beauty is in the eye of the beholder

lakewud · Post by **lakewud** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:49 pm

Whats more important then..the movie youve lovingly created or the product itself...ie the packaging..giving your project a sense of self...an all important identity. Afterall no point in saving to disk if the disk itself is just going to vanish in amongst a hundred other disks...let is stand out...speak to the World...'watch me watch me'

So - with thanks to this forums occassional help and the ulead product itself i have my mini masterpiece in the bag so to speak. Ok, so i have a thousand other problems im not entirely happy..but im sure these can all be ironed out with a little more reading of this informative and very helpful forum.

So..next thing to do is...burn it onto a decent disk, print out a natty dvd cover, labelflash the disk and pop it into a nice looking dvd case.

....ok taking it one thing at a time then...understand - a little - about dvds the whole plus and minus thang..part of me still wants to think that the wording duel layer actually means im getting more bang for my buck..even though my project is only 35 minutes long...

Can someone out there, the more the merrier, please tell me, where i can find on the internet a brilliant dvd - thats worth me putting my masterpieces onto? Is there a good site to look at? basically..whats the best dvd i can get..scratchproof perhaps?...i know..ive read..burn no more than 4x..and thats fine..but any good make you guys know of? most of my films will come in no more than 40minutes..dont want to bore an audience too much!!

O - that apart - so im labelflashing the project..so from what i can see, i have limited choice in my dvd if i chose to do it this way. But after much searching i can only find two sites which sell the thing!! and one, PCWorld states..a fiver for the 5flashdvds add 11squid for delivery!! plus a couple pounds more...and comes to £17!!!!!!! SO, next question, can anyone enlighten me on where i can find on the internet a good site for labelflash dvds? except ebay!!

Next up..printers? ok, so i do plan to buy one of these..been looking myself in mags etc..dont want to spend much less then £70 really..but what can i expect for my money..the reviews ive read..even for £50 canon machines etc...all seem too good to be true. Am i foolish in thinking i can print out...a almost..perfect/something youd find in the shops..quality dvd cover printwork?

Finally...the casing...well - again - ive been looking around...anyone out there tell me a decent, maybe a little funky looking...dvd cases..any good sites?...if youve bought some yourself...any good...or am i overselling the whole thing..shall i just stick my movie in some cheapo 50pence plastic casing?what'd you think?

Finally, finally...asked before and ill i got was..look at hotshots or whatever..and to be honest i wasnt overly impressed...but really would love to see ( and in the process get ideas! ) from other members work...thread after thread i read about peoples problems with trying this transition or another and my tiny mind wanders onto just how many people out there are making their little movies..mind boggling really! so..anyone care to show?

thanks for listening

g

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 11:31 pm

If your project is only 35 minutes, even at the highest bitarte a standalone DVD player can handle, you will never get to the second layer of you DL DVD.

You only need dual layer if your DVD authored filee exceed the staorage capacity of a SL disk. There are no other differences.

Any good brand DVD blank will give you good results. Most cheap ones will give you the same result if they are not too faulty. Whether or not they last as long, well, ask again in 30 or 40 years time, we might be able to tell then.

As far as lables or cases go, whatever tickles your fancy. I buy printable DVD blanks (CDs as well) and print straight onto disk. Of course, you need a printer that can do this. Beats trying to find labelflash capable disks (not that I could labelflash them with my burners) and my lables are full color.

Printable disks I can buy anywhere. I usually buy my disks at a price that would require an online store to give me a discount of the postage/handling fee for taking their disks.

At least, at a store I see what I get. Online you see what you got

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:29 am

I don't know the answers but I would like to say that you have brought up some very interesting points here. Placing this reply here ensures I will get an email notification everytime there is a response. This will enable me to monitor this thread for those good suggestions which will hopefully be forthcoming.

I believe that first impressions count. I have previously stated that a viewer will make up their mind about whether or not they will enjoy the video they are about to see the moment they set eyes on the DVD Menu.

You have taken this one step further by making the DVD and its packaging appealing. Your points raised are good, sensible and often overlooked by many who spend countless hours creating 'The Perfect DVD."

Grainne_C · Post by **Grainne_C** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:40 am

OK, I'm not expert...just the average joe blow but I'd say YES only spend maximum 50c on the casing. It's great to think of your project in terms of the 'whole deal' but I tend to think that the majority of us care more about the quality of the product rather than what wrapping it comes in.

Heck, I have NO cases for CDs or DVDs anymore - gone! I don't keep the covers either. I tend to think there are more and more people like me - we live in small places so have to think about the amount of space these things take up, cleaning (dust settline on covers) etc PLUS...we just download the video on to our iPods and keep the discs solely for backup.

