Yes, I'd say it is worth the $200. I've used DvdIt! and DVD Complete. DVDA has a much better user interface than either, and there is plenty of flexibility in the look of the menus. Plus, as mentioned earlier, you get AC3 audio as well. DvdIt! doesn't have motion menus or backgrounds, and the chapter point setting sucks, and DVD Complete menu's are limited to how you can change them in the GUI.

The only problems with DVDA are that it's still in its infancy, so it's missing some minor things like video end actions and the like, and there seems to be a bug in the calculation of a projects total used DVD space. Still, in its current form it is very usable, and I've done several very nice DVDs with it and V4.

DVDA has some good potential and will be better once the update patch is released. However as a user of Ulead DVD Workshop I have to say I felt I was much more in control with more degrees of freedom for menus. Unfortunatley VV4 and DVDA do not have the expected seemless integration (DVD compliant outputs from VV4 are not always accepted by DVDA - foe example mpeg audio for 625 which must be recompressed). I believe even after the update due soon, DVDA will need a few more updates before it represents solid competition. The upside as reported is the AC3 audio (good if you want it and/or the surround capability - unecessary for many) and wide screen support (which many other packages do not support well). I'm currently trying to work out how to tell the client they will have to accept some non-standard menu functionality in their DVD due to DVDA limitations because I can't take the time to go back and redo the project properly on DVD Workshop. Regards John I

Worth $200? No, its not worth $20 in its current very buggy state. In a word its laughable. It shows promise, but is in desperate need of fixing MAJOR errors. I'm shocked SoFo would dumb this bow wow on us.

I'll let you know once I can get it to burn a DVD.

I have edited at least two videos a week for a month with this program and have no problems with it. I do not try to ask the program to do any particular advance things but it appears very straight forward for the average editor. I would recommend this product and am sure as time goes by it will improve over what it does now.

Obviously Bear you don't do advanced anything. Those of us that do, know the truth. DVDA isn't ready for release. It is badly flawed in several areas and fails even the most basic tasks or makes them clumsy to do. That may be acceptable for some low priced product that's aimed at beginners that don't know any better.

DVDA is marketed as PROFESSIONAL GRADE software. As such, and because it is priced accordingly, I DEMAND it to behave like a professional grade application. Clearly is doesn't. That makes professionals PISSED. Time is money and I've wasted a lot already and I have NOTHING to so for it but a lot of wasted time.

@BillyBoy
Why did you buy DVDA in first place? There's a demo available as you know...

AFAIK, I'm a satisfied DVD Workshop user, DVDA has some problems (or should I say lack of some features?), but there's a demo and everyone should/could try it before buy. Don't blame SoFo for trying to make an integrated package as soon as possible.
I'm sure future releases (perhaps 3-6 months from now) will have all the 'standard' features and after that I'm sure DVDA will became a new standard.

I'm doing an airshow video and I really would like to have a DVD menu with airplanes sounds going from a speaker to another from time to time. DVDA already has that feature in version 1.0 ...

I'm geting pretty sick of amateurs that don't know any better blubbering nonsense. Like why didn't you try the demo. The demo does not allow you to import any MPEG so you can't test the application at all. If I could have, I would have seen the carless mistakes we're still waiting to get fixed in some yet unreleased version.

So no, if I could have tested the demo I probably would not have bought DVDA and saved some money because to be honest, as it stands right now DVDA is a best only a tad better then DVD Movie Factory which I already had. Yes I would have liked to try before I bought like you can with most other software, BUT I COULDN'T!

Understand yet? No, I doubt it. For example if you download the demo of Ulead's Movie Factory you get a FULL WORKING VERSION, where you can import any compliant MPEG and burn a DVD. You can not do that with DVDA's demo.

Why Not?

Because SoFo doesn't have any money to be willing to give people interested in their product a fully working demo. So they nickle and dime their customers to death driving them crazy. They want professionals to use their applications, but at the same they don't allow a professional coursety of actually having a fully working version of the software they are trying to sell you, like almost all other companies do.

Worse the SoFo stupid registration BS is far worse

Why?

