23 members and guests attended the October meeting of the Detroit Section to hear Ryan Dunne of Roscor Corp. talk about the fundamentals of DVD authoring. A number of local AES members also joined us for this program.
Mr. Dunne explained the various types of DVD media currently in use and reviewed the various application successes to date at well as some of the many potential uses. He then took us through the various steps involved in actually creating an interactive DVD program. Techniques for creating links to web sites were demonstrated, further emphasizing the sophistication of this medium and its wide ranging application potential.
We then saw some examples of workflow in a typical facility that encompasses non-linear editing, storage of assets, encoding, authoring and replication. We discussed the tradeoffs of bit rate vs. time and some of the advantages of variable bit rate encoding. Encryption options were explored along with various duplication scenarios and the economics associated with different volumes of production. After a review of the different types of media and burners currently available, Mr. Dunne gave us a demonstration of the authoring process using the Sonic Fusion system. He also shared with the group a couple of useful web sites for anyone interested in learning more about the standards and practices of the DVD medium. www.dvdforum.org and www.dvddemystified.com .