DVD production

DVD production has two basic phases: development and publishing. Development is different for DVD-ROM and DVD-Video, publishing is essentially the same for both. Cheap, low-volume productions can be duplicated on recordable discs, whereas high-volume, mass-market products such as movies must be replicated in specialized factories.

DVD-ROM content can be developed with traditional software development tools such as Macromedia Director, Visual BASIC, Quark mTropolis, and C++. Discs, including DVD-R check discs, can be created with UDF formatting software (see 5.3). DVD-ROMs that take advantage of DVD-Video's MPEG-2 video and multichannel Dolby Digital or MPEG-2 audio require video and audio encoding (see 5.3).

DVD-Video content development has three basic parts: encoding, authoring (design, layout, and testing), and premastering (formatting a disc image). The entire development process is sometimes referred to as authoring. Development facilities are provided by many service bureaus (see 5.5). If you intend to produce numerous DVD-Video titles (or you want to set up a service bureau), you may want to invest in encoding and authoring systems (see 5.3 and 5.4).

Replication (including mastering) is the process of pressing discs in production lines that spit out a new disc every few seconds. Replication is done by large plants (see 5.5 for a list) that also replicate CDs. DVD replication equipment typically costs millions of dollars. A variety of machines are used to create a glass master, create metal stamping masters, stamp substrates in hydraulic molds, apply reflective layers, bond substrates together, print labels, and insert discs in packages. Most replication plants provide one-off or check disc services, where one to a hundred discs are made for testing before mass duplication. Unlike DVD-ROM mastering, DVD-Video mastering may include an additional step for CSS encryption, Macrovision, and regionalization. There is more information on mastering and replication at Technicolor and Disctronics.

For projects requiring fewer than 50 copies, it can be cheaper to use recordable discs (see 4.3). Automated machines can feed recordable blanks into a recorder, and even print labels on each disc. This is called duplication, as distinguished from replication.