DVD Demystified Third Edition

Book Description

U.S DVD sales will top $8.1 billion in 2002, an increase of over 50%, according to Adams Media Research. DVD sales this year surpassed video, even though only 30% of households have DVD players (compared to 90% for VCRs). In August 2002 the New York Times dubbed DVD “the most successful home entertainment device in history…a true pop-culture phenomenon.” DVD Demystified has served as DVD’s bible since the format first shipped in 1997. Demystifying not only basic technology issues but detailing production and authoring processes, making sense out of the plethora of battling video, audio, and data formats, and clearly explaining how DVD standards and specs dovetail or clash with related digital media standards, this book has not only become DVD’s standard reference, but also required reading for DVD enthusiasts who wanting to peer behind the scenes and figure out how to get the most from their technology. Since then, Jim Taylor has become DVD’s most visible guru, now President of the DVD Association, author of the internet DVD FAQ, and profiled by E!Online and DVD Report. This third edition will be almost completely rewritten to cover the major technology, format, and standard changes of the past three years, and will once again include a DVD designed to show the extreme limits of performance of this dynamic technology.

Customer Reviews:

An extraordinary book .......2007-01-16

The 5-stars rating is probably reductive for the third Dvd Demystified edition. It is the most complete work about the amazing dvd technology,
its history, the production processes and its future (or should i say: actual?) developments. For video technicians, dvd authors, graphics designers and for those who love to get a deeper knowledge about dvd world DVD demystified is like the Bible, a must-have opera which the included dvd (with examples of all the contents allowed by dvd specs) has an enormous value by itself. Purchase it with no fear: it really keeps the promises it makes.

Everything I need to know about DVD's.......2007-01-11

Bought the 2nd edition about 1 year ago and immediately bought the 3rd edition when it came out. I find everything I need to know about DVD's. The included DVD has some helpful audio and video tests.

Highly recommend this book for anyone who want's to understand the technologies behind DVD's.

DVD Demystified.......2007-01-09

This is an excellent book that caters for a wide range of knowledge bases and explains some of the technical issues very clearly. It also gives some very useful background about the development of VHS and DVD, and this also helps to understand the rationale behind the various standards.
Quite technical in places, but certainly answers most questions concerning anything to do with music and video media. Very useful for anyone working in entertainment to know some of this. A good book, I recommend it.

DVD Demystified 3rd Edition.......2007-01-05

Very comprehensive. At times repeatative, but gives a good history of the subject. I would like to see a larger and more interactive DVD supplied with the book.

Interesting.......2006-07-25

DVD Demystified is good book to understand what's the state of the art of optic storage and digital video.

Average customer rating:

DVD inside of book
Don't Use One Word Where 20 Will Do
awesome achievement but still...
IN THE BATTLE FOR A BOOK VERSUS GOOD OLD GOOGLE...
well written comprehensive, detailed

DVD Demystified
Jim Taylor
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0071350268

Book Description

"…without doubt the definitive reference book on DVD.”*

DVD is the all-in-one storage technology that is altering the landscape of home entertainment, professional video, business communications, and multimedia computing. Now is the time to learn about DVD and how to use it to its best advantage. In DVD Demystified, Second Edition, industry insider Jim Taylor paints a full, up-to-date DVD picture with a friendly technical introduction. You MUST read it if you’re a multimedia developer, work with educational technology or industrial training, if you’re a filmmaker or musician – or simply want to understand this fascinating technology with potentially huge worldwide impact.

"This is not merely ‘a’ good book to help you make sense of DVD, it is ‘the’ book that you will return to over and over as you explore and come to understand this exciting new optical media format." -- Geoffrey Tully, Multimedia Technology Consultant; former Senior VP of Production, Divx Entertainment

“As one of the DVD industry’s leading experts, Jim Taylor covers every aspect of DVD."-- Ralph LaBarge, Managing Partner, Alpha DVD

DVD contains: Hybrid DVD-Video/DVD-ROM has samples from Broadcast DVD, Dolby, THX, DTS, Joe Kane Productions, Widescreen Review, and others, plus test images, WebDVD HTML files, spreadsheets, and more

Download Description

In DVD Demystified, Second Edition, industry insider Jim Taylor paints a full, up-to-date DVD picture with a friendly technical introduction. You MUST read it if you?re a multimedia developer, work with educational technology or industrial training, if you?re a filmmaker or musician ? or simply want to understand this fascinating technology with potentially huge worldwide impact.