Because as I found out yesterday when I had to call Customer Service again to get the activation codes for MP3 and surround sound I was told flat out the reason this is not included in the initial registration is because the license is on a per use basis. In other words SoFo doesn't have to pay any royalties unless and until a customer uses either of those features. Because that saves them a couple bucks. So again you the customer suffers.

One of the reasons SoFo doesn't get the respect of a lot of professionals is because of these very amaturish business decissions that cost them dearly in the long run. The only reason I put up with it is I know SoFo makes good software. Others that don't know or those that want to find out for themslves are for sure put off by mickey mouse registrations schemes and crippled demos.

Billy Boy, I am totally fed up with your unprofessional and inaccruate rantings. Sonic Foundry has managed, in the midst of financial difficulties, to provide us with the best video editing software around, the best customer support available, and a very good first version of a DVD editor and burner. I, apparantly unlike you, downloaded and tested DVD Architect Demo for two months before deciding to purchase it. While testing, I had no problems importing and using MPEG files. I was able to create and preview motion backgounds and buttons, I was able to import Vegas files with markers and automatically create scene selection menus with chapter point links with one click of the mouse. I was able to directly import photoshop files without rendering. I was able to edit video clips with a time line and a monitor. Just those features alone save me considerable work time.

When I started testing DVD Architect, I had just finished a long project using DVD Workshop. The project had three long clips with multiple chapter points in each clip, multiple menus, motion buttons and menus, and several graphic designs. Although I was very satisifed with DVD Workshop, I estimate that I could have done the same project much more quickly in DVD Architect.

Yes I spent an extra $150 to purchase DVD Architect with Vegas 4. DVD Architect is a good program which will only get better and as a bonas comes with an AC-3 encoder (worth $200 by itself). I guess I must be one of those blubbering amateurs you refer to who don't know their butt from a hole in the ground.

I suggest to Spanky that he not take your professional, know it all, approach and actually download the Demo version of the system, take the time to learn what it can do, test it out and decide if it works for him. I also hope that people reading these forums are inteligent enough to ignore your mis-directed ravings and check things out for themselves.

Dustin D. Farnum
Wobbly Boy Productions
Anchorage, Alaska

You're not a professional anything PB if you need to engage in personal attacks. That you made obvious yourself. Thanks for proving how quickly you lose your temper.

No Dustin, I'm the amateur... :)

I must get some DVDA weak points and say something about it. That way I'll be a "professional" really soon...

BTW, is it professional to spend $$$ in an "unknown" product? I really must be an amateur!

ps- BillyBoy, I refuse to go at your current discussion level because I have a better image of myself!

"Billy Boy, I am not as active on the forums as you nor will ever be so prolific (you must be between paid jobs at the moment). However, after reading yet another treatise on why Sonic Foundry products are a waste of money blah blah I feel the urge to ask you how long you have been in the business and what your experience is. "

========================================
Try READING the BODY of his message posts intead of just the titles. That is obviously what you are doing. Having been on this forum for almost two years I can verify that BillyBoy loves SF products and has come to expect great things from them because that is what he and the rest of us have received. Also , his contributions to SF users has been enormous:

http://www.wideopenwest.com/%7Ewvg/tutorial-menu.htm

Since BillyBoy is always willing to give of his time to help others either directly or through his well laid out tutorials on color correction I admire him for not feeling it necessary to brag about his background as you have done.

I do not get the impression from his posts that he feels that "Sonic Foundry Products are a waste of money". Quite the opposite! After having come to assume that the products are reasonably well tested and only require relatively minor patches he is disappointed in the beta nature of DVDA as released. He likes VV4 very much since it has such advanced and easy to use color correction tools (his pet interest and the subject of his fine tutorials).

Now, how do I know all this?

Simple.......I read the CONTENT of his posts rather than just the title. Why don't you try it next time before you attack someone who posts here?

John

"Worth" can be a difficult thing to define, because expectations vary greatly from person to person. DVDA has some strengths and it has some weaknesses, and those have already been documented in this forum.

From what I've experienced working with DVDA and reading other opinions, DVDA is worth $200 because the Dolby encoder (which is plugged into Vegas, actually, not DVDA) sells seperately for nearly that much. On the other hand, I think most people would agree that without the encoder, DVDA would definitely NOT be worth $200. It's mainly a question of how important surround sound editing is to you.

