DVD Architect & Vegas - Will This Work ?

elvindeath wrote on 7/10/2006, 8:08 AM
Hi all. Yesterday, I decided to purchase Vegas 6.0 after experimenting with the trial versions of Vegas and Movie Studio. The Movie Studio trial, of course, came with DVD Architect. My understanding is that the base Vegas package does not have this functionality.

My question is this - what is the cheapest way to get DVD Creation functionality ? I like what I saw of DVD Architect from the trial version (though I wish I could actually burn a DVD to check out final rendering)

DA3 is more the enough for what I do (all hobby stuff - kids videos, vacations, etc), but my understanding is that I can't buy just DVD Architect. I don't want to spend another $250 to upgrade to Vegas + DVD at this time (as I anticipate doing that once the new version is released) Likewise, I don't want to spend the $$$ to buy some other software, like Encore.

So, what can I do ? If I bought a basic home user version of MS+DVD, can I just install DA3 and not Movie Studio ?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 7/10/2006, 8:39 AM
the CHEAPEST method from owning Vegas 6 is to wait for Vegas 7. Then you'd get V7 & DVDA4.

but not much elseyou can do right now. You can buy other programs, TMPGenc DVD Author is nice, but you will need a seperate plugin to make AC3.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 7/10/2006, 10:16 AM
> If I bought a basic home user version of MS+DVD, can I just install DA3 and not Movie Studio ?

Yes, but the studio version doesn’t come with the AC3 encoder so you will have to use PCM audio which takes up more room on the DVD.

Just curious, what made you buy the full version of Vegas over Vegas Movie Studio? It seems to me that VMS is more than adequate for home / hobby use.

~jr
elvindeath wrote on 7/10/2006, 12:29 PM
JohnnyRoy -

Simply for this reason: The Platinum Edition of MS+DVD was $129 at Best Buy, Vegas 6.0 was $149 at bhphoto.com.

Besides - after using computers for nearly 30 years, it's been my experience that every time I go for the "consumer version" of something, I end up wishing to god I had just gotten the full on pro version instead. I'm a hobbyist - but a deeply geeky one. I need a full version of vegas for the same reason I need L-series lenses for my Digital SLR camera - for no specific reason other than I like having "the best" and it's within (barely) my budget.

For instance, I wanted 5.1 surround on my home movie DVDs, I like making professional looking memories and I'm seriously looking in to an HD camcorder. So, for $149 versus $129, I figured Vegas 6.0 will provide me what I need while offering a significantly discounted "upgrade" path to V7 whenever it is released.

I just wish there was someway to add the DVD Authoring functionality at a discount price ... even if it means being limited to 2-channel audio for the time being (and I'm still confused as to why it's so much more to add 5.1 surround - Pinnacle Studio has support for it in their $50 product)
bStro wrote on 7/10/2006, 4:04 PM
and I'm still confused as to why it's so much more to add 5.1 surround - Pinnacle Studio has support for it in their $50 product

I'm not sure that's quite accurate. According to Pinnacle's comparison chart for Studio, "Output of Dolby 5.1 format requires Advanced Codec Pack, which can be activated inside Studio and Studio Plus at additional cost." I can't find any information on the cost of this "Advanced Codec Pack."

BTW, the $50 price you mention is after a mail-in rebate, which you only get if you're upgrading from a previous version of Studio or "switching" from a competitor's application -- such as Vegas Movie Studio. And when you actually click through, the after-rebate price appears to be $70 rather than $50.

Personally, I'm a former Studio user, and the price difference between it and any Vegas product is well worth it to avoid the headaches. ;-)

Rob
elvindeath wrote on 7/10/2006, 5:59 PM
I picked up the Studio 10 Media Suite edition which has the 5.1 codec activated. I got it for about $50 at time of release - upgrade pricing plus a special sale at the time I bought it. Frankly, I like the interface for simple projects, but the DVD Menu tools are useless and the program is unstable to the point of it being fraud to release it as usable. You could usually do what you needed to do to get a project finished, but it probably took me three straight days of fiddling, crashes, and wasted DL discs to get the project burned.

Obviously, that's intolerable, which is why I'm converting to Vegas. I ran Vegas trial for an hour with not a single crash or slowdown ... that's all it took for me.
kayakthom wrote on 7/14/2006, 10:27 AM
Free solutions (with limitations) for menu creation are available such as DVDStyler: http://dvdstyler.sourceforge.net/

*Please note: I have not personally tried this software.

Also, as others have mentioned in this thread, if you desire AC3 support, you will have to look elsewhere.

Have you checked the software that was distributed with your burner? Newer versions of burning utilities such as Nero allow for some basic menu creation.

I realize that neither of these solutions is as robust as DVDA, but perhaps they will suffice until the aforementioned upgrade.
elvindeath wrote on 7/14/2006, 10:57 AM
Thanks for the tips, kayakthom. I ended up getting a copy of Movie Studio + DVD (basic) just for the DVDA. I'm selling the Movie Studio portion to a friend, and will give him the DVDA once I upgrade my Vegas.

I looked a few solutions, but none allowed the complex menu creation DVDA allows. Even without A3, it's the best package out there for <$80. I figure I'll just render my projects 5.1 where appropraite and burn them stereo, but save them to HD until I upgrade and can reburn.
DavidMcKnight wrote on 7/14/2006, 4:22 PM
...Frankly, I like the interface for simple projects...

I understand. When I used videofactory for the first few times (e a r l y version of VMS) I found myself really missing the Stuido interface. That lasted for about 2 projects. I got so much more done in a quicker amount of time that I adapted to the Vegas way REAL fast, and was happy to do so. I think my PC has crashed once since 2003 while using Vegas.