[CUBE] [MacDV] Re: iDVD3 w/ external drive... Anybody try this?

[Michael Blossom]

Tom, given what you say, do you know:

1) Why would iDVD be such a big piece of software?  Someone else said
it's shipped on DVD-ROM because it won't fit on a CD-ROM -- isn't it over
1 GB?

2) What about the DVD menus?  Are those in separate files in the two
folders you mention?

Just wondering,
Mike


>DVD discs are actually very simple - there's no hidden files or perculiar
>lead in/lead out data. The only thing that identifies a DVD disk is the
>following:
>
>1. The formatting of the disk (UFS)
>
>2. The file structure - having two folders "AUDIO_TS" and
>"VIDEO_TS" at root level
>
>3. The encrypted media (eg VOB) files contained within those folders
>
>You can burn a DVD to a CD-R or even a CD-RW - albeit a very short (650Meg)
>one - commonly seen in DVD singles - although note your DVD player will need
>to be capable of reading recordable media. You can do this because as long
>as the format is UFS, and those folders are there with media in them DVD
>player just doesn't care. Come to think of it you could theoretically burn a
>DVD to a blank floppy if you media was small enough! You can even set up a
>disk image and copy those files & folders to it and use Apple DVD Players
>"Open VIDEO_TS" command to play it back from that virtual media.
>
>I haven't used iDVD as I don't have a superdrive, but all it must do is
>create the necessary VOB files from your project and attempt to burn them to
>a recordable device. In that chain of events it's checking the identity of
>the drive to ensure it's an Apple internal one. If it has an "export"
>function then you may be able to create the files and then burn them to the
>DVD-R using toast or even the Finder burning routines.
>
>DVD Studio definitely does this export routine so you can preview projects
>in DVD player before burning them.
>
>That's my head emptied on the subject.
>
>Tom