DVD authouring program

[Cato]

I'm now into DVD authoring. it's much more exciting than collecting boot CDs to me.
I want to talk about this with you DVD gurus.

now I have 3 programs below...
TMPG DVD author 1.6
DVD-LAB
DVD Workshop 2 pro

I'm using TMPG mainly because it's the easiest. actually I could create a couple of DVDs on the day I installed it. but it's weak at designing menu. poor fonts, not able to attach BGM...

a few weeks ago, I bought DVD-LAB but haven't made anything yet. because I can't figure out how to use it even now.......teach me how to separate chapters without audio.

DVD workshop 2 pro has just arrived and it will be installed soon. I don't know what "pro" means, though.

so.....what should I buy next?

[Cato]

er.......no.

what's yours?

[twonabomber]

i'm still using DVD Architect...but i use Vegas to split my projects into chapters, then render the audio to AC3 and the video to MPEG 2. when these are loaded into DVD Architect, the chapters load with the media files.

[Rikk]

DVD Workshop 2 is the best I've used. It is quite easy, the menus and everything work flawlessly, it has none of the bugs with commentaries and subtitles that ADOBE is laced with...few functionality programs. Really great program...I wouldn't touch anything else at this point.

[Cato]

Originally posted by twonabomber
i'm still using DVD Architect...but i use Vegas to split my projects into chapters, then render the audio to AC3 and the video to MPEG 2. when these are loaded into DVD Architect, the chapters load with the media files.
are they expensive?

[twonabomber]

yes. and i'm still using Vegas 4 and DVDA 1...haven't upgraded to the new ones yet.

from Sony Media Software's site...

Professional Video, Audio and DVD Creation Software
The Vegas®+DVD Production Suite is a powerful set of three programs that seamlessly edits video and audio, produces 5.1 surround mixes, encodes to Dolby Digital® AC-3 file formats and authors DVDs. From short-form videos to widescreen 5.1 DVDs, Vegas+DVD software provides comprehensive video, audio, and DVD production features for the professional media producer.

The Vegas+DVD Production Suite includes:

Vegas 5 software
A complete solution for digital video and audio production, audio recording, editing and mixing, streaming content creation and surround-sound production.

DVD Architect 2 software
DVD Architect™ 2 software includes an extensive set of professional DVD layout and authoring tools for developing dynamic menu-based DVDs, movies, picture slideshows and music compilations.

Sony Pictures Digital AC-3 Encoding software
When finished with your 5.1 mix in Vegas software, encode either stereo or multichannel AC-3 files for use in surround sound DVD productions.


Platform: Windows® 2000, or XP

Our Price: $799.96

Sony Media Software site (http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/default.asp)

[Cato]

are you rich?

[twonabomber]

if i was rich i would have upgraded by now.

check the warez sites... ;)

[Cato]

all programs there are English

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Cato
I'm now into DVD authoring. it's much more exciting than collecting boot CDs to me.
I want to talk about this with you DVD gurus.

now I have 3 programs below...
TMPG DVD author 1.6
DVD-LAB
DVD Workshop 2 pro

I'm using TMPG mainly because it's the easiest. actually I could create a couple of DVDs on the day I installed it. but it's weak at designing menu. poor fonts, not able to attach BGM...

a few weeks ago, I bought DVD-LAB but haven't made anything yet. because I can't figure out how to use it even now.......teach me how to separate chapters without audio.

DVD workshop 2 pro has just arrived and it will be installed soon. I don't know what "pro" means, though.

so.....what should I buy next?


>>so.....what should I buy next?

A pro (hooker)

No charge for the technical consult.......

[tomballin]

Not my expertise, but my biz partner uses the Vegas 5.

Probably can get you a copy and a RegKey if you want Cato.

[twonabomber]

actually all he's got to do is download the demo, and then the key will unlock the full version.

[jasonA]

Throw all that stuff away and buy a Mac with Superdrive. iDVD software comes installed on it for free. that's all you need, iDVD is so easy it doesn't even have a manual. You will be able to make cool menus, chapters, etc. and it does all the encoding for you.

[twonabomber]

based on reviews i've read, iDVD doesn't quite go far enough. there's things it won't do that other authoring progams will.

[Cato]

Hummm.........

[Panamark]

I just bought a new Fully Digital Movie CAM. Has an internal 4 gig drive, never needs tapes. The software suite that came with it, seems
pretty cool. CyberLink Power DVD Power Director etc.. Very easy to use
reasonable results so far...

I have used TMPG before, great program.

The cyberlink stuff didnt do good PAL - NTSC conversion.

[Cato]

Originally posted by Panamark
I just bought a new Fully Digital Movie CAM. Has an internal 4 gig drive, never needs tapes. The software suite that came with it, seems
pretty cool. CyberLink Power DVD Power Director etc.. Very easy to use
reasonable results so far...

