James Clayton

Authoring Conventions
+R
+R DVDs are only able to be written on once, this means that once theyve
been written on it cannot be changed or re-written. Due to this theyre one of
the cheaper forms of DVD and are great for home use. Plus R discs are similar
to DVD R however are not compatible with each other. These types of discs
can hold up to 4.7 GB of data and the dual layer version can hold around 8.5 GB.
The more expensive dual layer double sided versions can hold 17 GB of data
making them twice as large as the single sided versions. They are most
commonly used for applications such as audio and video storage as well as nonevolatile data storage like photographs. These types of discs must be formatted
before being recorded on by a compatible DVD video recorder.
+RW
These types of discs are similar to that of +R except that they can be rewritten making them better value for money as the user can re-use them up
to 1000 times before having to replace it. They have identical storage
capacity to that of +R DVDs meaning they can hold 4.7 GB of data with the
dual layered version holding 8.5 GB. The top of the range version of these
DVDs can hold 17 GB of re-writable data. The recording layer in +RW discs is a
phase change metal alloy (often GeSbTe) whose crystalline phase and
amorphous phase have different reflectivity making them re-writable. The discs
are read by a laser, changing the strength of the laser allows the disc to be read,
erased, or re-written. These discs are supported by lossless linking, this makes
the compatibility with DVD players better.
-R
A R DVD can only be written on once but it can be read as many times as the
user wishes. Pioneer first established the DVD-R in 1997. The single layer
versions of this DVD type can hold around 4.7 GB whilst the more expensive,
modern dual layer version can hold 8.5 GB of data. Almost any DVD player
can play a DVD R format and it is also known to be approved by the DVD
forum. The larger storage capacity of a DVD-R compared to a CD-R is achieved
through smaller bit size and smaller track pitch of the groove spiral which guides
the laser beam. Consequently, more bits can be written on the same physical
sized disc.
-RW
A DVD RW has an identical storage capacity to that of a R disc, it was
developed November 1999 by a company called Pioneer. Pioneer also developed
all of the other DVD formats. The primary advantage of DVD-RW over DVD-R is
the ability to erase data and rewrite to a DVD-RW disc. According to Pioneer (The
company who developed this type of DVD) a -RW disc can be written on around
1,000 times before it will need replacing. DVD-RW discs are commonly used to
store data in a non-volatile format which means that power isnt required to keep
the data. They are also used in home DVD video recorders because of the ability
to overwrite the old data with ease. Dual layer versions of RW discs werent
developed because of the high costs and competition from other DVD types such

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as Blu-ray and HD DVD leaving them with only 4.7 GB of data storage on the
single sided discs and 8.4 GB of storage on the double sided discs.

Dual layer
Dual layer and double layer DVDs are the same thing and
are also sometimes referred to as DVD-9 discs and can store
up to 8.5 GB of data. Dual layer discs are made by joining
two DVD-5 disc together with a transparent spacer and a
thin reflector between the two. The bottom layer is read and
written in exactly the same manner as a normal single layer DVD. Reading and
writing to the second layer is achieved by the laser focusing a fraction of a
millimeter beyond the first recording layer. Dual layer discs are not as common
as single layer because a newer DVD player is required to read and write to them
and theyre most often not required as the 4.7 GB of storage on a single layer
DVD is usually sufficient. The higher cost of a dual layer DVD also puts people off
purchasing them.
Writing Speed
The writing speed of a DVD is measured in kibibytes/sec, the
higher the speed of the disc, the higher the Kb/s. Modern
compact discs support a writing speed of 52X and higher, with
some modern DVDs supporting speeds of 16X and higher, this means that they
can be written on 52x faster than the original DVDs.
There is a maximum speed in which a piece of data can be read, this speed is 74
minutes, you tend to find that most CDs can hold up to 80 minutes worth of data
at one time, per disc. Blue-rays normally need a much higher data transfer rate
because they have more data information. Blue-rays have a writing speed of 1
which is equivalent to 36 megabits per second.
Audio
DVD-Audio, which is also referred to as DVD-A is a digital format for
delivering high-quality audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio comes in
lots of different configurations, ranging from single-channel mono to
5.1-channel surround sound. A disc which has DVD-Audio can be stored
in a few dissimilar bit depths and sampling rates. The DVDs can hold up to 8.5
GB of data allowing for high bit music to be stored. By the year of 2007 DVDaudio has been defined as being extinct.
Video
DVD-Video is a video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, it is
most commonly used for films and home use. To play this type of DVD a DVD
player or computer with DVD player software is required. Commercial DVD
movies are encoded using a combination of MPEG-2 compressed video and
audio of varying formats. Most commonly the data rate for DVD movies
ranges from 3 Mbit/s to 9.5 Mbit/s, and the bit rate is usually adaptive.
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Menus
DVDs menus are most often found on films; they allow the user
to easily navigate through the content. The menus usually have
options for behind the scenes, extras, games and the film itself.
More advanced menus allow the user to watching the film from a
specific point that they can choose, this is usually done by
having set times in the film which the user can choose from.
There are a few things that need to be considered when creating a DVD menu
such as colour, typography, visual effects, graphics and movement. The two
names of the menu types are an overlay menu and a layered menu. The
difference being that the overly has a faster playback time but a layered menu
allows you to add more design detail.
You can get a menu which has an animation for the background, you tend to find
these on childrens DVD menu designs as they are used to add
interest and something to look at. You can also get menu which
dont have any movement other than rollovers. The background
image is sometimes made up of different things like the actors, a
scene and the menu buttons, as shown below.

