good dvd software

mtb123 wrote on 6/4/2008, 10:51 PM

re the B&H offer on vegas pro- I take it DVD architect pro (not included) is not sold stand alone? if so, can anyone recommend a prosumer dvd authoring package that won't break the bank (e.g no more than $200).

Comments

Terje wrote on 6/5/2008, 7:39 AM

DVD Architect studio will get you started, download and test it to see if it fits your needs. I would steer away from Ulead entirely, which, if you need to go a level up, slowly moves you out of the sub-$200 category.

MPM wrote on 6/5/2008, 11:27 AM

IMHO it depends on what features you want/need, in combo with what fits in with the way that you work. Videohelp.com has a pretty good listing of what's available with links to downloads, trials etc...

The differences I've seen between authoring programs boils down to how much it hides the actual workings of a DVD (the abstraction layer), whether it produces standard DVDs, & the number of features or amount of freedom you have to create.

At the lower end Sonic products are easy to use, but may produce DVDs that are a bit harder to edit after the fact in something like PGCEdit - you might have a cell every 4 minutes or so.

Muxman is either free or very low cost (depending on version), does excellent work, but requires more knowledge because it doesn't have DVDA's abstraction layer.

DVDLab versions might give you the most freedom, but they work differently than most & have a minimal abstraction layer, plus their top versions exceed your price.

DVD Author is free, has a bunch of tools and front ends, but you're more likely to wind up using a bunch of tools/programs, though through a front end GUI it may not seem like it.

TMPGEnc products are very popular, haven't seen much about U-lead for a while, but then I haven't liked or used their products for a couple of years now.

mtb123 wrote on 6/5/2008, 11:07 PM

thanks MPM- I just downloaded the trial version of DVDLab Pro, which certainly has more depth than the DVD architect studio I've been using for the last few months- although it looks like a stiff but hopefully short learning curve may be in store.