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It's been years since I created a professional DVD. Recently though, we are seeing a resurgence in desire to own physical DVDs for content consumption. (a lot of people are getting sick of the streaming networks)That being said we decided to take the plunge and release a new documentary on both digital download and DVD on our online store. After some research, I realized the only legitimate way to create a DVD menu and such today are the old professional (but discontinued) software giants with either Adobe Encore, or Apple's DVD Studio Pro. Apparently the professional DVD companies still keep a fleet of old computers running the old software as there are no modern alternatives. So I thought I'd detail my process here in case anyone else in interested in doing this too, I might be able to help out with any questions if I've run up against the same issue. This is my process so far: - Bought a Mac Mini on Ebay from 2008 for $50, it works surprisingly well. (unfortunately it was updated to OS Yosemite - Bought a copy of Snow Leopard on Ebay for $25, installed it on a partition with no issues - Bought a copy of Final Cut Studio 2 on Ebay for $30 that was supposed to include the serial number - Upon install I realized the serial number was hand written, and couldn't decipher it exactly even though I tried dozens of different combinations - I bought a second copy of Final Cut Studio 2 on Ebay for $50. Upon install I realized that it was an upgrade copy, not an original as advertised. Therefore I couldn't install it since an upgrade requires you to have an original serial number. (I returned this copy and got a refund) - With the printed serial number on the upgrade copy though, I was able to decipher the pattern of what a final cut serial number is supposed to look like. I was able to compare this to the hand written number from the original purchase and try a few more variations, it finally worked! - After a lengthy install process, DVD Studio pro and Final Cut Pro run no problem on the old Mac Mini, very snappy performance - I took my final video files and encoded them to MPEG 2 with Handbrake, Studio pro threw an error code on import, it said it couldn't recognize the file format - I tried a bunch of combinations with hand brake, no luck. I also tried a bunch of combinations with Shutter Encoder, also no luck. - I tried encoding with Apple's old compressor software that was included with the Studio 2. That worked fine, just really long encoding time due to the old mac, and the quality wasn't nearly as good as Handbrake or Shutter. - I finally got gave Adobe Media Encoder 2025 a try, and that worked! The quality wasn't quite as good as Handbrake, but a lot better than Compressor. I was able to play around with encoding settings and sharpening to find a happy medium for a final output that looks pretty good, even for SD - After that it was just a matter of building menu graphics in photoshop, importing and linking everything in DVD Studio Pro. It's surprisingly intuitive software to use, but very powerful at the same time. I'm about to burn my final DVD to send off to the duplicator, so fingers crossed everything continues to work.

The product strategy has been a mess as well, for a long time. They diluted the brand with too many cheapo compacts and low-end mirrorless cameras, a bit like how Samsung did. The GH line was their saving grace, a lot of pros took the GH4 seriously as a small 4K camera. It also came along at a time when video was becoming a serious deal on stills cameras, a must-have feature. Panasonic was leading in hybrid video/stills, until Sony brought out the a7s. There was more competition not long afterwards from Blackmagic, and even Nikon with the D750 and D850 DSLRs. Before Z mount even existed. Then before long, everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Even Fujifilm, who had been staunchly pro-stills and anti-video for the longest time. Then the X-T2 and X-T3 were introduced, along with F-LOG and they have only grown in specs since then, and eaten Panasonic's lunch. In this time, Panasonic continued to persist with Micro Four Thirds... We had the GH5 3 times over with different variants rather than a proper follow-up, and when that follow-up arrived it was without the one thing everyone asked for - phase-detect AF and the GH6 has been a total flop, as one look at the current second hand used prices will tell you. The S series came too late to save them. Full frame is a commodity now, you can take your pick from all the manufacturers at less than $1500. People will tend to go with what they have lenses for... Which is Canon, Nikon, Sony. That's why Fuji stayed out the market. They decided to own the medium format market, and skim off some of the high-end full frame customers as well who were enticed by the larger sensor and higher resolution. Panasonic should have come out all guns blazing with a full frame S1H just after the launch of the GH4, then they might not have bled out to the Sony a7s and A7s II quite so badly. They should have repositioned Micro Four Thirds as a Fuji X100 / Lumix LX100 style product - as small as possible, super small prime lenses, or fixed, and stylish as fuck to appeal to a younger audience. But where Micro Four Thirds did at least generate a sizeable ecosystem for lenses that didn't exist before... In full frame, the decision to use L-mount with Leica and Sigma is not a good solution. Too much cannibalisation and not a coordinated approach. The Sigma 50mm F1.4 has to compete against the Panasonic 50mm F1.4 and visa versa... especially on price. So they have been idiots and not done as Sony has done, which was to focus on a single mount for both crop sensor and full frame cameras from as earlier a date as possible and bring onboard not just Sigma third party lenses but Tamron and more. You don't need an alliance for this. They were never going to achieve Canon levels of dominance and lock-in with lenses... But they would have at least have a chance and could have competed with lower prices and a better range when Zf and Rf launched. Instead from 2018 onwards Panasonic has been practically starting afresh with a mount that isn't even under their control. In terms of the marketing... Clearly there's been a desire to go for vloggers with shit like the G100, a complete waste of plastic, a desire to claim that the S9, much better camera, is for social media twats when it actually should have been a higher-end camera for street photography and cinema (just compare to Sigma's much better marketing of the Fp and Fp-L), and there's been some really public blunders too like inviting people to see the GH7 in Japan and then showing them an F8 lens cap lens instead. And why the fuck did the GH1 not evolve into a LUMIX CINEMA line?? They had the perfect chance to do a Cinema EOS business and chose to give us a GF5 instead.

