Mac and DVD Studio Versus PC Question.

[Rob Awesome]

Hey guys, I've got a question directed at those who are knowledge able in the top DVD Authoring programs(most of this forum, I presume).

I'm getting ready to start a project that entails me transfering video footage from a camcorder onto my computer to start putting together a DVD. Now, I've fooled around with the lesser DVD Authoring tools and have decided that I would like to get into programing with a top notch program. So much so that, I've been considering getting a Mac and buying DVD Studio.

My question to you is, is there a program equal to DVD Studio that is made for a PC? And, I've been looking at purchasing DVD Studio off of eBay which involves a risk I understand but all I could find in my price range where DVD Studio Pro version 3, and it's up to 5. What are the major differences between the two versions? Enough to shell out a couple hundred more?

And lastly, would it be better for me to go ahead and start authoring in DVD Studio rather than a cheaper PC component?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[guns1inger]

There are probably three that offer the same power when it comes to coding. Scenarist, Maestro and DVD Lab Pro. I don't believe any of them offer the same ease of use, and certainly none are as pretty.

That said, you can accomplish the same output in each. There is a 30 day fully working demo of DVD Lab Pro, so it might be worth a look-see before you lay out for a Mac.

[OmegaSupreme]

The current version of DVD SP is 4. The major difference between 3 & 4 is HD-DVD authoring. See link for a review.

http://www.macworld.com/2005/07/reviews/finalcutdvdstudio/index.php

[Rob Awesome]

Thanks guys. What I was wanting to do was create a professional looking main menu, which made me lean towards DVD Studio.

The thing is I know nothing about macs, can anyone lend some advice on how easy/hard they are to operate for a beginner?

[OmegaSupreme]

Mac OSX is a breeze, see guide below.

http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/

[rumplestiltskin]

Seems like iDVD 6 (6.0.2 as of this date) would do nicely. The menus it can create are quite nice. If your video contains chapter marks (which iMovie can do for you), you have the option of including a Chapter Menu, as well. Any new Mac you purchase will come with the entire (latest) iLife suite.

Depending on what else you plan to do with this Mac, I'd recommend either of the Intel iMacs. I own the 20" but, if you are not planning to do lots of work on it, the 17" should be okay. Whichever model you choose, top it up to 1.5GB or 2GB of RAM. You can buy a refurb at Apple's website and use the savings to purchase AppleCare at LA Computer Company (www.lacocostore.com). RAM may be purchased almost anywhere reputable but I'll suggest www.macsales.com so you are assured of getting "what works".

Good luck and PM me with any ?'s.

You shouldn't need DVDSP unless you're doing something very complex.

[Rob Awesome]

Wow, thank you rumple.

What I am looking for is a program that would allow me to create a professional menu and allow me to author the movies I'm importing from my video camera. I would also like to add song files over the videos. I know that DVDSP is the top of the line and I enjoy doing digital work, so it would be in my interest.

I was thinking about picking up a resonable Mac somewhere($100-300). Just something powerful enough to run DVDSP. I really wasn't planning on turning the Mac into my standard computer, seeing as how I just built one a little over a year ago.

I wasn't aware of the software you brought up rumple, so I'll do some more research on that. You guys have been a termendous help, thank you.

[rumplestiltskin]

Wow, thank you rumple.

What I am looking for is a program that would allow me to create a professional menu and allow me to author the movies I'm importing from my video camera. I would also like to add song files over the videos. I know that DVDSP is the top of the line and I enjoy doing digital work, so it would be in my interest.

I was thinking about picking up a resonable Mac somewhere($100-300). Just something powerful enough to run DVDSP. I really wasn't planning on turning the Mac into my standard computer, seeing as how I just built one a little over a year ago.

I wasn't aware of the software you brought up rumple, so I'll do some more research on that. You guys have been a termendous help, thank you.

For $100-300 you may not get a Mac capable of running DVDSP. Save your cash on DVDSP and, instead, buy a better Mac (at least a G4) with plenty of RAM and, of course, a FireWire port. iDVD will do fabulous menus with motion and audio. iMovie will let you drop in an audio track that will run during the video (and let you mix the audio up/down on both tracks as needed). A 1GHz iMac or, if you have a KVM, a PowerMac will do nicely.

No matter which one you buy, you'll need Tiger & iLife'06 for all the latest i-apps.

Good luck.

[guns1inger]

You guys are way of base if you think you need to spend hundreds to create simple menus. You have fallen for the eye candy advertising of Apple that says you need to have a Mac to create art. You don't.

