-
Which DVD authoring program is best?
Hello,
I’ve just started looking for a high standard DVD authoring program for use with mainly DivX files. I’ve used Nero in the past but don’t like its menu creation facilities.
I’ve been looking into Adobe Encore and like the look of its compatability with Photoshop which is probably what I’ll use to design buttons. However I’ve noticed that its probably not the best to use with DivX videos.
So whats the best program to use with DivX movies that allows completely flexible menu and button customisation?
And finally are there any good tutorials on button sub-pictures cause I’d really like to get some intersting button selection highlights, for example a nice funky underline or something.
Thanks for reading and hopefully you can be of help,
J -
6 Replies
-
[Justin Smyth] “high standard DVD authoring program” and [Justin Smyth] “menu creation facilities” do not go together. High end authoring programs will assume you will be designing your menus and overlays in an outside program and just bring in the assets. These systems are very expensive and you didn’t give a budget.
Also DivX needs to be converted to m2v it be placed on a DVD and it would be much better to use the video source files if once again you are looking for high end.
-
Michael,
Thanks for the quick reply.
My budget would probably be around $200 but I could easily stretch if it was going to be worth it!
I would probably be designing my menu backgrounds and button images in Illustrator/Photoshop. Is this what you mean by bringing these in as assessets or would I require a seperate program to create a DVD compatible menu and then import this to the burning software. I realise that this may depend on the software package, but so long as I can import these images for use in the menus thats all I really require!
Thanks again,
J -
$200 is not even coming close to high end systems, but that does not mean you cannot get high quality DVDs. At that budget take a look at Sonic.com they make software for all budgets, up to about $100K.
Yes you want to create your still menus and overlays in something like PS or IL.
-
Encore has far better integration with Photoshop than any other authoring program. It makes authoring so much more efficient if you are creating your own menus (still or motion). DVD Studio Pro does have the advantage of scripting though, which allows for some complex programming to be done with your dvd, however the average person doing authoring never even makes use of it. It also has better default menu templates than encore, however if you are using advanced motion menus like the ones I have available at https://www.precomposed.com , you won’t be using the default templates anyways.
For complete control over every aspect of the dvd specifications, you will want to use a program like Scenarist. It is very expensive, less intuitive than DVDSP or Encore, but gives you complete control if you know what you are doing.
Most of the other authoring applications are designed to be very user friendly, but seriously lack control (almost like using an AOL browser to browse the internet, once you know anything about computers, you wouldn’t be caught dead using it)
Jon Geddes
Motion Graphics Designer
http://www.precomposed.com -
Jon, very cool menu you have for sale. Hope you continue to design different ones and the website is a success.
-
Thank you very much for the compliment, it’s very much appreciated. I plan on releasing another Pro Motion Menu Kit either later this week or early next week that is equally if not more impressive than the previous one.
So just to keep this on subject, I have experience using both Encore and DVD Studio Pro, and I prefer Encore by a long shot for what I use it for. I am aware of most of the bugs that it has, so I never run into problems since I subconsciously avoid doing what causes them.
Jon Geddes
Motion Graphics Designer
http://www.precomposed.com
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up