Starting a Project
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Typically a project will start with the video capture stage. The application provides the ability to open a previously completed project and re-run it starting from the authoring stage, the writing stage or the printing stage.  

 
The project properties can be modified before re-running it but be aware that if you do this, when the project completes, if any of the settings have been changed, the project file will be re-written with those changes. In other words, the project will no longer be an accurate history of exactly what was done.  
 
 

Before starting the project, you will want to make sure the application has the correct project settings. You can load a previously created project or you can assume that the application default settings are what you want to use. If all you need to enter are the Project ID, Title, Subtitle, Date, Capture length and DVD menu theme, you can do that directly on the main application user interface without having to open up the Project Properties Dialog box. If you need to make additional changes, you can edit the project properties by clicking the More button (more) on the application. Once project settings have be entered, you may wish to save the project file.  

 
When setting the capture length, it is important to know that this length of time directly affects the calculation of the bitrate. The best quality video is obtained by keeping the video length to an hour. Anything less than an hour will utilize the same video bitrate since it is limited by the maximum bitrate allowed by the DVD standard. Depending on the video content, the length can be set to two hours or more but don't expect the same video quality as on Hollywood DVD titles.  
 
 


 
It is also important to realize that there are three root level directory names that are reserved on the drive that the DVD is to be built. See preferences for setting the Drive for VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS directories. The reserved directories which will be overwritten during the authoring stage are VIDEO_TS, AUDIO_TS, collateral. The collateral directory is used to store project collateral whuch would be required to reproduce the DVD paper assets.  
 
 

At this point you are ready to start the video capture.