Customer Reviews:

DVD inside of book.......2007-01-26

I bought this on a recommendation from another web site. While the book has alot of information in it I mainly wanted the DVD inside of the book. I have to say I was not disappointed in the book and felt it was a good thing to refer to also.

Don't Use One Word Where 20 Will Do.......2005-08-08

Don't be fooled by the size of this book. It is 90% irrelevances and padding. For example does it really need a discussion on whether the word "disk" should end with a "c" or a "k"? The diagrams are difficult to follow, mainly due to their mistakes, and I did not find enough technical information for the book to be of any use whatsoever.

awesome achievement but still..........2004-08-26

Don't get me wrong - there is a huge amount of well-written material in this book and I'm glad I bought it.

Yet.. I wanted a detailed description of how menus and player commands worked so that I'd feel comfortable authoring complex compliations with angles, timed stills, wipes, subtitles, the works. Jim spends a lot of time on this area and talks a lot about the features, but still only managed to hit the high spots. This book won't make you into an authoring expert. Dunno if there is another book that is better, or if you have to buy the specs (ha) or if you can eventually infer what you need from the right authoring software, or...

IN THE BATTLE FOR A BOOK VERSUS GOOD OLD GOOGLE..........2003-05-19

..this book may not exactly be a shining victor. Don't mean to crash the party, the book indeed does its job remarkably well and for those who prefer their information packed and printed into one huggable volume, this is perhaps the best there is.

But the first question that people like me ask is "What can I find here that I cannot find for FREE on the net?" And the answer to that is, unfortunately, not much because a lot of this info is accessible elsewhere. Even if you search for the words "DVD demystified" it turns up a whole slew of immediately relevant websites (on almost all search engines).

That said, it is a fantastic book that doesn't gloat over the merits of DVD versus older discs, or the engineering nitty gritty of the whole format. If you are looking for practical advice for getting busy with your DVD-R/W, and are lazy (or busy) enough to want a book for it, then this is great bang for your buck. For the rest of us there is always a search engine.

well written comprehensive, detailed.......2002-10-23

This book is well written, well edited, comprehensive, and as full of details as it can be without being a copy of the specifications. I highly recommend it.

Dvd Demystified: The Guidebook for Dvd-Video and Dvd-Rom

Average customer rating:

Swedish Chef
Meaningless little discussion
640 Mb it is !
The book is GREAT, and CDs DO hold 650 mb Mr. Portland, OR!
Dorks shouldn't be allowed to review books!

Dvd Demystified: The Guidebook for Dvd-Video and Dvd-Rom
Jim Taylor
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill (Tx)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0070648417

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A sort of protracted Popular Science-style article about digital video disc (DVD) technology and its applications, DVD Demystified provides readers with almost every technical and practical detail about this new means of encoding data on disks.

This book teaches you how data (computer data, sound, video, or a combination of the three) are encoded on DVD and how DVD readers extract it. This guide includes plenty of information about bandwidth, aspect ratios, and the other technical details that go into storing, transmitting, and retrieving video information--media nerds will have a field day. A nifty quiz helps you decide whether DVD equipment is worth buying in your case. Furthermore, DVD Demystified shows you how DVD fits into the historical progression of recording media--it's sort of a shock to be reminded that Thomas Edison made his first wax-cylinder recordings in 1880.

While Taylor's assertion that "DVD is the future" may or may not prove to be true, his thought-provoking responses to various criticisms of DVD make entertaining and informative reading. He also goes into detail about how DVD fits into various environments, including home video, personal computing, and business applications. He even includes a cable-by-cable guide to hooking up a DVD player.

Simply put, this is the best encyclopedia of DVD information on the market, as it helps you understand DVD thoroughly from both technical and consumer perspectives. --David Wall

Book Description

Storage media may have come and gone, but the "killer" technology has finally arrived: DVD (Digital Video Disk). Its 4.7 gigabytes of storage per disk (CD offers 650) make it the imminent successor to audio CD, videocassette, laserdics, and CD-ROM. Here's the first plain-English guide to help professionals cut through the highly technical standards documents and really get to grips with working and designing with DVD, including hardware and software requirements, Internet applications, next generation technology, and much more. Includes a DVD-ROM with product demos.

