It's old, but cheap.... as B & H is selling it for only $25!!
How does it compare to the more up to date, free or low cost alternatives/equivalents downloadable here?
Would you buy it (or not) and why?
It does not get exactly get an overwhelming positive response in terms of reviews whether here or elsewhere.
Thank you.
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Some comments recently ................ LS likes it
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/318524-DVD-Lab-Pro-expired?p=1972340#post1972340 -
I have played around with a number of authoring tools, and because the price was a steal (compared to the original MSRP), I just bought that $25 DVDWS2 package, since it offered a DLT mastering option. For ten cents on the dollar, it was too good of an offer for me to resist.
Apparently, you have to do a workaround to get 16:9 menus, and a tutorial is here: http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=12880
The value of the product depends on what you want to do, and what your final output format will be. I tend to use several tools, ultimately creating a DVD folder (VIDEO_TS) on the hard drive, which can be further tweaked with tools like PgcEdit (freeware) before going to final output.
GUI for DVD Author (freeware) will give you more flexibility (except DLT mastering), but it has a bigger learning curve.
And I would never encode to MPEG2 with an authoring app. Use a dedicated MPEG2 encoder.
If you have the money, it can't hurt to add this tool to your arsenal. -
Age does not affect quality.
The DVD spec is 15 years old, and the "heyday" for making DVDs was circa 2005. And this was one of those pro tools that dominated the mid-level market at that time, for quality, features and ease. The only true upgrade path from DVDWS2 was something like Scenarist or DVD Studio Pro. It was about on par with DVD-Lab, Encore and Architect, but required less steps and was overall an easy click-and-drag interface similar to TDA.
Never use authoring apps for encoding. Encode in an encoder. (I currently use MainConcept Reference. On a tight budget, TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 works great -- another "old" but perfectly excellent software.)
The $25 B&H deal is about 95% OFF the original price. A steal, if ever I saw one!Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
FAQs: Best Blank Discs • Best TBCs • Best VCRs for capture • Restore VHS -
Works with XP - if you have Vista see: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/showthread.php/ulead-dvd-workshop-1444.html?amp;
Found no comments for Windows 7
Edit: Humm - thats not he complete url that I pasted - wonder why? Anyway, just in case, the form is:
digitalFAQ.com Support Forum > Digital Video > DVD Project Help > Author, Make Menus, Burn Ulead DVD Workshop 2 and Vista?Andrew Jackson: "It's a poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word." -
I do have Vista with service pack 2. So, thanks much for the tip & for all of your informative replies.
Is it safe to assume I can feed an DVD compliant MPEG-2 file and author a dvd without either re-encoding or transcoding it again which will destroy the quality? Does it have this option?
Even though they are closed for a few more days, I should order one of these before they run out. -
Lord Smurf,
While you are available for comment & discussion on the subject of encoding programs, I'm curious what your take is, comparatively speaking, directly betwen the encoding quality between Prem Pro CS3 (which is what I have) and your 2 reccomendations given earlier in this thread.
I want to do the best I can qualitywise, without spending $100's specifically for an app which does nothing but encoding.
Rendering time is also an important factor.
If TMPG plus 2.5 yields appreciably better results I'd certainly like to know!
Thanks! -
CS3 uses MainConcept encoder SDK, and quality is comparable to full MainConcept Reference. I could nitpick, and focus on features found only in Ref, but I don't really want to. Quality is on par to one another.
TMPGEnc Plus is good, but falls well below the MainConcept encoders.
In the future, remember to either PM me, or find me at The Digital FAQ forum, as I don't always check back on posts here.Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
FAQs: Best Blank Discs • Best TBCs • Best VCRs for capture • Restore VHS -
Re: DVD Workshop 2
Unless potential buyers missed it, this is a discontinued but mature product. There will be no further upgrades for new operating systems. Still, if it runs on your equipment you are getting mid-premium authoring features for $25.
I'd bet tutorial books are on sale as well.
I share the concern about encoding in an authoring program. But if you have no other encoders, or a lesser encoder, the included Mainconcept version is way better than nothing.
Adobe Premiere Pro, Encore and all versions of Vegas also use the Mainconcept MPeg encoder. Mainconcept offers a vast menu of licensed features so encoder feature details may vary product to product.Recommends: Kiva.org - Loans that change lives.
http://www.kiva.org/about -
It is still the best authoring program for DVD presently at an unbeatable price. So, unless you like to spend hours ripping, editing etc., to make a HDVD, when SDVD can be done in less than an hour, this is the way to go. How many people, not the elite of this forum, have blu-ray capability? This technology is in its infancy and crude. Personally, I would not waste the time on AVCHD, etc. at this time.
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It should run. See the fix for running Ulead DVD Workshop 2 on Windows Vista and Windows 7
Very easy solution.Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
FAQs: Best Blank Discs • Best TBCs • Best VCRs for capture • Restore VHS
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