Oh my, I've seen the complaints about DVDA, but this seems ridiculous. Including the video twice isn't an option (it won't fit). I'm starting to feel a bit taken that I fell for the Vegas + DVD package as it looks like I can't even use DVDA for the most basic thing. This was just for a home video, for goshsakes!

Anyone happen to know what other DVD authoring 'wares can or can't do this? Hopefully one of the cheaper ones can, since I'm getting tired of spending money on the same type of product multiple times just to find one that'll do what I need.

multiple Audio tracks, multiple "angles", and subtitles appear to be relegated to the league of the "big boys" for now. I haven't seen any sub-$500 DVD package that will do any of these things.

To be fair, SF never claimed that multiple soundtracks were supported. Plus there is a demo available, and they make the entire manual available for download, so I don't think there was any reason to waste any money.

I haven't seen any other products advertised below $500 that have multiple audio track support (though I admit I have not specifically looked). Even the $500 apps don't have AC-3 5.1 support, though. I know this is a personal preference, but I would rather have the 5.1 support than multiple soundtracks.

I'm sure we'll all keep our fingers crossed for more features in an update, though. :-)

Mark

Conceptually, I agree that given the demo and manuals, you shouldn't have to waste any money, but on the other hand, when someone is just getting into this area, if they're like me, they don't have a full understanding of what it is I need/want. As you progress, you get a better feel for the things you need. I'm pretty surprised about the lack of support for multiple audio tracks, I would have thought there would be a very high demand for this capability.

I really like what I've seen of the Sonic Foundry products so far, and since I live in Madison I like the idea of supporting a local company. But there do seem to be some areas of DVDA that are very lacking compared to the other products, which is why I think some folks are complaining. When you set the bar that high and then don't hit it with a new release, people's expectations have been missed, and that's a bad thing from a marketing perspective.

I guess I am confused, I put two or more audio tracks on vegas4 and when I render I believe it combines these tracks into one for the final DVDA burn. I have done videos with the origional sound track, a intermitent voice over track and a background music track. It burns to DVD just fine in DVDA after rendering in vegas 4. Sounds like you are trying to edit in DVDA which I never thought off I guess.

I just read a review of DVD Authoring Products in Videomaker Magazine. Sonic Reel DVD priced at $999 was the only system that came close to providing all of the possible features and yet it did not provide scripting and motion buttons. Both of which are provided by DVD Architect. With most of the systems you have to purchase an AC-3 encoder separatly at a cost of $300. Yes, it is frustrating when a system does not provide the particular feature that you want to use. However if you make comparisons, you will find no system under $1000 that performs all of the possible functions. I think you will find that if you look at systems under $500 that DVD Architect fares very well. Price wise it is a bargin. You can purchase Vegas 4, DVD Architect and an AC-3 encoder for less than $500. Sonic DVDit by itself without a video editor is $400. DVD Workshop is $300 and their AC-3 encoder is an additional $299 and they don't provide multiple audio and video streams of preview of motion menus and buttons. Adobe Encore is $600,on top of the $600 price for Premiere, and won't be available until Fall. I fully expect that if Sonic Foundry continues to perform in the future as they have in the past that it won't be long before DVD Architect is the best inexpensive product on the market and will provide multiple streams and sub titles. Just be patient "Grasshopper".

Terry,

DVD Architect is just a version 1.0 product and, on top of that, it was hurried through development in an accelerated schedule. Some companies spend more time generating an incremental release than Sonic Foundry spent making the DVDa product from scratch. I fully expect that subsequent versions of DVD Architect will have a more mature feature set. In my opinion, Sonic Foundry's programmers are the best in the industry, which means that they can "come from behind" and win the DVD authoring race.

Advanced specifications for the upcoming Adobe Encore DVD product say that it will support multiple audio and subtitle tracks. It will let you work with up to eight audio tracks and 32 subtitle tracks for generating DVD titles with multiple languages. Since it is from Adobe, there is a good chance that Encore DVD will support OpenType fonts, which are a necessity for many foreign languages. The planned shipment date for Adobe Encore DVD is "third quarter 2003" with a projected list price of $549. Encore DVD requires the WinXP platform. No other operating systems need apply.

I think Adobe intends Encore DVD to be at least as good as, if not better than, Apple's DVD Studio Pro 1.5, which will be going some. Incidentally, Apple's DVD Studio Pro 1.5 allows up to eight audio streams per video track. Sounds like DVD Architect needs to match or better that.

-- Burton --

Yes, Bear, you are confused. DVD's allow multiple audio tracks so that you can have, say, english and spanish on the same DVD. The DVD player can use the chosen track for playback but only require ONE copy of the video. Other DVDs have a "commentator" track explaining how things were done. DVDs allow up to 8 audio tracks to go along with one video track. These tracks are all played separately and totally unrelated to the Vegas audio tracks.

IFOEdit (a freeware program) lets you author titles with multiple audio tracks.

One other thing, Yes Adobe will probably put out a fairly comprehensive product with its Encore-DVD. However, let us not forget how many versions of Premiere it took for them to iron out their bugs. This new Encore may just be Adobes start to a long road of necessary updates too!

Oh and talking about value, Sonics DVDit! series started at over $1000 a few years ago and many, many are just now getting a version to work for them. Oh, and their programs hardly offer any extras...

I just got done reading "DVD Demystified" by Jim Taylor in order to really get to the bottom of what is possible and what is being limited by the various applications I've tried out. DVD Architect's shortcoming, which some have incorrectly attributed to the "DVD spec" (previous discussions about how menus can work are largely innacurate, the spec allows virtually any type of menu creation/linkage). But what I am finding most annoying is how peoeple keep saying "but with DVD Architect you get AC-3 encoder, so it's a better value". HOGWASH. The AC-3 encoder doesn't do a thing for my ability to generate creative DVD user interfaces with enhanced functionality. Not to mention that I wasn't given the OPTION of purchasing it at a cheaper price WITHOUT the AC-3 encoder that I don't really need. What I am really looking for, and that I hope Architect will produce in a soon-to-be-released next version, is something that provides me the ability to do what *I* want to do, within the confines of the DVD Video application level specifications. Right now we aren't even close.

whew. Rant Mode Off.

Nope, I just want to provide the "commentator" voice-over option which is very common these days. This is fully provided by the various audio track options (AC-# and others) in the DVD Video spec.

I still believe that Adobe Encore will blow DVDA out of the water.
Even if it will be the first release Encore will have what every one
is crying about on this forum. I still use my Old Spruce Virtuoso
and it runs rings around DVD-A. Just the fact that I have no manually
control over navigation in DVDA is the real show stopper.

My 2 cents. Considering sonic foundry most known for their sound, would have been nice to see their excellence in sound be reflected in their dvd software. don't get me wrong, i love DVDA and its features such as animated thumbnails and transparency is cutting edge.