There are a lot of things DVD-A can't do other much cheaper applications CAN do. Which is disappointing. Just was checking its extremely limited abilites with slideshows. It adds the file name on each image, unasked. If there is way to remove file names I haven't found it.

The only way to remove the filename is to delete it individually from each slide:
1. Select a slide in the "Slideshow Properties" list
2. Select the filename text in the main view
3. Edit | Delete

And of course, you can save your project and reopen it in DVDA to fix typos or tweak there.

You know once your DVD-R/+R is made, if it's not right, then it's a coaster anyway.

If you use DVD-RW/+RW then you can always make it easily again.

One other thing, compare all features "apples to apples" and I think you'll find DVDA is easily the winner. But, it does help to READ or at least take a little time with the app...

I don't see how you can defend not supporting open dvd.

I don't see how SoFo can defend another obvious mistake... needing to MANUALLY remove file names form a sideshow. That means if you have a slideshow of just a 100 images you need to remove the file name a 100 TIMES! More likely you'll have a slideshow of upwards of 500 images. You're suppose to remove the file name 500 times? Give me a break. The more I use DVD-A, the more obvious it becomes it was NOT very well thought out.

The those that don't get it... a good slideshow is devoid of text. For an application to insert text on its own WITHOUT asking if you want it and making it clumsy and painstaking slow to remove it one picture at a time is anything but professional.

Just out of curiosity... Wouldn't it be better to build a slide show in Vegas and import the VIDEO into DVDA anyway?

You can disable the automatic adding of the filename to the slide. When in a slideshow, uncheck Options | Auto-insert Slide Text.

Sorry, I missed that. But should't it be the other way around? It would seem the default would be NOT to have filenames since the filename rarely would be what you want to show on screen since a typical file name may be something like AFD-435 or someother equally criptic non descriptive name. At least that's what happens when you have tens of thousands of images on your system.

Sure its better to import a slideshow made in Vegas and have far more control like transations between images, text that fades in and out, panning, cropping, etc.. Been there, done that many times. Again I guess I'm more critical because Vegas does so much and DVD-A does so little comparatively speaking in its feature set... so far it just leaves experienced Vegas users wanting and wondering.

I'm sorry if some think I'm nitpicking, I'm not really. It just seems odd that a slideshow option is included in DVD-A when you can do so much more in that regard from within Vegas, and since you can't buy DVD-A without also buying Vegas I wonder why its a "feature" that is so limited. I expected at a minimum that DVD-A would make use of Vegas many fine transations. In other words WHY would anyone use DVD-A for a slideshow?

Any way of convincing SoFo to add open DVD capabilities to DVD-A?

Steve

I guess it depends on your perspective. I do a lot of digital photography and needed a way to present a DVD slideshow for clients to choose prints from. So I was happy to see the filenames added by default. For other slideshows or montages without filenames, I always used Vegas.

Who’s Open DVD? There is NO Open DVD standard. The DVD Forum has NOT issued specifications for such and until they do, every manufacturer’s technique is proprietary.

We do not need another battle between the manufacturers such as the one that has lead to DVD- and DVD+ as competing technologies, do we?

I don't follow the open DVD discussion.

DVD players perform to specific standards driven data streams or content which is put onto a DVD disk to produce menus, navigation and show the content. Bugs aside, any DVD player produces the same interactive response/content delivery for a DVD disk without regard to what application it was produced by.

On the other hand, each DVD authoring package has it's own internal primitives, data structures and capabilities to produce a DVD. Why can't DVDA process a DVD to create the corresponding primitives and data structure that it would use to create the menus/subpictures/PGC's and content on the DVD? That is, bring back the DVDA project from the DVD.

Open DVD? That doesn't deal with the issue of getting the very things back you put together in the DVD authoring package to begin with. I don't follow how open DVD would dictate how and what DVDA would use to store and organize its projects in the DAR files. The program streams are one thing, but the menus/navigation and linking themselves are basically most of the work that you would do in DVDA anyways and that is what you can't get to. I spelled by sister-in-law's name wrong!?>! Now what? I have to reauthor everthing.

Good point! I find part of DVD burning frustrating and know that other software enables one to correct such a problem without rerendering everything.

Good point! I find that part of DVD burning frustrating and know that other software enables one to correct such a problem without rerendering everything.