On the issue of DVDs, I was told that some of the 'big names' in the industry buy blanks and then brand them as their own, they don't use the same vendor everytime so certain batches might be great whilst others are not so stable. It was recommended to me that Sony and TDK are pretty good so that is what I've been using. I tried buying a 20 pack of a cheaper no frills brand and found that 5 of them didn't work at all on my computer (computer was purchased in Nov last year so I'd anticipate that those DVDs should have been ok).

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:22 am

For my own DVD collection I keep them in DVD storage bags that hold 100, 200 even 400 discs at a time. Great for space conservation and easy to carry around.

However the Original poster here is talking of the best way to present a DVD to other people, whether as a gift or perhaps for sale. You would not give away a free DVD storage bag as a part of the deal.

As mentioned earlier first impressions count.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:17 pm

I have recently upgraded to an Epson R800 printer, capable of printing directly on the DVD. Beautiful! Although, what I have discovered is it does drink the ink! So now I've reconnected my old printer for everyday needs and the Epson R800 is now just for DVDs.

I also have found a DVD case that I love. It's black plastic with the clear sleeve in which you place your printed insert, not unlike the cases you get at Blockbuster. But these cases are the size of a CD jewel case. So you get the small size with the durability of a softer plastic. See the following for an example: https://www.shop4tech.com/item2903.html.

Buying as few as 50 of each at a time costs you $0.82 US per disc. Not too bad.

lakewud · Post by **lakewud** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:31 pm

Thanks - as usual - for the replies.

Intrested in the Epson R800 printer...but have ordered a few labelflash dvds online so will wait and see what i think to quality of all that. And have looked at that website, shop4tech, just a case of looking around i suppose until you see something you like.

Glad to see im not the only one on here who rates the importance of packaging..and in a sense..being proud of the little video youve created. I suppose thou the way things are going, packaging in any sense will soon feel a little dated..what with all this saving directly to harddrive..who needs 'dustcollecters' so to speak..when its all stored hidden away.

In my case, i have relatives abroad and footage of when cousins etc were younger which i plan to present to them in a nice looking case. The importance of history...grans and grandads arnt here forever..film em' while you can, including getting a soundtrack of all their 'annoyances'..20years time youll be glad you did. i know i am...trouble is i have so much footage...

One question, being digital...well...the quality of my 3ccd footage isnt bad..but could be so much better...so am thinking...now that its on disk/or at least saved in some form..whats the chances of..say...in 10years time...a package coming out which will be able to radically improve the quality of your digital footage...had always hoped that my VHC-C/SVHSC footage would be able to magically improve..but sadly hasnt been the case...What'd you think?

lakewud · Post by **lakewud** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 10:40 am

Was just wondering, now im able to print my dvd covers, went for a cheap printer, Canon IP4300..all my present budget can afford, is there a recommened package out there to help me print my dvd covers.

Wanting to obviously bring in various photos, overlap a few pics etc...few effects....and free package to allow me to do this or will any paintshop package do?

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 10:40 pm

If your talking about printing on the DVD, try Discus. Great little program.

As far as the sleeve for the box, heck, I just made up a template in Word. Discus has templates for jewel cases and such, but not for the little plastic cases that I mentioned in my earlier post.

lakewud · Post by **lakewud** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:47 pm

Cheers for the reply. Checked out the site.

Been downloading a fair few trial version of differnet cover designers recently...not able at present to get the desired effect thou. Havent tried photoshop mind.

Anyone out there know of a decent programme that will allow me to, say, have a few photos but perhaps blurr the edges a little instead of the bog-standard square/rectangle box surrounding them..just something a little more professional..perhaps a little opaque, one photo actually merging into another?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:30 pm

While you could develop your own template using Photoshop (which I quite often do for labels anyway), it is really that program's cradle mate, Image Ready, that is the program for a professional design. In its last version (CS1), Image Ready actually contained templates for jewel case sleeves and disc labels. These could of course be heavily adapted and edited. I have simply transferred those templates for use in the CS2 version since they appear to have disappeared from the current version.

And since Image Ready is really a specialised version of Photoshop, it contains all those wonderful Adobe filters for layers, merges, feathering edges, special effects etc, which means you can, if you wish, produce some very eye-catching covers and labels.

lakewud · Post by **lakewud** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:51 pm

Thanks for the reply.

Imageready seems the way to go then. Will give it a go.

a free trial version available? Cant find it in Download.com ( my fav haunt! )