While the VHS gradually becomes a museum piece, the new technological tools for DVD production take on features that considerably simplify the work of professionals.
Apple, a company that is increasingly betting on digital media, currently has its chips placed in DVD Studio Pro, a software that it acquired just a couple of years ago and on which it works very hard to turn it into a reference among DVD producers.
"When Apple acquired DVD Studio Pro, it worked fundamentally to improve speed and flexibility," explains Héctor Goldín, president of Maxim Software, a value-added distributor of Apple products in Argentina, and of the consulting firm for implementing solutions on that platform in Miami, Anova Solutions LLC.
Among the outstanding features offered by the tool are the possibility of customizing the interface to adapt to the workflow needs of each user, the templates predesigned by Apple itself in order to speed up the process (they serve to build menus and add material or points of interactivity with a simple drag and drop of video, audio or graphics previously edited and available in the palette), and the ability to view and operate the material (including tracks, assets, and menus) before building the DVD.
In addition, it includes a first-class MPEG-2 encoder, which generates high-quality video at low-bit rates. This allows you to maximize the length of video that fits on a DVD without having to resign quality. Additionally, the Compressor and A.Pack utilities are included. The first is useful for customizing and correcting compression files in real time. It also enables the batch process to MPEG-2 for DVD and MPEG-4 for Web streaming. A.Pack, meanwhile, encodes uncompressed audio into highly compressed Dolby Digital AC-3 streams.
Goldín explains that "normally, in the process of creating DVDs, you have to consider calculations, study how to calibrate what will be scaled on the DVD, see the type of conversion..." The expert assures that Studio Pro allows you to do all this manually, but, on the other hand, affirms that "the truth is that 98% of professionals need to conclude their work urgently and, for this, DVD Studio Pro solves all the calculations by default, from the input material, which can be Final Cut Pro or any element developed in QuickTime, and arm it." The executive also assures that the tool "makes optimizations as it includes new material."
The user's vision
Diego D'Alessio is a DVD producer. Among his latest works is "11 symphonic episodes", a work by Gustavo Cerati that was sold in Argentina, Chile and Mexico, where he reached the sixth place in the ranking. He has been working as a QuickTime developer for 10 years and has been using DVD Studio Pro since his betas.
In addition to the benefits mentioned, he adds one: "The fact that it works on the Mac OS X operating system is a plus point, because it adds the robustness of the platform to the robustness of the product itself."
The producer assures that "generally, one is very busy trying to meet the deadlines and the last thing you need in the production process is that the technological tools begin to generate problems."
On the other hand, D'Alessio, whose background is in the universe of programming, ensures that "Studio DVD Pro brings out the best in each user, whether it comes from the computer technical part or from the world of video". For example, he takes great advantage of the product's ability to give access to the technology script. "For me it is fundamental, although I understand that for someone with more experience in the video area it may not be so important."
Another of the powerful features of DVD Studio Pro is its high degree of integration with Apple's professional video editing tool, the FinalCut Pro. Even the manzanita company sees the two solutions as part of a complete system for the creation and distribution of digital content, and not as independent software.
For example, the timeline, as well as other UI elements, are virtually identical in both products, so that a user of either tool could start working with the other almost immediately, without needing to waste time on training or lengthy learning processes.
From a technical point of view, the integration with Final Cut Pro 4 is complete: any material developed with it can be incorporated into a DVD project without inconvenience or manual operations. Similarly, DVD Studio Pro works naturally with the Shake 3 composition and visual effects tool and the soundtrack and Logic Platinum music production apps.
We are not alone
The main competition that Apple finds in this field is Sonic. Although, in honor of the truth, it is the other way around: Sonic has been on the market for a long time and is practically the standard of DVD production for PC users.
According to Goldín, the difference in speed in what strictly makes the preparation of the DVD is 10 to 1 in favor of the Apple product. "The templates and the possibility of incorporating materials of different types or adding subtitles from standard files, among other things, make it very fast."
Another important advantage is the ability to work in different formats. "With QuickTime and FinalCut Pro it is possible to operate in cinema formats, something very difficult in other environments," explains Goldín. While Sonic does, he then forces him to handle everything that way. With Studio Pro you move from one format to the other without problems."
Quality is another key point. "I've heard comparisons from people who regularly use Sonic, including experts on that platform, who say that the quality obtained with DVD Studio Pro is superior," says Goldín.
Among the advantages of Sonic is the greater speed in the conversion process. "It does it by hardware, so, although you do not achieve as much quality in the process, it becomes faster," says Goldín. The expert's recommendation is to use DVD Studio Pro when high levels of flexibility and quality are required and you have a not so large budget. "Sonic is a more expensive option, but if you have to maneuver a high volume of material with very clear prescriptions about how the finished product has to be, it may be the best alternative," concludes Goldín.
Adobe also appears in the business, with its Encore product: a proposal closer to DVD Studio Pro than to Sonic and that aims to compete in both the PC and Mac segments. Like Apple's solution, Adobe's also integrates the DVD production tool (Encore) with the digital video editing tool for professionals (Premiere).
If we had to bet on a trend in the universe of DVD production, everything seems to indicate that, as in almost all disciplines that involve computer technology, solutions based more on software than hardware will end up being the dominant market.
It is to be expected, then, that Apple will move forward with its strategy, that Adobe will accommodate itself a little better in the market leveraged by the extensive database of users of its widely accepted image solutions – such as Photoshop – and that Sonic will invest more heavily in software-oriented solutions.
The winner of this fight will be, in short, the user, for whom making the film (on DVD, in this case) will be increasingly easy.
