Text files on Warner Bros. DVDs

[setarip_old]

I noticed on two new Warner Bros. releases (North Country and Harry Potter-Goblet of Fire) the inclusion of a text file (in the root directory) named "title.txtdt" containing the following:

DVD_TEXT_DATA
Version = 1.0

TEXT_DATA_ID = ""
Num_Lang_Units = 1

[Unit.1]
Language = English
Character_Set = ISO_646

$ Volume
@ name
NORTH COUNTRY
@ sorting
north country

$ Title #1
@ name
Title 1
@ sorting
title 1

$ Title #2
@ name
Title 2
@ sorting
title 2

$ Title #3
@ name
Title 3
@ sorting
title 3

$ Title #4
@ name
Title 4
@ sorting
title 4

$ Title #5
@ name
Title 5
@ sorting
title 5

$ Title #6
@ name
Title 6
@ sorting
title 6

$ Title #7
@ name
Title 7
@ sorting
title 7

$ Title #8
@ name
Title 8
@ sorting
title 8

$ Title #9
@ name
Title 9
@ sorting
title 9 Does anyone have any idea why such a file would be included on the pressed DVDs?

[strider01]

I've never seen anything like that before... did you manage to make any successful backups of the discs without copying the text files? It's possible they could be logs that have been created by the authoring software and ended up on the master.

[setarip_old]

It's possible they could be logs that have been created by the authoring software and ended up on the master.That was my initial thought when I purchased "North Country" two or three weeks ago. But now, seeing it on another Warner Bros. release, two to three weeks later, piques my curiosity...

[WarDog]

I think it is something that was left during mastering process.
I bought HP today and the the text file not being on my backup caused no problems.

[setarip_old]

I'm curious to see if these "oversights" continue with Warner Bros. releases. Two in three weeks is not enough to prove anything other than coincidental sloppiness, but if it continues perhaps there's some underlying nefarious scheme involved ;>}

[HKT3020_1]

I've noticed WB DVDs are usually for the most part properly labeled with DVD Text and have Jacket pictures to go along with them. Sony DVD players support both and ever since PgcEdit was able to set DVD text, I've been using it myself to have my discs labeled. It gets to the point where I forget to label my discs and I just hit the time/text button on DVD remote to see what disc it is. :) While this post may or may not be useful, I just thought I'd share that. :D

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2416/untitled9ma.png

[outsideAG]

http://www.dvdforum.org/VideoTextDataUsage.pdf

Based on this information this is an optional part of the DVD spec that would normally not be used for movies. Probably just auto generated by the authoring program because someone checked the wrong box somewhere.

[setarip_old]

part of the DVD spec that would normally not be used for moviesActually it looks like a file version, perhaps preliminary, of the DVD-text information that sometimes appears in the "VIDEO_TS.IFO" file (as described by "HKT3020_1")...

[setarip_old]

Well, another three weeks have gone by and today's Warner release, "A Sound of Thunder" also contains a "title.txtdt" file.

Strikes me as too long a period for "sloppiness" to go unnoticed...

[setarip_old]

Yet another new Warner release containing a "title.txtdt" file - "Everything is Illuminated"...

[Stone Knife]

Do these files prevent a backup?

[setarip_old]

No, their presence or lack of presence doesn't appear to have any impact on copying - yet it's still a curiosity, if nothing else...

[Mug Funky]

did these discs also have DVD-ROM content? seems weird for anything at all to be in the root of a DVD directory structure. usually the premastering tool wouldn't allow it.

[setarip_old]

did these discs also have DVD-ROM content?Nope....

[Mug Funky]

i googled around a bit, and found allusions to a bug in DVDafteredit with DVD-text, but i couldn't access the actual site to read it.

now there's recently been an update to this program, and that may have introduced a bug that gives you that file...? so it's possible Warner has been doing the same thing it's been doing for ages, but recently updated their mastering software. if this is the case, the bug will not be visible unless they actually dig the DDP images open and look at them (not a usual thing to do). if they're using DLT tapes still, they probably cant even do that. even if they are using DVD-R masters (1 for each layer, with tape images burnt on them), the replicators should have told them there was a weird file in the root. usually they warn about such things.

now the above is speculation of course... it's possible the file is meant to be there. i don't know enough about DVD-text, and that pdf didn't specify where the DVD-text info went (i'm assuming it's in VIDEO_TS.IFO, but i didn't real all of that document).

[setarip_old]

Yet another new Warner release containing a "title.txtdt" file - "Firewall...

I've actually tried to track down an appropriate contact at Warner Bros. to ask about this file, but have been unsuccessful. If anyone can come up with a useful contact, please be good enough to post it to this thread.