Nine weeks with DVD Studio Pro: An introduction to pro DVD authoring on the Mac
The New Hollywood Workshop DVD series
By Eliot Hochberg, August 14, 2001
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When DVD Studio Pro (DVDSP), Apple’s professional DVD authoring package, was first released, I was one of the first to receive it. Over the course of three months, I learned about the process of turning video from a linear VHS presentation into a DVD. The New Hollywood Workshop series presents my experiences in learning DVDSP, and discusses the following subjects:
- Getting video ready for DVDSP
- Making Photoshop menus
- Making motion menus
- General settings
- Issues with DVDSP 1.0
- Tips for squashing DVDSP 1.0 Bugs
- Multiple angles in DVDSP
- Using a DLT drive with DVDSP
- Older G4s and DVD-R drives
In each article, I go over various aspects of DVDSP and ask the questions anyone would ask, then try to answer them. The result of my experiences is that I now have a completely capable, if somewhat less than 100% reliable, DVD authoring system. I say that because DVDSP is still a young program, and has some interesting bugs that Apple hasn’t quite done away with. However, despite its shortcomings, DVDSP is still the way to go to create DVDs on a Mac.
The whole setup I used costs approximately $3500, not including my G4, which can be had for under $1000 at auction. The specs of my setup are:
- PowerMac G4/450MHz (Sawtooth)
- Dual monitors
- 1GB RAM
- 16GB internal HD
- 38GB internal HD (using legacy IDE bus)
- Final Cut Pro 1.5
- iMovie 2.0.3
- DVD Studio Pro 1.0
- Photoshop 5.5
- Flash 5
- QuickTime 4 Pro
This is a very straightforward system to obtain, especially considering the recent drop in RAM prices.
If you enjoy or find this series useful, please let me know. MacEdition is dedicated to giving its readers what they need, so if you are using or thinking about using DVDSP, tell us what you’d like to hear about. If there is enough demand, we will have another series about DVDSP covering the issues that you feel need addressing.
I hope you enjoy the series, and I look forward to hearing from readers.