I have used TMPG before, great program.

The cyberlink stuff didnt do good PAL - NTSC conversion.
why do you need such a big drive to record only your night life?

[Panamark]

So I dont need to buy tapes !

Pretty cool, huh. Pure digital.

[pete]

Originally posted by twonabomber
actually all he's got to do is download the demo, and then the key will unlock the full version.

here's the keys - take it for a spin

[Cato]

Hummm.....

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Cato
why do you need such a big drive to record only your night life?


Needs a big drive, for his big nights, with his hot girlfriend, me thinks.

[twonabomber]

Originally posted by pete
here's the keys - take it for a spin

and many thanks to you...

got one for DVDA 2? :D

[Cato]

Hummm.....

[Cato]

any DVD-LAB users here?

I can't understand how to use it even now. help me out.

[twonabomber]

Originally posted by tomballin
Needs a big drive, for his big nights, with his hot girlfriend, me thinks.

but 4 gigs really isn't that big. if i dump a 1 hour Mini DV tape to the computer, the resulting AVI file is somewhere around 4 gigs. if he's recording in something other than DV (maybe direct to MPEG 2) he'll probably get more recording time.

i'd get one of those strictly for the convienience...'cause buying tapes all the time is a pain in the ass. on the other hand, when the drive is full, you've gotta dump it, no swapping in a new tape.

[twonabomber]

Cato...

Vegas is also a killer audio editor. it's grate for splitting up large WAV files, or setting CD track markers in a big file. even lets you burn a disc.

[tomballin]

Originally posted by twonabomber
but 4 gigs really isn't that big. if i dump a 1 hour Mini DV tape to the computer, the resulting AVI file is somewhere around 4 gigs. if he's recording in something other than DV (maybe direct to MPEG 2) he'll probably get more recording time.

i'd get one of those strictly for the convienience...'cause buying tapes all the time is a pain in the ass. on the other hand, when the drive is full, you've gotta dump it, no swapping in a new tape.

Re: 4GB, yeah but he’s shooting mpg format, like most, I presume, so 4GB will last a while.

Beside even an 1 hour max, who says Panamark could last that long, baaawaaaa!

Yeah, you start messing with DV format conversion you better have a PC and HD with serious balls.

I’ve been remastering DLR PR videos, plus finishing up the DLR New Years 04–Orlando show video compilation.

Like one PR clip is 75 MB wmv format, and I converted it to DV-AVI format (actually there was some conversion steps in between, but…) and afterwards the converted file was 3.3 GB.

[twonabomber]

they said i couldn't do it...but when i first bought my Canon Mini DV cam...i was capturing to my old Pentium I machine. conversion took forever, and i was limited by Win 98's file size limits...but it worked.

[pete]

Originally posted by twonabomber
and many thanks to you...

got one for DVDA 2? :D

when you run the above attrached generator, you will see where it says "Vegas 5.0" that it is actually a scroll down menu. DVDA 2 is also an option .

:)

[twonabomber]

aha! you da man!

[pete]

Originally posted by twonabomber
aha! you da man!
:gulp: Cheers!

[Cato]

Originally posted by twonabomber
Cato...

Vegas is also a killer audio editor. it's grate for splitting up large WAV files, or setting CD track markers in a big file. even lets you burn a disc.
um. twona-kun. any chance to see your best work on DVD?
mine is the Nuge comp, so far. how did you feel that?

[twonabomber]

that was good. i like the way the still pics lead into the vid clips.

i'm just starting to get into doing motion menus. so far i've done a still pic in the background, with text over that and music behind. in other words...i have yet to create my definitive masterpiece.

[Panamark]

Originally posted by tomballin
Re: 4GB, yeah but he’s shooting mpg format, like most, I presume, so 4GB will last a while.

Beside even an 1 hour max, who says Panamark could last that long, baaawaaaa!



I outlast the 4gig drive ! ;) No Problemos

Actually you can set the cam to VHS quality and get six hours
on the same 4gig drive. Not as nice as the MPEG2, but still good
quality.

Six hours and Im usually ready for a beer.

[Panamark]

This is after filming my train set of course ! ;)

[Panamark]

You guys are terrible !!

[Panamark]

:rockit2:

[twonabomber]

wow.

i'm going through the "new features" file for DVDA2...damn. i just got to where i can do stuff quickly on DVDA1...and i have a couple projects i'm working on that i'm trying to decide if i want to use DVDA2 to make. i'll try to figure it out over the weekend...

[Cato]

whatever you make on DVD, please use AC-3 or linear PCM for audio

[twonabomber]

AC3, because it's a smaller file and you get your full two hours of video.

