[Steve SpotOn]

I'm producing a set of 3 architecture videos each approx 15 min long. These are to be distributed to professionals/students on disc (an initial run of 200 copies with all 3 videos on the one disc).

I'm thinking of going for the lowest possible scenario and I would therefore encode the final videos as Mpeg1 files and burn to CD (so should run on virtually any Mac and PC).

I'd be interested if anyone has experience of maybe also putting a DVD volume of the same material on the same disc so that there is the option of higher quality playback. Or any other suggestions to cover a breadth of playback options.

Also what is an SVCD? - what format is it, and can you put a menu on it... will it play on a computer without DVD software?

Look forward to your thoughts.

Steve

[k_munic]

well...

i have no idea, how to author a "mix media" dvd, which plays back dvd on a dvd player PLUS offers some "computer files". yes, you can buy such dvds, but how to that on a mac - no idea.

BUT:
of course, you can save different versions of your movie on a data cd/dvd; and you could save a VIDEO_TS file, which the engaged pc user could start on his machine....-

btw: s-vcd is a standard, which allows to burn on a cheap cd-rom video in a much better quality than vcd; use google to find some infos; the best authering tool for constructing s_vcds with menus is video buidler (versiontracker)

again: you can't produce s-vcds with mixed tracks (data plus video)

how about producing a website? use your favorite website designer tool ( i do like freeway, they offer for free a 30 day evalution version!!), place your videos (quicktime, probabyl diffenrent versions in different quality) on the site and safe the project on a disc.

so, every user, pc or mac, navigator or safari, could open this "local" website, it looks good and they can watch the videos in a quality tehy want to.

just an idea.....

[ism]

Steve,

I'll be passing through Manchester at about half four today. I'll wave or something.

Have a look at the Video File Comparison table at dvdrhelp.com, it gives a good overview of the different formats and their capabilities.

It is really only worth doing VCD or SVCD if you expect the discs to be played back in standalone dvd players.

I like k_munics idea if these discs are to be played back on computers only. You'll get a greater compression using quicktime or mp4 (such as the 3ivx codec) as opposed to mpeg1 or 2 and be able to fit more on a disc.

It depends what operating systems the students will be viewing on. MPG1 will work on windows and mac with probably the default OS installation. If the users are likely to use the discs on university/company networks then the appropriate decoders for codecs such as 3ivx are unlikely to be unavailable and probably can't be installed.

You could still use k_munics idea with MPG1 video, but you might struggle to get all three videos on a CD if you want to offer different resolutions.