What's the best (and most expensive) Home DVD authoring program?

[Goldman123]

??

Want it to be able to accept subtitles, do a menus, and motion menus.

[guns1inger]

Scenarist

That said, DVD Workshop 2 and DVD Lab Pro can both do all of what you need and more, and for a lot less money.

[redwudz]

One suggestion would be the DVD-Lab series. Or you could just go to 'Tools' on the left and look under 'Authoring DVD' to see a few more options. <<<<<

You can spend a lot of money with a authoring program, but you might check to see what you need first.

EDIT: DVD Maestro is $5000US if you really want one of the most expensive authoring programs.

[guns1inger]

Can Maestro still be purchased new, or only second hand ?

[Goldman123]

So is Maestro the best?

Read it doesn't support VOB files!

Any others? That are professional, super good?

[Goldman123]

How's Sonic DVD Producer?

[redwudz]

guns1inger, as far as I know DVD Maestro is long gone. It's one of the more expensive authoring programs listed, though that doesn't make it the best. Just an illustration. Scenarist is probably a better example, I just grabbed the first one.

Goldman123, as far as authoring, it depends on what you want to do. Take a look to the authoring programs listed to see what you need.

Programs like Sonic Producer are professional grade, very expensive and with a steep learning curve. Not a good choice unless you have a lot of money and time to spend, just my opinion.

EDIT: Noahtuck, sorry I edited that out, still my opinion. I guess if someone is asking for the best, you are in the wrong place. If you are a professional, you should have already have access to the best programs and cost is not a problem. Cost is a problem for most of us, though. I like DVD-Lab, though I don't use it.

[Noahtuck]

And I would look at DVD-Lab Pro before I would consider Sonic, just my opinion.

Not even a question

[Noahtuck]

EDIT: Noahtuck, sorry I edited that out, still my opinion. I guess if someone is asking for the best, you are in the wrong place. If you are a professional, you should have already have access to the best programs and cost is not a problem. Cost is a problem for most of us, though. I like DVD-Lab, though I don't use it.

:P
Yeah i saw you did that after i posted, i was like great, people are gonna wonder where i got that from

But yeah, i was going to mention even dvd lab would be better than Sonic DVD Producer as it's a bit cheaper than dvd lab pro (which i use exclusively now)

Although i was looking at Adobe Encore DVD 2.0, but for $350.00 i still dont really see anything i can do with it that i can't do with dvd lab pro unless i'm missing something ?
Adobe Encore DVD 2.0 does not even support DTS audio
Oop's, just saw it does support DTS audio, thought i read that it did not.
Oh well, dvd lab pro does and it's still alot cheaper.

http://store.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catEncoreDVD

But as you said, if $$ is not a problem, hook it up, but for the $$ you can't beat dvd lab pro even for alot more $$

P.S.
The link in the tools section still lists adobe encore dvd as $550.00 but on their site it is listed as $349.00.

[Goldman123]

EDIT: Noahtuck, sorry I edited that out, still my opinion. I guess if someone is asking for the best, you are in the wrong place. If you are a professional, you should have already have access to the best programs and cost is not a problem. Cost is a problem for most of us, though. I like DVD-Lab, though I don't use it.

:P
Yeah i saw you did that after i posted, i was like great, people are gonna wonder where i got that from

But yeah, i was going to mention even dvd lab would be better than Sonic DVD Producer as it's a bit cheaper than dvd lab pro (which i use exclusively now)

Although i was looking at Adobe Encore DVD 2.0, but for $350.00 i still dont really see anything i can do with it that i can't do with dvd lab pro unless i'm missing something ?
Adobe Encore DVD 2.0 does not even support DTS audio
Oop's, just saw it does support DTS audio, thought i read that it did not.
Oh well, dvd lab pro does and it's still alot cheaper.

http://store.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catEncoreDVD

But as you said, if $$ is not a problem, hook it up, but for the $$ you can't beat dvd lab pro even for alot more $$

P.S.
The link in the tools section still lists adobe encore dvd as $550.00 but on their site it is listed as $349.00.

So if money is not a problem go with Sonic DVD Producer?

[edDV]

If you have the money, hire someone experienced that has Sonic DVD Producer or other. It will take you months to get trained and good at it.

Maybe one to two years to master Scenarist. These are afterall professional programs. They are used to author commercial quality tape masters or premaster directly to the replicator.

[guns1inger]

You will find that most reputable DVD authoring programs either don't support the use of external VOBs at all, or only do it by first demuxing the useful parts (video and audio) out to the HDD. Why ? Because the target market they are aimed at (professionals) don't generally work with VOBs, they work with video sources.

[whitejremiah]

I agree, dvd lab pro is probably a better choice if you dont want a REALLY steep learning curve..........most expensive doesnt always make it "the best" it just makes it the most expensive........lets take for example, antivirus programs...AVG which is free, has been better to me than norton, mcafee, ect...........just kinda something you may wanna consider...even dvd lab pro has some rather advanced things in it that will probably take a while to learn...ive been toying with video related stuff for some time now, and there's still some things i cant figure out with dvd lab pro.....on the same page, though, it is a VERY powerful program, and isnt too hard to learn the basics....

[Nelson37]

Now this is fascinating. Goldman, I see you are currently using Sonic MyDVD, from your other post. This is about as far from what you are asking about as you can get. It works, but very limited.

Personally, I like DVDAuthorGui. Lots of options and has not crashed or produced a coaster yet, unlike DVD Lab.