DVDA-2 Newbie impressions

Mahesh wrote on 5/31/2004, 6:00 AM

I have got DVDA2 so that I can export chapter points etc from Vegas 5. I have been using DVD Workshop for couple of years and moving to DVDA2 is presenting some problems.
1- Text flicker / jitter:
In my menu I do not use thumb nails but use text for navigation. I replicated a single menu DVD I had authored in DVD Workshop in DVDA. The DVD had one background graphic and text for tiltes and navigation. The text was in 20 point Lucida Calligraphy. In DVDA the text flickers whereas it is rock solid in DVDWS. I understand about interlacing in PAL video. In DVDWS there is an anti-flicker filter which removes the flicker. Is there anything I can do to reduce the flicker in DVDA2. At the moment I cannot use DVDA for professional use if the text flickers.
2-I can not find out how to change the colour of Text only buttons. It seems to default to white.
3-I have an MPEG2 file with MPEG layer 2 audio. Size is 3.97Gb. DVDA opens up warning as soon as I import this media with a size of 4.6Gb. Is this because the audio will have to be converted to ac3?

3-Why can't I use layer 2 audio with my MPEG2 file. Is there any reason, DVDA2 uses ac3 only. I have supplied hundreds of DVDs (in PAL) with MEG2 layer 2 audio without any problems.

I apologise if these are basic questions and answers are probably obvious.
Thanks in advance.

Comments

mike_2004z wrote on 5/31/2004, 10:35 PM

Hi,

If you are familiar with DVD Workshop (v1.2/1.3) then the best thing is to move to DVD Workshop v2. In my experience with DVDWS (v1.3 & v2) that there is not much advanctage of Sony DVDA 2 over those of Ulead products for authoring DVD. As the matter of fact, DVDWS v2 is much, much more flexible and more USER FRIENDLY features (not necessary beginer stuffs) than that of Sony DVDA-2 with helping you to create better looking menus.

Right now I use DVDA 2 just to learn and for unimportant video, but not for real production BECAUSE it is still FULL of some annoyance BUGS.

Mahesh wrote on 6/1/2004, 4:30 AM

I have been using DVDWS for last 2 years (1.3). The spec on DVDA2 looked so good that I went for that rather than DVDWS 2.0.
Also I was buying Vegas 5.0 so it made sense - at the time - to go for DVDA2.
I think DVDA2 design and layout is good. Its integration with V5, its external preview and ability to put multiple subtitles is excellent.

I think it falls down on 1 or 2 basic attributes.
1-It assumes that people want thumb nail based buttons on menus. Perhaps the software designers need to cater for commercial users who want to start with a blank work space and populate it as required by the jjob in hand.
2-It assumes that audio has to be AC3 or LPCM. I realize that in NTSC world, this is required. I am used to dropping an MPEG2 file with encoded video/audio ( in Layer 2) and not expect my authoring software to re-encode.
3- It irritating when the software estimates the file size to be 12 to 15 % bigger than what it is.
4- Last and not least, it needs simple anti flicker filter to stop those annoying jitters on borders, edges and fonts.

I think I shall carry on using DVDWS and hope the above may be addressed in comming updates. It will be a shame to bin this software.

Cunhambebe wrote on 6/1/2004, 8:04 PM

DVDA 2.0 is a great software. Anyway, if you prefer DVDWS, that's ok. I didn't like it because I guess it is much more basic than DVDA 2.0. I didn't understand what bugs you're talking about. As far as I know DVDA has some minor bugs but nothing that is soooo obnoxious. As far as I know DVDA is not a "pro" software that's why it assumes that people want thumb nail based buttons on menus as you've remarked. The result is pro, though!
In my simple and modest opinion, what makes DVDA more attractive than Scenarist and DVD Maestro (true pros, the rest is the rest), is the price and absolutely almost no skill needed to author a DVD with it. Try creating menus with Photoshop and authoring dvds with Maestro or Scenarist. It takes a long time. Even not being a pro software, DVDA gives terrific results. By far it is much better than any other (I mean much better than the DVDWS; in fact, like the french say, in my opinion, DVDWS ne sert à rien).
:)

mike_2004z wrote on 6/1/2004, 10:48 PM

I agreed that DVDA-2 is much improved over version 1. As current state, it is a "ok" authoring software, but not as "great". The main selling point of DVDA-2 is its tight intergration with Vegas (ever wonder why Sony bundled DVDA-2 with Vegas, can't buy them separately). Right now DVDA-2 contains many, many BUGS. Most of the bugs nothing sooooo obnoxious, BUT most of them are counter productive:

1) Menu text sometimes dissapear from the final DVD (either output to harddrive or DVD disc) but for some reason OK in preview mode. Hence, waste of time to fix (by luck) and re-render the DVD output, also waste a good blank DVD if output directly to the burner.

