Before burning your DVD project to a disc, you should build it to hard disk as a DVD folder to preview and test, and possibly save it as a disk image file to make it easier to burn multiple copies to disc. And before building your project, use the Disc tab to check the project settings (especially the target disc size), to specify any additional DVD-ROM files (if desired), and to check the project for problems (as described in Chapter 7).
These are the steps needed to build a DVD folder.
Select the Make DVD Folder option. To build your DVD project to a DVD folder on disc, choose File → Build DVD → Make DVD Folder. If necessary, Encore prompts you to save your project before continuing with the build with the dialog shown in Figure 8-23.
Correct any problems in the project. Encore also performs a quick check of your project, and prompts you to view and correct any problems that may cause the disc to play incorrectly (see Figure 8-24.)
You can either click Ignore and Continue to continue with the build, or click View to use the Check Project dialog to review the reported problems and correct any that would cause problems with the playback of your project. (For more information on this feature, see Chapter 7.)
Select the destination path. Once you have finished working with the Check Project dialog, click Continue Build to then continue on with the build process. Encore then displays the Make DVD Folder dialog, shown in Figure 8-25.
The Source for building a DVD folder is the Current Project (other build options can build and burn from a DVD folder or image file). Use the second field to specify the Destination Path to the folder in which the project will be built. Encore is then ready to start building your project. Click Next to display the final Make DVD Folder: Summary dialog (see Figure 8-26). The Summary section displays information about the output disc media format.
Start the build. Finally, click Build to start building the output DVD folders. Encore updates the Progress meters as it builds the project, transcoding media files (if needed), building menus, ordering the DVD files, and writing the files to the output folder, shown in Figure 8-27.
When you build a DVD folder, Encore creates a directory named for the project under the specified Destination Path. When the build is complete, the DVD folder contains that exact folder structure and files that would otherwise be burned to DVD disc: the standard VIDEO_TS folder, including IFO (information) and VOB (video object) files split across different VTS (Video Title Set) files. The folder also contains any DVD-ROM files that you specified under the Disc tab.
You then can preview your DVD project by using a software DVD player application such as CyberLink PowerDVD or InterVideo WinDVD to play directly from the DVD folder, as demonstrated in Chapter 2.
Even though a DVD folder on hard disk contains the same files that you see on a DVD disc, you cannot just copy these files as data to a DVD disc and then expect to play the disc on a set-top player. The DVD-Video format requires that the data on the DVD disc be properly organized in a way that is easy to access from simpler consumer players. As a result, you can either use Encore to burn a DVD-Video disc in the required format from the DVD folder (as above), or first create a DVD image file that you can use to conveniently burn multiple copies.
To create a DVD image file:
Select the Make DVD Image option. Choose File → Build DVD → Make DVD Image. Again, Encore prompts you to save the project, and displays a warning if the disc has problems that might cause the disc to play incorrectly (although you’ve probably taken care of them by now). Encore then displays the Make DVD Image dialog, shown in Figure 8-28.
Choose a source and destination path. For building an image file, the Source can be either the Current Project or an existing DVD Volume (another name for a folder on your hard drive). In the Destination Path, specify the location to output the image file. Encore creates the image file with an .img extension.
Start the build. Encore is then ready to start building your project, and displays the final Make DVD Image: Summary dialog. Click Build to start building the output DVD folders. Once you do so, Encore displays the Progress meters as it builds the project (if needed) and writing the files to the output image file, shown in Figure 8-29.
When the build is complete, the single output image file contains an exact copy of all the data for a DVD disc. This is a convenient way to keep a copy of a disc at hand, so you than can use Encore to quickly burn multiple copies to DVD disc—without needing to restore or rebuild the project.
In addition, Encore provides the ability to write a DVD master to digital linear tape (DLT) or other acceptable medium, ready to send to a mastering facility for mass replication. DLT is currently the preferred format for submitting DVD contents to mastering facilities, although you should check with your replication facility for details on the required process and formats.
Here are the steps for building a DVD master:
Select the Make DVD Master option. To write a DVD master to DLT, choose File → Build DVD → Make DVD Master. As before, Encore prompts to save the project, and displays a warning if the disc has problems that might cause the disc to play incorrectly. Encore then displays the Make DVD Master dialog, shown in Figure 8-30.
