Which is better: DVDLab or DVD Architect by Sonic

[mtrichardson]

The reason I ask is that I have been using both, on demo, and I feel that I completely understand DVDLab, but havn't mastered DVD Architect yet,,,
Looking for people who have experience with either and what there overall thoughts are......

[Vejita-sama]

Better for what? It really depends on what you want to do? I know that DVD Lab doesn't support subtitles, multiple audio streams, or multle VTS. I don't know if Sonic's program does, or if you want/care about these features.

Bottomline is only you can answer that question.

[LabanB]

Hi,

DVD-Lab can support multiple audio streams and multiple VTS, do a search on the guides page.

Bill

[vmesquita287]

And DVD-Lab can also do subtitles with the help of IFOEdit, I posted a guide about it.

[]'s
VMesquita

[housepig]

Hi,

DVD-Lab can support multiple audio streams and multiple VTS, do a search on the guides page.

I think what he meant was DVD Lab will not author them natively - you have to hack around.

[mtrichardson]

Better for what? It really depends on what you want to do? I know that DVD Lab doesn't support subtitles, multiple audio streams, or multle VTS. I don't know if Sonic's program does, or if you want/care about these features.

Bottomline is only you can answer that question.

OK,,, good questions...... Currently I do not need multiple audio streams, subtitles, so on,,,, although I am sure some day I may want them (although it sounds like DVDLab does them as well) My main question would be, when comparing them, which has more to offer, works overall better, produces better menus, so on... If you had to pick one today, which one would it be?

[housepig]

My main question would be, when comparing them, which has more to offer, works overall better, produces better menus, so on... If you had to pick one today, which one would it be?

again, "better" is a totally subjective term. which is better, a Ferrari or a Hummer? A rug or a hardwood floor? a dog or a cat?

I choose DVD Lab, personally. I find it gives me a lot of bang for the buck, and I'm totally comfortable with it's interface, workflow and process.

I haven't worked much with DVD Architect, but it seems capable.

I would highly suggest you download trial versions of both and work with them, see which you like better and which is a better fit. One will feel "better" than the other.

[falberni]

DVDLab gives you much more flexibility in making your menus, selecting your buttons and frames. It gives you much more control over the the navigation buttons. Making motion background is easy. Making motion buttons takes more doing. You'd have to make a motion button clip in another sw, because DVDLab can not render mpeg. Drawbacks to DVDLab are being fussy about all audio be the same. Also totally lacks any previewing capability. You can only preview navigation with a remote controller. You have to compile your the DVD and then you can watch it on a player sw. You can't preview it in DVDLab. This is big drawback in my opinion. If you don't like how the DVD works, you have to make the changes and compile again and then watch, and so forth.

InDVDArchitect I could not find much flexibility in making menus. It's more a cookie cutter approch. They have a few menu themes and not many frames or buttons. However, making motion buttons is far easier than DVDLab. You can preview it right there with motion background, and motion buttons all working in preview. It has a very large preview window. Very cool. DVD Architect really shines in it's previewing capability.

[Metaluna]

DVDLab gives you much more flexibility in making your menus, selecting your buttons and frames. It gives you much more control over the the navigation buttons. Making motion background is easy. Making motion buttons takes more doing. You'd have to make a motion button clip in another sw, because DVDLab can not render mpeg.

The latest betas have a "Render motion" option that lets you do motion buttons/thumbnails, among other things. I've just started using it and it works well. It renders to an uncompressed AVI, which you then encode with whatever MPEG2 encoder you're using and re-import back to DVD Lab. The navigation and previewing is still pretty poor (it can be very difficult to make fine adjustments to the video loop starting/ending points), but hopefully this will improve.

[Vejita-sama]

No, DVD Lab does not accept multple VTS, multipe audo streams or subtitles. Yes I can work around that but I can not generate a menu to select a different audio or subtitle stream. Nor can I nativelly generate mulitple VTS.

I'm not saying DVD Lab is a bad program. But it's limited. If you don't mind hitting the buttons on the remote it's a good cheap way to author some very nice DVDs. If you want to author and have total control over everything it's limited. No insult, just a statement of fact

[MJPollard]

I have both, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. For example, DVDLab gives you much more precise control over menus and navigation, while DVD Architect provides a nearly unbeatable preview feature and allows combining 4:3 and 16:9 video and different bitrates for audio.

The biggest difference, though, is price. DVDLab is $99 (introductory pricing at $79) and is a stand-alone product, while DVD Architect must be purchased with the Vegas 4.0 editor, a combination that costs $800 (less for upgrade pricing and such). That alone would probably dictate your decision.

[Thinkoba]

The multiple VTS will come provbably soon to DVD-lab also multiple audio will be quite soon. I guess the subtitles will come qfter that.