2) Menu highlight object & text is a mess if you do your video project in Haft-D1 resolution NTSC (Ok for Full-D1). I haven't try any other resolution so can't confirm. But menu in Half-D1 is unusable/un-professional due to the mess - even SONY confirmed about this bug when I inquired about a few weeks before. So basically DVDA-2 finally support Half_D1 but this feature is USELESS 'cause of this bug.

3) Unaccurate estimate of final DVD size - SONY can't/unable to fix this problem since version 1 (how long they have and still can't do it). Is this because of BAD programmers ??? Other products be able to get it right, but not DVDA 1 & 2.

These are some of the bugs that I experience first hands and there are many more mentioned in the forum.

I am not compared DVDA-2 to Scenarist or Maestro 'cause those programs are in a different league and DVDA-2 can't even get close to it (even if it work perfectly with no bugs or what ever). But here Ulead DVDWorkshop v2 already has all the feature that of DVDA-2 and even more without cost any more than DVDA-2.

I am not saying that DVDA-2 is a bad piece of software but, it is just not a "good" piece of software. Right now it try hard to play in the big league but can't even get out of the minor league with all current bugs.

IT DOES NEED A BIG PATCH BADLY !!!!

SonySDB wrote on 6/2/2004, 5:39 AM

We are unable to reproduce the problem where menu text disappears on the final DVD. Can you send us a project file (.dar) that exhibits this behavior? I'll send you an email.

You'll find that the highlights for half-D1 menus are ok on some DVD players and not on others. The DVD spec is unclear (i.e. open to interpetation) on how to handle highlights for half-D1 menus. As such, there is inconsistencies with how DVD players handle highlights for half-D1 menus. This is not something that can be fixed by DVDA.

DwSw wrote on 6/5/2004, 3:32 PM

Agreed. And in my opinion, Vegas/DVD Arch had a good thing going and had the potential to play in the big leagues.

However, Arch 2.0 and even Vegas 5.0 are pretty buggy and I am having second thoughts.

To add to your list:

4) pioneer a05 burns at 1x under Arch 2.0 whereas it burned at 2x under Arch 1.0.

Mahesh wrote on 6/6/2004, 5:09 AM

When I asked on another leading Vegas+DVDA forum whether I should move from DVDWS to DVDA, concensus was yes. Having had a chance to test it, I find DVDA has making of an excellent authoring software. There are some good and innovative ideas.
I feel that
1-developers need to address concerns of non-NTSC users (PAL).
2-take heed of all the minor bugs reported by users.
3-investigate & implement fixes as soon as they can
4-Open up a central thread where all bugs/shortcomings are collated.
5-acknowledge that the reported bug/sort-comings will be fixed and if not, why not.
6-provide some form of time scale for these fixes.

I am still not using DVDA but would like to - very soon.

Regards
Mahesh
www.crestvideo.co.uk

Spinal wrote on 12/8/2004, 4:33 AM

I had DVDWS2 but after a few months of suffering I have started to work with DVDA2.
I was in a project in DVDWS2, built the menu pages for months. One day when I started the program and tried to load my project I've got an error message that some files are missing and the project cannot be opened. So everything I have done before was just a waste of time and energy.
Of course it wasn't me (or anyone else) who deleted the files and my system hasn't done anything like this before. It was a great suprise from DVDWS2. By the way when something is missing in DVDA2, it asks for searching for the file and not killing the whole project because of it.

I have a relatively old PC config (AMD XP 2100+, 512 Mb PC2700) and after creating 50 menu pages navigating through them becomes extremely slow. I think this is because DVDWS shows the menu pages with pictures all the time (although all the pages has a name, there is no option to see only a list of those names without the small picture of the menu). This problem also occurs when I simply select an object then a different type of object (selecting a text brings up the text effect library in the left, then selecting a button brings up the buttons' library and this also takes some time, although I didn't want to change between the libraries).

And maybe it's my mistake but I can't place objects in the menus exactly where I want to as DVDWS lacks of the dimenson and positon tools by typing in the values in pixels.

Maybe I am wrong and it is olny me who can't handle this program but my opinion is that DVDA2 is far more efficent and user friendly than Ulead's DVD Workshop 2. But for some major bugs and for the lack of some options I wouldn't call DVDA2 a professional program either.