I agree. I got My DVD with the HP DVD recorder. The biggest problem with it is it will always rerender your video such that you can only get about an hour on a DVD.

I also tried the Movie Factory demo, but found that it will not allow separate .m2v and .wav files to be combined. It will only take a single .mpg file.

I ended up with DVD complete. It has its limitations but works for me.

I use it for quickies. Version 4 of MyDVD works rather well and comes with some nice templates. Version 3 didn't work as well.

I also use DVD Complete and the Ulead products. all have different features, but for a quickie to throw a few videos on a DVD with a nice simple menu, it is great. If you need fancy features, separate video & audio then maybe something else should be used. But that is not something most of us need to do.

Remember - for the quick projects - I found it easier and faster than DVD Workshop or Movie Factory. DVD Complete Deluxe just came in so I can't comment too much, other than it has more features than My DVD and seems pretty easy to use, too.

I have MyDVD 3.0 that came with my burner. I render my mpg2 as a variable bitrate mpg, not separate elementary streams because my version can't coordinate the audio and video if I do that. This way the audio and video are in synch when I'm authoring the DVD and I can set exact chapter points. After it's authored I have MyDVD create an audio and video ts folder, then use my burner software to burn it. It might take an extra half hour to separate the audio and video on a full DVD, but I don't feel like that's much of a price to pay after the hours spent editing and getting the files ready.

To the point, however. MyDVD does not rerender the mpeg files, just separates the audio and video before creating the DVD files and at 5,000,000 avg bitrate I get an hour and 40 minutes on a DVD with no problem.

File under wishful thinking...

I think if SoFo would include DVD authoring either as part of VV4 or create a stand alone application and include some bells and whistles it would have a good chance of flying off the shelves if priced right. I would target people wanting more than the basics like Ulead's DVD Movie Factory and not wanting some product with an insanely overpriced cost like $600-800.

Something in the $100-150 range that allows custom menu creation, intergration with Vegas Video (or is part of it, even as a plug-in) would do very well, I think.

I used MYDVD 3.0 and have had many problems with chapter points and stability
plus writing to the disc. MYDVD and my current REEL DVD do not have speed
controls to match the burner. I use Prassi to write all my DVD's and never
have a reject. I use REEL DVD to create the file on the hard drive and
Prassi to write to disc. You will never have a problem using this method.
Evidently the Sonic Solution programmers rely on using the maximum speed
in writing to the burner without regards to cacheing which of course is
different in everyone's computer. Just my theory.

James J. Kizak

Does MyDVD use Vegas 3.0?
I have had some trouble with MyDVD but the support has
been great. I've worked out most of the (crazy) problems
with them. However, I still have a big problem. The Video_TS
.VOBs come out fine when I render to hard disk. THen I use
RecordNow to put them onto a disk and play direct from the DVD...the picture
is pretty bad both playing from the DVD player on the computer
and playing on a DVD player hooked to the TV.
DOes anyone know why this happens??
THanks!

If you're not talking about the picture stuttering and breaking up, signs of inferior media (Don't use Memorex!) and you mean the quality is low, not like the original DV (if that's what you're editing), then you've been encoding your finished movies improperly or fooling with settings in Main Concept that you shouldn't be. I use the DVD-NTSC template (MPEG2) and only change two settings, the maximum bitrate and the average bitrate. I set maximum to 7500000 and the average to 5000000 and I get about an hour and 40 minutes on a DVD that looks (to my eyes) exactly as if it was played from the DV camcorder. Good media brands for DVD-R are Sony, Maxell, Apple and TDK. If you're using DVD+R you should still have whatever quality you encoded the mpg files at showing on your DVD player.

Ijust burned my first DVD using MyDVD Version 4. It was fast, easy, and excellent quality.

I may be talking about "picture stuttering". That would be a good
way to describe the "jumpiness" of the picture. As I test more,
I find that the "jumpiness"/"Stuttering" is introduced when MyDVD
encodes it/builds it into the VIDEO_TS contents. IT happens when
a subject is moving in the video, ie an arm coloring (quick movements)
or slow water moving down a river.
MyDVD doesn't let you mess with any of the parameters (ie bitrate). Sonic/MyDVD says
that they use 8Mbps which, I understand, is pretty good. So, the
confusion for me is the following. It seems that MyDVD doesn't do
a good job of encoding but other people are saying that they get good
results with MyDVD (and, indeed, some of my video looks just find after
being encoded). I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how to get
a better result out of MyDVD, I guess. Any other advice would be greatly
appreciated as well.
Thanks all!
Cindy

Everything you are speaking of is of far reaching consequence:
DV camera quality, film to tape conversion quality (Judder), MPEG2
codec settings in Vegas3.0C, disc quality, Computer OS and speed,
Burner set-up (DMA), etc. The settings I use in the MPEG 2 codec
are DVD NTSC, Best quality, 7.3megs CBR, 10Bit, 48kc audio and
Pioneer dvd-r discs. This will take up more room on the disc but
quality comes at a price.I never liked MYDVD so I purchased Reel DVD
which is skads better but even it has some anomalies.

James J. Kizak

Cindy, what version of MyDVD are you using? I get flawless results with MyDVD 3.0. Basically it just takes what ever quality I encoded it at in Main Concept and produces the Video_TS and Audio_TS folders for me. If you're having picture problems it should not be MyDVD doing anything to it. There have been discussions here about field order. Maybe you have the field order reversed when you render it. Also for slow motion you want to render your avi with Resample checked. My main point is that MyDVD should not do anything negative to your video if you brought in an mpg file that you had rendered in Vegas. It simply authors a menu system, helps you set chapter points, add music to menus, etc. and then makes a bunch of VOB files which are basically (from my understanding) the mpg files renamed.

Hi Paul and James-
THanks so much for your time and help.
I have tried the stuff you suggested (mpeg encoding outside of
MyDVD, etc...). THe results were fabulous and have now figured out
that the problem, all along, was the DVD 'player' I was using to
see my results! Ugh! PowerDVD shakes the picture (pans or just-above-comotose
type of movement by my subjects.) My DVD player (hooked to the tv)
also shows the shakiness. I downloaded DirectDVD which does Not shake
the video. So, I'm thinking that this is a decoder issue. Hmmm...I posted
a new topic in case you are interested in what the gurus have to say.
THanks!
Cindy

Yea, I can't burn through MyDVD either. I have a SOny DRU500a
and they gave me links to update my drivers/software but said
that it wasn't a MyDVD issue. gee. Anyway, they told me that
I could just make a DVD folder and then use another burning software
(in my case, RecordNow) to burn the Audio_TS and Video_TS folders
onto the disk. That worked wonderfully!
Cindy