I am planning to switch to Apple soon! I looked at the tech specs sheet for DVD Studio Pro 4 and did not find any new features. Did Apple add anything i might have overlooked?
So if I encode in compressor and create a "custom" menu, and then burn the disk using Compressor, tell me what I am missing. By creating a "custom" menu template, have I not "authored" a Blu-ray disk and that DVDSPs role is simply to make that menu creation process easier?
See page 55 of the "Quick Look at the New Final Cut Studio" PDF on Apple's web site.
DVDSP is a series of templates you can either choose from to create menus or else like I said, you can CREATE custom menu templates. I'm asking you to enlighten me about what process is necessary to "author" a BD disk that isn't available in FCS3.
If I can't AUTHOR Blu-Ray, I won't use it at all. Ok, it's nice that the possibility is there, and I MIGHT use it a few times for fun to see what it looks like, but not for final delivery to be duplicated in hundreds or thousands of copies.
All of that was custom made. Not a template. Custom, made from the ground up with a graphics application and then animated, linked and scriptet so the buttons link correctly regarding to their original departure (example scene index page 2 - play a story. When story ends or user press MENU, it will go through a script and route itself back to the menu the user came from)... Now THAT is custom and in my opinion what authoring is all about....
From what it looks like FCS3 does not tap into all of that. Looks more along the linesof something almost less than iDVD for blu-ray (page 55 of the PDF) Many of the blu-ray things may be bells and whistles (especially since so many people still get confused by basic SD DVDs -"You mean there are things other than a movie on it?" 😉 ) so perhaps there will be an effective way to do basic blu-ray, which can be more than enough in many instances, it is not the same. Apple says burning and not authoring, I would think that is more than wordsmithing, because the word authoring is fairly strong to many.....
Would be interesting to see if anyone tries to replicate from the FCP and how that goes.....
Hey Harold - a really good discussion here, thanks for that.
In terms of DVDSP and BD authoring, it's kind of like the difference between making a CD and making a DVD... superficially similar, but incredibly different sets of rules govern the two formats. DVDSP is capable of creating the environment within which a user will be able to view and control playback - that's the essence of authoring, however the BD specs introduce a massively different set of features that authors can leverage in order to make the experience very different to standard DVDs.
That isn't to say you can't use DVDSP to create something and set it to blue instead of red... just that doing so won't result in a true Blu-Ray disc. You can put High Def content on a standard DVD (not much, I grant you) but it won't play back in a load of players. That's the main issue here, I think. getting the content on the disc (whether through FCS, or any other tool) is only part of the problem. If you want to use HD footage, and BD in particular, you'll need a BD burner, BD discs, and a BD player.
Whilst DVDSP does provide templates, they aren't always the best way to go. There are so many variations that are possible and auto connections (like in iDVD) would reduce the overall functionality and the ability of the author to create customised experiences for their viewers. It isn't all about ease of use of the software - we need to also consider the end user when authoring.
That said, for some folk the templates are a Godsend. It speeds up the entire process, and if that's what is needed then great! However, the power of DVDSP is that it frees the author to be a little more creative when necessary, too.
Given the ToU for the boards, it isn't appropriate to speculate about whether DVDSP will or won't include full BD authoring, but Mr J himself has said that it won't happen any time soon... there are a lot of financial elements involved (licensing for example), quite apart from the various technical problems to change the software to allow access to the full BD spec.
Personally, I think BDSP would be an entirely new product, and DVDSP will stay as it is for now. But that's speculation (apologies) 😉
Hal,
I thought I was through here, but there are specifics in your note I must take exception to. First is that the difference between authoring a BD DVD and a Standard DVD can be compared to a making a CD vs making a DVD. So far as I know, a CD is either a data or an audio medium - Period! You place your audio or data files on it, burn it somehow, label the disk and it's done.
I don't want to go into an esoteric discussion about the "essence" of authoring. Instead I will ask if you consider what OlaHaldor offered as an example of "authoring" a few posts above, as a valid example. I think it's a great example! To me, all that other stuff - call it templates or whatever, is sizzle. I like some, but I don't need much. Most of my video transitions are cuts and dissolves and I've never used a keyhole.
I also believe the differences between standard DVD and BD to be minor. BD currently can hold roughly five times the data, per layer, because of the BD drive and the BD media. The real Blu-ray magic is in the encoder that enables you to create the data files, and which we now have in Compressor. Other than a physical Blu-ray drive, the single item we still lack is the part of the operating system that allows us to play-back Blu-ray files. That's where the licensing issue comes-up.
My final point is a short discussion about those of you who seem to spend so much time on these boards. I think you have a responsibility to speak only to those issues you know, not the ones you have an opinion on. I believe too much is said here as fact, rather than speculation or preference. I think we forget there are lots of people who have come here for help and are not helped when they receive smoke.
Thanks Jerry Hoffman! You've save my butt many times! OUT!!!
LOL! Harold....coming from someone who authors BD discs on both Blu Print and Scenarist HDMV on a daily basis....let me be the first to tell you....you have no idea what you are talking about!! ( 2 Big smiley faces ) :):)
FWIW alot of the posters you slagged know alot and have helped an awful lot of people. They all know a good deal about DVD and are taking their time to help here. Really, most people, myself included, would be really lucky to know what Hal, Eric and the others have probably long ago forgotten.
Jerry is a great guy, but these others do a yeoman amount of work in helping others and are not just blowing smoke.