Additional DVD Features

Subtitles
Subtitles are used on DVDs for many different reasons. The main reason is to
allow people who are hard of hearing to watch the content of the
DVD but it also allows the film to be easily translated into every
language. Subtitles can be turned on or off usually in the menu of
the DVD, if the remote has a subtitles button it can also be done
this way. The subtitles can also be moved to the top or the
bottom of the screen depending on how the viewer prefers it, this can also be
changed in the settings. The first subtitle was created so that people could keep
up with the fast pace of the film back in 1909. The most common subtitle
languages are for places such as Germany, France and Spain.
Different Languages
All DVDs now offer the ability to change the language of the content which is on
the DVD, this will most often change all of the text over to the selected
language and apply the required subtitles over the film. If the DVD
contains speech this may also have been translated by the DVD creators
allowing the user to listen to the film without having to read the
translated subtitles. The different languages that are usually offered are
the more commonly spoken otherwise the menu would be huge due to
the vast amount of languages that are spoken around the world. In order for the
film to be watched by as many people as possible it needs to be adaptable to the
different language audiences.
Easter Eggs
When the designers are coming up with the ideas for the DVDs they may
sometimes put hidden features into the menus or in the credits of a film (Easter
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Eggs), they do this to entertain the viewer and also to add extra features which
may help sell the DVD. The most common Easter Eggs are small
discrete buttons on the menus which take the user to an extra part of
the DVD, sometimes behind the scenes or perhaps a little game
related to the contents of the DVD itself. Easter Eggs will be most
common on DVD directed at a younger audience as theyre most
likely to look for them and be entertained by their content. There not
normally planned when the original designs were made. Macintosh operating
system had the first Easter egg in 1984. The main reason this was used is to give
credit to all the programmers involved in the production of the film.