props to Rode

Leica exist in their own bubble. They are an odd one in that along with Hasselblad, they are priced above most ordinary folks means. Or you have to be otherwise extremely keen. But they also put their name to cheap rebranded lower end stuff. I think they are one of those companies like Porsche that are better off not trying to compete at the mid or lower levels and instead, remain in their niche. Lumix I am adamant though has mostly been a case of poor marketing. They seem to be one of those companies who score hits from time to time and then never capitalise on it. When the GH4 came out, my brother was the video side of my business and we were all over that marvel, but then years until the GH5 and it’s minor updates. S5 came out and other than the lack of PDAF, a great bit of kit, but no real fanfare. The S1 trilogy were and still are, great bits of kit, but to most, they went a bit too large on the bodies, but to have zero official sign from them of any follow up is IMO, just insane. If something is coming. If not, probably understandable and their goose is cooked. This next announcement really is the final straw for me with them… If there is no official announcement of something relatively substantial such as a new S camera, then they are not a company I can have any further faith or investment in. I run a business. I have business needs. I have zero interest in partnering with lame ducks. The bottom line for me is other than the S5ii, they do not have the tools I want and need for 2025 and going forward. Loved my S1H and for its time, it was great, but was always a compromise for my needs. Even more so now to the point where I would deliberately be making a conscious choice of compromise if I chose to work with it today. S1R delivered great results for stills and is borderline arguable something I could still make work. And they are stupidly cheap now. But I would like a system that can do it all and the reality is no one quite does for my specific needs. It’s between Sony, Nikon and Lumix for different reasons but not a single one of them meets my needs. Very happy with the tools I have, but those tools are 1x Sony, 1x Nikon and 1x Lumix and whoever gets their first with the system that does it all within one brand, will get my loyalty and therefore, my $£€.

they mentioned having been in Japan and being tired while filming this

Leica should have been bought out. It would have benefited them a lot to have the investment. Panasonic should have dived in and bought them outright, worth it for the brand alone. Then, carefully, they should have retired the Lumix brand and gone full on Leica. Their high-end cameras would now have much greater appeal and branding sexiness, and their lower-end cameras would be like mini Leica Ms in terms of looks, but Fuji X100 VI in terms of price and specs. Yes, you do have to be careful when coming out with less than high-end stuff with a Leica badge. But nobody seems to have told Leica that. At the end of the day I think there's a lot of brain rot at these companies. Nobody is prepared to implement a clear vision or strategy, it's all done by committee so nobody has to take the blame if it doesn't work. Look at Olympus. What a great brand flushed down the toilet that was.

Some of the smaller L-mount lenses off the top of my head. There are loads Yes Panasonic made a stupid mistake with the F8 pancake, they wanted something maximally small and cheap. Whereas something like the Sigma 35mm F2 is a much more exciting choice, or a Panasonic pancake with equally fast aperture. Panasonic are messing up on the lenses side, although the recent zoom is an interesting choice it's still very slow. That said I don't get the obsession with rigging up these small bodies. We had it with the Blackmagic Pocket OG when that came out... People adding huge amounts of gear to it. I can only assume it is only there to look more impressive at work. Rather than for any genuine creative purpose. The S9 is in my opinion a really creative tool... How about it gets used bare bones like that?

I find they don’t tend to give a fuck these days as their attention spans are limited to TikTok memes only. Birds just aren’t what they used to be…