New Features in DVD Studio Pro 4

DVD Studio Pro 4.1 adds support for running on Intel-based Macintosh computers and
compliance with version 1.0 of the HD DVD-Video specification to the features of
DVD Studio Pro 4.0. For more information on these features, see the DVD Studio Pro 4
User Manual.

This document contains the following sections:

 New Features in DVD Studio Pro 4.1 (p. 1)
 Previous Information About New Features in DVD Studio Pro 4.0 (p. 2)
 About Standard and High Definition DVDs (p. 4)

New Features in DVD Studio Pro 4.1

Following are the new features in DVD Studio Pro 4.1.

Support for PowerPC-Based and Intel-Based Macintosh Computers

This version of DVD Studio Pro is designed to run natively on both PowerPC-based and
Intel-based Macintosh computers.

HD DVD-Video Specification Version 1.0 Compliance

This version of DVD Studio Pro complies with version 1.0 of the HD DVD-Video
specification.

Important: This document includes updated information regarding compliance with

the 1.0 version of the HD DVD-Video specification. See the Late-Breaking News
document, available from the DVD Studio Pro 4.1 Help menu, for additional information
about changes to DVD Studio Pro required for 1.0 specification compliance.

Support for Authoring DVDs With HD Video

In addition to authoring standard definition (SD) DVDs, DVD Studio Pro 4.1 adds
support for authoring DVDs containing high definition (HD) video that conform to the
1.0 version of the HD DVD standard. This makes it possible for you to author DVDs using
a variety of HD video sources that can be burned to either red laser or blue laser drives
and played by the latest version of Apple DVD Player. See “About Standard and High
Definition DVDs” on page 4 for more information.

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 Previous Information About New Features
in DVD Studio Pro 4.0
Following is information about new features included with the DVD Studio Pro 4.0
release.

Support for External Video and Audio Monitors

You can now connect external video and audio monitors that can be used when
simulating your project. When you author a DVD, it can be important to see the video
and hear the audio with devices that closely match those that the viewer is expected to
use. Being able to do this while simulating your project allows you to verify the video
and audio prior to building your project and burning a test DVD. In particular:
 You see the true color based on YUV values instead of a computer monitor’s RGB values.
 You see the actual pixel aspect ratios. To display SD resolution 4:3 or 16:9 video on a
computer monitor requires the pixels to be scaled, which can create or hide issues in
the video.
 By connecting a suitable AC-3 or DTS decoder, you can hear surround sound audio.

The video monitor uses your system’s second monitor connection (if available). For
example, you could connect an NTSC or PAL monitor to the S-Video output of a
PowerBook G4 computer.

Note: When connected to an NTSC or PAL monitor, this video output provides only an
approximation of what the video will look like when burned to a disc and played on a
DVD player. Due to rendering, rescaling, and interlacing issues, you should not rely on
this output as a true representation of the video quality, especially with SD projects.

The audio monitor, which can include a suitable AC-3 or DTS decoder, can be
connected to the computer’s optical digital audio output (also known as an S/PDIF
output) or to the computer’s FireWire or USB port.

Video Title Set (VTS) Editor Added

DVD Studio Pro 4 now includes a VTS Editor that allows you to view and control the VTS
structure of your project. Using the VTS Editor, you are now able to manually assign
elements to VTS blocks. This makes it possible for you to optimize the final DVD’s layout
so that when it’s played there are minimal pauses due to the player having to move
between elements in different parts of the disc.

Important: The order of elements in the Outline tab no longer affects the file structure
when building your project.

Additionally, DVD Studio Pro 4 will now automatically create additional VTS blocks as
needed to support menus with a variety of video and audio assets. For example, if you
have a main menu that uses an AC-3 audio asset and a second menu that uses an AIFF
audio asset, each menu is automatically placed in its own VTS.

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Improved General Purpose Register Memory (GPRM) Usage
When creating scripts, you may find that you could use an additional GPRM or two.
DVD Studio Pro provides access to eight 16-bit GPRM registers, but you don’t always
need the full 16-bits of a register.

DVD Studio Pro 4 allows you to increase the number of GPRM registers by partitioning
one or more of them into smaller sizes. For example, you could choose to partition
GPRM 1 into four 4-bit registers. This makes it possible to greatly increase the usable
number of GRPMs available when creating your scripts.

Improved Motion Integration

DVD Studio Pro 4 can now support specialized markers added to your Motion projects.
These markers can define the loop point when creating a motion menu and the
transition switch point when creating Alpha Transitions. See the Motion User Manual, in
the Motion Help menu, for more information.

AC-3 Encoding Added to Compressor

Compressor now includes the ability to encode Dolby Digital AC-3 audio files. You can
encode uncompressed audio assets containing from 1 to 5.1 channels using the
Compressor batch and preset capabilities. See the Compressor User Manual, in the
Compressor Help menu, for more information.

