Macworld DVD Studio Pro Bible (With DVD-ROM) [Paperback]

Todd Kelsey (Author), Chad Fahs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0764536338 | ISBN-13: 978-0764536335 | Edition: 1

The DVD StudioPro Bible is the authoritative and comprehensive guide creating professional-quality DVDs using Apple's revolutionary new killer app, DVD Studio Pro. This book features easily accessible information for beginners (including a QuickStart for immediate results), advanced tips and techniques for pros, and extensive professional insights throughout from DVD mastering professionals.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Highly Informative, this book is the A to Z of DVD Studio Pro! -- York Tillyer, Interactive Director, Real World MultiMedia

Make the most out of this book, and you will master DVD Studio Pro in no time. -- Tony Knight, Product Marketing Manager, Apple Computer, Inc.

From the Back Cover

"Highly informative, this book's the A to Z of DVD Studio Pro!" -York Tillyer, Interactive Director of Real World MultiMedia If DVD Studio Pro can do it, you can do it too ... Written by two digital media pros, this unbeatable guide shows you step by step how to master DVD Studio Pro-and produce state-of-the-art DVDs. Beginning with a quick-start tutorial, the authors explain the basics of asset management and project planning-and then deliver in-depth coverage of DVD audio, video, menus, subtitles, multiple angles and languages, output, and more. Packed with real-world examples and several complete case studies, Macworld DVD Studio Pro Bible will have you creating professional-quality DVDs in no time. Inside, you'll find complete coverage of DVD Studio Pro
* Get a quick handle on the DVD Studio Pro workspace and DVD assets
* Prototype a project and create buttons, menus, subtitles, and a user interface
* Understand DVD audio formats, including Dolby Digital, and harness third-party audio applications
* Get the scoop on digital video-from using video-editing applications to encoding and placing markers
* Create a DVD slide show using digital photos
* Prepare a DVD for output and burn a single DVD or create a master for manufacturing
* Add advanced interactivity with DVD scripting, multiple angles, and multiple languages
* Delve into copy protection and DVD player issues
* Develop DVD-ROM content and tackle cross-development for DVD, CD-ROM, and the Internet
Bonus DVD/DVD-ROM combo disc Put it in your DVD player and your DVD-ROM drive!
* DVD samples and resources from the book
* Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, LiveMotion, and GoLive tryout versions
* Macromedia Flash, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, and Director Shockwave Studio trial versions
* Plus Deck LE trial version and Web Spice Objects evaluation, and more
www.hungryminds.com System Requirements: DVD Studio Pro, Power Mac G4, Mac OS 9.04 or 9.1, 128 MB RAM, 12 GB Hard Drive space, DVD Player 2.0 or higher, QuickTime 4.1 or later. See the "What's on the DVD-ROM" appendix for details and complete system requirements.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 648 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764536338
• ISBN-13: 978-0764536335
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,496,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Todd Kelsey, PhD (abd) is an author and educator whose publishing credits include several books for helping people learn more about technology. He has appeared on television as a featured expert, and has worked with a wide variety of corporations and non-profit organizations. He is the founder of Communications for the World (CFTW), a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop free learning material in different languages, and his research has included work in social media, delivering content in different languages, sustainability and helping people to capture, preserve and share their life stories. He is currently seeking a permanent home, at or near a college or university, for CFTW and the Digital Archaeology Institute. For more information, see cftw.com and digitalarchaeology.org.



A bit of fun:
http://tinyurl.com/sistersoleil - some pictures from my past life as a rock and roll musician, including a visit to record an album at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in England.

http://tinyurl.com/tkbackstagepasses - some pictures of a few backstage passes, including one from a different sort of world tour - One Laptop Per Child, a project I did some volunteer work for that's designed to help provide educational opportunities for kids.

http://www.sunflowerclub.net - a club open to anyone, that I started to invite people to grow sunflowers. Includes a fun picture of a time I met Al Gore. (See if you can tell which backstage pass I was wearing at the time.) I don't know if he planted the sunflower seeds or if his aides ate them!

