Authoring DVD's

DVD authoring is the process of putting a DVD disk together, and there are many choices along the way. It's not like "authoring" a VHS tape where you just have just a few choices to make ("Do I record in SP or EP?", "Do I use VHS or SVHS?", and "Do I use T120's or T160's?"). Many of the choices for putting together DVD's are personal preference, so keep in mind that what I describe is just what I do when I author a DVD. I might recommend you follow a lot of what I describe below, but, really, there is no one right way to make a DVD. Use anything I have written as a starting or data point, and then do whatever you like; after all, it'll be your disks in the end and you want to make sure you'll be happy with whatever you create.

This web page mostly describes a high-level view of what I put on a DVD (along with a bit about creating DVD covers). To learn the nitty gritty details of how I do it, read Tools for Creating DVD's page.

What to Record

When you digitize a show either from broadcast or video tape, here's what I think you should record for a DVD.

• Record the entire show. This means you not only record the show itself, but you should also record:
  • The previous episode recap,
  • The opening credits & theme song,
  • The closing credits & theme song, and
  • The next episode trailer.
  Some people like to see all of the above, even if some of the episode parts don't usually change between episodes (e.g., theme songs). The only exception to the above is when recording the 15-minute morning doramas: in this case, it's fine to record the opening and closing credits only about once every three episodes or once per disk. (Put the opening credits with the first episode of your block of episodes, and the closing credits with the final episode in your block.)
  Also, if I don't have closing credits and I do have the next episode trailer, I add a second of black video between the show and the trailer. Some people don't want to see spoilers that may be in the trailer. The second of blank video give them a chance to stop the disk playing, while being short enough not to annoy viewers who do want to see it without waiting a long time.
  I also add a single black frame at the start and end of the video. The frame at the start of the video is to allow copying to VHS if someone wants to do that without annoying anyone by delaying the start of the video (you can barely detect the black frame, even if you're looking for it). The frame allows someone to pause the DVD at that first frame with a black screen, start making the VHS copy, and then start playing the DVD. Thus, the tape has a clean black few seconds at the beginning of it, and contains the entire video unclipped. The black frame at the end is there because DVD players often pause on the last frame while figuring out what it should do next. The DVD looks cleaner if the player pauses on a black frame.
• Take out the commercials. The commercials take up space and make it a pain to watch the show. Get rid of them. The only exception is that, if it's available, I'll leave in
  • The station identification that typically comes on before the episode starts (on the first episode on the disk), and
  • The identification of the company that did the subtitling that comes on after the episode ends (on the last episode on the disk).

  If there's room on the final disk -- which typically means if there's only one episode on the final disk -- I'll cut/paste all the commercials from the last episode together, and put them on as a separate item, just in case people might want to see them. Sometimes it's interesting to see what ads ran with a show, especially if the show is old.

• Record the Promotional Commercial. If I have the station's promotional commercial for the show, I'll save it and include it on the last disk. I only add the commercial that promotes the show in general, not commercials that promote a particular episode. The commercials that promote a particular episode aren't much different than the already included trailers.

Recording Parameters

This step is where all the complex choices come into play. If you are using a digital video recorder, just pick the 2-hour/disk speed (SP mode) and you'll get a decent result if your source video looks good. I've heard from people with digital video recorders that there's not much improvement of quality if you use the 1-hour/disk speed (HQ mode) instead of the 2-hour/disk speed, but there's substantial improvement between the 2-hour/disk speed and lower speeds (if viewed on nice TV equipment). Digital video recorders are optimized to do a good job with high-quality sources -- meaning B- quality or better -- but do a poor job with lower quality video -- meaning C+ quality or below.

