Mastering to DVD, and the Benefits of Distributing Your Work in a Digital Format

Back in the old days (meaning before 2003, when I bought my first DVD burner–equipped editing system), I found it very frustrating to create a work of stunning picture and audio quality using entirely digital tools, and then distribute lower quality copies on VHS tape. Working in an all-digital domain enabled me to edit without a generational loss in quality, but no matter how good the transfer, making VHS copies of a film always degraded my sound and my images. Even after affordable digital cameras and editing systems became widely available in the late 1990s, the most common way to distribute copies of a film remained the unflattering VHS tape.

Fortunately, we now have other options. Computers in the prosumer price range ...

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