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Best DVD Authoring Software for Price?
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Admin deleted post with this warning: Robert, try this again and you will be out of the Cow permanently. We do NOT tolerate people coming into the Cow and berating our leaders. Consider this your first and last warning.
Ron Lindeboom
creativecow.net -
Uhm, Robert.. Why are you being an ass about this?
Alex answered my question well and even explained that DVD-Lab Pro had plenty of growth potential.
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You can download a copy of DVDLab and use it free for a month. Trying it costs nothing.
It has a basic setup and a more advanced setup, so you can use it as a beginner.
There is a built in manual if you go to the Help pull-down menu in the application.
Here is a DVDLab forum link if you need it.
https://www.mmbforums.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=24
Otherwise, the purpose of this Cow forum is for general help on any authoring application. If you get stuck, just ask for help, and we’ll help.
I just purchased Liquid Edition myself a few weeks back, and I have created DVDs with Lab Pro, so I can help you get started with specifics.
There used to be a free trial for DVDit, and I am almost sure there is a trial for Encore DVD. You should be able to try all of these and see what you think.
Encore is pretty basic. Not much you can do in it. Once you learn it, it doesn’t extend much further. Robert doesn’t understand authoring on my level, and doesn’t understand the limitations of what Encore is capable of doing.
The better authoring applications for growth are DVD Studio Pro, which is Macintosh only, and DVDLab which is a PC only application. Both of these offer a lot of bang for the buck.
There are better applications out there, but they all cost big bucks.
DVDit, Ulead, Encore DVD, and so on are mid to beginner level applications. iDVD from Apple, and MyDVD from Sonic are absolute beginner applications.
DVDLab Pro is kind of a strange beast. It cost very little, and yet offers features that rival DVD Studio Pro, which is easily my favorite authoring application for the money until I saw Lab Pro.
In any case, I think it is good to learn the basics on how to author in the general way first. The concepts you learn you take with you to other applications as you grow. I’ve used many authoring applications and I think I have a good grasp on what is good and what is not so good.
Lab Pro is good software.
Just ask for help when you need it if you need it.
-Alex
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One of my big regrets is going with a Windows system versus Mac for my video editing system. From everything I’ve read this past year it looks like FCP, Motion, and DVD Studio Pro are top notch and much better than the Windows alternatives.
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It’s a trade off. Yes FCP, Motion, and DVD Studio Pro are wonderful applications. Liquid Edition is very nice too. I’ve been using the Pro version with the BOB for the last few weeks. On a 3.2 GHz single processor system, I have been doing multi-cam, and mixing formats on the timeline, etc. It’s quite nice, and holds up very well against FCP. The ability to have multiple clip types on the timeline is something FCP would only do with certain add on cards. Otherwise, it renders everything to the timeline standard.
Liquid Edition 6.1 is good software. Premiere Pro is pretty good softare too. The PC has Edius from Canopus, and lots of other choices too. That’s what is so great about the PC. You can build it yourself, and you have lots of coices in terms of software.
On the Mac, you have FCP, and Avid. Both are great, but on the PC, you have many more choices.
After Effects is outstanding software. Combustion is as well. Boris Red 3GL is. Lots of great stuff out there. eDVD is a good application for enhancing DVDs and its a PC application. DVDLab Pro has features DVD Studio Pro doesn’t, and it is cheaper.
So don’t worry so much about the platform. You can be just as creative on a PC.
-Alex
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Brian,
Had I found LE before finding FCP I’d still be on the PC. It is the “grass is greener” thing. I don’t know how Pinnacle kept this thing such a secret. Alex has yapped about it a bit on another thread and I am just amazed. But I’m pretty committed to the workflow on the Mac. FCP, Motion, DVDSP.
I’ve used Encore a bunch as well. I really like the program and the easy of menu creation between PS and Encore is so easy and seemless it is just crazy. But Alex is correct. You will top out and hit the wall with Encore.
If you are just looking for a decent Authoring app Encore fits the bill with no large learning curve. If you truly want to stay on the edge of authoring and really get your hands dirty, then hike up your shorts and check out DVD-Lab Pro. But be warned… there is a little bit more to fumble around with in the beginning. I’m just talking from an outsider’s perspective about DVD-Lab Pro. I’ve looked at the specs. It is actually cheap for the abilities it has. I paid $1300 for an app that can do spec level re-authoring and much of that re-authoring of DVDSP projects would not need to be done if you just first used DVD-Lab from the get go.
All that said, I know Adobe is set to release a new video collection in the Fall. I’ll be watching closely because I own the Adobe Video Collection, but since FCP/DVDSP I’ve not really touched it often (yawn). I just recently received an email from them which was a “survey” about what video and post production. It also had a few boxes for comments and requests.
I gave them a piece of my mind (I was semi-nice). Well I did say one really positive thing to them. I said it was the most professional level apps available to the world of wedding videographers. Premiere Pro and Encore DVD are two fun apps, but they can’t hang with FCP/DVDSP and they certainly can’t touch LE and DVD-Lab Pro.
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Brian,
After Effects is a warrior. It ain’t going anywhere and I’m sure version 7 will have great new bells and whistles as well. Your time will be well spent with that app. Down the road if you add a mac to your game, you can use Motion files natively in AE. Which makes Motion one of the best and coolest “plug-ins” available for AE 😉
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