However, if you're digitizing video on a computer, you have a myriad of choices. If I'm going to the trouble of creating a DVD from my tapes, I want it to contain source material that I'll be happy with in the future. Frankly, many of the settings I use are beyond what I can see on my 10-year-old very obsolete 27" TV. (On my TV, even VCD's look good.) However, I expect to see a difference when I upgrade to a bigger TV or HDTV. The way I arrived at the settings below was to make test disks that contained video clips with different settings, which I then sent to videophile dorama-watching friends to watch on their very nice video equipment. I also watched them using a friend's very modern TV. Both I and my videophile friends were very surprised at the difference between what I could see on older TV's, and what you can see on better, newer TV's.

Based one what we saw, to get the best result, you should use settings that will allow you to fit 2 hours of programming on a DVD, if you remove the commercials (so actual time you can store is a bit below 100 minutes). That's what the settings below will give you. Going above these settings gives only marginally better results, and going below these settings will give significantly worse results.

If you store 2 episodes on a DVD, that means that most dramas can fit on 6 DVD's, which can conveniently be stored on in a Multi-6 CD jewel case.

Here's the settings I arrived at to get a good forward-looking result:

• Main Video Parameters:
  • Stream Type: MPEG-2 Video.
  • Size: 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL). Yes, I know the resolution of VHS is way below this. However, you need a resolution this high to capture what resolution is there. In fact, it's harder to capture the resolution from fuzzy tapes, so, very counter intuitively, the worse the tape, the more important it is to capture the video with a high resolution.
  • Frame rate: 29.97 fps (NTSC) or 25 fps (PAL). If you live in North America, you're using NTSC.
  • Rate Control Mode: 6000 kbits/sec variable bit rate (0 kbits/sec minimum, 8000 kbits/sec maximum). Bit rates lower than 6000 kbits/sec are noticeably pixelated on good TV's, especially when there's a lot of motion. Personally, I have to get below 4000 kbits/sec before I can even start to see pixelation problems on my crummy TV, but, again, I'm trying to make DVD's I'll be happy with when I eventually get a nicer TV. Going higher than 6000 kbits/second results in diminishing returns: it's possible to see a difference, but it's very slight (only one of my testers could even see a difference between 6000 kbits/sec and 8000 kbits/sec while all of them saw improvement between 6000 kbits/sec and slightly lower rates). Variable bit rate results in a much better picture than constant bit rate.
• Main Audio Parameters:
  • Stream Type: MPEG-1 Audio Layer II.
  • Sampling Frequency: 48,000 kHz, 16-bit stereo
  • Bitrate: 384 kbits/sec with error protection.

Putting the Disk Together

Once I've made enough episodes, I'll put the disk together with the following information. For illustration purposes, I'm enclosing pictures of what everything looks like in a disk I made of Risou no Kekkon. (Note: since the source copy wasn't great, the pictures you see below won't be, either. The example is to show what I'm doing, not to present a pristine copy of something.)

Figure 1: Sample First Play

• First Play Copyright Notice. The "first play" is the video that comes on when you first insert the disk into the DVD player and before the menu appears. I always add a 5-second notice that says, "The contents of this disk are copyright <Company> and cannot be rented, sold, or shown in public. This disk has been created for the private use of fans of Japanese drama." Figure 1 shows a screen shot of Risou no Kekkon's first play copyright notice.
  
  Figure 2: Sample Main Menu

• Menu. I suggest you make menus that contain the following:
  • Background Picture. I add a SPOILER FREE background picture of a frame from one of the episodes on the disk. Again, make sure the menu picture is SPOILER FREE. Even though it's tempting to use a frame from that dramatic scene or that surprise appearance for the menu picture, all you'll do is annoy your viewers. Instead, try to find a generic but interesting frame that doesn't give anything away. I avoid video clips; they almost always contain spoilers.
  • Background Music. I have the theme song playing while the menu is shown. Having sound really adds a lot; menus seem boring without it.
  • Show Title. I'll capture a frame with the show title's Japanese logo, clip it, and then add that somewhere on the menu. I don't bother to write the English title on the menu unless it's part of the Japanese logo. I figure that most viewers will be able to figure it out even if they don't know kana and kanji.
  • Assembly Credit. Some people like to put in a little logo or name that identifies who assembled the disk on the menu. Go ahead; you deserve it! :-)
  • Selections for each episode. I'll have the episode numbers written using the English name used in the show with the episode numbers ("Episode", "Chapter", "Act", "Mystery", etc.). I will not include any episode title, because these add clutter and often contain spoilers. I use Arial size 24 for the text. The colors I usually use for the text are yellow (R: 255, G: 255, B: 0) for the unselected color, and orange (R: 255, G: 164, B: 60) and red (R: 196, G: 0, B: 0) for the text state colors. Sometimes I'll use different colors or add a black shadow color (with no offset) if the background picture makes the text hard to read (if the background picture is white or yellow). Usually, though, these colors display well with most pictures.