That seems to be the bottom line.

Aside from that, you can burn DVDs in DVDA with some degree of flexibility (moving background images, seperate audio source, etc.).

My wish list is growing for version 2:

1. Support multiple audio streams for the same video
2. Support multiple video angles for the same audio
3. Ability to direct where video should go when it reaches the end point
4. Ability to preview DVD in full 5.1 sound (Cheap DVD player software can decode 5.1, so there's really no excuse for this.)
5. Ability to copy object attributes such as Text settings and apply to other objects
6. Ability to save any layout as a "Theme" and apply to other projects

Lets be honest---DVD ARchitect is not worth 200 bucks---thats so obvious--Only a cult-like mentality would say different. Having said that, I think that Sonic Foundry knows they blew it and will remedy most of the problems that many have pointed out---

It would also be great to have DLT Export, End of Play options, Subtitles, and DVD-9 capability. I fully expect that Sonic Foundry will provide all of these features plus multiple audio and video streams in future versions. Currently there does not appear to be a DVD authoring system available for under $1,000 that provides these capabilities. I will put my money on Sonic Foundry to be the first system to do it.

I think that we should also remember that the purpose of DVD authoring software is to provide us with an easy to use method of creating a simple and pleasing title and table of contents for our creative projects. DVD Architect does that for me. I want to put most my creative energy toward the creation of excellent video and audio and use DVD Authoring to provide viewers with easy access to that content.

BillyBoy, I have read many of your posts and recognized the value of your contributions. However, I did feel that you were out of line with what seemed to me to be unjustified attacks on Sonic Foundry and inferences that the rest of us who did not agree with you were not professionals. I am sorry I took this personally and responded in kind. I will try to refrain from this kind of behavior in the future.

Dustin D. Farnum
Wobbly Boy Productions
Anchorage, AK

I look at the price of DVDA as that for the AC-3 encoder, with a very basic DVD authoring program thrown in. :-) The AC-3 audio allows a substantial increase in the amount of quality video that will fit on a DVD, over the PCM default. That's valuable, even if one doesn't take full advantage of 5.1 at this time.

I believe that SF will do the right thing and add to/fix/enhance DVDA, and be nice to us early adopters with respect to any "upgrade" fees.

Bob.

Shame PB, you didn't take your own advice and partake of the 'ignore' feature. Rather you couldn't resist saying silly things like:

"Unless you are close to 50 years old I doubt if you can say the same. Be careful about deeming yourself a professional."

Since you seem so worried about it, I'm 57, and I've seen my share of blowhards come and go. Read that any way you want. I find it curious as I suspect many do that your main yardstick for determining "experience" or professionalism is based on one's age. I known people in their twenties that are very professional and people a year or two away from retirement age that were never professional in their careers and will never be professional at anything.

I am VERY professional in what I do. If you value age so much as a measure of success, I guess I am pretty successful considering I retired at age 41. Being a restless person, I stared a business of my own just to keep busy, several years later I sold it at a nice profit. Then just as a hobby I get interested in videos and related topics, and damn if it didn't turn into a successful business too. So I guess technically I'm semi-retired.

I'm not very professional in my manner of writing, tending to makes lots of typos, incomplete sentences and for sure some don't get my wacky sense of humor. But for me, that's just my writing style when posting to forums or newsgroups. It is suppose to be "fun" and mostly it is. Rest assured I DO take offense when I'm attacked for being critical of an application, which is my right, heck I'm just expressing my opinion which EVERYONE has a right to do. It wasn't me that needed to restort to personal attacks.

PB, settle down---you might no your business but you obviously dont know much about DV authoring software----This baby isn't worth 200 bucks---.

Rex,
What value would you place on the ac-3 encoder that you get with DVDA? Your statement seems pretty extreme given that other companies don't offer a $200 DVD
authoring program for $200. Not a flame-just a question.

Hehe,what I mean't to say was "DVD authoring program with an AC-3 encoder for $200".
(that second glass of wine will do that to you)