DVD dead? How about in underserved areas?

Hi everyone.

The have been a few DVD authoring threads as of the last couple of days. It just so happens I have been called to propose six videos on parent child intervention in the Hispanic community. The videos will be shown in underserved neighborhoods.

During my initial meeting with the client, my first thought was to post all videos to YouTube. But it was brought to my attention that the places that would need to see these would:

1. Have a very slow, terrible bandwidth connection.

2. No access to internet

3. Using very old technology.

So DVD's were requested. All six videos, about 10 minutes each would be on one dvd, I'm thinking using chapter markers to isolate each video.

Anyone come across a situation like this? I think sometimes we take it for granted that everyone has the same electric stuff and connectivity that you and I have.

All your comments are valuable.

Thanks.

Jonathan

Chapter markers aren't separate videos. You might want to consider something like iDVD, which still works well for most media, and allows you to create menu structures and have separate videos.

Agreed with Tom. If you don't need complex menu navigation, iDVD is perfect for this kind of job. And it works without any issues on El Capitan.

And I agree we often mistakingly think that the whole world has the same technology as ours. We still deliver Betacam SD master tapes to third world television networks, because that's what they use for broadcasting.

- Ronny

Hi
If you don't have iDVD or"DVD studio pro" which are not distributed anymore, "Toast DVD" ( app store) or the full ROXIO TOAST are the best alternative for your situation. They permit some customization... and each video will have a distinct button on the DVD menu like it was in iDVD.

Thanks guys.

I was think of just placing all six videos in one project, each separated by a slug, and then add chapter marker with each video name.

I also have DVD Studio Pro so I could use that, make a whole home screen/interface as I have in the past. But does Compressor make any kind of simple menu option based on markers? If not, it's DVDSP.I suppose just export a master file with the markers and bring that into DVDSP.

JL

You can create the chapters in FCPX and DSP will recognize them, or you can just as easily create them from scratch in DSP as well as adjust any created by FCPX. One advantage to creating them in FCPX will be that your exported master QuickTime movie will then be navigable from chapter to chapter by selecting them in a drop down during playback in case you eventually want to distribute a video file to anyone.

If you're just going to put slugs on one timeline, place Chapter Markers where needed on the timeline, and export your DVD directly from FCPX.

Jonathan Levin wrote: ...I have been called to propose six videos on parent child intervention in the Hispanic community. The videos will be shown in underserved neighborhoods...my first thought was to post all videos to YouTube. But it was brought to my attention that the places that would need to see these would...Have a very slow, terrible bandwidth connection...No access to internet...So DVD's were requested...

As video producers we periodically face this situation. Each case is different. Neither Apple nor Adobe have updated their DVD authoring software in years, nor will they ever do so. In general, optical media is rapidly becoming obsolete. Increasingly people's only access to the internet is via a mobile device -- which cannot even play a DVD. This is true even in developing lands, which may have more developed cell phone systems than the U.S. and Europe. Some of these countries never developed a terrestrial phone system, and now that 4G technology is available it was cheaper to just put up cell towers.

In many cases people (such as elderly grandparents) who have been written off as "tech illiterate" are quite capable of dealing with new technology given persistent and patient help. I recently interviewed a 90-yr-old gentleman who pulled out his iPad and asked for my Instagram page. His family had lovingly helped him become acclimated to the new technology.

Bulk USB sticks are available for $3, and many newer TVs and optical disk players can accept those.

There are also inexpensive flash media players. Here is one for $32 that works similar to a disk player. It supports HDMI, component and composite output. So no matter how old their TV is it will work. I have personally tested this unit and it works well. You could provide them content on an SD card, which (unlike a DVD) supports HD resolution, can be re-used and is extremely fast to copy files to.

www.amazon.com/dp/B00PFDNAY0/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

If a potential audience truly can only view things via DVD, then we must provide that. However we don't want cases where someone assumed DVD was the only way, yet the viewers have smartphones in their pockets. I have been told of elderly people who cannot deal with inserting a USB thumb drive, yet they are quite capable of inserting tiny hearing aid batteries. In those cases the limitation is in the mind of the intermediary, not the final viewer.

You can directly author a basic DVD from FCPX or use other software such as Toast DVD: itunes.apple.com/us/app/toast-dvd/id829469267?mt=12

"...the limitation is in the mind of the intermediary, not the final viewer."

I can personally attest to this, as I encounter it more often that is comfortable. Content creators assuming the worse, refusing to make an effort, etc. Very true statement.

Again, even in poor communities, most everyone has a cell phone. Stream it. Job done.

Thank you all for your thoughts.

I was thinking that you could stream through a hot spot set up using a cell phone if presenter is not near a network. However 6- 10 minute videos would eat into a data plan pretty quickly I'm guessing. These may also need to be shown via some sort of projector connected to a laptop to a group of people.

The idea of put the videos on a flash drive is interesting since you can have HD quality QT files. I have no idea how to even do this, if it a matter of some sort of "player" installed on the flash drive itself? PC and mac compatible?