[tomballin]

Originally posted by tomballin
Beside even an 1 hour max, who says Panamark could last that long, baaawaaaa!



Originally posted by Panamark
I outlast the 4gig drive ! ;) No Problemos

Actually you can set the cam to VHS quality and get six hours
on the same 4gig drive. Not as nice as the MPEG2, but still good
quality.

Six hours and Im usually ready for a beer.

woooaaaa, 6 hours, you’re the man. Hail to the F-Chief.

On your VHS comment:

Ya know I think a lot of people are making a mistake with this DV format stuff. A lot of time, because of the source, there is no increase in video quality, in fact many times to me the video looks worse because of over-pixilization/distortion caused by going to these massive resolutions/frame rates available with this format.

We have to remember Hollywierd got the market into DVD’s because it afforded much better copyright protection format than VHS, not because it was better video quality in many cases.

I mean it’s like the FLAC controversy, if your source isn’t HQ/HR why screw with these massive file size DV formats.

Second, I see people spending all this time making DVD’s from bootlegs, but not spending the time necessary to really cleanup and edit the bootleg source. This is what takes boatloads of time, not the conversion to DVD.

Accordingly the end product doesn’t look any better than the VHS tape it was on, only has a much longer shelf-life.

Just my 3 cents.

[twonabomber]

it's all convienience for me. one day i'd like to get rid of the six boxes of VHS and Beta tapes i have sitting around.

[tomballin]

Originally posted by twonabomber
it's all convienience for me. one day i'd like to get rid of the six boxes of VHS and Beta tapes i have sitting around.

No kidding, and don't get me wrong on what I was saying. Nice things about DVD's is they will hold a huge amount of data.

>>get rid of six boxes of VHS

I have a whole wall of music and other VHS's. Don't know how many. A friend roughly counted once and estimated around 525 videos. I don't know where the hell a lot of them even came from. Also a lot are very rare music vids/bootlegs that I am worried about the age of the tape on many of them.

Thank God video software and high quality burners have come down dramatically in price.

Be Well........

[Cato]

I'm starting dumping my VHS tapes....

[Cato]

:gulp:

[Panamark]

Originally posted by Cato
I'm starting dumping my VHS tapes....

With my cam you can record in VHS format, without tapes..

Here is a link

http://www.jvc.com/presentations/everio/

[Panamark]

I got the cube style.

[Cato]

Originally posted by Panamark
With my cam you can record in VHS format, without tapes..

Here is a link

http://www.jvc.com/presentations/everio/
huh?

:gulp:

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Panamark
I got the cube style.

PM that is a nice shooter bro. Man, they are making them smaller and smaller.

......I need a new girlfriend with a better rotating grip

[Panamark]

Thanks TOM. Its a great toy. The DVD recording option is awesome.
So clear, it interfacesby USB 2 (not firewire) and comes with great
software. If you have a DVD burner, you can burn directly to DVD
from the camera. (Via the USB) Its like single click, and there you
have it..

CATO, it records six hours of VHS quality video, digitally onto its
internal hard disk. You can then uplaod it to PC, whatever...

[twonabomber]

just picked one of these up today...

http://contourdesign.com/shuttlepro/shuttlexpress_w_logo1.gif

cool little jog/shuttle thingy. had a giftcard to burn and only cost me $18 outta pocket.

the center dial moves forward/back by one frame, and the outer dial scrubs back and forth. if you find the sweet spot, video/audio plays at the normal speed...turn it a little and it's slo-mo, all the way and its fast forward/reverse. five programmable buttons too...pretty damn cool. downloaded the most recent driver and it's got Vegas 5 and DVDA 2 templates already loaded in.

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Panamark
Thanks TOM. Its a great toy. The DVD recording option is awesome.
So clear, it interfacesby USB 2 (not firewire) and comes with great
software. If you have a DVD burner, you can burn directly to DVD
from the camera. (Via the USB) Its like single click, and there you
have it..

CATO, it records six hours of VHS quality video, digitally onto its
internal hard disk. You can then uplaod it to PC, whatever...

Well good PM, because you are the new R.A. Australian concert reporter.

Your first assignment is below.

http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16646

Rare Videos: Joe Satriani
Tomba’s Masters Series

This is a video compilation of some rare and awesome Joe Satriani, and friends, live performances and studio work. You need to be using a download accelerator application on some of large videos.

Joe tours Australia in March, and U.S in April 2005. I am sure SuperMod Panamark will have a great video for use of the show with his new digital camera, when Joe plays Sydney.

[Panamark]

And TOM has kindly agreed to refund my $2000 if the cam is bounced off me :)

[Cato]

DVD-LAB sucks. I'll dump it.

:gulp: