × 240 720 × 480 704 × 480 352 × 480 352 × 240 (must have progressive sequencing turned on) Any size 720 × 480 recommended for video with rectangular pixels 720 × 540 recommended for video with square pixels Any size. 640 × 480 recommended Any size. 720 × 540 recommended PAL 352 × 288 720 × 576 704 × 576 352 × 576 352 × 288 Any size 720 × 576 recommended for video with rectangular pixels 720 × 540 recommended for video with square pixels Any size. 640 × 480 recommended Any size. 720 × 540 recommended AVI and QuickTime video Images for menu backgrounds Images for stills Aspect ratio 16:9 File type MPEG-2 (must be flagged as anamorphic) AVI and QuickTime video (see Notes) NTSC 720 × 480 704 × 480 Any size 960 × 480 recommended for video with rectangular pixels 960 × 540 recommended for video with square pixels 720 × 480 recommended for anamorphic video Any size. 640 × 480 recommended PAL 720 × 576 704 × 576 Any size 960 × 576 recommended for video with rectangular pixels 960 × 540 recommended for video with square pixels 720 × 576 recommended for anamorphic video Any size. 640 × 480 recommended Images for menu backgrounds (all menus are displayed in 4:3 format) Images for stills Any size. 960 × 540 recommended Any size. 960 × 540 recommended Notes MPEG-2 video at 352 × 240 and 352 × 288 must not use the interlaced SIF format. The best image size for menu backgrounds is 640 × 480 because that is the size of the video monitor. If you use an image of a different size, DVDit! scales it to 640 × 480, which can cause sonic.com Preparing Files for DVDit! 3 distortion and loss of quality. When you build the output, DVDit! expands the menu image to the correct size, such as 720 × 480 for NTSC. When creating AVI or QuickTime video for widescreen projects, if your video editing application lets you create anamorphic 16:9 video, please do so. This gives the best results. When you use a non-MPEG video or image file in a project, DVDit! forces it to fit the TV screen size and aspect ratio by stretching, squeezing, and/or cropping. If you want to use a tall, thin picture or a short, wide picture, add borders to the picture in your graphics application so that the final image has the correct dimensions. The DVD specification requires all MPEG video files in a project to be the same resolution. If a project contains MPEG files with different resolutions, you will get an error when you try to create a DVD. Recommended Button Sizes Buttons should be large enough to be easily visible to the viewer. We recommend that you make your buttons at least 72 × 60 pixels, or 300 × 80 for larger buttons. You can scale a button smaller in DVDit! without loss of quality, but if you make a small button much larger, you lose resolution. Creating irregularly shaped buttons Adobe Photoshop lets you create files with background transparency. You can therefore create nonrectangular buttons, even buttons with holes in them. Photoshop also uses layers to separate parts of an image; you can use these layers to create multiple buttons in the same file, with one button in each layer. To use Photoshop to create buttons: 1. Create a new Photoshop document. In the New dialog, click the Transparent radio button: This creates a document with no background. 2. Create the artwork for a single button in Layer 1. sonic.com Preparing Files for DVDit! 4 3. To create another button, add a new layer, then create the new button in the new layer. You can create as many layers and buttons as you like. You can also name each layer, using any name you like: These names will appear in DVDit!'s Palette window when you import the file 4. Save the file in Photoshop format and import it into DVDit! When you import the file, each layer appears as a separate button in the Palette window. sonic.com Preparing Files for DVDit! 5 Video and Audio Parameters MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) MPEG is a set of international standards for compressed video and audio. The DVD video format uses a subset of the MPEG standards, permitting only specific images resolutions, frame rates, aspect ratios, etc. DVDit! supports MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video files, but you cannot mix the two in a single project. DVDit! also supports MPEG-1 Layer II audio, which it converts to PCM or Dolby Digital audio when you create a disc. DVD-compliant MPEG files can contain: · A single stream of either video or audio (an "elementary stream"), or · One MPEG-1/MPEG-2 video stream and one MPEG-1 Layer II audio stream (a "program stream") DVDit! supports both elementary and program streams. Use the following parameters when creating MPEG video and audio files. MPEG-1 video: Maximum GOP size: (see "What is a GOP?" on page 7 for more information) Frame rate: Aspect ratio: Bit-rate: Filename extension: 18 frames (NTSC) 15 frames (PAL) 29.97 Hz (NTSC) 25 Hz (PAL) 4:3 1.15 ­ 1.856 Mbps .m1p, .m1v, .mp1, .mpg, .mpeg, .mpv MPEG-2 video: Maximum GOP size: (see "What is a GOP?" on page 7 for more information) 36 fields/18 frames (NTSC) 30 fields/15 frames (PAL) Some encoders generate MPEG-2 streams with variable GOP sizes. DVDit! supports these streams, providing the GOP size does not exceed the above limits. 29.97 Hz (NTSC) 25 Hz (PAL) 4:3 or 16:9 anamorphic 2.0 ­ 8.0/9.4 Mbps If you use PCM audio in a project, the maximum video bit-rate is 8.0 Mbps. If you use Dolby Digital, the maximum is 9.4 Mbps. .m2p, .m2v, .mp2, .mpg, .mpeg, .mpv Preparing Files for DVDit! 