Understood. What I'm a little fussy on is since VV3 has several DV templates where you can render at DVD bitrates, I'm assuming other applications like Nero will take care of the burning process (reading the file created by Vegas Video) or am I totally missing something?

Let me state it this way. I LOVE all that Vegas can do and I've made hundreds of CD's with it and Video Factory. I'm looking to continue to use Vegas as my primary ediing/rendering tool, just now I'm about ready to switch to burning DVD's as opposed to CD's so I can get higher quality. So I guess it boils down to can I do that? Meaning edit, then render in Vegas Video at the DVD bitrates, if so, then are the files created by Vegas READABLE by other software to:

a.) use a different encoder, if so who's?

b.) will Vegas Video have the ability to burn a DVD directly in a future release?

c.) can I NOW create a file in Vegas Video, rendering with a DVD template, then burn with Nero or some similar software to create a true DVD?

d.) Anyone do the above, if so, with DVD +RW media?

e.) if d is true, success playing same on what DVD player?

To put it more simply... ok I made a video using the DVD template, now what to end up with a DVD disk playable in a set top DVD player?

I've been using VV3 to generate MPEG-2 files which I then burn on my HP DVD100i DVD+RW using Ulead's DVD MovieFactory. For the most part, this works reasonably well, although I am really waiting for a more capable, low priced, DVD mastering package.

DVD MovieFactory has had some problems with >2 GB files (it works, but you can't make any chapters), and the final DVD can't be randomly accessed. For example, when playing on a PC with WinDVD, I can't drag the timeline slider to the middle of the movie; I can only start from the beginning and fast forward to the point I want to see. Not sure if this is an issue with my MPEG output from VV3 or something DVD MovieFactory did to my video stream.

More mastering options are in the works. Keep your eyes on these two products coming out shortly:

- DVDCre8's DVD Complete (co-marketed under the Dazzle brand) - http://www.dazzle.com/products/dvdcomplete.html

- Ulead's DVD Workshop - http://www.ulead.com/dws/runme.htm

DVD Complete looks great for a $99 package. We'll see as soon as it starts shipping...


Steve

I'm using a HP 100i with the HP +RW media.
Rendering with MPEG 1 or 2 with Vegas.
Burning with the DVD It Software bundled with
the HP burner.
The MPEG result is viewable but not satisfactory with
presets or changing the settings so far. There are
pixelations or color changes.
I am thinking the different transitions from avi,
to Mpeg, then the DVD It, which compiles the video again,
causes multiple problems or video errors.

I have also used NERO 5 to burn a CD with mixed results.
No coasters yet with the HP 100i.

I am waiting for the software to catch up with the hardware.
What is needed is an all-in-one program to edit, convert and
burn a DVD to quality video.

Jpresley

I am using the Philips DVD+RW drive. It will only burn rewritable media at this point. Compared to other rewritable media I have had good luck with player compatability. Write once media like the -R drives are compatible with a few more players.

DVD's require a seperate authoring program other than VV. I use Sonic DVDit SE.

I do not support an all in one solution to edit, encode and author DVD's. Then you end up with a program that does nothing well. Here is how I get excellent quality and nice looking final products:

Edit with VV3. Output DV AVI. Encode to MPEG2 with TMPGEnc with my personal set of tweek settings for different types of content. Author the DVD with Sonic Solutions DVDit SE. DVDit Authors the DVD content and programing as well as demuxes the audio, transcodes the audio and burns the final DVD+RW.

You might want to check out this site:

http://www.dvdplusrw.org/

I have been watching the forums there since early January. Based on everything I've seen to date, I would try to hold out a bit longer (but continue to gather information). You can probably get answers to most of your questions there. Here's what I've determined from following the forums:

--there seem to be a number of dissatisfied users in the dvd plus camp due to many of the early and current DVD+RW devices not being upgradable to the upcoming DVD+R standard.

--on-going debates about the true compatability of the DVD+RW media.

--Drives that support DVD+R, which many suggest will be competitive with DVD-R in media price and compatibility, may hit the market literally any day now and help the picture become more clear as to which format is best to buy.

The http://www.dvdplusrw.org/ also provides some compatibility information.

I've decided to TRY to hold off until late spring or early summer. I'd like to see the prices get down to around $300 and know more about the future of DVD+R before I jump in.

Good luck with your decision.

It did some testing today with the +RW discs.

Model had little to do with compatability but each manufacturer did make a difference.

Magnavox played the disc fine
Pioneer players also did fine
MinTech Yes
Sony upper models good, older lower no.
Samsung NO
Toshiba NO

Just the news from a Best Buy in store trial.

Is anyone succesfully using a drive that plays (or preferably records) DVDs, as well as being a CDRW drive, that successfully works in disc-at-once mode with VV3 for making audio Cds? In Win98SE?
Thanks.

There are other places that track this better but FYI if you record the disk
in compatibility mode, the +RW disks work fine in most toshiba models.

Sorry to be ignorant, but what do you mean compatability mode? Do you mean run the utility on them that makes the toshiba think it is a single layer ROM or is there a setting someplace you are referring to?

K

The Philips work fine as a CDRW as well as a CD-R DAO.

K

Yes..Compatibility mode simply "mis-marks" the header of the disk to indicate it is a standard DVD-ROM disk rather tha DVD+RW disk. Some of the non-compatible drives are chocking only because they do not recognize the DVD+RW info in the header as valid.

With the compatibility mode set, and a disk at least half full my Toshiba 5109 standalone reads the disks fine. I also have a Toshiba drive in my laptop that reads it fine as well.

Looking at the compatible drive list on www.dvsplusrw.org it looks like all the Toshiba drives require this approach.

Just to show how all over the map DVD +RW compatibility "facts" are, I checked my Pioneer 333 on several web based lists, they all say it plays DVD +RW fine. I also sent an email to Pioneer customer support asking if the Model 333 supports DVD +RW and they say NO! Anyone know for SURE, by actual testing?

Sounds like DVD-R/RW propagana from the vendor of a competing technology....

In any case I suspect asking in one of the discussion forums on www.dvdplusrw.org
is a better idea. I would not worry about bias there since there are plenty of DVD-R/RW people in the forums..Note that particular site is not run directly by the
industry.

I have a 333 and a 341 and both love the +RW discs. In fact they will pay just about anything I put in them.

K

That's been my experience with the 333 also. Just hate to buy a DVD burner and not know if the burned disks would play or not. So that just leaves the DVD +R issue. I haven't seen any burner that can handle them yet. Suppose to be a subset of the DVD +RW specs, but no standards yet.

The hardware (and many software) companies require the end user to assume too much risk, especially with new products. I hate the thought of this but maybe you can visit one of the big box retailers, buy a unit and some blank discs, burn a few to try them out and take the unit back if you are not satisfied.

Personally, I think waiting to see what happens with the +R format is going to make a big difference in deciding what format is the best one to go with. Plus R, with its promise of cheap and compatable media, was expected to hit the market in February. A number of hardware manufacturers suggested early on that a firmware upgrade would enable units that only write +RW to write on +R disks. However, plus R has yet to materialize and many hardware manufactures are backing down from claims their +RW will write +R.

Someone could make a living by selling test discs burned on the various formats to see if they really work on their respective DVD players. I have an older Pioneer DV-414 that reportedly is compatable with all the formats. However, I'm still reluctant to gamble--for now.