I looked into trying to make a DVD using Toast (version 10) but in order to view menus and see how everything works, you have to create a disk image and then open that up using a player. So it is more or less trial and error. I does take a long time just to make that disk image. A very weird interface!

In the end, I'll probably go back to DVDSP and create a simple interface. Here is a question: :In DVDSP Is it better to keep each video a seperate file, and then link buttons to each seperate video? Or have all 6 videos in one master file with chapter markers with buttons linked to those?

Or doesn't it matter? I'm thinking it does not matter, but then if all 6 videos are in one file, I get that a button will be set to link each chapter, but how do you tell DVDSP to go back to main menu after playing that chapter so that you can then pick and chose the next video in the main menu? Or Does it simply do that when it reaches the next marker?

I'm starting to really dislike the idea of having stuff on disk at this juncture of technology.

Thanks.

Jonathan

Jonathan,
You'll have to direct DSP how to handle navigation, but it's pretty easy if you are familiar with the program. I would suggest making one master file with chapter markers. You can try using DSP encoding for the DVD files but I usually encode for DVD with Compressor first and import those assets to DSP. I have found DSP encoding hasn't reliably produced good results under latest OSX versions for some reason.
Once in DSP, typically I make the menu a first play and have buttons navigate to each chapter. At the end of the last chapter, select the end jump to be the main menu. You can do this at the end of each chapter if you want, but usually it is common to let the next chapter begin playing from whatever point the user starts playback until the last one.
As for flash drives, the player is a piece of hardware that reads and plays media on the drive. There is no player on the drive itself that I have ever heard of.

Fantastic dgwvideo! I just posted in the DVD Authoring thread about my test with Compressor. And yes having the video return to the main menu is what I was looking for thanks for that.

Jonathan

Hi Jonathon
My wife and I create "Home Movies" for families. I have to create DVDs, Blu-ray Disks, thumb drives and streams for distribution all the time.
On our last project I offered a copy for any of the above and the vast majority of folks ordered DVDs. I have produced over 100 DVDS, ~10-15 BDs and only 1 thumb drive as requested by people. DVDs are still the most universally utilized format other than a streaming service. People also like having a physical disk.
There is also cost involved if making lots of copies. I can make DVDs for less than a dollar, BDs $1.50, but thumb drives cost ~$3.00.
Adds up when doing 100+ copies.
Streaming full length movies requires a "Pro" account. As you found out, not always an option anyway.

Yep can be lots of work.
iDVD really does work for DVDs. Easy navigation tools.
DSP will do the same, just more to learn.
Toast will work, but is limited and I really don't like the UI for creating navigation.

So IMHO, like it or not, optical is here for awhile longer.

Hope this helps, Greg

Thanks VidGreg.

Yeah. It looks like if this project happens I will be living in DVDSP for a while. My problem is that I work in DVDSP for a month or two, knock out hours trying to get a grip on it, and when I am done, I usually am away from it for a great length of time so when something like this comes up, I have to fight with relearning since my memory is short like certain parts of my anatomy!

I do have an old DVDSP project that I use as a template when this does happen to make it less painful. Just replace menu background, change font of buttons and add targets.

JL

Jonathan Levin wrote: ...The idea of put the videos on a flash drive is interesting since you can have HD quality QT files. I have no idea how to even do this, if it a matter of some sort of "player" installed on the flash drive itself? PC and mac compatible?....

If your viewers have any kind of computer, they don't need a software player -- most computers already have those. You'd just distribute an .MP4 file on the USB thumb drive.

That said it should be possible to put VLC portable player on the thumb drive and use a batch file which launches the MP4 into the software player:

Portable VLC for Windows: download.cnet.com/VLC-Media-Player-Porta...3632_4-10526524.html
Portable VLC for Mac: www.macupdate.com/app/mac/21279/portable-vlc

A lot of newer optical disk players and TVs have a USB slot -- you just insert the thumb drive, select it with the remote control, and it plays.

Also there is no rule that says only one distribution method must be used. If you think the older people need a DVD, make those then post the video file to Youtube (which can be unlisted). You can easily make a scannable QR code for the streaming version and print that on the DVD label.

Uploading the video file is very easy vs dealing with the typical DVD authoring issues, buttons, aspect ratio, checking multiple playback devices, interlace behavior, letterbox behavior, etc. So even if the primary distribution method is DVD, the incremental step of adding streaming playback is small.

Some types of public health material can be sensitive so giving people the option to view it privately on a mobile device -- vs the family TV room -- can have advantages.

Joema, thank you so much.

If you do decide to distribute on thumb drives, you might want to format to ExFAT. I believe most TVs and PCs with USB will read this format, but not GUID. Some drives are now NTFS. Not sure how many TVs read this format????
If giving to a Mac user then GUID is fine, but of course Macs can also read ExFAT. So most universal.

Just something to remember.
Greg