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This guide will help you author
a DVD using 321 Studio's tool DVD X Maker. This DVD Author program, it's great.
You can do almost everything and you can create a disc which looks exactly
as the hollywood movies you have. This is no joke!
Unfortunately 321Studios was closed, so this
software is no longer available. For those that have
a version
in their hands the guide is here!




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When the program
starts the New DVD Project window comes up. Close it because we have
to check some setttings first that we cannot change after a new project
is created.
Then from the menus select
Tools -> Default DVD Settings
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Here is the
settings window. Change the Language code and country code as you wish
and also set a Parental Level if you have to :-). I suggest you use
All Regions option. At Video Format select PAL or NTSC according to
the system your television uses. Usually it's PAL for Europe and NTSC
for the USA. Leave the rest options as you see them here and click
OK.
Back to the main window.
It's now time for a new project. Click the new icon in the toolbar
or from the menus select File -> New Project.
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In this dialog
select Blank Project and click Open. |



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Your new project
is now loaded. It's time we load a movie.
From the menu go Project
-> Add Movie
At the new window that comes
up select the From File tab. Here ew are going to select the files.
The files must be MPEG1 or MPEG2 DVD video files. Click the button
the arrow shows to select the video file you want and the same to
select the audio file (it may be the same file, ex a mpg file that
contains audio.
The program may re-encode
some files, and if you have a file that contains both audio and video
you will have to wait for while so that DVD X Maker joins the video
with the audio.
For creating a DVD video
file I suggest you use TMPEGEnc Plus and read our guide here.
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OK back to the
guide. When you load the files you will probably see this screen which
shoes that DVD X Maker is making a GVP file which will be used to join
the audio with the video. Wait for it to finish, it should no take
more than 10-15 minutes.
Finally when everything
is OK you should see a screen like the one on your left. Just click
Add to import the movie in your project.
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Now we are going
to add an Overture to our DVD.
What is overture? It is
the small videos that you see when you play a commercial DVD, like
the copyright warnings and the companies logo.
Of course you don't have
to add an overture to your DVD. We are just going to show how you
can add one, in case you want to use it.
So here it is: Go Project
-> Add Overture from the menu. Then from the window that comes
up you can select the video you want to add as an overture. You can
add one video of yours using the "From File" tab. Here
we are going to add a ready overture that DVD X Maker includes, so
we select MP2 Audio Overture (PAL) from the list and after we click
add. That's it.
You can also add extra material,
like video clips etc. Just go Project -> Add Special Feature (you
can see it at the picture above) and add the video you want.
Now you are back to the
main window. Let's see how we can add some chapters to our movie.
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Chapters are
very important because they let you move forwards and backwards in
the movie quickly. Let's create some. At the Project Workspace window
you can see at the left side of DVD X Maker's main window find and
select your main movie.
Now have a look at the toolbar
that comes up below the video preview window and which part you can
see here.
See that button with the
two plus signs? (with yellow in the picture. Click this.
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This message
may come up, click Yes.
In the next window we are
going to decide the number of chapters that we want our movie to
have. Generally use a value between 10-20, but you can use even bigger
for long movie. I have selected 15 chapter. Then click Auto-Generate.
If everything is OK you
should see something like the picture below after the chapters are
created, which means that we are ready to go at the next step which
is...
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... generating
some menus! Menus will let us select the chapter we want to see, or
select some of the special features. Of course you don't have to create
menus, so that is another optional step.
In the next window what
you should do is pretty simple. Just select a theme for your menu
and some music in the background and click OK.
DVD X Maker generates your
menus and adds them to your project! Now we can finally create the
CD!
Note: As you should have
noticed DVD X Maker can also create the DVD labels for you! (See
the Auto Generate Labels fuction in the menu above). We are not going
to show every single function of this program here, you are can find
them all yourself.
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OK let's create
our DVD. Once again we open the Project menu and we select Build DVD. |

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Let's see: we
are going to select (1) if you want to keep the DVD in your hard disk
for later burning and not delete after the burn. With (2) you say to
the program to burn the DVD after the build, use it if you want, but
you can also burn the DVD with another program. Personally I prefer
DVD X Maker to do all the job. (3) Let's you to simulate the burn (will
not burn anything). Use it only if you have problems and you can't
find the problem!
Finally click (4) to start
the burn. Wait about 45-90 mins and your DVD is ready! Well done!
Remember to thank us! :-)
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