Chapter 2. Deconstructing DVDs
Chapter 1 provided you with a quick introduction to using Encore. Before we go any further, however, we need to take a look at a commercial DVD. This time we’re not simply going to watch a movie. Instead, we’ll examine how the DVD was authored to help us understand some of the design options available for creating DVDs. This kind of exploration is part of the attraction of watching DVDs on a PC: you aren’t limited to using a remote control, but you can use the application to dig further into the DVD to understand its design (and to take shortcuts to “Easter eggs” and other fun extras).
This chapter starts off by explaining the internals of a DVD, including its physical structure, how data is organized on it, and copy-protection mechanisms. We’ll also talk about some of the competing formats for writable DVDs. You may not know this already, but you can watch DVDs directly on your PC. In fact, testing out data in this way is a valuable part of the DVD authoring process, so we’ll continue by discussing Microsoft’s Windows Media Player 9. In addition, we’ll check out two other software DVD players, CyberLink PowerDVD and InterVideo WinDVD. You may already have these on your PC—they often come bundled with new PC systems and DVD burner hardware.
Before going any further, you’ll have to promise ...
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