What you need is talent. With talent you can create professional looking and functioning menus with something as cheap a GUIForDVDAuthor. Nothing you have specified here as a requirements requires you to spend hundreds on a professional level package.

It is not the package that created the pretty templates they ship with it, it was artists. The same could be created in any half-decent authoring tool by the same people. If you are buying it for the templates, fine. An expensive set of templates, but it is your money. But don't buy it because you think it is necessary or the only way to create professional menus. If you don't have talent, then DVDSP will just sit there, and your menus will look no better than the templates that ship with TDA.

In order of importance, the ten things you need to create professional menus are :

1. Talent
2. Talent
3. High quality source material
4. Talent
5. Good tools (including a good stills/photo editor, a good video editor, a good motion graphics tool, and a good authoring tool)
6 - 10 Talent

[rumplestiltskin]

You guys are way of base if you think you need to spend hundreds to create simple menus. You have fallen for the eye candy advertising of Apple that says you need to have a Mac to create art. You don't.

guns1inger,

I'm afraid you've missed your own point. Why spend the time and effort to reinvent the wheel when iDVD already has a large collection of attractive menu structures and templates at your fingertips?

Of course, you may build your own by modifying the existing templates.

Wait; let me guess. You built your own PC, right?

[videopoo]

guns1inger is spot on!

A authoring platform as nothing to do with the look and professionalism of your menu designs. Most menu designers know very liitle about authoring in fact and vice versa

Those templates are great to impress mom and dad for thier 50th wedding anniversary but have little use in professional dvd design.

Remember DVD is all about design and talent - think about authoring latter - most commsumer apps can handle most jobs fine.

Think more about Photoshop and After Effects than an authoring application.

[edDV]

I'm in the keep it simple camp.

The high end programs mentioned are for those intending a career in the field. The analogy is Photoshop mastery.

The stated requirements can be handled by most second tier authoring programs. You don't know what more you need until you master the next step up.

My advice: Never use a canned menu look for a semi pro project. Those knowlegable will spot the shoddy shortcut right away and devalue your work. The trick is to use simple tools creatively and leave them wondering how you did that!

[lordsmurf]

I use Ulead DVD Workshop 2 and create professional quality menus on a weekly basis. The key to menu visual quality is not the authoring program itself, but knowledge of image and video software, for still and motion menus. In my case, I'm pretty good with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere, I've been using both of them for many years now.

The only thing important with authoring software tends to be with how it handles source, not so much a menu issue.

Even TMPGEnc DVD Author can make some amazing menus, in the right hands. I did a nifty project not 2 weeks ago, using SVCD2DVD as my authorware.

I have access to DVD Studio Pro 1.x, but I rarely need it. It has the ability to use gradient shaded highlights, something I need once in a great while. Aside from that, DVDSP is not any more or less special than DVDWS2 or a few others.

Menu templates are for novices. It screams "AMATEUR!" Maybe once in a great while, a template background or button may be useful, but that's about it.

[BJ_M]

Wow, thank you rumple.

What I am looking for is a program that would allow me to create a professional menu and allow me to author the movies I'm importing from my video camera. I would also like to add song files over the videos. I know that DVDSP is the top of the line and I enjoy doing digital work, so it would be in my interest.

I was thinking about picking up a resonable Mac somewhere($100-300). Just something powerful enough to run DVDSP. I really wasn't planning on turning the Mac into my standard computer, seeing as how I just built one a little over a year ago.

I wasn't aware of the software you brought up rumple, so I'll do some more research on that. You guys have been a termendous help, thank you.

sounds like you need a editor first - before you start thinking about an authoring program..


100-300$ for a mac - will NOT run DVDSP , about 10x that or more will get you into the ballpark -- you will also need photoshop .. so figure about $2300 min. for software and $2000 for hardware if you go that route ...

rather overkill for what you need to do ....

[guns1inger]

rumplestiltskin - if you are just getting iDVD, then that's fine. If you are happy for your DVDs to look just like the DVDs produced by every other iDVD user, that is your choice. However when you are talking about buying DVDSP, you are talking about playing in a different league. Why spend that sort of maoney (hardware and software included) to have your DVDs look just like DVDs produced by an iDVD user ? Canned templates, no matter how good, always look like canned templates, especially after a few months when they are everywhere. I like mine to be original. And when I'm authoring for people who are paying money for something original, that is what they get.

[Rob Awesome]

sounds like you need a editor first - before you start thinking about an authoring program..


100-300$ for a mac - will NOT run DVDSP , about 10x that or more will get you into the ballpark -- you will also need photoshop .. so figure about $2300 min. for software and $2000 for hardware if you go that route ...

rather overkill for what you need to do ....