Customer Reviews:

Swedish Chef.......2000-03-02

This book is great! BUT there is an error in the THX "Tex" trailer, they have flipped the back channels (!), I hope they have fixed it in the new version...

Meaningless little discussion.......2000-02-10

I believe that the gentleperson from Portland was trying to point out, correctly, that the syntax of the sentence re 4.7 GB of DVD space was actually compared with 650 GB of CD-ROM space. Now, all we know-it-alls automatically translated the 650 into MB's, but what was actually printed on the page read 650 GB's. I.E., everyone wins and all must receive prizes. For the know-nothing reader, s/he might, just might, be misled and confused into thinking that a CD-ROM contained 650 GB of space, thus making the sentence and point senseless. Do recognize that everyone who chooses to be in this field must, almost by definition, contains a little flavor of obsessive compulsive personality disorder. The gentleperson from Portland was showing his/her. Those who objected were also placing theirs on display. Why not just forget the whole thing.

640 Mb it is !.......1999-07-07

650Mb or maybe more is just the theoretical space that a CD can provide. Trying to cram too much data can result in unreliable storage on the outer regions of the CD. Drive control mechanisms find it hard to align the lens on the outer tracks of a rotating CD as the linear velocity is at maximum there. Other than that, the outer regions are more likely to get damaged. So here's a tip; don't store bit-critical data beyond 640Mb.

The book is GREAT, and CDs DO hold 650 mb Mr. Portland, OR!.......1999-04-02

Basically what I said in the line above. The book is great, and if you have ever read anything on cd storage, or even looked at a recordable cd case, then you know a cd hold 650MB of data.

Dorks shouldn't be allowed to review books!.......1999-03-19

The guy from Portland, OR who gave this book 1 star is a dork and shouldn't be doing anything other than getting a life.

Average customer rating:

cd-r/dvd disk recording demystified
This is a good guide to making CD-ROMs and DVDs
Covers a lot, but some
Great primer for those that want to get started
A great book if all you need is a history of CD's

CD-R/DVD Disc Recording Demystified
Lee Purcell
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

A-Z guide to data storage for video/audio pros.

For professionals and hobbyists alike, Lee Purcell's CD-R/DVD: Digital Recording to Optical Media is the first and last word on this subject. YouAEll find expert and thorough explanations of CD-R and DVD-RAM technology, including inhouse CD duplication, labeling and printing systems, and Web sites on disc...CD and DVD standards, including packet-writing and other formats...recording equipment, including setting up a CD-R workstation, equipment selection guidelines and product lists...recording software, guidelines for premastering and DVD recording tools..."poor man" authoring techniques, with easy entry paths for businesses and individuals, using HTML for multimedia creation, Adobe Acrobat on CD-ROM/DVD-ROM, and compressed video on disc...studio techniques for home ecording...digital sound processing tools...sound capture and sampling...creating DVD-Audio discs...business uses for optical recording, including computer output to laser disc (COLD) and distributing Web sites...Web and CD-ROM linking...independent marketing and distribution strategies and succeeding as an independent content producer...and much, much more.

Customer Reviews:

cd-r/dvd disk recording demystified.......2001-12-18

made a difficult subject for me to understand much easier. very well written.

This is a good guide to making CD-ROMs and DVDs.......2001-02-08

There are enough books available concerning disc recording and CD-ROM production. Lee Purcell's book is indeed a good one! I found the CD-ROM authoring techniques and specific case studies to be particularly enjoyable. There is also valuable information concerning art preparation (including templates) and packaging considerations.

I have personally recommended this book to many people interested in the manufacturing of CD-ROMs and DVDs.

Covers a lot, but some.......2001-01-17

The book has sections devoted to interviewing folks that have authored DVDs. Some of the questions are really bad and have no need to be in this book (like asking a DVD expert who has better food - Texas or California).

I was really disappointed to not see Spruce Technologies or Daikin listed. These are the top 2 DVD authoring tools on the PC market. This is a huge oversight, and shows off the books bias for Mac (which is almost well covered, although one Mac user reviewer felt slighted by the non-hybrid CD that has ISO naming conventions).

This book is copyright Dec 15, 2000 and yet it has really out dated info. It still lists Astarte as a seperate company. Apple bought them in April of 2000 (and re-released the products as iDVD and DVD Studio at MacWorld this year).

