It's hard to overestimate the impact of DVDs on entertainment and computers today. DVD technology is one of the most rapidly adopted consumer electronics product in history, according to www.dvdinformation.com, faster than the cellular telephone and the personal computer. With DVD players and/or "burners" (recorders) now offered in most personal computers, and DVD players selling for just over $120 per unit on average, it's no wonder that sales of DVD videos edged out those on VHS earlier this year. With rentals of VHS and DVD videos running at about 50/50, the trend clearly indicates that DVDs will replace VHS tape as the preferred method for home video recording.
A DVD can be thought of as simply an oversized CD. It can hold a feature-length movie or the contents of your computer's hard drive, making it an excellent back-up device, up to a current limit of almost 5 GB. About the only thing that DVDs don't do yet is hold full-length movies in high-definition television format, although work is underway to fix that.
In addition, churches can use DVDs in the same way that they have used -- or still use -- audiocassettes and VHS tapes: for outreach, fundraising and archiving. The barriers to producing and editing video are being lowered by easy-to-use software, new consumer and "pro-sumer" products, and access to digital video. Commercial DVD replicating services are also available.
Will DVDs affect your usage of magnetic tape? Of course they will. One reason is that DVDs -- like CDs -- are nonlinear media. No rewinding or fast forwarding is required to view or listen to any part of the recording. So DVD content -- audio, video, data etc. -- can be organized into easily searched chapters, and DVDs can be used in computers just like a hard drive.
Remember VHS and Beta? "Convergence" -- the industry buzzword for the evolving merger of entertainment and information technologies -- is pushing manufacturers to create new recording formats that work better in both DVD players and personal computers.
The original DVD standard, advocated by a group of manufacturers known as the DVDForum, is known as "DVD-R" for "write once" or "DVD-RW" for rewriteable disks that can be partially or fully erased and re-used -- much like videotape.
A newer (proposed) standard is known as "DVD+R" or "DVD+RW," and is advocated by the DVD+RW Alliance. Both types of disks and recorders are now available, as well as a few products that offer the capability to record to both formats. You should expect to see an increasing amount of equipment that uses the new DVD+R/RW system, which has been adopted by Microsoft and other indusrtry heavyweights, because of some performance advantages, including better integration of computer-generated materials with video -- especially in recording to re-writeable disks (DVD+RW).
The older DVD-R/RW standard should continue to be commonly used by many creators of DVD content. The consumer may never notice the difference. Both types of disk should work in most consumer DVD players.
For churches that are currently employing DVD technology, or for those who will be doing so in the near future, it comes down to a question of who will be conducting the duplication process: the church, or an outside contractor?
If the media is being distributed in small quantities, and especially if it is being circulated "on demand," it may make sense to do your own duplication. If a large "batch" is needed -- for fundraising or for a church bookstore, for example -- using an outside duplication service may be a more appropriate choice.
Remember that present DVDs cannot be duplicated at the high speeds that we expect for duplicating audio CDs. A half hour of video can take about 12-30 minutes depending upon the equipment and disks being used. Modest duplication equipment costs, however, may make the "do-it-yourself" option an attractive solution for producing limited quantities.
At the recent NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) convention, Pioneer introduced a new professional/pro-sumer DVD recorder, the PRV-LX1, which is designed for recording video to one or two DVDs using the DVD- format. It includes an internal hard drive that can be set up as a master for duplicating multiple disks.
At least one major manufacturer (Sony) has recently introduced dual-mode units that can record in both DVD+ and DVD- formats.
"Don't expect a "one size fits all" solution to using DVDs. Instead, look carefully at your production needs, quantities needed, and your existing resources. The situation is changing, so expect to lean on the expertise of manufacturers and technical advisors to get the best solution for your projects.
For a more detailed look at the issues surrounding DVDs, there is an extensive collection of information at www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html, and at the websites of the DVDForum (www.dvdforum.org) and the DVD+RW Alliance (www.dvdrw.com).
Joe Hallett is a regular contributor to Church Production Magazine
and can be reached at joeh@europa.com.
