DVDLab is harder work than DVDA and has none of the A/V DVD encoders provided or linkages to encode in-app.

Where DVDLab shines is where you've outgrown a similar to DVDA authoring app.
It is said that DVDLab hasn't used paid for recommendations. It is a reverse engineering job. Yet it has so much power that either this is a half truth or Oscar deserves even more credit.

What you get extra to what DVDA can do (off the top of my head):
End chapter actions
Back to menu
Onwards in all manner of linkages to other assets/chapters
slideshow
menu transitions into media (giving impression of menu features that don't really exist)
DTS passthrough
vob and program stream extraction to native elemental stream working
A promise that if enough people buy it, that multiple audio streams and subtitling will follow.

Some projects have a job compiling correctly, later public beta releases probably fix many of these. Some audio workflows get lip sync errors, so the reports go.

I like to have DVDLab as an extra to DVDA. If you have Vegas4 already, adding DVDA is difficult as there is no avenue to it -off the shelf. You'd need to arrange something with customer services - or something similar.

If I was considering a full DVDA, I'm reluctant to say that I might try Adobe Encore first. Especially if you can try a demo first. Sonic Foundry will improve and Adobe are releasing a version 1 product aswell - that is likely to have at least some teething troubles.

The right tool for the right job. DVDLab has great templates - but your own artwork can need some involved work in other progs. You can say similar things about DVDA, but 3rd parties and Sonic Foundry are regularly creating theme files.

Thanks you all, I'll read this a few more times and figure something out, I will check the DVDlab websit again too. On the first pass though I seem to be leaning again toward DVDA (Vegas + DVD Upgrade to Vegas 4c).

Thanks very much.

Don

Well i just came across DVD-Lab and LOVING it!
(downloaded the trial 30 program)

Since i am broke - can't afford vegas4+/dvd-a
I wasted $200 some bucks at that PIECE of junk Ulead DVD Workshop.

In all fairness though, DVD WS gets the job down and you can get a high level of customability (custom backgrounds, buttons etc)

But DVD-Lab is sooo much easier to work with -
Hopefully there aren't any compatiblity problems?? yikes!

The fact that it doesn't encode video/audio is no biggy to me..
I encode video in vegas - render .wav file.
Bring .wav file into Bsweet - convert to AC3 stream.

Add both files into DVD-lab, compile DVD to hard drive.. then burn disc using Nero
$79 bucks ya really can't go wrong in my book

tadpole,
stupid question maybe. If you don't have DVDA how can you encode to mpeg2 in VV?

VV will do that as part of the "Render As" function. I am just looking for a better DVD authoring program that will author and burn the DVD. I have Nero but prefer the authoring program to do the burning. I going to check out DVDlab and Adobe Encore trial versions and see how they go. I will imagine price will be an issue too though.

Here is a nice workflow:

Render As through the Satish frameserver into TMPGEnc - with a DVD profile MPEG-2 elemental stream. WAV to MPEG-1-layer2 or just have DVDlab extract PCM. AC3 ideally from Vegas,...

TMPGEnc is a cost option after 30 days trial. Maybe you can use a Windows XP restore point to evade this - but that would be unethical.

Vegas does come with a DVD encoding capability if single-pass VBR is enough.

MPEG2 encoding is INCLUDED in Vegas.

AC-3 is added by DVD Architect

"jetdv...AC-3 is added by DVD Architect "

Actually,

The Dolby Digital AC-3 is available as a plug-in for Vegas sans DVDA but the upgrade price to DVDA is almost the same and you get a good DVD authoring program as well.

I can't believe that an audio visual authoring tool like DVD Lab doesn't play audio. I thought there was something wrong with my installation, but no, DVD Lab only plays video so you have to imagine your audio. I can't use a tool that only plays a part of a file.

Really no audio! I can't believe that. There isn't a DVD authoring tool that I know of, cheap or otherwise that doesn't play the audio track. I have not loaded the trial version yet but I will this weekend and I'll check that out too. Hopefully DVDlab lets you preview what you plan to burn to burn to the DVD. Anyhow I always use a DVD-RW for proofing before copying to a DVD-R.

we're using dvdlab with vegas 4; though the ride has been
bumpy, things have been stablizing and we are now producing
great compatible DVDs... just stick to the dvdlab forums, let
your problems be heard and things will get resolved.

Carlo :)

I really like the DVDLab interface and it has the exact features I need for my particular DVD authoring applications. However, DVDlab started out rather promising, but the latest versions seem to have some critical bugs that weren't in the earlier versions. Oscar, DVDlab's creator, hasn't been seen much on the DVDlab forum lately, whereas he used to be there all the time. All of this makes me wonder what's going on with the development of the program. From my perspective, DVDlab isn't quite ready for "prime time" but if he gets some of the issues resolved, it will be the only DVD authoring application I'll be using.

John

I feel for the authore of DVD-Lab,
it's SO easy to look at any bright idea for software, get it 90% there and release it.

Then you realise that writing the code was the easy part. Suddenly you've got to deal with customers, 75% of what you have to deal with is they don't RTFM, 25% is things you really need to get on and fix but the other 75% is using up all your time.

I haven't tried running DVD-Lab as yet, so my beakdown of issues could be way off track but hopefully you get my point.

Just remember in this instance your dealing probably with one guy, he has to eat and sleep, you probably paid the same as a slab of beer costs for his code.

Want to get him focused on fixing the issues, sure keep telling him whats wrong but also keep telling him what's right!

I develop software and the hardest part is that very few people tell me how well it works, it can become pretty depressing. And then out of the blue someone rings to tell me how much easier some new feature has made their day. That makes it all worthwhile, just imagine how you'd feel, you've just finished showing your latest video to all your friends and the only comment you get back is "Didn't like the colour of the closing credits"

End of sermon.

In all fairness to Oscar, I believe that someone else is writing the "muxing engine" and Oscar's DVDlab is basically a "front end" for it. The bugs seem to have surfaced when the engine was rewritten to deal with some other issues. Unfortunately, this seems to have broken some other stuff. I'm sure they will get it dealt with eventually and DVDlab will be a stable, incredibly useful DVD authoring tool.

John

I have used DVD Lab and found it incredibly useful and versatile -- no problems. The only small issue I have with it is that, as mentioned previously, there is no sound. I don't mind the fact that it doesn't play back the video or audio, but you can't set chapter points as precisely as in apps like DVDA and DVDIt where you can hear exactly where the chapter point started.

Paul

Do you know if DVDLab can make tracks go to "still" on completion rather than stop or to another track?

Thanks, Al

Just saw this post. I'm not sure what you mean, Al. Do you mean freeze on a frame at the end of the movie and keep that framed displayed? I don't know if it does anything special that way but you could freeze the last frame in the video and maybe hold it for a second, then direct DVDLab to a menu that was simply a picture of that last frame. Never tried it and it might cause a little jump from the end of the video to the menu.