  Important: make sure the upper selections are left-aligned or to the left of your lower selections. Otherwise, your DVD may make the leftmost selection the default selection even though it's below other selections. This odd default selection may confuse your viewers. You may run into this issue especially if you add different-length selections, such as a "Broadcast Info" selection described below.

  
  Figure 2 shows the menu on the first disk of Risou no Kekkon.

Figure 3: Sample Broadcast-Info Menu

• Broadcast Info. On the first disk, I'll add a selection for an additional menu that tells where and when the show was first broadcast (network, dates, hour and day of the week). The Terebi Dorama Database has all the info about all such details (in Japanese, but it's pretty easy to pick out date information even if you don't know much Japanese). If you aren't able to enter kanji on your computer, you can get kanji for the search by copy/pasting text shown about the show at JDorama.com. If I have the information, I'll also list where and when this subtitled version was broadcast. Figure 3 shows the broadcast-info menu for Risou no Kekkon (without a background picture having been added).
• Other Info. Using additional menus, add any other info you think of interest to yourself that you think might be interesting to others, such as, for example, cultural notes, or title and singer of the theme song and what album it's on.

• The Episodes. Each episode should be in one MPEG-2 file when you put the disk together. If you create a disk with the episode in pieces, the DVD player may have annoying behavior (such as pauses between segments), and display misleading information (such as incorrectly reporting the time left in the episode). So merge your pieces into one MPEG-2 file per episode. Different episodes should be in different MPEG-2 files for similar reasons.
  Make sure you put an entire episode on a single disk. NEVER SPLIT AN EPISODE BETWEEN TWO DISKS!!! If an episode is split between disks, it makes it much more of a pain to watch it; people do not want to be changing disks in their DVD players while in the middle of an episode! Back in the analog world, the biggest complaint I repeatedly heard about new traders is that they often would split episodes between tapes to save tapes. Don't repeat such errors with DVD's.
• Blank Video Between Episodes. I set the episodes on the disk so that they the next episode automatically starts playing after the previous episode ends. However, since a lot of people won't want to see the following episode right after watching the previous episode, I add a 5-second blank video segment between the episodes to give people time to opt out.

So in summation, the video I put on my disks is first, a copyright notice (before the menu comes up), then the two episodes with 5 seconds of blank video between them. The first episode and 5 seconds of blank video are set up to automatically play the next video segment on the disk when they finish. Figure 4 shows a pictorial view of such a DVD.

Figure 4: Display of typical video contents on one of my DVD's

Burning The Disk

Once you've got everything set to create a DVD, I suggest you write the DVD contents on your hard drive first before burning the result on a DVD. The reason is that this then gives you a chance to add other files with the DVD directory when you actually burn the DVD. In particular, I include all files I used to author the DVD (logo and menu bitmaps, authoring files, etc.) so that I can recreate it later if I need to or print another cover when I make a trade. I place all of these files in a directory I call Assembly along with a notes.txt file that describes what all the files are and what how I created the disk (what tools I used and what directory I had the files on my hard drive). Any DVD player will ignore this Assembly directory, but you'll be able to see it and use it if you open the disk on your computer.