Animations
Animations are added to DVDs to make them more interesting to look at
otherwise the menus are too simple and boring. The best animations are ones
that dont take too long where the user gets agitated but arent too quick and
flashy. They are most often used when switching between pages on the DVD or
when the menu goes away and the film starts playing, the
animations should also try to be relevant to the DVDs content. This
is to give a few hints about whats to come in the film, the main
thing it will give away is the films genre (what sort of film it is e.g.
horror/comedy/fantasy). An example of this would be in Flushed
Away where when you play the movie the menu spirals downwards like it has
been flushed down a toilet, this is a nice feature as it means the film doesnt just
instantly start playing theres a transition from the menu into the film itself. A
simple animation is just made up of an image which is moving a certain amount
of frames per second. You can get a more complex animation such as a short clip
of the film, you normally find these on a scene selection page.
DTS
DTS which is short for Digital Theatre Systems a company which specializes in
digital surround sound formats used for both commercial/theatrical and
consumer grade applications. The highest legal bitrate that DTS is encoded at
is 1509.75 kbps which is much higher than its nearest competitor AC-3 of only
640 kbps. Due to the very high bitrate that DTS is encoded in it means it has a
high level of audio transparency which means that the sound is almost
identical the original, in a blind audio test consumer couldnt tell the
difference between the original audio and the encoded DTS audio. Movie titles
are almost always encoded at a reduced bitrate of 754.5 kbps now which means
that DTS has lost its high transparency. In 1995 DTS was known to be called The
Digital Experience. The very first DTS company keeps trying to update and
licence products for the home consumer market.
Dolby
Dolby Laboratories develop audio compression technology mainly for use in
cinemas. They named the technology Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994 where it
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was simplified to Dolby Digital and has stayed the same to this day. It is now
commonly used for HDTV broadcast, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs and game consoles
after it was originally used to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm
film prints. Dolby Digital has many variations now such as: Dolby Digital EX,
Dolby Digital Surround EX, Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby
Digital TrueHD. This kind of sound compression is used to help bring life to the
DVD and gives you a feel for the type of music used in the film. Its improves the
sound quality and reduces any unwanted noise.
Regional Codes
Regional codes are applied to films on DVDs to control the exportation of movies
to other countries so that they cannot be viewed before the release at local
movie theaters. This means that DVD players purchased in R1 (Region 1 - U.S.A.,
U.S. Territories and Canada) wont be able to play films from another
region such as R3 (Region 3 - Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines,
Indonesia, Hong Kong). There are six different regional codes around
the world ranging from R1 up to R6. Region 1 - U.S.A., U.S. Territories
and Canada. R2 Region - Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Egypt,
South Africa, Greenland. R3 Region 3 - Taiwan, Korea, the
Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong. R4 Region 4 - Mexico, South and Central
America, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Caribbean. R5 Region 5 - Russia,
Eastern Europe, India, Africa (excluding South Africa), North Korea, Mongolia. R6
Region 6 - China. You can get DVD players which dont require regional codes in
order to play the selected DVD, this means you are less likely to get errors
occurring. The codes can be used on their own, in a group or you can have none
at all.
Copyright Protection
Copyright protection is the main law in which can be used on text, images, films,
adverts, etc. The whole point of using copyright is so that if your work is stolen it
is still protected. It was first put in place in 1988. The owner of the work
will have the control over the rights. To rip a DVD means to copy its
contents off the DVD onto a hard drive where it can then be distributed an
infinite amount of times. There are many ways DVD producers protect
against the ripping of DVDs, here are some ways that this is done; DRM
(Control technologies that are used to restrict the usage of proprietary
software, hardware, or content.), CD-checks (The most common protections
used), Dummy Files (Dummy files are fake files created to try and hide the real
file), illegal tables of contents, over-sizing or over-burning the CD.
Parental Controls
If a family has a younger child they will want to protect them from inappropriate
content, they can do this by using the parental controls on the DVD player. One
way to prevent the child watching films of the wrong age would be to
put a password onto the DVD player, this can easily be done by
accessing the parental settings. This is the best way for parents to
control what their child is watching as they will have to enter the
password to access the DVD player.
Parental restrictions are put on any kind of technology/software such as games,
mobile devices, computers, TVs and films. The 4 different sections for the
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parental controls are content filters, usage controls, monitoring, and computer
usage management tools. These days you find that when you look at a DVD
cover it gives you a suitable age range or says U or PG.

Functions & Elements

Buttons
Every DVD menu has buttons as thats how the user navigates through the
pages. The button designs will vary depending on the content of the DVD, for
example if it was a film about whales in the oceans the buttons wouldnt
have sand textures as they wouldnt fit in. Buttons can also have many
affects applied to them such as when it is pressed or hovered over the
button changes colour to show that it is being used. Other variations that
buttons may have is how theyre used. Some buttons work when theyre
clicked on and others work when theyre clicked on and the mouse is the
released, this is so the buttons cannot be accidently clicked because if the user
doesnt want to go to that page or perform that action they can move the mouse
off the buttons and then release the mouse meaning the buttons isnt pressed.
On DVD menus you tend to find that the buttons are mostly rollovers as this
makes the menu design more complex and interactive. You also find buttons on
the DVD player itself, these buttons will be play, pause, stop, and rewind/fast
forward.
Still Images
Still images are used to help the viewer visualize something as theyre most
commonly paired with some text explaining what the image is about. They can
be used in the background of DVD menus to make the page more
interesting or on the scene select pages where a frame out of the
movie is used to help the user find the scene theyre looking for. Still
images may also be used in the extra features of a DVD such as
photographs of the film set or the place where the filming took place.
Shown right you can see that in the DVD menu background there is the use of
two still images which are screenshots of scenes from the DVD itself. It also
depends on the audience as to what kind of elements are used in the DVD menu
design. For example, a childrens DVD is more likely to have animation whereas
an adult film will just has a still image.
Moving Images
Most DVDs will have some form of moving images, this could be from a small
animation which plays during the transition between two pages or a small
section of video. Other DVDs which are just a film will have lots of moving
images because of the film itself and other pieces of video such as the extra
footage. Most films also have lots of animations on the menus to liven them
up and to make them more interesting to use.
The menu on the Shrek DVD has a very nice animation when the film is played,
as the menu is in a book it flicks through all of the pages till the book closes at
which point it zooms and from the book and the film has already started.
Text
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Text is an essential part to any DVD menu as its how the DVD creator gets
information across to the user, it can also be easily translated compared to
voices which have to be recorded again in that different language. Text is mostly
used on buttons to label what they do but it is also used for subtitles
on films because of how much easier it is to translate the film. The
text can sometimes be edited by the user so that its easier to read,
they usually have control over the size, font and colour of the text.
You can also see text when the film starts and the names of the actors,
producers and directors all appear at the bottom or around the opening scenes.
This also applies to the end of the film as well when you get the end credits.
Sometimes the text has effects on it so that it stands out from the background
more. When there is a lot of text on a film it makes it seem more boring and it
isnt normally on long enough to read.
Sounds
Sound is used on DVD menus to break the silence whilst the user is navigating
through it, the sounds can be minor like when a button is pressed or hovered
over a small sound effect can play. Other menus have background music that is
usually linked in with the film or if the DVD is very simple and doesnt have much
content no sounds or sound effects will be used. On some animated
kids films if the user stays on the menu for too long, a character from
the movie will usually appear and tell them to press a button or say
something to interact with the user. This is done as its a great way to
make the menus more interesting for younger children.
Sometimes the music in the background doesnt last very long so its put on
repeat and it loops automatically. This sometimes bores the viewer making them
more likely to click a button, in some cases they may just mute the film. When
the sound and movement is happening, you wont be able to click anything on
the menu. You can from time to time find the option to stop the background
music playing by going into the set up options.

