Movie Studio needs to dump MyDVD and add a lite version of DVD Architect. If this forum is any indication, many/most users don’t use MyDVD because of its very limited capability. That means you are paying for software you’re not using and you have to add the price of a DVD Authoring application to the price of Movie Studio when determining which package to buy. Movie Studio’s chief competitor, Pinnacle Studio 9, has some pretty robust DVD authoring capabilities. They are leveraging their high end DVD software in their low end product. It would be wise for Sony to do the same and at least upgrade the DVD side of the suite.

Pinnacle Studio 9 also added VST plugin support (now that Pinnacle bought Steinberg) so if Sony is to remain competitive they should probably add the DirectX support that Vegas has to Screenblast Movie Studio. You can now add plugins to Pinnacle Studio 9 but not Screenblast Movie Studio. The sub-$100 video market is fierce.

IMHO, Pinnacle Studio still has an edge feature wise with including SmartSound and Title Deko, and offering Hollywood FX Pro for a small upgrade fee. Sony still has an edge with offering 3 video tracks and is a much more stable platform, but it would be nice if Sony contacted SmartSound and made a deal to include Quicktracks in both Screenblast and Vegas. Then contact Boris and ask for a version of Boris Factory for Screenblast. While Boris Factory cannot compete with Hollywood FX, its at least something in that area. That would really bring the feature set over the top in my opinion.

~jr

Maybe the price cut is aimed at making the product more competitive. I used Pinnancle studio 8 and had nothing but problems. If 9 has made any improvments in this area maybe I should take a second look.

I wasn't aware that myDVD was the authoring app. I assumed it would be a "lite" version of DVDA.

Thanks for the info.

Pinnacle Studio 9 user here. (in addition to Screenblast, & soon, Vegas 5) It runs quite well for me, but it took a LONG time, a lot of aggravation and a fair amount of $ to get to this point.

Studio 9 is built upon 8's code base, so it would not be wise to assume that your luck would be significantly better if you're trying to run on the same hardware that caused trouble with 8. Some users feel that 9 is more stable than 8. I have no opinion on that, but would suggest that "it depends."

An improvement over MyDVD would be a great enhancement to Screenblast, which is a wonderful tool.

I was not implying that Studio 9 was any more stable than Studio 8. Or that Studio 8 actually worked as advertised in the first place because for all its wonder features I could never get it to burn a DVD without failing. But there are people who claim Studio works for them. (of course there are people who claimed the world would end by the year 2000 so don’t believe every thing you hear) ;-)

I use Studio 8 for SmartSound and Hollywood FX Pro along with Vegas 5+DVD. Studio is stable enough for me to make those two features work for the 5 minutes it takes to use them. If it wasn’t stable for you, I wouldn’t even try Studio 9. It’s the same code base. I was just answering the question, what new features would you like to see. Screenblast Movie Studio and Vegas are the most stable pieces of software I’ve ever used. Studio 8 is the exact opposite. I was just comparing features because this is what new users are going to do before they buy.

~jr

JohnnyRoy, have you written up your opinion of DVD Architect 2 yet on the Vegas forum or anywhere else? I've read many of your posts and respect your opinions.

My copy of Vegas 5+DVD arrived yesterday, and I'm very interested in the new functionality built into the burning module. (I still use Studio 9 for DVD authoring and burning, but would be happy to try something else and get away from the unstable world of Pinnacle -- despite the fact that S9 works well for me at the moment. Who knows what the next patch might break?)

Thanks, I try and stay objective but its hard some times.

I haven’t written anything about DVD Architect 2 but I can give you my first impressions. I’ve made two DVD’s with it so far and it does everything I wanted and more. It is better than Studio 9 because it has more far more capabilities. First you have a hierachical view of your DVD layout on the left and see exactly where everything is linking to. In Studio 9 all you have is a linear timeline to represent the DVD hierarchy. How do represent a hierarchy with only straight line? (answer: you don’t’!)

In DVDA2 you can have a menu play and if no button is hit after a preset period of time you can auto select a button and start playing. You have a lot of control over end actions including chaining to another video, returning to the last menu, retuning to the top menu. etc. For menus you can not only put buttons anywhere you want linking to anything you want, but you can create hidden buttons and create your own masks for buttons so you could have an arrow pointing to the buttons that moves with the selection. (or outline a button with a ring of fire and have the ring move from button to button). You have multiple audio tracks so you can have a directors cut of your video where you comment on what people are seeing. You can add the same media multiple times on different menus and set different in and out points but the actual media is only added to the DVD once and just linked to from the various menus. (This allows you to have a Play All button and individual video buttons like on a special features menu) The list goes on and on. There’s so much that DVDA2 does, it just doesn’t make any sense to use anything else.

Here’s what you do: Go to imageBEAM and watch the DVD Architect 2 Seminar from NAB 2004 last month. This will really show you what DVDA2 can do. Then download this PDF file (DVDA New Features) and follow the tutorial lesson. Gary Rebholz, the same guy who gives the Seminar, wrote it and its very easy to follow. This will get you up to speed in no time. Trust me, you won’t bother to burn another DVD in Studio 9 again. ;-)

~jr