I did appreciate the coverage and diagrams of the CD-R and DVD-R formats and explaining how the laser reads the info off the disc.

needless to say, maybe the updated version will be better...

Great primer for those that want to get started.......2000-12-18

Lee Purcell's book is a good snap shot of the industry's phenomenal growth since DVD's burst into the scene in 1997.

The one trial software that should go in the next printing of this book is SpruceUp. This program will allow you to take the pratical knowledge you learn in Lee's book and put it to work actually creating content. SpruceUp allows you to create your own DVD content on either CD-R/RW or DVD-R/RW. .... I hope more books on DVD authoring come out!

A great book if all you need is a history of CD's.......2000-11-27

I was under the impression that the book would give a step by step process of creating a CD, if that is what you are looking for, keep looking. It is a 500+ page tome dedicated to the history of the CD & DVD industry and deals in generalities when addressing the possibility of creating a CD.

Average customer rating:

DVD Demystified
Taylor Jim
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UF27RY

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DVD Demystified
Jim Taylor
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFZANS

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DVD Demystified Third Edition
Jim Taylor
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OG5G0O

Average customer rating:

Dvd Demystified: The Guidebook for Dvd-Video and Dvd-Rom
Jim Taylor
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill (Tx)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFXQNE

Book Description

Does the stock market overreact? Recent capital market turbulences have cast doubt whether the behaviour of stock markets is in line with rational investor behaviour. To which extent stock returns are predictable is the question at the heart of the controversy between the paradigms of rational asset pricing and behavioural finance. This new and revised edition discusses the empirical evidence from both perspectives. Theory and empirical analysis are blended with feedback from security analysts to offer a road towards a deeper understanding of the underlying forces to drive performance in the stock market.

In his book "Irrational Exuberance" Robert Shiller offered an analysis of the US stock market in 2000. The focus of his book was the level of the stock market, which he thought to be overvalued at the time. This monograph offers a complementary analysis of the cross section of stock returns.

Book Description

Founded in the remote mountains of Chinas Jiangxi Province in 1958, the Communist Labor University introduced uneducated laborers to basic agricultural science and farming techniques through an innovative work-study program until 1980. Drawing on a wealth of archival materials, John Cleverley explores the inner workings of this unique institution and the personal involvement of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Deng Xiaoping. Illuminating the internal and external politics of a remarkable social experiment from both an institutional and personal perspective, the book underscores the larger issues of educational reform and political change in China.

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Rosemary DeCamp : Tigers in My Lap
Rosemary DeCamp
Manufacturer: Midnight Marquee Pr Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1887664424

Book Description

Actress Rosemary DeCamp writes with wit and charm of her life and work in films and television in her delightful autobiography. Fans of radio, film and television will not be able to put down this engaging work by one of Hollywood's consummate professionals.

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Tiger in my lap
Donald Vincent Shuhart
Manufacturer: Vantage Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0007F3HEE

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Tigers in My Lap
DeCamp Rosemary
Manufacturer: Midnight Marquee Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UINE1O

In the Lap of Tigers: The Communist Labor University of Jiangxi Province. (Book Reviews).(Book Review): An article from: Pacific Affairs

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In the Lap of Tigers: The Communist Labor University of Jiangxi Province. (Book Reviews).(Book Review): An article from: Pacific Affairs
W.K. Cheng
Manufacturer: University of British Columbia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008FX004
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Pacific Affairs, published by University of British Columbia on September 22, 2002. The length of the article is 645 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: In the Lap of Tigers: The Communist Labor University of Jiangxi Province. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
Author: W.K. Cheng
Publication: Pacific Affairs (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2002
Publisher: University of British Columbia
Volume: 75 Issue: 3 Page: 439(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

In the Lap of Tigers: The Communist Labor University of Jiangxi Province.(Book Review): An article from: The Historian

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In the Lap of Tigers: The Communist Labor University of Jiangxi Province.(Book Review): An article from: The Historian
Ming K. Chan
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000B9DSV8
Release Date: 2005-09-03

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Historian, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2004. The length of the article is 791 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: In the Lap of Tigers: The Communist Labor University of Jiangxi Province.(Book Review)
Author: Ming K. Chan
Publication: The Historian (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2004
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 66 Issue: 1 Page: 170(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Rosemary DeCamp: Tigers in my lap
Rosemary De Camp
Manufacturer: Midnight Marquee Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006S4UDO

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