I already have Photoshop and have used it for years.

The reason I was leaning towards DVDSP has to do with a number of reasons. I plan on piecing together many clips from the camcorder along with short animations I have created. Topped with commentary and audio tracks. I could easily start up Roxio and just plug the movies into there and run a cheap template and burn the DVD and be done. But that isn't what I want. I want a program that will give me artistic control over the layouts, menu and authoring. And from what I have seen, DVDSP offers all of that.

And, I have had a large interested in DVD Authoring for awhile. I would love to invest sometime into a top program that will benefit me in the future as well.

[Rob Awesome]

I use [
Menu templates are for novices. It screams "AMATEUR!" Maybe once in a great while, a template background or button may be useful, but that's about it.

I'm not looking for a menu template. I'm looking for something that will allow me to create the whole Menu from scratch. You mentioned your use in Photoshop, are there any programs that would allow you to create a template in Photoshop?

[guns1inger]

DVD Workshop and DVD Lab Pro can both import menus designed in Photoshop. I use DLP, and Photoshop is my primary tool for still menu layouts. DVD Architect and Adobe Encore can also import photoshop .psd files as menus. In some cases you need to follow certain naming conventions and layer rules, in others you can just sling it all together as you see fit. It varies from package to package.

[lordsmurf]

I use [
Menu templates are for novices. It screams "AMATEUR!" Maybe once in a great while, a template background or button may be useful, but that's about it.

I'm not looking for a menu template. I'm looking for something that will allow me to create the whole Menu from scratch. You mentioned your use in Photoshop, are there any programs that would allow you to create a template in Photoshop?

What does "create a template" even mean?

I open a PSD file, make changes, and save to a new file.

Templates are generally crap. It's far easier to just open a file, edit, and save a new version, to a new PSD file. It's basically the same thing. I have a "template" for DVD menus, but it's just a PSD file I made years ago. I open it, add/change/remove as needed, then save as a new PSD file for the menu. The "template" is never altered. In fact, I have a backup PSD, just in case I do something stupid and hit SAVE instead of SAVE AS.

I do the same for DVD cases. My "template" is a PSD I made years ago. I pulled out a ruler and measured a case, and made a PSD file with the same dimensions. It's elementary school stuff, quite frankly. I'm still amazed at the number of people who run online looking for templates for cases, instead of running for a ruler and using basic skills.

[Rob Awesome]

DVD Workshop and DVD Lab Pro can both import menus designed in Photoshop. I use DLP, and Photoshop is my primary tool for still menu layouts. DVD Architect and Adobe Encore can also import photoshop .psd files as menus. In some cases you need to follow certain naming conventions and layer rules, in others you can just sling it all together as you see fit. It varies from package to package.

Thank you very much. I apologize for being a complete newbie when it comes to this aspect but I would like to thank everyone who has posted to allow me to grasp a better concept.

I will be taking a look at those programs and going from there, out of those four do you prefer one over the other? I know you mentioned you use DVD Lap Pro, is that a good program to use after you can grasp the how to work it aspect?

[guns1inger]

@Lord Smurf - I use the term Template because it is a)commonly used in packages, and b)understood by most to mean pre-designed menu layouts. My approach is very similar to yours, with a folder of different designs as .psd files.

@Rob - There are probably three things you need to consider

1. What features you need the software to support
2. What meets your budget
3. What meets the way you work

DVD Workshop Pro uses a wizard style step by step process, while DVD Lab Pro just throws out the tools for you and let's you work in way you like. These different methods suit different people.

All of them have some form of demo, either fully working or mildly limited. The best way to choose is to test fly them.

[lordsmurf]

DVD Workshop Pro uses a wizard style step by step process,

No it doesn't. Ulead DVDWS2 is actually pretty similar to SpruceUp and some others. It has several tabbed windows where you address different needs (menus, video, preview, etc). Those tabbed areas have sub-tabs, and sometimes even sub-sections within the sub-tabs. It's all arranged in logical sense, and every is labeled. It uses a drag-and-drop interface, for the most part, it's a very visual-oriented workspace.

There is no wizard whatsoever.

[GeorgeW]

@guns1inger
@lordsmurf

DVD Workshop 2.0 Full is actually BOTH

It "walks" you through the Authoring process, and has an available menu wizard for easily adding your assets to a pre-made menu template.

It also gives you an option to create your menus manually (with a library of backgrounds and buttons). You can start a menu from scratch, or you can start by using one of the menu templates. You can add your own menu backgrounds, etc...

Regards,
George