Compressor Includes Distributed Encoding

DVD Studio Pro 4 includes an enhanced version of Compressor that supports
distributed encoding. Distributed encoding allows you to spread the encoding
workload among several computers, which can greatly speed up the process. See the
Compressor User Manual, in the Compressor Help menu, for more information.

Support for Additional Digital Theatre Systems (DTS) Audio Formats

You can now use DTS ES audio that has up to 6.1 channels, as well as audio that uses a
96 kHz sample rate and a 24-bit sample size.

Important: All DTS audio imported into DVD Studio Pro must use the compacted file
format, with a “.cpt” file extension.

Dual-Layer Break Points Can Be Set in DVD-ROM Area

In those dual-layer projects that have more DVD-ROM content than DVD-Video
content, you can now set the break point within the ROM content.

Menu Loop Point Feature Improved

You are now able to use the menu loop point feature with any motion menu, even
those with drop zones, text items, and buttons with video assets. Additionally, you can
now use a script to jump to a menu’s loop point. When configuring the Jump
command, an option has been added to the Script Inspector that allows you to jump
directly to a menu’s loop point rather than the start point.

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 About Standard and High Definition DVDs
Standard definition (SD) DVDs provided most viewers with their first digital video
experience. The great video quality, interactive menus, and surround sound audio
found on current DVDs set a high standard for viewer expectations. Meanwhile, the
establishment of high definition (HD) video format standards and the increasing
availability of HD broadcasts have led to more and more viewers having HD video
monitors, and even higher expectations for DVDs.

These expectations, along with the development of improved compression

technologies and a blue laser technology that greatly increases a disc’s storage
capacity, have led to the ability of recording HD video onto a DVD.

But I Thought DVDs Were Already High Definition?

In addition to traditional 4:3 aspect ratio video, traditional DVDs support widescreen
16:9 video, which is often mistaken for being high definition. The 16:9 video used on
current DVDs, however, is the same resolution as the 4:3 video, which is the same as
the standard NTSC and PAL broadcast resolutions. The 16:9 video must be anamorphic,
which makes it appear horizontally squashed when viewed on a 4:3 monitor.

This leads to a logical next question—what constitutes high definition video? While
most HD video formats use a 16:9 aspect ratio, what generally defines whether they are
HD or not is the resolution.

Video resolutions that result in more pixels per frame than are used in SD-based DVDs
are considered high definition. There are two common HD vertical resolutions: 720 lines
and 1080 lines (used for both NTSC and PAL). These compare to NTSC’s 480 lines and
PAL’s 576 lines for SD video.

As with SD-based DVDs, the scanning method used on HD-based DVDs can be
interlaced, with a video frame containing one field with the odd lines and another field
with the even lines, or progressive, where each frame is complete. Not all HD formats
support progressive scanning, however. See “Supported Video Resolutions” on page 6
for details on supported SD and HD video formats, including frame rates and
scanning methods.

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About DVD Studio Pro 4 and HD Resolution DVDs
In addition to supporting standard definition (SD) format video DVDs, DVD Studio Pro 4
now supports creating high definition (HD) format video DVDs.

With the exception of support for HD video resolutions and the number of buttons on
menus and button over video subtitles, HD projects in DVD Studio Pro 4 have the same
limits as SD projects.

There are two aspects to creating DVDs with HD content: what you can put into the
DVD video zone and the DVD disc media.

DVD Video Zone With HD Content

While the contents of the DVD video zone for an HD-based DVD (HVDVD_TS) are
similar to those of an SD-based DVD video zone (VIDEO_TS), there are some important
differences:
 HD-based DVDs support a broad range of video resolutions, including most of those
used in SD-based DVDs. See “Supported Video Resolutions” on page 6 for a complete
list of supported resolutions.
 In addition to supporting SD MPEG-2 video encodes, HD-based DVDs support HD
MPEG-2 and H.264 video encodes. These are discussed in “HD Video Assets” on
page 7.

Blue Laser Disc Media

Due to the improved video resolution possible with HD video, the encoded video files
for HD resolution DVDs can be larger than those used with SD resolution DVDs. For that
reason, a media format based on a blue laser was designed specifically for DVD projects
containing HD video. See the following table for a comparison of SD and HD disc sizes.

Disc Red laser capacity Blue laser capacity

Single-sided, single-layer 4.7 GB 15 GB
Single-sided, dual-layer 8.54 GB 30 GB

In addition to blue laser based DVD media, an HD project’s DVD video zone can be
written to DVD media based on the red lasers used by traditional DVDs. (The obvious
limitation is that you will not be able to fit as much video data on the disc.)

Important: SD-based DVD players are not able to play DVD projects containing HD
content, whether they are on red or blue laser media.