Please feel free to friend me on Facebook if you like, for more photos and fun. tekelsey "at" gmail "dot" com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars rushed to market, September 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Macworld DVD Studio Pro Bible (With DVD-ROM) (Paperback)

Anybody could have written this book by working their way through the menus. They went out of their way to make this book thick, but there's nothing in it that an experienced Mac user couldn't figure out in an hour or two.
What they DON'T tell you:
-How to write scripts.
-How to use "non-simple" hi-lites and overlays.
-how to do anything except make a pretty straight-forward chapter by chapter DVD
I use the Flash Bible and the Final Cut Pro Bible all the time. They're great, and really go in depth to teach you how to do the complex things professionals typically do with these tools. However, for the DVD Studio Pro Bible, these authors only describe the menus, and then fill up the rest of the book with useless interviews and commentary/promotions from third parties.
Big disappointment. I'd recommend another book, but I blew my money on this one and can't afford another, and feel guilty about selling a useless book to someone else.
My only thought is that DVD Studio Pro 1.5 is so new, that the authors didn't have time to do anything with the software except read the manual.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not up to par with other Macworld Bibles, September 12, 2002

By 

Anthony Torres (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Macworld DVD Studio Pro Bible (With DVD-ROM) (Paperback)

I trust the Macworld Brand, based off the Photoshop and Illustrator Bibles that are insightful, indepth, and cover all angles with the software. They are written by dedicated users.

This books appears to be written by weekenders with the sole credit of authoring one DVD. They are not heavies or pioneers. They just wrote about the software, and rely too heavily on the existing DVD SP manual.

This book is difficult and frustrating. The subtitling section would be great if they didn't jump forward and backward as they do. Plus they never distinguish accurately between 30fps and 29.97 with the quicktime movie for subtitling. This book left me questioning all its answers because of stupid oversights such as this.

The scripting section is readable and well thought out, and explains scripting for newbies.

I didn't get much from the sidebar folks. It was more "you can't do this..." in tone than "hey! Here's the workaround!" Also they parrot the same line that you can replicate a DVD-R from DVD Studio Pro, but don't go into specifics.

Perhaps I expected something inspirational and informative like the Hillman Curtis Flash book, or any of the Macworld Bible series. This is just poor technical writing filled with half thoughts and assumptions. Far from tried and true experience that would warrant the name "bible."

So that's my summation. Borrow, don't buy.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent companion to the program ..., February 14, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Macworld DVD Studio Pro Bible (With DVD-ROM) (Paperback)

I got this book a couple of days before I recieved my G4 with a SuperDrive and began to study how to burn DVDs. Reading merely the first chapters on how the tutorial works and how you make a project using DVD Studio Pro will be enough to get you started. Within a couple of days after getting my computer I burned a full functioning DVD disc with several video tracks, a couple of complex menus, bonuses and a multitude of chapters...and I had never been exposed to DVD Studio Pro previously.

The people slagging this book in their reviews obviously thought this 'Bible' would burn the DVDs for them. You will have to do a great deal of problem solving if you are trying to create complex DVD projects, and refering back to the Apple documentation helps fill in areas this book doesn't cover- for example my first DVD kept bombing while recording saing 'BitRate too high' , the Bible never solves such a problem, but the Apple documentation explains that a maximum bit rate cannot be exceeded and the video must be rerendered at lesser quality. Also, the DVD previewer doesn't synch the audio and video perfectly, but not to worry because when burning the DVD all tracks synch up perfectly. Perhaps this book's tutorial was eroneous, but I never use tutorials if I can produce my own project and learn through actual application, and the information provided was enough to get me through the project and understand most all abilities and limitations of the DVD Studio Pro program.

The most apparent limitation of DVD Studio Pro is the ability to make motion menus with highlighted text for menu buttons, instead you can only overlay a color block onto of text presented in the motion video. Also, you cannot loop to a specific marker in a motion menu. I still can't figure out how to put markers on the specific frame of video for chapters, but only every 15 video frames. Hopefully Apple will produce a far more professional version of this program soon.

My recommendations for a person wanting to use DVD Stuido Pro are these- get Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, and a couple monitors. You can put DVD Studio pro on one monitor, Final Cut on another and place Photoshop underneath the two applications. With these three programs and the two monitors you will never be confused to where your pieces are, which program you are using, and you can do all the bits of a complex DVD in a production line without having to close and open programs in order to organize your work space.

Sure, the authors of this book didn't make a perfect Bible, but what can you expect from a book jumping quickly into an extremely complex program and video format. DVDs aren't VHS tapes- you can't just push REC and enjoy the program you are taping. With a bit of thought and persistance this book can help you burn DVDs using DVD Studio Pro's full capabilities.