6 Frame rate: Aspect ratio: Bit-rate: Constant bit-rate (CBR) or variable bit-rate (VBR) Filename extension: sonic.com MPEG-1 Layer II audio: Sample rate: Sample size: Number of channels: (front/rear) Filename extension: 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz 16 bits/sample 2/0 (stereo) When you use MPEG-1 audio in a project, DVDit! converts it to 48 kHz PCM or Dolby Digital audio, depending on the project settings. .abs, .mpa What is a GOP? An MPEG video stream consists of a succession of GOPs (group of pictures). Each GOP starts with one complete video frame (called an I-picture or I-frame), which is only moderately compressed. The following frames (called P-pictures and B-pictures) contain only information that is different from the I-picture, and are therefore much more highly compressed. Larger GOP sizes help to compress the video more, because there are fewer I-pictures per second of video. Because the I-picture is the only complete image in a GOP, it is the only frame where you can insert a chapter point or pause the video. The DVD specification requires a sequence header before each GOP (the sequence header contains information about the MPEG stream, such as aspect ratio, GOP size and bit-rate). DVDit! does not support MPEG streams without sequence headers. Check your encoder's settings to ensure that it creates sequence headers before you encode MPEG files for DVDit! AVI (Audio Visual Interleave) AVI is the most common format for compressed and uncompressed video and audio on the PC. An AVI file can contain one video stream and multiple concurrent audio streams. DVDit! supports AVI files containing one video stream and one optional audio stream in WAVE format only. See "WAVE Audio" on page 8 for the audio parameters. QuickTime QuickTime is another popular format for compressed and uncompressed video and audio. (You can get the latest version of QuickTime Player from Apple's web site: http://www.apple.com/ quicktime/.) A QuickTime file can contain multiple layers of video tracks and multiple layers of audio tracks. It can also have multiple video or audio tracks appended to one another within the same layer. DVDit! supports QuickTime files with one video layer (containing one or more video tracks joined end-toend) and one optional audio layer in WAVE format only. See "WAVE Audio" on page 8 for the audio parameters. sonic.com Preparing Files for DVDit! 7 WAVE Audio WAVE (Windows audio) files contain either uncompressed PCM audio or compressed audio. When you use WAVE audio in a project, DVDit! converts it to 48 kHz PCM audio or Dolby Digital audio, depending on the project settings. DVDit! supports any WAVE file with the following parameters: Sample rate: Sample size: Number of audio streams: Number of channels: Filename extension: 48 kHz 16 bits/sample 1 2 (stereo) .wav Dolby Digital Audio Dolby Digital is a highly compressed audio format that provides quality comparable to uncompressed PCM audio at much lower bit-rates, in addition to other useful features. DVDit! supports any Dolby Digital file with the following parameters: Sample rate: Sample size: Number of channels: (front/rear) Bit-rate: Filename extension: 48 kHz 16 bits/sample 2/0 (stereo) 128 ­ 256 kbps .ac3 If your project contains any Dolby Digital audio, DVDit! will convert all other audio to Dolby Digital when you create the DVD. For more information about Dolby Digital, go to the Dolby Laboratories web site: http:// www.dolby.com. sonic.com Preparing Files for DVDit! 8 Graphics Parameters Windows Bitmap This Microsoft-created file format can contain an uncompressed or RLE (run-length-encoding) compressed image. DVDit! supports Windows bitmaps with the following parameters: Bit depth: Color mode: Filename extension: 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits per pixel uncompressed 1, 4, or 8 bits per pixel RLE compressed RGB, indexed, grayscale, and monochrome .bmp, .rle OS/2 Bitmap This format is used on IBM's OS/2 platform and is similar to the Windows bitmap format. DVDit! supports OS/2 bitmaps with the following parameters: Bit depth: Color mode: Filename extension: 1, 4, 8, 16, or 24 bits per pixel uncompressed 1, 4, or 8 bits per pixel RLE compressed RGB, indexed, grayscale, and monochrome .bmp, .rle JPEG JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) is a lossy compressed graphics format that works well with photographs but causes "blockiness" and other artifacts in the image, especially with higher levels of compression. DVDit! supports JPEGs with the following parameters: Bit depth: Color mode: Filename extension: Grayscale: 8 bits per pixel Color: 24 and 32 bits per pixel RGB, grayscale and CMYK .jpg, .jpeg Macintosh PICT This format is popular on the Macintosh platform. DVDit! supports PICTs with the following parameters: Bit depth: Color mode: Filename extension: 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 32 bits per pixel RGB, indexed, grayscale and monochrome .pct, .pic, .pict sonic.com Preparing Files for DVDit! 9 Photoshop This is the native format produced by Adobe Photoshop. Files can contain unlimited layers and have background transparency, so you can create multiple irregularly shaped buttons in a single file, with each button residing in a separate layer. DVDit! supports Photoshop files with the following parameters: Bit depth: Color mode: Filename extension: 24 bits per pixel RGB (8 bits per channel only) .psd PNG (portable network graphic) The PNG format is used for lossless compression and display of graphics for the web. DVDit! supports PNG files with the following parameters: Bit depth: Color mode: Filename extension: 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 32 bits per pixel RGB, indexed, grayscale, and monochrome .png Note: PNG files can use an alpha channel for transparency effects. However, DVDit! ignores the alpha channel, so you cannot create irregularly shaped buttons using PNG graphics. TIFF (tagged image file format) TIFF is a very flexible format used to exchange files between computer applications and platforms. Virtually all desktop scanners can produce TIFF images. DVDit! supports TIFF files with the following parameters: Bit depth: Color mode: LZW compression: Filename extension: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16, 24, and 32 bits per pixel RGB, CMYK, Lab, indexed, grayscale, and monochrome Not supported .tif, .tiff Targa Truevision Targa (TGA) is a format created by Truevision Inc. DVDit! supports TGA files with the following parameters: Bit depth: Color mode: Filename extension: 8, 16, 24, and 32 bits per pixel RGB, indexed, grayscale, and monochrome .tga, .vda, .icb, .vst sonic.com Preparing Files for DVDit! 10