Chapter 2. Media Formats
As with any computer application, DVDSP 3 has a well-defined set of document types it understands. Thankfully, that set is large. Although you'll probably still format your media as MPEG-2 before getting into DVDSP, now you can import almost any file format that QuickTime understands. (DVDSP can transcode most QuickTime files to MPEG-2 for you.)
As we mentioned in the Preface, you can't use DVDSP by itself. You need the MPEG-2 codec that is bundled with QuickTime Pro. In addition, you need A.Pack for your audio encoding. Technically, you could get by with those three applications, but that's not a realistic setup. You definitely want Photoshop, and probably Final Cut Pro and After Effects as well. With those applications in hand, you easily can manage any type of DVD project.
DVD Explained
Before we dive into DVD media formats, let's look a bit closer at the media itself. Here's an interesting bit of trivia: what do the letters D-V-D stand for? Those of us who remember the original advertising for DVDs in the mid-1990s recall that the letters stood for Digital Video Disc. Later, however, the acronym somehow revised itself to stand for Digital Versatile Disc, which truthfully implied that the disc format could hold much more than video (e.g., data and audio). Depending on which corporate patent holder you ask, you're likely to get ...
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