Vegas+DVD Production Suite VS Movie Studio+DVD (disregard)

wee_ag wrote on 9/29/2004, 6:32 AM
Ok, been perusing the options for some basic DVD production for my business. I don't need anything real fancy as far as the video editing (Movie Studio should be fine) but I do need flexibility with the DVD creation (i.e. able to customize layouts for menus and NOT use templates). What's the difference between the two DVD authoring capabilities of the suite and the studio? And how much difference will I see in the video editing for basic use?

Thanks!
Brian

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 9/29/2004, 7:12 AM
You'll see no editing differences between VMS and Vegas. In VMS you are limited to 3 tracks of vid and audio. Vegas is unlimited.
No AC3 in VMS. That's sort of a big deal if you are doing wedding DVD's that are over an hour.
You can use manual layouts with either DVD application. You can use templates with either one. Biggest differences are AC3, 2pass, end actions, masking.
The codec is the same between the two (DV) and the quality, editing experience, etc are all part of the same flow. You can open VMS projects directly in Vegas. I really LOVE VMS. Easy to teach, easy to use, and very, very clean to run. Haven't been able to crash it yet, regardless of what I'm importing.
Our new "Instant Vegas" book has quite a bit of info on VMS where it applies, because the basics of Vegas are exactly the same. Of course, no compositing, no Direct X, no scripting...but for 99.00.....can't beat it!
wee_ag wrote on 9/29/2004, 7:49 AM
Spot,

Great! Thanks for the quick response. One question: I'm not real familiar with some of the terminology so what did you mean by "No AC3 in VMS. That's sort of a big deal if you are doing wedding DVD's that are over an hour." I'm going to be doing some wedding stuff in the near future.

Anyone else with further thoughts?

Brian
farss wrote on 9/29/2004, 8:10 AM
ac3 refers to Dolby in general and Dolby stereo would be the thing of most interest if you're authoring long DVDs.
I can get around 80 mins at 6 Mb/sec with PCM audio (the stuff straight from the camera basically) however when you try to cram more video onto a DVD two things come into play:

1) The PCM audio takes up a lot of space and using Dolby stereo which compresses the audio saves room for the video. You can get around this by reducing the bitrate of the video but then...
2) As you encode at lower bitrates the encoder has a harder time giving a good result without making 2 passes to optimise the encoding.

Hence SPOTs comment, with only VMS you loose both of these however 80 minutes is a LOT to fit onto one DVD! I rarely hit that limit in a situation where the material couldn't be split over two DVDs anyway.

Bob.
wee_ag wrote on 9/29/2004, 8:19 AM
farss,

Thanks for the education. Think I'll give the VMS trial a try. Anything I need to be aware of with limitations of the trial version?
bStro wrote on 9/29/2004, 9:41 AM
Differences between Vegas+DVD Production Suite and Vegas Movie Studio+DVD

Differences between DVD Architect and DVD Architect Studio

Rob
artone wrote on 9/29/2004, 10:39 AM
the only limitationof the trial version is that you'll not be able to import and render mpeg files
wee_ag wrote on 9/29/2004, 10:50 AM
Thanks.

I downloaded VMS and it looks to be VideoFactory 2 (which I own). Are there any differences? Should I just save the money and only buy DVD Architect Studio 2?

And Rob, thanks for the links... I checked them out before, but unfortunately am unfamiliar with a lot of the terms. I was hoping for a more laymen explaination, which I got. I appreciate the help.

Brian
Spot|DSE wrote on 9/29/2004, 10:55 AM
There are a lot of new features from Video Factory 2 and Vegas Movie Studio 4. More than just the DVD authoring tool, many upgrades have been implemented.
bStro wrote on 9/29/2004, 1:20 PM
Should I just save the money and only buy DVD Architect Studio 2?

You can't. DVD Architect Studio is not available as a standalone product. You can only get it by buying VMS+DVD.

Rob
wee_ag wrote on 10/2/2004, 8:09 AM
Ok, I've downloaded and set up my DVD, the demo doesn't let me prepare for burning and straight burning doesn't work. Am I missing something or does the demo not let you actually make the DVD?

thanks!
Spot|DSE wrote on 10/2/2004, 9:45 AM
The demo doesn't actually let you encode, no. otherwise, Sony would be having to pay MPEG for every demo they give away. That would be terribly expensive.
erratic wrote on 10/2/2004, 10:30 AM
By the way, Brian, you wrote earlier that you own VideoFactory 2. Did you notice that for $29.95 you can upgrade any version of VideoFactory or Screenblast Movie Studio to Vegas Movie Studio+DVD? Seems like a good deal.
wee_ag wrote on 10/2/2004, 10:47 AM
ooooo! That's cool. Seems like a good deal. Thanks for the heads up.
One more question for you guys - Is there a way to make custom menu designs, instead of the preloaded ones - say for example if I want a cow or something.

Thanks for all the assistance - you guys are great.
wee_ag wrote on 10/22/2004, 8:06 AM
Hello again,

I'm finally ready to bit the bullet on one of these but am a little skiddish... I want to make sure that if I go with the Movie Studio instead of the Production Suite that the output will be the same quality. I will be putting together a promotional video/DVD for the resort I work at and want it to not look 'chintzy' if you know what I mean. We don't have a ton of money (being non-profit) and want to spend it wisely.

Any users out there have thoughts on this?

Thanks again for the continued help.
Brian