Note, though, that you can't just copy the Assembly and DVD directory to a DVD disk and expect it to work on your DVD player. Your computer locates DVD files by name and directory, but your DVD player locates DVD files by physical location on the disk. Thus, you will have to use a program that can burn DVD's to get everything set up correctly.

When I burn the DVD, I'll change the volume label from it's default (ex., "NEW") to be the show name (or an abbreviation) and disk number. That gives me a quick way to identify the disk in my computer later if I forget to physically label it or some such.

Packaging Artwork

The final step is to create artwork for your DVD. There are two things you can create: a disk label, and jewel box covers.

I don't make disk labels; I just write the name of the show and the episode numbers on the DVD with a fine-point black permanent marker. The reason I don't use disk labels is that I'm concerned a label sticker may come off as it ages. Too many of my older tapes have labels that are starting to peel. On a tape, a peeling label won't cause much of a problem in a VCR. However, on a disk, a peeling label on a fast-spinning disk could potentially wreak havoc with your DVD player. Why risk it?

On the other hand, I do make covers for my DVD jewel boxes. Since I usually use a double-width 6-DVD jewel case to store a series, that means I end up with a front and back cover with side panels. Here's what I put on each:

Figure 5: Sample Front Cover

• Front Sheet:
  • Front Cover:
    • Background Picture. A SPOILER FREE background picture of a frame from one of the episodes in the show. Even more so than with menus, it's important that the picture is SPOILER FREE. You should avoid giving away any non-obvious surprises, even if the surprise is something that happens in episode 1. Again, don't annoy your viewers. Just as with the menus, try to find a generic but interesting frame that doesn't give anything away. It's common for your picture to look fuzzy when it prints because the print resolution is substantially higher than the screen resolution.
    • Show Title. The same clip of the Japanese logo. I don't put the English title on the front cover unless it's part of the Japanese logo.
  • Front Left and Right Side Panel:
    • Japanese Title Written in Kanji. Center the title, and write it vertically.
    
    
  Figure 5 shows the front cover for Risou no Kekkon.

   

  
  Figure 6: Sample Back Cover

• Back Sheet:
  • Back Cover:
    • Background Picture. Yet again, another SPOILER FREE background picture of a frame from one of the episodes in the show.
    • Show Title. I'll write the title in romaji, and below it, the English Title.
    • Episode Numbers. The episodes that are included with these disks. As with the menus, I'll have the episode numbers written using the English word used in the show with the episode numbers ("Episode", "Chapter", "Act", "Mystery", etc.).
    • Copyright Notice. I'll add a notice that says, "The contents of these disks are copyright <Company> and cannot be rented, sold, or shown in public. These disks have been created for the private use of fans of Japanese drama."
    • Assembly Credit. The same thing you added to the menus if you want to give yourself credit for assembling the disks.
  • Back Left Panel:
    • Japanese Title Written in Romaji. Center the title, and write it sideways, with the bottom of the text facing the back cover. (This direction matches the writing on most commercial CD back sheets, left panel.)
  • Back Right Panel:
    • English Title. Center the title, and write it sideways, with the bottom of the text facing the back cover. (This direction matches the writing on most commercial CD back sheets, right panel.)

  With both the Japanese and English title stored on different panels, someone can store the jewel case so that they see whichever title they use for the show. Figure 6 shows the back cover for Risou no Kekkon.

As with the items used to create the menu, I'll put all the files I used to create the cover in the Assembly directory of the first disk (as described in Burning The Disk above).

Obviously, you can get more creative than I've been, and use such things as composite pictures and/or original drawings in the menus and covers. (Caution: don't get so elaborate that you risk running out of room on the disk. There's not a lot of extra room using the settings I describe above.) You can also enclose different information on the disks that describes what interests you, such as song info as mentioned above in Putting the Disk Together. Again, they're your disks, so do as little or as much as you want to create something you'll be happy with.

E-mail me if you have any questions or suggestions; and I'd love to hear about other people's experiences.

I hope this guide has been helpful and you have fun making your own DVD's!

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