DVD-Lab or DVD Architect II?

[Red96TA]

I've been using DVD-Lab for about a year and I'm comfortable with it, but I also have Sony's DVD Architect II that came with Vegas5. Which do you guys prefer? Are there any specific advantages of one over the other?

The only differences I've noticed is that DVD-A2 seems to normalize my tracks/menus/1st plays whereas DVD-Lab doesn't. Also, IIRC, DVD-A2 will re-encode your audio to ac3 to keep things compliant.

[Hockey Man]

DVD Architect 2 doesn't do subtitles very well. I couldn't read them very good since the only thing it supports is an outline, and it is a very thin outline. DVD-lab doesn't support subtitles the last time I used it but DVD-lab pro does and it has a bunch of effects for subtitles to make them easier to read. Besides subtitles they seemed about the same to me.

[Josef K]

Unless Sony have fixed it, good luck lining up items in your menus. The last time I tried it (version 2 but I gather there's a v2.0b or newer now) there was no 'snap to grid' or similar to help give you a neat, consistant look. The only workaround for that is to use an external editor.

Personally, I would stick to DVDlab since Oscar is very open to receiving program enhancement requests. I feel that DVDlab will move on much faster than most other authoring software. Possibly it won't 100% comply with DVD standards (at the moment) but name me one authoring program that's guaranteed to author a DVD that will work on every single player out there. Besides, DVDlab has a lot more features than most other similar software available so pretty much all there needs to be done is work on compliance with the DVD spec. Oscar's also quite active on the Mediachance forum and actually cares about his product - sometimes it's nice to talk directly to the developer when you need to.

[BJ_M]

dvd lab is a fabulous program --a few bugs, but as mentioned.... good response ...

[Josef K]

dvd lab is a fabulous program --a few bugs

Well there is the fact Oscar still has it in beta status and not released buggy upon the world, unlike other 'final' software I could mention... It's cool he's essentially given us all use of an amazing piece of software free for all these months, even if it hasn't always been perfect. It's shown me what commitment he has to the project and that goes a long way.

[lordsmurf]

A few?

[BJ_M]

dvd lab is a fabulous program --a few bugs

Well there is the fact Oscar still has it in beta status and not released buggy upon the world, unlike other 'final' software I could mention... It's cool he's essentially given us all use of an amazing piece of software free for all these months, even if it hasn't always been perfect. It's shown me what commitment he has to the project and that goes a long way.

dvd lab is not in beta -- dvd lab pro might be ... i was refering to dvd lab (the basic program)


anyway - i wasnt knocking it either !

its a very good program for the money it seems ....

[Josef K]

A few?

True... DVDlab can't be that good if it this beta software will still let you import MPEG2 as opposed to other released, final products... 8)

[Josef K]

dvd lab is not in beta -- dvd lab pro might be ... i was refering to dvd lab (the basic program)

Oh.. heh! It's been so long since I've even used the standard version that I don't really think of it much anymore. When I think of DVDlab I think of the pro version. That's where all the nice new shiny stuff is.

[lordsmurf]

A few?

True... DVDlab can't be that good if it this beta software will still let you import MPEG2 as opposed to other released, final products... 8)

The 5.2 update fixed that problem.
Of course it screwed up something else in the menu creation.

[Josef K]

The 5.2 update fixed that problem.
Of course it screwed up something else in the menu creation.

Talking of screwing:

You could always Ask Sonia...

My name is Sonia. I’m not a real person, but I can understand and answer your Sonic questions. You can ask me about:
DVDit
MyDVD
RecordNow
Here are some tips on having a session with me:

Hmm... Dear Sonia...

[BJ_M]

it makes me cry how sonic ruined a perfectly great program like Recordnow Max ...