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DVD Menu Creator Software?
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:20 pm
by fraught
I currently use Pinnacle Studio 10Plus to edit my work as well as to create and author the DVD.
My problem is that i'm having a huge issue with one of my productions in that it wont create the DVD Menus correctly. Is there any other packages out there that will just create the DVD Menu's and then author it?
Re: DVD Menu Creator Software?
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:00 pm
by Mike Shaw
DVDit is the one prosumers use, but it costs a lot of money - like, 3 or 4 times the cost of Studio. It does somethiing which no other 'in-built' DVD authoring system does to my knowledge - allows menu returns from each chapter AND for the whole movie to be played through on one click. It can be done in Studio (and others), by putting the movie on thje DVD twice - once with the returns on Chapter points, and the second time, selected by a menu 'Play All' button, with only one 'return to menu' at the end.
I have to say, having beta tested every single version of Studio from S400, Studio 10 was, in my opinion, one of the worst at launch. Worse even than Studio 8, and that's saying something. They did sort of get it working by ther time it reached its last invocation. The problem was they switched the basic engine to a 'lite' version of the engine in Avid/Pinnacle Liquid, and it (in my opinion) was brought to the market too soon. Bugs proliferated. The current version is Studio 12 - and that is as stable as a rock (IMO). Best Studio version there has been to date.
I don't use Studio any more - I switched to Avid Liquid/Edition about 6 years ago, and never looked back. However, that program is going through a metamorphis as well at the moment - being completely re-written from the bottom up (or top down) because the original code got too cluttered to cope with any more camera equipment and computer systems.
Studio 12 may be your best bet - demo versions are available for download, but I don't really know how they are 'limited - on features, on time, or with a watermarked output. Worth trying though to see if it could solve your DVD menu problem.
Which is what, btw?
Re: DVD Menu Creator Software?
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:24 pm
by daveswan
Have you tried DVDLabPro from Mediachance? It may be a bit pricey now with the falling pound, but as I recall it has one of the most detailed DVD authoring abilities this side of Apple's DVD Studio. I thinl they still have a 30 day trial available.
Dave
Re: DVD Menu Creator Software?
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:03 pm
by Dave Watterson
Playing into my role as mean-git ... try DVD Flick which is FREE from http://www.dvdflick.net
There are lots of programs which will create all the VOB BUP and so on files. The general name for them is "DVD Authoring" programs. Wikipedia lists several at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_authoring
I have not used most of them but I've looked at their web pages and http://www.dvdflick.net looked good ... so I downloaded it and tried it for you. It includes everything you need to make a DVD. (Some other programs ask you to download specialist modules from other websites. That is no problem, just a nuisance.) As always I saved the download to a file and checked it with my anti-virus program. It was clear.
It installed easily on my Windows XP machine and without reading the guide notes I tried it out. I used an AVI file and a WMV file and created a simple menu. It all worked easily and in quarter of an hour I had a DVD. Then the ultimate test: I put it in my Sony set-top box ... it played perfectly.
What have you got to lose?
Dave
Re: DVD Menu Creator Software?
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:15 pm
by fraught
I've downloaded that DVD Flick... will give it a go and see what happens.
