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MillimeterGo for the Good Stuff
Aug 11, 2005 10:11 AM, Barry Braverman
It irritates my substrate to no end: the illogical producers out there who spend thousands of dollars on camcorders, VCRs and their kid’s bar mitzvah but insist on buying the cheapest twenty-nine cent media they can find.
It’s not that these folks intend to undermine their careers, families and self-respect. Not at all. The problem as I see it is ignorance and the inherent price-sensitive nature of the mass market. We see this penny-pinching obsession in other areas of commerce like fast food and electric can openers so why not in DVD media? Someone will always want to pay less for inferior quality goods.
Yet, from the perspective of a producer who spends his life in a darkened room creating masterpieces of timeless beauty, the inclination to economize is foolish and a recipe for disaster. After all, what good is a well crafted elegantly produced DVD if it will not run or run well on the client’s DVD player? We’ve discussed the many variables before that can affect player compatibility with DVD recordable media: poor authoring practices that produce an unnecessarily convoluted file structure, high video encode rates, burning too fast and too far out on a disc, and use of uncompressed (PCM) audio. The biggest factor, however, affecting player compatibility is the quality of the media in the first place.
When DVD media fails, digits get dropped, errors go uncorrected – and we suffer. In the worst case, inferior media can sink our credibility along with our project. If we have to explain to a client why his lavish new production won’t play cleanly in his DVD player, we better hang on. Odds are, we’re going down. Big time.
For today’s producers, outputting to DVD recordable media at some stage is a foregone conclusion. Whether for direct distribution as in the case of many corporate and industrial projects, or for client review prior to submission of the DLT for replication, single and dual layer DVD-R (+R) media play a key role now in the post-production workflow. Our livelihood and success depends on the quality of our recordable media, and so we must have some understanding of what constitutes high-quality media right out of the jewel box.
Top-tier manufacturers including Fujifilm, Maxell and Verbatim produce optical media to extremely high tolerances. The disc must be flat and free of warp and wobble – two physical factors that contribute to the poor performance of cheap media. At Fujifilm, the latest-generation dye coating is used for maximum compatibility at burn speeds from 1X – 16X. The great range of speeds and drives from multiple manufacturers complicates the task of producing universally compatible media. Fujifilm, for one, has developed a special recording dye that responds reliably at various heat levels. Interestingly, more heat is focused on the media at lower burn speeds as the laser lingers longer over a given disc area.
One key characteristic of higher-grade media is the ability to record accurate, sharply defined “pits”. These pits are not physical detents as they are in “pressed” media, so the look and accuracy of the simulated pits is critical for player compatibility. Just as critical is the dye’s responsiveness as it must be capable of registering data in extremely fast, short bursts in a 16X drive spinning at approximately 10,000 RPMs.
With respect to long-term storage, low quality media may be subject to a lethal disc rot – a popular reference to general deterioration that can affect playability. Manufacturers must be sure that the disc is properly sealed to prevent delamination, crystalization, growing of mold or fungus and chemical decomposition of the media. Hot and humid conditions can also invite such calamities so users should take proper note when opting for the cheap stuff against my best advice.
While the recording dyes like those pioneered by Fujifilm help resist chemical deterioration caused by exposure to the sun, care should always be taken to avoid leaving discs (especially unrecorded discs) in unfriendly places, such as on a car dashboard or in a superheated glove compartment. Direct sun and high heat can destroy any optical disc in short order. When it comes to media, heat kills!
In addition to the proper handling and storing of recorded and unrecorded media, the Mac or PC burning software should be updated to the latest version along with the burner firmware. That way we and the media manufacturers are sharing the same assumptions and burning from the same platter, so to speak.
Look, as craftsmen we take pride in our work. We choose the right camera, learn the right editing tools, and pay scrupulous attention to every aspect of a production. So when it comes time to entrusting our work to the pesky little discs, we don’t buy the cheap stuff. With the precision, compatibility and piece of mind that comes only with top-grade media, it is clearly one of the best (and most reasonable) investments we can make.
Continue the discussion on Crosstalk the Millimeter Forum.