Great Lakes Media Technology Blog

DVD Master Preparation

As DVD becomes a more commonly used media outside of the entertainment industry, there are some critical points to cover in preparing the content for your master disc. For starters, the media itself: Always use high-quality recordable DVD+R or DVD-R non-rewritable media or DLT tapes for DVD-ROM masters. DVD rewritable (DVD-RW) discs may not be used for DVD-ROM masters due to low reflectivity levels and drive compatibility issues.

DVD+R or DVD-R are acceptable for masters of DVD-5 and DVD-10 for replication. DVD-9 requires two masters (layer 1 and layer 0), DVD+R, DVD-R, or DLT tape may be used for masters. Any project requiring CSS or Macrovision copy protection must be authored as such and must be submitted on DLT tape. All DLT tape masters must include the DDP files.

Regarding preparation of your master, Great Lakes Media Technology uses and recommends a bit rate of 5 or 6 Mbps. Higher bit rates can cause compatibility issues in different players. If there is any confusion about this, having Great Lakes Media Technology handle the encoding and authoring of your project will guarantee that your master will be created properly to avoid any compatibility issues post replication.