I need to author a dvd, and have the actual video play as a small window next to some text, and graphics. Is this done at the encoding level, ie, like in Premiere, or can this be done at the authoring level?

I would do this as a composite in either Premiere or After Effects, with the video overlaid against a bitmap of your text + graphics. I am assuming that both your text and your graphics are intended to remain static. If the graphics and text were animated, you would first have to create these as a video stream in their own right, and then overlay the movie source on top of this video stream. This is known in the trade as "Picture in Picture", and you can find a way to do this in Premiere, by looking at the relevant sticky at the top of this very forum! :) ( ) I should add that it is actually possible to have limited animation of subpicture streams within, for example, Scenarist (which is the most powerful DVD-authoring app for this), but these are *relatively* limited, and take more learning to achieve than does the method described above, which is far more powerful and flexible anyway (unless I have misinterpreted your question, I do not feel that the animated subs method is appropriate for you - to see what I mean by the animated subs, look at the Matrix DVD menus, where the button labels scroll across the screen - also see: - see what I mean about the hassle?!?). So, in short, I suggest you do your work OUTSIDE of the DVD-authoring domain, then render these to an MPEG stream, and only THEN bring your work into a DVD-authoring app, and author it as per usual. Let me know if you need any further explanation and I'll do my best to help out. Arky ;o)

Thanks! 

You kick ass. Thanks for the quick help! Thanks,