Comments

Rahl wrote on 2/4/2002, 3:24 PM
I am hoping to either get a stand-alone program to DVD authoring similar IDvd for the Mac, or an incorporation within Vegas. It would be great to get such a program within 6 months.

I believe we should see such a program soon, it's almost a must for them... Anyway, for now all we can do is email SF and give them our Product Suggestion (which I did last week), but I am sure they know by now that we need and would appreciate such software...

Link to Product Suggestion
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/support/productsuggestion.asp

-André Barriault
kkolbo wrote on 2/4/2002, 6:57 PM
I really think they (SF) should stay out of the DVD authoring process within the VV package. The more you try to make a program do, the less it does well and the more it has to cost. There are many good stand alone authoring apps. If you want the functionality level that Adobe aquired, then buy Pinnacle Express at about $39. When you by a DVD burner, most come with an authoring app like MyDVD that has all the functionality that Adobe will be bundling.

The bummer is that you will find what they do unsatisfying for anything other than videos of you kids. DVD authoring is still pricy.

Ron Lucas wrote on 2/4/2002, 10:18 PM
Does anyone have suggestions on a DVD burning software package, other than MyDVD which came with my HP DVD burner, that can allow me to create a short looped sequence to music for the main menu? MyDVD only allows a single image for the background without music. I'd really like to jazz up my DVDs by showing some movement and sound while the menu is idle - just like the many Hollywood movies. I'm using VV 3.0 for all the editing, so I only need something for DVD menuing and burning.

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Ron
PeterMac wrote on 2/5/2002, 4:50 AM
I think Ulead's MovieFactory will do all that.
It's cheap and easy to use too. Have a look at the trial download.

-Pete
mbo wrote on 2/5/2002, 6:12 AM
you might try DVDit, see http://sonic.com/
Michal
kkolbo wrote on 2/10/2002, 11:03 AM
DVDitSE and PE will do menus with music behind, but the image is static. If you are looking for menus with motion in them, you are looking for DVD Studio Pro on the MAC for abput $900 or ReelDVD for PC for about $1200.

ouch
tomadonna wrote on 2/10/2002, 12:31 PM
Also there is Pinnacle Impression but I heard ReelDVD is more stable...
slr wrote on 2/11/2002, 12:20 PM
You might keep an eye on www.dvdcre8.com and www.dazzle.com. Dvdcre8's upcoming product, DVD Complete Deluxe, is supposed to allow both a simple wizard-guided mastering capability, and a full control expert mode that allows most everything you could want, including motion menus. This package will support, among others, the new DVD+RW format for those interested. Their web site lists this as a $99 package.

I have exchanged e-mails with the president of Dvdcre8 a few times. They were originally going to release it last November, but they apparently were working on a marketing/branding partnership and held off to complete a deal. It seems they tried to approach Sonic Foundry, but ended up doing a deal with SCM Microsystems (owners of the Dazzle brand). I've been told that something should be available in the next couple weeks. Judging by his past optimism, I suspect this may still be a couple months away. In any case, probably worth watching for.

Steve
Cheesehole wrote on 2/11/2002, 1:17 PM
this is a post from last august, but i still think it's a cool idea...

DVD Authoring really belongs in a separate app. It's way to complex to just stick on to Vegas.

That said, I'd love to see a DVD authoring tool with a Vegas-like interface. To be a good DVD app, it would have to support multiple audio/video tracks, multiple camera angles, fully featured menu programming, chapter markers, and most importantly, have a kick-ass MPEG plugin with support for manual I-Frames, 2pass VBR and all the other stuff you need to make MPEGs that rival the stuff you get at the store.

Maybe Vegas just needs a really good MPEG-2 plugin that can do all that pro stuff and we can leave the DVD authoring to a separate app. I'd pay extra for it of course if it was a pro-level MPEG plugin that had manual frame-type markers built right into the Vegas interface. That would be so cool. The plugin would have to add a third marker track to Vegas for the frame-type (I,B, or P) markers. And it would have to deliver quality at least as good as TMPGenc which is free.

Then we open up our final mpegs in 'VegasDVD' which has all the DVD specific stuff like chapter markers and menus and multiple cameras/audio etc...

so how about it?