Whats a good DVD editing software?
 

Does anyone have a good editing software on the market? I have the ROXIO VIDEOWAVE movie maker, but I'm not very thrilled with some of it's features. Most of all the DVD menu screen's. This really is the only thing I don't really like about it. Other than that it is very easy to use, and my disc's turn out nice. Any help would be great. Oh, also where to get it? Thanks.

You will find people who like any of the wide variety of editing programs available. My personal favorite is Vegas+DVD. Many other options are available. Try downloading demos of each and seeing which suits your workflow. The demo of Vegas can be found at: http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.co...p2.asp?DID=437

I've used a few except Scenarist and the like. I started with DVDit PE, but it seems they have all but abandoned the product. I know a lot of people like Pinnacle's DVD impression pro. I have the program, but don't use it as you have to create menus and buttons with highlights in Photoshop first - too much work for me. If you want that, I'll sell my copy to you. The one I've been using is DVD workshop. It's got a lot of nice features that DVDit should have had. I saw the demo of Workshop 2 at the DV show and it looked very impressive. It's not out yet as there are some bugs to work out yet.

Adobe Encore is pretty good as software goes.

You can download and use DVD Workshop from Ulead and Adobe's Encore for 30 days. They have few restrictions compared to the paid versions.

At this level you get software that genuinely works and will turn out DVDs with either a great deal of automation or a great deal of user control.

Lesser products, like MyDVD or DVDit will turn out simple DVDs but just won't handle long-form work and lots of chapters.

I recently switched from MyDVD (and gave up on DVDit LE) because of their long-form problems. Currently I'm using the demo version of DVD Workshop with great success. Next month I'll use Encore and then buy whichever I like best.

Encore I understand is much like Impression Pro where menus and such are created outside in photoshop and AE. Sonic was instrumental in creating the program for Adobe I understand - no doubt the reason for Encore's bugginess. I'm not too excited about anything from Sonic because of their abandoning DVDit and leaving a lot of people like myself hanging with no meaningful upgrades or updates, even though I was one of the first buyers who dumped $800 for the original PE version. I hear similar but fewer complaints from Workshop users, but I personally haven't had such problems. The new version coming out soon looks very promising. Not only can you create motion menus and buttons within the program, but you can also create them in photoshop and other programs as well. Workshop 2 appears to really do professional looking DVD's. When the upgrade comes out, I'll keep you posted on usability.

I think the best is Maestro, but you can't get a copy "legitimately" anymore. It really gives you the power to do just about anything with the format.

I like TMPGEnc DVD Author a lot. I tried a few of the more consumer oriented DVD programs like Sonic Foundry, and the one that came with my HP DVD 300i (can't remember the name) but they were kind of buggy and would crash if I were using large files or starting with AVIs (worked fine if I encoded MPEGs beforehand, but that's too much extra work).

TMPGEnc DVD Author has a lot of nice options for menus, and it can easily create animated scene selection and allow you to specify how long the preview clip is and where it begins, which I really like.

http://www.pegasys-inc.com/

TMPGEnc is also, in my opinion, the best MPEG 1/2 encoder out there.

I think the current encoding leader is the Canopus ProCoder. I use both the LE and Express versions and they turn out flawless MPEG encoding. The full version is said to be even better.

Like their DV Codec, Canopus is said to have hit the nail on the head with ProCoder.

Important to me, ProCoder seems to avoid motion artifacts which is good since my videos sometimes are of moving machinery.

But I'm not very experienced in burning DVDs or preparing video so take what I think with a tablespoon of salt.

I will be very interested in any reports on DVD Workshop 2. Ulead always seems to turn out solid programs. Sonic as the author for Encore would give me pause. I browse some of the Encore forums and they are always talking about the bugs.

TMPGEnc DVD Author
 

Tavys,

I tried the trial version and when I was about to write a DVD (using my Pioneer A05 drive) it reported "Drive not ready"

I have updated the firmware of the A05 but still not luck. I know it's not the drive as I can currently burn DVDs with Ulead's DVD Workshop.

Have you (or any one) encountered any probs like that?

Jack.

if there is a pre-encoded mpeg2 file (with say a .mpg/.mpeg extension). does the DVD software do away with the encoding time and spends it on organizing the menus/animated stuff and burning it?

i don't have a burner yet but tinkin about gettin one soon. can i do my work in vegas then render it as mpeg2 file and then burn it on DVD w/o spending time encoding?

If desired, Workshop will not re-encode any previously encoded mpg2 files imported into the project. It WILL re-encode any mpg2 encoded motion menus as there are buttons, titles, etc to render into the final project. Workshop will also pass through any 5.1 dolby and encode dolby stereo if desired. As a note, I found that Workshop is quite happy if you don't mix mpg with avi. That means all imported video should be either pre-encoded or otherwise allow Workshop to do the encoding of imported QT or AVI files. I have not had too many quirks with the program, but there are other people who complain as one might guess. Their new program looks very promising, but even at the expo it was admittedly buggy. It hasn't been released for this reason.
Anyway, I use Cinemacraft to encode my mpg files. It is arguably one of the best if not THE best offline encoders out there. It produces the nicest VBR encodes I've seen and on my machine it does so at 2x real time. Consequently, I normally export an AVI from my NLE and encode using Cinemacraft. I then import that file into Workshop.

<<<-- Originally posted by Dave Stewart : ... I use Cinemacraft to encode my mpg files. It is arguably one of the best if not THE best offline encoders out there. It produces the nicest VBR encodes I've seen and on my machine it does so at 2x real time. Consequently, I normally export an AVI from my NLE and encode using Cinemacraft. I then import that file into Workshop. -->>>

Yes, cinemacraft is amazing! Can't figure out how it can achieve realtime+ speed and such good quality!

Easy. You pay $2,000 for a little 4MB program.

<<<-- Originally posted by Dave Stewart : Easy. You pay $2,000 for a little 4MB program. -->>>

Which is exactly why I like TMPGEnc so much. I think it looks really good. CCE (CenamaCraftEncoder) might be better, but it's really really *really* expensive. I've done some tweaking in TMPGEnc and I'm very satisified with the results. Even the default settings are usually pretty darn good, especially considering the price.