Pre-production for DVD is more complicated than pre-production for CD because so many more factors must be considered. It is not just a matter of taking the raw data, digitizing it, premastering, and inputting it. Many choices first must be made about which data will be used and how they will be presented. Which format is best? How many audio tracks will there be, and of which type? Will there be on-screen menus, and what will they describe? How interactive will the disc be? These are just some of the questions that must be addressed in the authoring process.

There are several DVD formats, involving different combinations of layers of data and sides of the disc. The most common formats are:

The microscopic pits used to encode the material are of slightly different sizes depending on which type of DVD disc is being made. Pit lengths for a two-layer DVD disc (DVD-9, DVD-18) are somewhat longer than those for a single-layer disc to make up for any interference in reading the two layers. (Thus a single-layer, double-side disc has a greater capacity than a double-layer, single-side disc.)

A key concept in the DVD authoring process is tradeoffs. The enormous data capacity of DVD allows for many features - and they all use data. The person who wants to create a DVD disc must decide how many, and which, features to include. Balancing the needs of audio, video, picture quality, playback time, and subpictures is critical to the DVD authoring process.

Through its many alliances in the replication industry, RSRT can help you choose the best authoring source for your project. Once all the authoring decisions have been made, the master must be made.

 DVD Authoring
 Mastering
 Replication
 Printing and Packaging
 Glossary
 DVD Overview