Select the source and writer, and a break point if necessary. As with burning a DVD disc, the Source for the master tape can be the Current Project, or a DVD Folder or Disc Image that you have previously built to hard disk.
Also, choose the Writer Device on which to write your tape. Encore attempts to automatically find a good layer break point for a double-layer disc that does not cause a visible disruption during the playback as the player moves between the two layers, i.e., it places the break between individual timelines or menus. But if there is no such appropriate point (this often happens on DVDs containing a long timeline that plays continuously), Encore prompts you to explicitly select a chapter point where the break will be inserted. This will cause a visible pause at this point as the DVD is played back.
Whenever you change the project, Encore re-analyzes it for an appropriate layer break point that it can use. If none is found, and Use Existing Layer Break If Possible is checked, Encore uses the saved layer break point that you entered previously. Otherwise, Encore prompts you to specify a new break point.
Start the build. At this point, Encore displays the standard build dialog. Press Build to begin. Encore will write the DVD master to the DLT tape device.
You can burn a DVD disc directly from your project, or from a DVD folder or DVD image file stored on hard disk. Encore can write to either write-once recordable (R) or rewritable (RW) discs. Depending on your DVD burner driver, you can use “dash” (i.e., DVD-R) or “plus” (i.e., DVD+R) format DVD media.
In addition, if your project is not too large (say around 10 minutes), then you also can burn it to CD in the DVD format. Check the Disc tab to verify the estimated project size is not larger than the 650 or 700MB available on a CD disc. You can then burn the project to CD, with the same VIDEO_TS folder and DVD files that you would see on a DVD or on a disc folder on hard disk. The difference is that set-top DVD players are typically not designed to play DVD content from CD discs, so plan to use DVDs on CD for playback only on computers.
Here are the steps to follow:
Select the Make DVD Disc option. To start building a DVD disc, choose File → Build DVD → Make DVD Disc, or click the Build Project button on the bottom of the Disc tab. Again, Encore prompts to save your project, if needed.
Correct any problems with the project. Encore displays a warning if the disc has problems that might cause it to play incorrectly. Click Ignore and Continue to continue with building the disc, or click View to display the Check Project dialog to review and correct any problems with the disc. After you finish working with the Check Project dialog to correct any issues that would affect the playability of your disc, click Continue Build to continue building your project.
Encore then displays the Make DVD Disc dialog, shown in Figure 8-31.
Warning
When you browse to select a DVD volume to burn to disc, select the folder containing the VIDEO_TS folder for the DVD, and not the VIDEO_TS folder itself. A playable DVD-Video disc must contain the VIDEO_TS folder at the root of the disc, with the IFO and VOB files containing the DVD data nested within it.
Specify the Source, the Writer, and the Writer Speed. First, specify the Source for the DVD disc: the Current Project, DVD Volume (folder), or Disc Image that you have previously built to hard disk.
Select the Writer Recorder device to burn your disc. This can be a DVD or CD burner (again, if the project is small enough to fit on a CD). When experimenting with a new burner or trying to diagnose problems, it may be useful to reduce the Write Speed and check the Test Before Writing option to validate that the burner is responding properly. You can also adjust the Number of Copies to burn duplicates of your disc.
Have Encore bypass all warnings if necessary. Be sure to check the “Bypass All Warning Dialogs and Build Project” option when you will not be standing by to monitor the build process. In particular, when using rewritable (RW) discs, checking this option prevents Encore from stopping the build to display a dialog asking if the disc can be erased and reused.
Start the build. Finally, click Next to continue with the burn process. Encore then checks the selected burner device, prompts you to insert disc media if none is present, and then displays the Make DVD Disc: Summary dialog shown in Figure 8-32. The Summary section displays information about the format of the disc to be burned. If everything looks good, click Build to start burning the output disc.
Again, Encore displays the Progress meters as it builds the project, transcoding media files (if needed), building menus, ordering the DVD files, and spinning up the disc drive and writing the project to disc. Finally, Encore closes the disc by writing the lead-out, which may take several minutes.
When the burn is complete, Encore ejects the disc. If you burned to a DVD disc, the result is a DVD-Video disc that should be playable on most set-top DVD players, as well as on computers. And if you burned to CD, the disc will be playable on computers using DVD player software.