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

[Tom Hostler]

> 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?

Jesse is right - it's mainly all the template assets for the built in
themes. These contain moving menus & backgrounds & buttons graphics & audio.
As the moving menus are actually full screen MPEG2 movies loops they're
pretty big. There's also about a dozen templates included I think - hence
the overall size.

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

When iDVD or DVD Studio, or whatever application creates the files, they are
stored in large files - called VOB files. Have a look in a VIDEO_TS folder
and you'll see them. These are the MPEG2 streams. I think you have separate
VOB files for menus and actual movie tracks - but they may get mixed
together into one - can't remember. Either way, you can't generally read
those VOB files in anything (legal) - that's the crux of the De-CSS issues
that hit the headlines from time to time. CSS is the method of encryption
used to make these VOB files.

The application builds these streams and encrypts them so they can't be
reverse engineered into desktop-compatible movies - eg, Sorenson QuickTimes
or MPEG 1 files. That's what DVD Rippers do - they reverse engineer the VOB
file and extract/transcode the assets back to their original form - MPEG
stills, MPEG video, Audio etc - but that's illegal (or so the movie studios
would have you believe).


Tom