Once you have finished finalizing your project and then checking it with the Simulator, you are ready to build and burn your DVD. However, before you actually burn a disc, you will want to build (or multiplex) your project on your local drive and give it a trial run with the DVD player on your Mac. After you've made sure that everything is working, then you can burn your DVD.

If you're planning to replicate your DVD, you will need to create a DLT tape for your replicator. Since most of you won't have a DLT tape recorder, you can usually give your project along with your data to your replicator and he/she can create a DLT tape for you. A list of replicators can be found at: http://www.dvdmadeeasy.com/business/.

Custom Flix allows you to distribute DVDs on demand (these are duplicated DVDs not replicated): http://www.customflix.com/.

Outputting Your Final Project
There are four different ways that you can output your project: build, build and format, format and burn.

Building combines your assets in a process called multiplexing. It will not burn a DVD. The finished product are two folders called VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS, which contain your files in a format needed by a DVD player. The main reason for choosing just the build option (and not Build and Format, for example) is so that you can test your DVD by opening it with the Apple DVD Player.

To build a project to your hard disc:
1. Choose File>Advanced Burn>Build from the File menu.

2. Select a location where you want the files to be stored.

3. The multiplexing time depends on the length of your assets and your processor speed. Building takes between 1/4 and 1/2 the length of all your tracks combined. For example, if you have an hour’s worth of video, it will take 15-30 minutes to multiplex it.

4. Multiplexing should produce one VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folder. The AUDIO_TS folder is empty, but is necessary for some players to display the DVD. Those are the only two folders necessary for your DVD. If DVD Studio Pro creates a layout file, you should copy this to your final burned disc.

Tracking the Multiplexing process:
The Log Tab opens automatically, displaying the name and bit rate of the track being processed and the current multiplexing speed. It will also display warnings about errors which it perceives (such as an unlinked button).

Three types of problems can effect your multiplexing process. You will see the following error if you have the following problems with your disc.

1. “Data rate is too high”
This error appears if the total data rate for the video content of a track exceeds 9.8Mbps.
The total rate for all assets used in a track exceeds 10.085 Mbps.

2. Found VOBU error
“Found VOBU longer than 1.0 seconds at sector XXXXX” (any GOP in a VOBU)
“Found VOBU longer than 1.2 seconds at sector XXXXX” (last GOP in a VOBU only) “Found VOBU shorter than .4 seconds at sector XXXXX” (any GOP in a VOBU)

These messages mean the GOP (Group of Pictures) pattern of an underlying video stream is out of range. Multiplexing does not stop. Depending on the tolerance of the decoder, VOBU errors can cause audio and video to go out of sync.

To solve the problem, re-encode the MPEG stream.

3. Bad Encoded Video
Multiplexing stops. The message means the encoding did not work properly – frames inside a GOP may be missing, too long, or too short.

To solve this problem, re-encode the video.

Opening the disc in Apple's DVD Player
Once you’ve build your disc, you can look at it with your DVD Player. This is the second level of quality control for you to take before you spend a few extra dollars on burning that DVD media.

To Q/C your build project, launch your DVD player, open up the VIDEO_TS folder and hit the play button. This should launch your project.

Format Your Disc:
Once you've build a project to your hard disk, you do not need to select the Build and Format option to burn a disc. Instead, choose File>Advanced Burn>Format to format the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders to a DVD disc.

1. Choose File>Advanced Burn>Format.

2. In the General tab's Source section, click the Choose button.

3. Navigate to the folder that contains your VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS files.

4. In the Formatting window, type a disc name.

5. In the Destination section, choose the output device that you will burn your disc to.

6. If you want to simulate the DVD burn to see if you have any errors before you actually use a real DVD, you can simulate the burning process by checking the DVD-R Simulation Mode.

If you are having problems with data transfer when you're burning the DVD, you can check the Lossless Linking box. This will make sure that the data burner and your CPU are able to communicate throughout the process. However, if you aren't having problems burning, do not check this box as it may cause errors on some DVD players.

You can also use a program such as Roxio Toast to burn the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders by dropping the two folders into the active work space.

Building and Formatting:
If you have an onboard DVD burner and feel that your project is ready to build and burn, you can use the Build and Format Disc command to first build the disc and then burn the disc.

1. Choose File>Advanced Burn>Build and Format.

2. In the General's tab Source section, click the current build's Choose button.

3. Navigate to where you want the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders to be stored.

4. Type a name for the disc in the Name: textbox.

5. In the General tab's Output Device section, choose an output device (your DVD burner).

6. From the Output Format pop-up menu, choose Standard DVD.

7. At the bottom of the General tab, click Build and Burn.

8. DVD Studio Pro should ask you to put in a blank disc.

Testing your Disc
1. Check to make sure your buttons and arrow keys behave correctly in selecting menu buttons.

2. Make sure your audio and video tracks play through the way that you've programmed.

3. Circuit City is a great place to test drive your DVD in different players to see if it works. Don't forget to try both computers and set top boxes. Play the disc through. Look for interlace flickering and color bleeding.

The Burn Option
The Burn option is a quick button that will build and burn your project using the information in the Disc Inspector. It will not open any additional dialogue boxes so that you can choose different formats.