What do you use to author your DVD's ?

[JamesB69]

I use maestro. I tested all the Ulead and foudn two flaws. None of them support 16:9 movies AND menus. Number two, none of them recognize 23.976 3:2 pulldown when playback as the correct amount of time. This makes setting chapters impossible.

Maestro may seem difficult at first, but you have anamorphic capabilities, ac3, and it is very stable. Best feature is you just put in the frame numbers in a txt file and import it and there is your chapters. No scanning through the movie. I would use Scenarist but WAY to complicated.

[TBoneit]

What have I used so far,

Sonic MyDVD4.01 (Bundled)
easy to use. DVDs play in sony player but different clips are different titles and can-not use chapter button to change clips only chapters.
DVD play in Apex player, results in 2x ff only trying 4x or higher goes to next clip.
However I keep it on my system since it makes good VCD to DVD imports. A DVD full of VCD clips (3 or so) takes one hour from clicking the burn button to finished and the apex playes em fine including FF functions. And caps good from my ATI 7500. Freezes after cap from ADVC-100.

Ulead Movie Factory Trial version...
Caps from ADVC-100 OK, If I turn on Canopus after starting DVDMF2 only. DVDs play fine on Sony or Apex. Won't burn to my Sony drive. I have to create a ISO and burn with Nero. Maybe a problem with Trial version?
Easy to use, not a lot of features but good for beginner.

Both the Sonic and the Ulead have been stable on my system in normal useage. Sonic in analog or adding dvd mpegs, DVDMF2 capturing and authoring. SO Far, Knock Wood.


Cheers

[ACoolT5]

DVD Maestro is truly the only way to fly. After the first 2 hours of folling sround, you'll get the hang of it. And menu creation, while it is a bit tasking, is the most user friendly for the power users out there.

[oldfart13]

NeoDVDPlus 4.1

a) Refuses to accept the DVD spec Mpeg-2s I capped with Video Studio 6 (Says GOP structure is incorrect but VS6 and 7 say it's okay).

b) Attempts to reencode the video as it has only 3 quality settings (good, better, best). This might be good ONLY if you capped/edited/authored within NeoDVDPlus but can't work correctly using Mpegs from another program...

c) It's editing module is very difficult to use. It looks like the authors really don't understand NLE at all. Again, might be good if you capped and didn't edit, then authored the disk within the program. Haven't tried that yet...

[twen]

I use Ulead Video Studio 6 to capture to AVI through Canopus-50 then using TMPGEnc to convert to DVD and MyDVD to burn. It'll play on both my Sony DAV-S300 and Mintek 1600.

MyDVD will create the disc structure just like a commercial DVD with vob files, the only problem is it requires a lot of extra space to do that and it makes it hard to determine your mpg2 file size. But I found that by using TMPGEnc's wizard and DVD template at the end just increase the file to about 80% of the disc (around 3.5G?) and then bring it into MyDVD it'll usually fit with 100 to 200 MB left.

If I rip from DVD and then burn then I'm using RecordNow Max of Nero to burn. Both provide excellent results and will play on all my standalones and DVD drives.

[mijman]

SO far, I have only used MyDVD, which came with my burner. It performs very nice with what it can do. I make menus and buttons myself and put them wherever I want, and can music with the menus if I want it.

I bought Pinnacle DVD Express, last year, but have not used it. Is it any good?

Also, with regards to DVDit, everyone refers to the PE version. What would be the main differences between it and the Pro version?

I basically just want to make DVDs which support multiple ac3 streams (and encode them), will not balk at my TMPGenc mp2 files, and if possible, motion menus might be nice too.

[learner1]

Adobe has a product coming this summer called
Encore DVD. What do people think about this product?

[Lula1]

Hi again,

DVDLab will be released this week.
Check here soon :

http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/index.html

If you want some details, check the online help file and the tutorials, with some really cool stuff.

Then join it's forum, which I asked to be implemented, and was kindly and quickly done by RastaMan, that forum administrator :

http://www.mmbforums.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?s=375c3c13105ba1cc211e4d4859025cb6;act=SF;f=28

[LeTrout]

Whoa, DVDLab looks like it might be exactly what I need, glad I read this topic all the way to the end I got a Sony 500 and have been rather appalled by the limits of the bundled MyDVD (too used to the flexibility of VCDEasy I guess), and have been wondering about Pinnacle Foo, Ulead Blah, whatever. Thanks!

[MJPollard]

Well, since the person who created this poll so thoughtfully forgot to include an "Other" selection...

Seriously, I use several different apps, depending on my needs:

Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 - When I want to create a quick, no-frills disc that doesn't require a menu, there's nothing that gets the job done faster. Unfortunately, its rigid menu templates (the "customization" added to version 2.0 didn't amount to a whole helluva lot) don't allow for a lot of personal touches.

Sonic Foundry DVD Architect - Pricy, seeing as how you can only get it if you purchase Vegas 4.0, but you get total customization of menus, Dolby AC-3 audio, and heck, Vegas 4.0 is a ReallyDamnFine(tm) video editor. Some teething problems, but it's still a 1.0 product, so I'm willing to be patient (particularly given SoFo's reputation for quality products).

MediaChance DVDLab - This one's still in pre-release form, but it's got much promise. It combines DVD Architect's level of customization with MovieFactory's price, and if the author can get the kinks worked out of it, it's gonna give a lot of programs a run for their money (especially since one of the enhancements that's planned is subtitle support, for which I'd have to spend thousands of dollars on other apps).