Uses & Applications

Moving Images
Before online movies were available people used to always buy movies on DVDs
from a wide range of different stores, this has become less common due to the
popularity of online movie stores but they are still available. Blue-ray
DVDs are becoming more popular due to the higher quality image and
sound they offer compared to that of a classic DVD, these are more
expensive and also require a Blue-ray player for the DVDs to work.
Having the movie on a DVD allows for menus and additional features to
be applied such as different language settings and behind the scenes footage,
these features give the movie a better chance of selling as youre not just getting
the movie on its own.
The kind of moving images you get on a DVD menu are either short clips or
trailers of the film. They are usually continuous and run smoothly without the use
of any buttons to control what happens with the moving image. These kind of
images are mostly used to make the menu more eye catching when the viewer
first looks at it.
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Interactive Media
DVDs are a great way to interact with the user as they can be used in DVD
players which have a remote allowing the user to easily control the DVDs
content, theyre also much cheaper than a computer meaning a wider range of
people can use them. If the DVD is a guide on how to do a certain task
with step by step videos it will need lots of interaction from the user to
go through the menus and find which specific video they need. This is
why lots of DVDs with videos have a scene selection page which is
where the user can choose what part of a movie or section of a help
guide they want to start watching from as it allows the user to easily come back
to the DVD at a later date.
Another example of an interactive element which you might find in a DVD menu
is a rollover when a button changes colour. Also you might rollover an image and
it changes, this is a good way of showing a lot of images without them taking up
a lot of space on the menu page. Sound effects are also interactive as it helps
get the viewer interested and involves them interacting in order for the DVD
menu to work properly.
Text-based Files
Sometimes when you buy a product such as an electrical item it can come with a
DVD which has all of the instructions on, this is to replace the original paper
instructions that used to come in the box. The instructions are now put onto a
DVD disc as most people have a device that can read them and it means that
they can also translate the instructions into more languages as they arent
restricted by pages. The instructional DVDs sometimes come with menus
which have different categories of help such as how to set up the devices or
way to troubleshoot problems and choices of multiple different languages.
Sometimes text-based files are shown before a film starts, they normally show
warnings and age ratings. The text-based files will be made so that they are
compatible with most/all DVD players. These kind of files are more commonly
seen when a DVD is played through the computer as its easier to access and
read them, a computer is also more interactive. When the DVD loads in the
computer and a folder comes up, it normally shows a document named .TXT.

Additional Material
When you buy a film on a DVD it will most likely have extra footage such as
behind the scenes or extra footage that didnt make it into the film, this
is added to expand the content of the DVD. In these kind of clips, you
will be able to see how all the effects are used and the production
process behind the making of the film. Other additional materials you
might find on a DVD are Easter eggs which are sometimes hidden in
the menus, these can be anything from a small game to another bit of extra
footage that wasnt included in the film. It may also be an interview with the star
actor in the film or if its animated the start voice actor.
Additional Features

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Additional features are most common in films and not others types of DVD such
as instructional DVDs as the extra features are usually games or extra footage
not included in the film. In the Walking Dead, The Complete First
Season (2010) some of the additional features that come on the DVD
are the Making of the walking dead, Inside the walking dead: Episode
1-6, Behind the scenes Zombie make-up tips. These are some of the
extra features that come on the DVD, because of all the extra content
they can advertise on the cover that it has a certain amount of extra
hours of content giving the customer another extra reason to purchase that DVD.
In a musical type of DVD, one of the additional features may be a music video
clip which has sing-along lyrics so that you can join in with the fun. You especially
find these kind of features in film which is aimed at children.
Some DVDs also have advertising included in them perhaps for that company or
paid adverts that theyre making money off, these adverts are found on a
separate page from all the other content or at the bottom of the pages in the
form of a banner.