letters to the editor

Emedia Professional, July, 1999

More for the Perplexed

Thank you for Dana Parker's excellent articles on writable DVD ["Writable DVD: A Guide For the Perplexed, " January 1999, p. 30-39]. I understand that VHS tapes start to degrade after about 15 years, and I have a 17-year-old son, so I'm anxious to copy my tapes to DVD soon. They're two hours in length. As I begin this process, I have three questions.

* Which DVD format do you recommend?

* What type of VCR should I purchase to ensure we get the best possible feed for the DVD?

* What's the best way to connect the VCR and DVD (direct, through the TV, or through a computer)?

Doug Peckover CEO, @YourCommand Dallas, Texas

Well, Doug, you've asked the 64GB questions. I will give you the short answer here, and expound on other aspects of the topic in this month's STANDARD DEVIATIONS [p.80]. As to which writable DVD format you should use, I don't recommend that you use any of them. I'd recommend, instead, that you transit your existing VHS tapes to new VHS tapes, and store the copies while you watch the existing tapes. When your tapes start to degrade, make a new copy and start watching the previously archived version. Alternatively, you could transfer your existing tapes to CD-Rs using the VideoCD format, or seek out a service bureau who will create DVD-Rs for you in the DVD-Video format. However, both options would be expensive and perhaps impractical. But I wouldn't consider using D VD for this.

While rewritable and recordable DVD media may last longer than VHS tapes, they aren't the optimum choice to archive your existing tapes. First, they are expensive. Second, even if you did buy a DVD-RAM or DVD-R drive and media and transfer your videos, you would have to go through the entire DVD authoring process--and then some--to produce a DVD-Video that you could play back on a DVD-Video player. The DVD-Video format used on pressed, distributed DVD movie discs was not designed to be used for real-time rewritable applications. The DVD Forum is currently working on defining such a format, but when it is finished, it will not play on existing DVD-Video players.

--Dana J. Parker, Contributing Editor

The Case for DVD Minimalism

In "The Case for Consistent DVD Navigation" [May 1999, p. 34-39], Mark Waldrep argues for a consistent use of user interface designs to facilitate an easier and more predictable DVD experience for the user. The case he makes is good, and he has some points that definitely need to be incorporated into more DVD-Video rifles.

There is one mistake that Waldrep makes, and that is his overstatement on why there should be so much navigation going on in the first place. Why should the user be asked to navigate through so much [ancillary material] just to watch a movie? Full-motion graphical menus, composited video minis, and "extensive interactive navigation" are not mandated by the DVD specification. It is his idea to plant this [extraneous interactivity] all over his rifles, and then label it a "great enhancement" to the finished product. This is complete [malarkey]! No matter how many bells and whistles you, or any DVD author, put in a project it simply will not make the project better. Content will.

My educated guess is that consumers will buy feature presentations for their content, not their user interface. The way DVD-Video will survive and flourish is by giving the market good content, plain and simple. Not all the flashy stuff Waldrep suggests.

Cliff Hayes Torrance, California

Finding DVD's Finer Points

We need to understand certain finer points re: DVD. I have four questions in particular.

* DVD-R drives still cost approximately $17,000. The prices were slated to fall to $5000-6000, but have not. Are they likely to fall this year, or if not now, when?

* Can DVD-RAM and DVD RW be read on any DVD-ROM drive?

* What are the differences, advantages and disadvantages of DVD-RAM vis-a-vis DVD RW?

* DVD Authoring software is also very steeply priced--does one have to use the $30,000-plus packages to publish seriously on DVD?

Nandita Kapila National Informatics Centre New Delhi

Dana F. Parker's off-cited "Writable DVD: A Guide For the Perplexed" [January 1999] includes a timetable for the release of $5,400 second-generation DVD-R (Q2 1999), which Pioneer met with the product's April 1999 debut. Parker's article also delves into the read-compatibility question (see chart, p. 33), and the differences/ advantages/disadvantages (see said chart and Parker's answer to the question, "Which is better, DVD-RAM or DVD RW?.," p. 39). Parker's article can also be found online at www. emedialive.com/EM1999/parker1.html. For the latest on the Pioneer release, see www.emedialive. com/news99/news412.html.

February found EMedia Contributing Editor Jan Ozer including Minerva's $9,995 Impression 1.0 among his series of DVD authoring reviews [www.emedialive.com/EM1999/ozer2b.html] Several promising tools in the sub-$5,000 range were demonstrated at Online Inc.'s recent DVD Pro University, challenged to create a DVD title from the same assortment of media assets and complex interactivity requirements expected of $30,000-plus tools from Sonic, Daikin, Spruce, and others. Results were more impressive than you'd expect, given the price disparity. Successful contestants included ASTARTE's DVDirector (www.astarte.de) and MTC's DVmotion (wanv.mtc2000.com).