DVD/BD Authouring

I think the better question would be:

Is there any point in authoring SOURCING a DVD FROM HD FOOTAGE these days when blu-ray is so much better quality?

ron:But if I had HD source video, I don’t see a big reason to be creating DVDs anymore.

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One reason I still make DVD versions is because if I don’t, someone will download the blu-ray, make their own DVD version, and then upload it. They might create a nice DVD version – or one that looks like shit. Either way, it will not be encoded using the original raw HD files – although sourcing a DVD from a blu-ray still usually looks nice **if** it is encoded properly. Since I include my authoring nickname at the end of DVDs/blu-rays that I author to avoid confusion between different versions of the same show – my name (and reputation) are still associated with spin-off DVD productions sourced from blu-rays that I have authored. And the same thing happens when you only create a DVD9 version of a show – there is a good chance that some hero will take it upon himself to re-author it as a 2xDVD5 version and upload it – and even though it can be done without any re-encoding – if the person doing isn’t experienced, they can create a piece of crap. And unfortunately, even if it looks like crap – inevitably, it still gets uploaded and spread around.

With YouTube HD being as clear as broadcast HD… I really like YouTube now. I watch YouTube on my TV through my Apple TV.

Back in ’07-’08 YouTube pretty much sucked because the quality was so bad, but now that is no longer true.

You could put up individual songs, or entire shows if you so choose.

I’m not really much of a fan of putting entire shows on Youtube. People download them and author alternate versions of shows.

KISSMAD: I don’t like DVD’s anymore. They look terrible on my LCD TV.

If I author a BD and DVD set then I’ll only author a DVD5 version and not a DVD9. It’s just not worth doing a DVD9 when the price of a DVD9 is the same price as a BD or they are $1 cheaper, depends on how I buy them. I only use Verbatim. I just know that someone will shrink the DVD9 to a DVD5 anyways.

The last few BD authors I’ve done, I didn’t create a DVD version. Authoring isn’t a quick task, I just didn’t want to spend the time for something that I will never use.

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My blu-ray player can upscale DVDs to make them look a lot better than they ever did when I played them in a DVD player on a standard def tv. But for me (and I think more and more a lot of other people), I basically don’t burn shows anymore and hence, I don’t watch many shows using the blu-ray player. I just hook up the harddrive to my WD video player (which is hooked up to my HD tv) and watch them that way.

single-8: does the WD TV player support a .m2t or a 25Mbps BluRay MPEG-2 codec? all I see is MP4..

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1270#Tab3

I am in the process of authoring CBG’s video collection to DVD. I’m still working on 1988 videos, so I have roughly 19 years more of standard def stuff to work through. That’s thousands of standard def videos. He wants everything authored to DVD5 versions – no DVD9s.

Back when we made the switch from VCR to DVD player, the tapes – which took up a lot of room and suffered generation loss when copied – quickly became obsolete. I think one of the reasons that DVD5s have survived the changeover to blu-ray is because blu-ray players can play DVD5s – so unlike VHS tapes: the hardware to play them is essentially the same, they are the same size, and they don’t lose any quality when copied. Having said this – with the advent of media players (like the aforementioned WD TV), I think the day of physical media (except for harddrives) becoming obsolete is quickly approaching.