DSA Case Study:
Evatone | Clearwater FL, USA

Short animation title produced entirely in the digital domain with two PiP streams

Evatone is an independent content solution provider specializing in optical media replication and packaging. Evatone’s staff of 200 plus provide CD Mastering, DVD and Blu-ray authoring, optical disc replication as well as on-site printing, packaging, and fulfillment services. Evatone has always shown a penchant for new technologies claiming fame with the flexible Soundsheet and more recently partnering with FlexPlay to introduce the No Return DVD. We took a moment to speak with Ron Dabbs and Lucas Fazzary at Evatone about their recent Blu-ray production.

Why have you chosen to release your product in Blu-ray?
Bored. No really… quality. Visual quality. Blu-ray is hi-def and computer animation is one of the best ways to contrast the difference between standard and hi-def video. Quality aside… and the other prime reason for a BD release was the Multi-angle Picture-in-picture BD provides. The program had already been released as a Multi-Angle SD-DVD, but the MPiP capability of Blu-ray allows the viewer to see the animatic or playblast at the same time as the final render.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in moving to Blu-ray?

Costs… I think costs are the biggest problem faced by most all non-theatrical productions. More specifically, the initial fees and key costs involved with the mandatory AACS system. Once we passed those objections, we moved onto the technical challenges and the biggest technical challenge we faced was encoding for Multiple Picture-in-Picture. A single stream PiP was fairly easy to deliver, but the addition of the second PIP stream was not quite as easy. It took a number of attempts before we were able to create a disc that was fully functionally in all BD players. What would work in one player would not necessarily work in another. We learned you have to have the rights codecs and encode with exactly the right settings.

How did DoStudio address your Blu-ray challenges? DoStudio was the perfect partner for us. DSA provided the features we needed at price and learning curve that allowed us to bootstrap our Blu-ray Authoring services. DSA is easy to use without hindering access to controlling the discs functionality.When we did hit some hurdles such as the MPiP issues, we had incredible support from not only NetBlender, but from DoStudio partners such as Inlet Technologies and Corel. The bottom line is that DSA allowed us to create a what should be a very complicated project in a very short time with minimal headaches.

What kind of title did you produce with DoStudio?
This title is a short animation produced entirely in the digital domain. Encoding was done with the Inlet Technologies Fathom at 720p using H.264. The project includes two PiP streams (1 animatic, 1 playblast), Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 audio in both English and Spanish, and English subtitles for the hearing impaired. The project includes programming advanced parameters and conditions enabling control of the PiP streams via the remote’s multi-color buttons.

What would you recommend to other independents who are considering the move to Blu-ray?
I recommend reading the HD Survival Handbook by Philip Hodgetts first. His hand book was a great guide in obtaining a better understanding of HD video production. Then Give DSA a try…. check out the Inlet Fathom encoder, pick up a Playstation 3 for testing, and dig in.

Evatone and the Christian Broadcasting Network have made available a sample of their Blu-ray production for download. You can find it by visiting the Digital Sandbox. The download includes the sample PiP project with demo video and audio assets.

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