Any Recommendations For DVD / Bluray Authoring Software

[Mark Dobson]

Frustrating.

However there are several copies of Apple Final Cut Studio 2 on Ebay with buy it now prices from £50. This obviously contains DVD Studio Pro which I am still using and running on Mountain Lion.

Be worth checking that all the registration information is present and correct.

[Eric Santiago]

I switch between DVDSP and Encore depending which machine is not being used.
DVDSP doesnt support BD so its mostly Encore.

[Neil Patience]

I went through the same thing looking for the ability to create BluRay Disks. As Eric says DVD Studio Pro does not support BluRay so thats not an option.
Encore works very well and is fairly similar to DVD Studio Pro in terms of operation. I use a simple Samsung SE 506 portable drive which although not the fastest around works well and is not expensive to buy.
One other thing to consider in terms of keeping costs down is the Adobe Creative Cloud option which I think is about $50 per month, or the student discounts are very generous should that be applicable to you.

I have made quite a few BD now with Encore and generally found it to be pretty reliable and a good option.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Ian Bailey]

You can create a basic menu for both DVD and Blu-Ray using Toast Titanium. There are a number of default menus. You can customize the menu background with your own image, but that might be for DVD only.

Obviously it’s not going to have the flexibility of DVD Studio Pro or Encore, but might be worth investigating.

[Anhtu Vu]

If your Bluray will end up being replicated, don’t even bother with encore, it’s still buggy and definitely not 100% blu ray compliant. At the moment you don’t have that many choices when it comes to professional bluray compliant apps. It pretty much boils down to Blu Print, DoStudio and Scenarist.

[Daniel Ludwig]

sorry – I disagree in several ways:

1.) encore is creating spec-compliant output, we tested this several times using sony stream verifier and eclipse verifier.

2.) if you woild like to create full-spec BDs, there´s also another possibility: EasyBD or BDEdit from DVD Logic.

https://www.dvd-logic.com/

and finally it´s a lot cheaper than sonic/rovi, dostudio or sony bluprint.

cheers

danny

[Anhtu Vu]

i use Encore for simple authoring for client to take home but i would never dare using it for replication and i still stand by my post as it’s still NOT 100 % compliant and also missing lots of features that i get asked on a daily basis.

As for DVD-Logic…i used it a while back but it does not offer nearly the same features as DoStudio, just compare with DoStudio and you’ll understand why it’s ”cheaper”. You must compare apple for apple 🙂

Here’s just a few….

Managed Copy support
BD-J Support
BD-Live Support
BDCMF Support
Sony CMF Formatting
AACS Support

and i’m not including sound format like DTS-HD, Dolby true HD that is either not supported or buggy as hell.

If you can find a BD authoring app offering the same features as listed above, that actually works as advertised, BD compliant and cheaper than DoStudio…then you are my hero as don’t we all love cheaper alternative.

Cheers!

[Daniel Ludwig]

Hey Anth,
I don´t know which version of their software have used, but I´m using it as well from early beginning. there have been several bugs that has been fixed since then, especially according to dolby true HD-support.

BDEdit which has been released arround autum 2012 has BD-J support which EasyBD has not (think about the name – you know why it´s called easyBD?!)

and compared to DoStudio: some parts of the software are licenced from DVD Logic, same with BD-Reauthor Pro (for Scenarist) or BD2DoStudio Tool.

according to BDCMF: I know the DVD Logic-guys working very hard to improove the programm, and as far as I know it will be implemented soon.

In the mean time you can create BDCMF using Rivergate Blustreak Tracer CMF, which could implement copy management, too.

and finally sony CMF support: I have created a lot BD-premasters that has gone to replicators all over europe – non of them required sony CMF – all asked for BDCMF, but it might be different within the US.

I don´t like Encore, too – but the output definetly is BD-spec-complient, as it uses sonic/rovi muxer, you might look at the ves-files that will be created while importing assets. there have been several guys (like bruce nazarian as well) that tested with sony and panasonic stream verifier several times – NO errors.

just my 2 ct (euro) 😉

danny