When I need to make a quick movie-only DVD to preview a project on another TV, I usually author the DVD quickly using Sony DVD Architect 4.0. While DVD Architect has the ability built into it to also burn the disc, I opt to burn my test discs Ahead Nero ROM Burning. Why?

In this post I intend to explore the DVD burning process of Sony DVD Architect 4.0 with Ahead Nero ROM Burning 6.6.0.6. Which one is fastest for burning your data to DVD, and why might it be faster?

Why Test?

The issue has nothing to do with the picture or audio quality resulting from the burn produce, as Architect just weaves the footage and audio into a DVD-Video format disc. That is, unless you didn’t prepare your assets correctly and it reecodes your audio/video for you–something you don’t want to happen, as additional reencoding of the data will lead to decreased picture quality.

Contrary to popular belief, different burning programs and different media take differing times to burn. And I’m not talking about the disc’s rated burn speed (e.g. 16x.) What takes one program 4 minutes to burn a 12x DVDR might take another application 6 minutes using the same media and the same data.

I always do test burns to DVD+RW to preview before committing to a DVD master. Often times the piece is short, like a 30-second commercial spot or a short project that’s only a few minutes long. In these short instances, I noticed that DVD Architect always takes a super-long time (that’s the technical word for it) to write the lead-out and finalize my DVD+RW’s–we’re talking a less than a minute here, depending on the size of the data being burned, but every second counts right? Nero, on the other hand, takes about 5 seconds to do this on a DVD+RW, no matter what the length of the project. Why would it differ in the finalizing stage on such a small amount of data?

The Test

Let’s add some quantitative data for the record.

I have a 311MB DVD that has 2 minutes and 8 seconds of content on it that was prepared using DVD Architect 4.0. I then did burns of the disc at 2.4x write-speed on the same disc using both DVD Architect 4.0 and Nero 6.6.0.6. The disc I am burning onto is a Sony-branded DVD+RW with max burn speed of 2.4x. The disc itself returns a Media ID Code of RICOHJPNW01.

The Results

DVD Architect: 2:36 (1:55 writing lead-in and track data, 0:41 writing lead-out)
Nero: 1:58 (1:54 writing lead-in and track data, 0:04 writing lead-out)

Conclusion and Analysis

In this test, Nero was 24.3% faster at burning the same data on the same disc. While this is a small dataset, it illustrates our point.

So why does Architect burn this extended lead-out?

For backwards compatibility with older DVD players. If you burn a DVD with so little data on it, some older DVD players will read the disc as having no data on it. This extra time during the burning process is Architect writing an extended lead-out on the disc so that when the DVD laser scans the disc for data, it thinks the padded data is part of the disc. It will then scan the disc’s IFOs and load data from the VOBs, no problem.

Architect most likely does this in order to dummy-proof the software for the consumer-level at which it is targeted. Sony Vegas and DVD Architect, while powerful in their respective right, are priced at an entry-level price-point (sub-$1000) and very low on the learning curve, making it a powerful editing solution in comparison to cheap $99 software from your local electronics retailer.

This affinity for consumers is also why Architect will reencode your audio/video if it’s not in the correct format as the disc you told it you want to burn. Customers want a playable disc, period–they don’t care about uncompressed quality–they just want to show the family. Most consumer camcorder users will not know how to specify frame rates and resolutions to fit the disc, so the software handles the transcode for them.

After Thoughts

If you are using a certain program to burn your CDs or DVDs, or a certain encoder to encode your videos, why do you use it? Are you more concerned with quality or time, or both? I ask this because many people do things a certain way, and either stick to what they know because “it works,” or simply because of fear treading into the unknown. I don’t know about you, but I would rather know the best and most efficient way to do something, while retaining the quality necessary for the project.

Think about it. What might you be doing in your workflow that you just “do,” or that you haven’t challenged yourself as to why you do it?

Categories: Software, Tech Corner