So Many Choices Please Help

[MAXIMUS01CAN]

Howdy All,

Before I get started I'll just let you know that I'm basically a beginner in the DVD authoring field, but I think I know what I'd like to be able to do. First I'll tell you of my problems.

Sonic MyDVD (upgraded to V.5) and ShowBiz came bundled with my Sony 510A. I liked the way ShowBiz was laid out and I tried a couple times with all the transitions/effects/text etc. and edited what I thought was a pretty darn cool DVD. But........after like 4 or 5 hours of my processor being pinned........ "Producing" as it calls it the first time it hung right at like 99% complete?? That really burned me so I decided to try again and the second time after 4 or 5 hrs of pinned processor "Producing" again.....the program seemed to finish doing it's thing. So me all happy now opens up MyDVD to import and burn the job and finds out that when I try to bring the job in I get the cousin to the "Blue Death" screen,......... the old "Error found" or something stupid like that and I pretty much blew a pop valve. So after 10 hrs of dicking around with ShowBiz I'm no further ahead than I was at the beginning. I checked where I stored it and there were folders made and a MyDVD file, but no video files etc. The only good thing is that I learned how to edit and kind of know what I'd like. Since then I've been reading up on Sonic MyDVD and learned in these forum that there was a free upgrade to v5. So off I went and did the download and installed V5 and have done a couple DVD's since then. The only thing is that the effects/transitions/text effects etc. are fairly limited compared to ShowBiz.

OKAY........Sorry about the novel, but I had to vent a little........NOW for the question I need answers to.

1) I'm looking for something that has a good selection of editing features such as transitions/effects/text etc. Something like ShowBiz but something that actually works and somthing that will do the entire project capture/edit/burn.

2) Do any of you Sonic MyDVD users know if you can download extra transitions/Effects etc. in V5.

3) Do all these programs pin your processor so that you cannot do anythig else by wait unpatiently while it does it's thing????

4) Is there anything in the authoring world that compares to the fantastic DVDShrink in the backup world for freeware........man now that's a great program.

5) In MyDVD V5 there are several different formats to save the captured video, AVI seems to be the default, but there's also a few others. I think it may do Mpeg 1 & 2 as well. Which one should I be using and will it speed things up for me and not pin my processor for so long??


Again, sorry about the novel, but.......anyways Well, thanks for any and all responses

Max

The only dumb question is the ones we don't ask

[sheppy124]

I am no a great lover of sonic, would suggust going towards pinnalce stuido 8 or 9 (if you have xp) or ulead they both have editing and dvd author/burning engines in. This could lead to a debat which is better, I personally find pinnacle easier to use and good results. Grab a disc of pc mag with a couple of trials on see which is best for you, You can also get the cheaper versions of pin/ulead than they will produce a dvd complaint mpg, that you could then author with sonic, but would author with tmpgenc dvd author instead of choosing that route.

[andkiich]

I don't think that there is a really good "do-it-all" program.

You'd probably be better served getting the best tool for the job.

I use the following:

Capture: MMC(MPEG2), Ulead VideoStudio(AVI)
Encoding: TMPGENc Plus
Authoring: DVD-Lab
Burning: Nero 5.5
Transcoding/Ripping: DVDShrink or DVDDecrypter

[MAXIMUS01CAN]

andkiich

Do these other products render a better quality end result that say using sonic MyDVD for the whole procedure? Like does Ulead do a better job of capturing the video than sonic? Is TMPGENc Plus faster and better at encoding than sonic etc. Sonic does do it all, but I don't have anything to compare it against as far as quality goes.

Max