DVD Freak and Multimedia Technology Center

          I spoke with the creator of CDMotion6 today. He really knows his stuff and I enjoyed the conversation. Of course I asked him about our problem with CD-R’s and other DVD compliance questions. I want to first say that this is not a huge corporation. He wrote it himself and he’s more like one of us then one of “them”. If you like his software you should buy it. Definitely do not use illegal copies of his software for profit!!!!! He has been in this since the start, and has actually led organizations that petition The DVD Forum on including CD-R media in its compliancy.

          A little tid about The DVD Forum. It’s comprised of the big electronics manufacturing companies. We both agree that since these are the people making DVD-R and the like, that the lack of CD-R support is probably marketing oriented. If they included CD-R then why would people ever buy DVD-R for home use?

          There has been some question about the control.img file that ForDVD creates. I was told that this file is actually on every commercially produced DVD. It is always 32 k but is unreadable because it doesn’t actually reside in a file system. It is binary code that tells the player about CSS and the region code of the disk. Some DVD-R players use this file and have the ability to record it, most do not. CD-R and CD-RW definitely do not. This file however is not required to produce a DVD however, only if you want to use region and CSS (yah right!).

          Will CD-R/RW mini-DVD’s work on a standalone? Probably not. If they do it’s because it is not actually being read as a DVD or it is one of a few models, that don’t care if the file system and media match. Either is not a spec DVD player. Most Standalone firmware requires the track to be written with a DVD lead-in/lead-out. This differs from a CD lead. (the question still lies, can we manipulate DVD-R software in to thinking CD is DVD-R, or get CD-R software to write DVD leads?)

          I assume that once enough DVD-R’s are sold to cover the industries research costs plus a tidy profit, the DVD Forum will give in to public demand. This won’t happen until after they are all very fat and happy.

          The good news is that these images will work with PC’s. If you happen to have a DVD player it works in, great. If you followed the twelve step method you have done the best you can. If it doesn’t work in your stand alone player then it probably won’t with other methods. Personally, I have a computer that is completely intergrated in to my home entertailnment center. It’s a Digital VCR, it caches 2 mins of whatever I’m watching for instant replay and of course it also plays my mini-DVD’s. I play Unreal turnament on a 52 inch screen with full Dolby Prologic Surround, and it’s better then any web TV. Of course I also get the cool PC-friendly stuff. Read the article on the Ligos software “break-thru” As soon as I get that I’ll be set. Would I get any of this from a stand alone DVD player? NO.

          I asked him how he creates DVD content for PC and he basically reiterated my 12 step method, without the ripping of course, except he uses EZ-CD Creator to burn the disk. EZ complains that the image is not CD-compliant but it still does the job.

          CDMotion will have a new version in about 3 weeks. Check back at his sight then. I will be revising the 12 step method, to make it faster and with smaller files. (Re-sampling the AC-3 file J) Good luck in your efforts and share your findings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DVD Freak