The Best Video Editing/Burning Software?

[treed68]

I've tried Ulead Video Studio, Roxio's Videopack, and I have DVDit. I would like to have some opinions from others. Regardless of price what is the best Editing/Burning software out there? I would like to be able to make a DVD as close (with moving buttons etc.) to a manufactued one as possible.

[boss]

What about MGI Videowave 5?

[VidJockey]

Hi,

I have been having VERY professional results using the following arsenal, as I call it, of software. Hope this helps!

For editing DV or putting together slideshows with transitions and background music (a little snazier than the Ulead Pictureshow slideshows) I use Vegas Video 3.0a (or you could go with VideoFactory 2.0c if cost is a big issue). For MPEG-2/MPEG-1 editing I use M2-Edit Pro 4.0, simply an outstanding program (I have literally cut out scenes and patched others in with a 1 hour video and rendered a new MPEG-2 DVD Quality video in about 2.5 minutes!!!!), MYFlix XE 1.0 is the cost saving alternative!! For the actual authoring process I use Ulead's DVD Workshop (always use the High Quality setting of 8000KBs and it will not rerender your MPEGs). Other tools of interest to you may consists of ACDSee if you work with some slideshow material, it will help you to organize and order you photos much easier than trying to do it within an editing program! The "Lightbox" feature in ACDSee 3.1 and higher is invaluable! Also of course Adobe Photoshop or Elements isn't bad to have either! I also think Nero Wave Editor that comes with Nero Burning ROM 5.5 and higher is a great tool for cleaning up and conversion to 48Khz. And last, you might want to look into Xara 3D for 3 Dimensional button creation!!! I hope I didn't ramble too much but I think you would be amazed at the results of these programs if you put your imagination to work!

Thanks
VidJockey

[royryan]

Roxio/MGI's Videowave5 is a total piece of crap. You can take my word for it or you can check out the forum at mgisoft.com.

I paid 99 buckeroos for the thing a month ago and have yet to produce anything other than system freezes.

Those that have had more success than I concur that any production over 5 minutes has audio sync problems due to a bug in the program.

The automatic scene detector does not function.

On top of everything, the only support for videowave is 20 bux a call. Well, except for the forum I mentioned, however don't go there looking for help as it is mainly a venting place for the many victims of Roxio/MGI.

Most of the people seem to be heading to Sonic Foundry and VideoFactory2.

[speedy726]

Has anyone tried Pinnacle Studio 7 or Pinnacle DVD express? Apparently, the latter one has the ability to produce slideshows that you can watch when played via your standalone dvd player. I've tried making photo slideshows in svcd format by converting the jpg images into mpeg files that are 5 seconds in length until the next picture is showed. Is this how the slideshow is made? If so, is there any other way where I can make a slideshow disc without having to predetermine the length of time the picture will be showed? I want to be able to use the arrows on my dvd remote to go back and forth the pictures and without having a time limit on each picture. can anyone recommend a program that does that?

[VidJockey]

I would have to agree royryan on MGI!!! I have used just about every Editing "suite" you can think of. Everything from Cyberlink Director, to Pinnacle Studio 7, to Ulead Videostudio and Mediastudio, and MGI has about the most shakiest unfriendliest platform around. Pinnacle is not a bad product for beginners and intermediates. Really, the one thing that discouraged me from using it was the poor results that I got from doing still pictures slideshows. The quality of the pictures is just utterly destroyed!! I feel that for video though, it is a very stable and efficient first step. You might be hungry for a little more flexibility later down the road, like Adobe or Sonic Foundry can provide. I noticed Pinnacle DVD Express was mentioned to the fact of still slideshow creation. The Ulead DVD Workshop I mentioned in an earlier post allows this type of option as well, and it sets each picture up as a Chapter point which may be paused, advanced, or reviewed! DVD Workshop is about the only software by Ulead I have found to fulfill what is promised, most of their other products seem like they would be just wonderful, but about 10-15 crashes into the program you realize it's only wishful thinking!!!

VidJockey

[VidJockey]

To Speedy726,

I can recommend two software packages that will do just what you want!! The first is simple enough, Nero Burning ROM. This CD/DVD burning package can be used to make VCD or SVCD photo slideshows simply by creating a new SVCD or VCD disc template and dragging and dropping your JPEGs as you would MPEGS!! You can then highlight all of your pictures and select PROPERTIES and set the display time to INFINITE. It's that simple! This will allow you to advance or review each picture as you like as though you were running a slide projector.

The second way is a program called DVD Pictureshow. In addition to make DVD slideshows, you can also make SVCD and VCD slideshows complete with menus and sound! The software provides an easy to follow wizard for slideshow creation. You can group pictures together into seperate slideshows (eg. Christmas Photos, Thanksgiving Photos, etc.) which can be selected for viewing from the main menu. Another nice feature is a newly implemented ARCHIVAL option that will save duplicate copies of all your pictures in their native format so that in addition to watching your polished slideshow on a TV, you can put the disc in a computer and have access to your original files for editing, printing, etc.

I hope this helps!
VidJockey