Overall, though, I'd have to say that DVD Architect is currently my authoring app of choice. I shelled out $500 for Vegas+DVD during their March introductory promotion, and I can't say I'm disappointed.

[trillium]

Since this post keeps getting revisited over and over again, I'm going to go out on a limb and stand by Lula1 on this one. I downloaded the pre-release version and after the small ac3 kink that I've run into (posted on the boards over there at Mediachance), I can say that for the level of functionality that DVDLab offers combined with the price...
where do I sign up?

I've used SpruceUp! but it can only go sa far...and DVDLab is VERY promising with both what is going to show up in this release and in releases down the road!

[splissken]

I use Ulead's Movie Factory 2.0 for everything - even capturing.

I love how simple it is...and since most of the DVD's I make are of old horror movies that are out of print or my NFL films collections, I don't really have to get fancy on the menus. I do like the ability to put background music on the menus, and even though the templates for menu layout may be a little limited, there's enough stuff there to make the menus pretty nice.

Out of everything I've tried, MF 2.0 is definitely the easiest. After playing with it for just a short while, I was able to start making DVD's...something I had become extremely frustrated with when using other programs.

[ktnwin]

I use PS8 to capture/edit/author DVD. Very easy to use but DVD authoring is very slow.
For the last few days, I bought neoDVD software and this one encode DV AVI to DVD amazingly fast. Too bad that's the only good point about this software. Editing with neoDVD: I have no reason to try that, it's so difficult and too basic compared to PS8. I use neoDVD strictly to author DVD.

[curtw]

Where the h*ll is iDVD?

[pharries]

Pleae add DVDlab to the list of choices. It will become the winner!

[Baldrick]

Where the h*ll is iDVD?

Please stay in the mac forum......This forum is for us with real computers...

Pleae add DVDlab to the list of choices. It will become the winner!

Maybe should wait until the final version has been released....the beta was kinda buggggggggy.

[jsnkc]

I use a Sonic Fusion system for most stuff, but also use DVDIt for simple jobs.

[az1284xx]

Anyone using Sonic Fusion DVD? Second CD (Tutorial/Media) that came with package is damaged and I would like to get replaced thanks

[jsnkc]

You should be able to contact Sonic and have them send you a replaceent.

[spidey]

You Guys forgot SOnic's DVD Producer v3.1.1

It's right under Scenarist in their suite line.

I use it instead of ReelDVD, as it allows different title sets, so you can mix and match mpeg 1 and 2 source clips. ReelDVD is like DVDit, where it renders it all to one title set, so you can not mix.

So I guess my vote would lean more towards Scenarist then.....although I can't even begin to comprehend that one....

[donpedro]

You Guys forgot SOnic's DVD Producer v3.1.1

How much is it ??? I couldn't find price on Sonic's web...

[andydd]

Poor DVDwise. !..Its arse anyway..It plainly just doesnt work..I dunno what you are supposed to do if you actually bought a copy....If it did , it would be quite good as it can do quite a lot and is simple.

I use spruce up, DVDlab is quite cool but i find that it crashes about 90% of the time when compiling...pity coz it looks promising

[timmmay]

Another vote for dvd maestro. I tried ulead's dvd workshop but after a few hours with dvd maestro, dvdws just lacks power and flexibility that you get with dvd maestro.

[Popee]

I use DVD Architect......works great!

[darshansingh]

DVD Maestro. Much, much better than DVDWS.

[txpharoah]

I used DVD WORKSHOP BEFORE, BUT HAS CHANGED TO SONIC's SCENARIST, It's really an un-imaginable product, so fantastic, it gives me fully controll the fiinal product, very powerful.
compare with DVD workshop, DW is just a toy...^_^

Sure, but you can't compare a product that costs more than 14.000 euro with one that costs less than 300! Scenarist is for professional users and not many can pay that much . DVD WS is expensive for personal use, but is still an option.

The sad thing is that most people DON'T PAY for this product. I could ask any number of people out there for the 5th word in the 3rd paragraph of the 15th page (or something like that - I'm not not going to the office to get the book out right now to do an exact test), and they'd either ignore me or get the answer wrong. WHY? Because they don't own the books because they don't own the program.

[Messa]

I use DVDit after trying Spruce,Meastro,Moviefactory and Workshop,NeoDVD, Scenarist, oh yes and TmpGenc DVD Author.

:P

On the surface this chice might seem strange, but I needed a program that can convert avi (usually Xvid with AC3 audio) into DVD's. A superb program for conversion, as we all know is TmpGenc, but the trouble is, this results in terrible jerkiness when converting from NTSC to PAL.

Most of the applications that convert 'on the fly' result in this jerky output.

My only other viable option then is using DVD2SVCD and extracting the Film.MPv and the Sound.AC3, or just using the complete Film.mpg

Using CCE results in no jerkiness at all and is superb.

I can easily import themes into DVDit , use sound over menus etc.

I would like to try the Workshop AC3 version but cost is too much!

[Messa]

WOAHHHHHH...................... hold the front page!!!!

Just downloded and tried DVD-Lab Beta, this is gonna be the winner folks (even though it aint even IN the poll!).

Serious quality, and its all from a one-man-band believe it or not.

This proggy is gonna be bought out by the big boys, so get in quick!

(and no i dont have any involvement with them)

http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/

[ASB]

DVDlab.

First release 1.1 is now out.

[Bob W]

I use NeoDVD Plus (not on your list).