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 Supported Video Resolutions
All video resolutions supported by SD-based DVDs are also supported by HD-based
DVDs. This means that an HD-based DVD can use an HD video resolution for the main
feature, then use an SD video resolution for extras. The following list includes the SD
and HD video resolutions supported by DVD Studio Pro 4.

Note: MPEG-1 encoded video files are not supported in HD projects.

NTSC
Frame rates with an “i” indicate the interlaced scanning method; those with a “p”
indicate the progressive scanning method.

Resolution Frame rate Aspect ratio Notes

352 x 240 29.97i 4:3 Also known as SIF format
352 x 480 29.97i 4:3 Also known as 1/2 D1
704 x 480 29.97i 4:3, 16:9 Also known as Cropped D1; 16:9 is anamorphic
720 x 480 29.97i 4:3, 16:9 Also known as Full D1; 16:9 is anamorphic
720 x 480 59.94p 16:9 HD only, also known as 480p; is anamorphic
1280 x 720 59.94p 16:9 HD only, also known as 720p
1440 x 1080 29.97i 16:9 HD only; 16:9 is anamorphic
1920 x 1080 29.97i 16:9 HD only, also known as 1080i

PAL
Frame rates with an “i” indicate the interlaced scanning method; those with a “p”
indicate the progressive scanning method.

Resolution Frame rate Aspect ratio Notes

352 x 288 25i 4:3 Also known as SIF format
352 x 576 25i 4:3 Also known as 1/2 D1
704 x 576 25i 4:3, 16:9 Also known as Cropped D1; 16:9 is anamorphic
720 x 576 25i 4:3, 16:9 Also known as Full D1; 16:9 is anamorphic
720 x 576 50p 16:9 HD only, also known as 576p; is anamorphic
1280 x 720 50p 16:9 HD only, also known as 720p
1440 x 1080 25i 16:9 HD only; 16:9 is anamorphic
1920 x 1080 25i 16:9 HD only, also known as 1080i

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Using 24 fps Video Formats
Both SD and HD projects can use assets encoded at 24 fps (actually 23.98 fps), as long
as they are encoded specifically with NTSC or PAL flags set.

Video at 24 fps has two main advantages: It matches the film frame rate, and, in the
case of NTSC, provides much smaller files due to having six fewer frames per second.

HD Video Assets
There are a variety of sources for HD video assets to use in your HD projects, with the
most common being DVCPRO HD and HDV camcorders.
 With DVCPRO HD, once you have finished editing the video, the result will need to be
encoded to the HD MPEG-2 or H.264 video format.
 With HDV, which is already compliant MPEG-2 HD video, you can edit the video in
Final Cut Pro 5 and import the result directly in your HD projects.

DVD Studio Pro 4 supports HD video encoded using the HD MPEG-2 codec and the
H.264 codec. Both of these formats are playable with the Apple DVD Player. You can
use Compressor to encode video to either of these formats. When you import HD
resolution QuickTime video, such as DVCPRO HD video, into DVD Studio Pro, it is HD
MPEG-2 encoded using the embedded MPEG encoder.

Using HDV Assets

The HDV format uses MPEG-2 encoding to store HD video on a standard DV or Mini DV
tape. There are two video resolutions supported by the HDV format:
 1280 x 720 (720p) at 19 Mbps
 1440 x 1080 (1080i) at 25 Mbps (which must be anamorphic 16:9)

Imported HDV assets have the video and audio separated into elementary streams (the
HDV format combines the video and audio into a single file), but are not otherwise
processed or converted.

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Using H.264 Assets
You can use the H.264 for HD DVD presets included with Compressor to encode several
supported HD and SD video resolutions for use in your HD projects.

The H.264 encoder is twice as efficient as the standard MPEG-2 encoder. When
compared to encoding with MPEG-2, this means that with the H.264 encoder:
 You can use a lower bit rate to get the same quality, resulting in smaller files.
 You can use the same bit rate and get better quality with the same file size.

Important: DVD Studio Pro only supports H.264 assets encoded using the standard
presets included with Compressor.

Using DVCPRO HD and Uncompressed HD Assets

Another source of HD assets for your HD projects is video encoded with the
DVCPRO HD compression types or uncompressed video. DVCPRO HD video, like
DVCPRO SD video, and uncompressed video cannot be used directly in your
DVD Studio Pro projects. You can import them, however, and DVD Studio Pro will
automatically encode them to compatible HD MPEG-2 assets using the embedded
MPEG encoder. You can also encode them to HD MPEG-2 or H.264 using Compressor.

© 2006 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved.

Apple, the Apple logo, DVD Studio Pro, FireWire, PowerBook, and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.,
registered in the U.S. and other countries. PowerPC is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation, used
under license therefrom.