Basic questions...

[Gurm]

Ok, I'm sure this has been asked a million times before, but humor me ok? Some of you may recognize my handle from other forums... in which case you know me. Otherwise, HI!

Ok, I just picked up a Plextor 504A burner.

Biggest complaint so far is that the folks at Golden Hawk haven't gotten around to cluing in CDRWin about existence of said burner. *sigh* But Nero works fine.

My questions are as follows:

1. What is a GOOD DVD authoring program that is REALLY customizable? I tried Ulead DVD Movie Factory 2, and it is ok, but the menus aren't really all that customizable. You have to use their templates, and the menu builder is pretty confusing and rigid. I'm unwilling to try Roxio unless someone who HAD their system borked by Roxio 5 can tell me that they DIDN'T have the same system borked by Roxio 6. So... suggestions? I can get virtually anything on a try-out basis, so feel free. Oh, I also tried Pinnacle Studio 8. Overkill, hard to use, and slow as much. Bleh.

2. What is a list of programs I'm gonna need for conversions? I know I'll need VirtualDub, TMPGEnc, BeSweet, ... what else? Gimme a list, I know there are about a dozen shareware/freeware proggies I need.

Ok, that's it for now. Thanks a bundle!

- Gurm

[mkelley]

1. DVDLab. By far the best authoring program out there -- and a steal at less than $100.

2. Conversions? Of what? If you want to make backups of DVDs you'll need something like DVDEncrypter, but that's about it (you can use the VOBs with DVDLab if you want to customize your backups). If you want to backup your DVDs that are dual layer onto one DVD you'll need other sets of tools. Read the guides posted here.

Other than DVDLab I'd recommend good burning software (DVDLab will do it, but I find it better to use a dedicated program). Record Now is what I use, but other folks like Nero.

[Machine514]

I would try reading this thread fro teh authoring program. You can see what the majority of people use.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127594

I use Maestro. Very customizable. I suggest trying that. Once you get the basics of suthoring down you will be able to use this program pretty easily. I think the best way to create menus, is to use programs such as Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere (which I have not used yet, but plan on doing so soon). With these programs you can create great still and motion menus.

The main program that I use to convert is TMPGEnc. If I am editing in Pinnacle (for real basic stuff), I will output as AVI (original quality which is a quick export), then convert with TMPGEnc. I trust TMPGEnc more than Pinnacle's encoder. If I am using Premiere, I just use the MPG encoder. Works good for me. This is all from my experiences. Other people definetly do it other ways.

-Machine

[me01273]

dvdit_pe is by far the most custamizable dvd authoring program that there is, it is a bit complex to use but just read the help files and youll soon find that it is really easy to use, any way it is worth £600

please follow rules, Do NOT advocate warez.../Baldrick