DVD Enhancements, Phase 1

10/21/2006

This last week we started internal testing of the enhanced DVD support features for SSP. Because of this, I thought this would be a good time to discuss the new features.

DVD Menu Support
Previously, DVD menus were not used when importing DVD titles. You would select a title to import from a list of titles labeld Title 1, Title 2, etc. The problem with this was that some DVDs were built in a way that prohibited this type of navigation. Now you will navigate through a DVD using its menu system. Once you arrive at the DVD title that you want to import, you then complete the import process. This involves simply selecting a name for the DVD and a name for the title you are importing.

Elimination of the Mandatory Start-up Videos
Previously, if you imported a title from a DVD that had a mandatory video that played upon start-up, you would have to wait until the video had completed before presenting the imported title. This is no longer the case. Playback will now begin at the beginning of a title and skip over any of the mandatory videos. You can, however, still set start and stop points within a title, just as before.

Audio Settings
Previously, audio settings were not selectable when you imported a DVD title. Now, when you make selections through the DVD menu for audio settings (such as commentary on/off), these will be set when you go to present the imported DVD title.

Better Support for Aspect Ratios
Previously, all DVD content was rendered at a 1.5:1 aspect ratio (at least for Region 1 DVDs). Now, videos will be rendered at either 4:3 or 16:9 depending on their source. Additionally, you can also clip the black areas out of the video stream for videos that are letterboxed or pillarboxed. (Read more about this in my previous blog entry.) This feature lets you take a movie that is actually in, say, a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, clip the letterbox black bars, then place the stream over an image or motion background.

Additional Transport Controls for Importing
Additional transport controls are provided to help you navigate through a DVD when selecting a title to import. These include fast forward, fast backward, chapter selection, etc.

Also, internally the DVD code has been rebuilt and should be more stable than the previous versions. This represents the most significant upgrade for DVD support since it was first released for SSP in 2003. It also represents just phase 1 of the DVD enhancements. There are more to come in later editions of SSP.

We have not tested PAL DVDs at this time, but expect that with the internal changes that have been made, PAL DVDs should work with SSP. We, of course, encourage any of you who are using PAL DVDs to test this out as soon as you can.

(BE078)

 
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