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Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro X Looking For Best CD/BluRay DVD Authoring Software?

  • Looking For Best CD/BluRay DVD Authoring Software?

    Posted by Ray Sherman on January 25, 2020 at 1:19 pm

    Hi, I’m having a hard time finding decent CD/BluRay DVD read/write Authoring Software. I was under the impression that Roxio Toast 18 Pro would be a the way to go but, unfortunately I’ve seen some people having issues with it. I’ve tried some of the free one’s but, there’s always something missing along with causing concern of stability. I have no problem purchasing good stable software that doesn’t hiccup. I don’t want a subscription service, it simply wouldn’t pay for itself for my situation. If anyone here could give me a good recommendation, I sure would appreciate it. Thank you. Ray
    2016 15″ MacBook Pro w/ touchbar
    OS Mojave 10.14.6

    Michael Grenadier replied 3 years, 10 months ago 7 Members · 12 Replies
  • 12 Replies
  • Jeff Kirkland

    January 25, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    How complicated a DVD do you need to make?

    For just load and play, I tend to use FCPX or Motion to make the DVD. For actual authoring, including scripting for interactive menus etc, I haven’t found anything that’s still being supported that’s better than DVD Architect. It’s a Windows program but it’s cheap and works perfectly under an emulator on the Mac.

    —-
    Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer & Cinematographer
    Hobart, Tasmania | Twitter: @jeffkirkland

  • Ray Sherman

    January 25, 2020 at 7:54 pm

    Thanks fpr the help…….. FCPX would be fine but, I also need stable CD software. I do a combination of video editing and DJ work therefore, I would like something that handles both well. I used to have DVD Architect years ago which I ran Sony Vegas Pro 11 with…….. now gone. It’s unbelievable that there’s quite a few people that have problems with Roxio Toast software. I would have thought that they had it together since they have been around a long, long time. I can and have burned CD’s using iTunes but, I would still like something better than that for burning. Thanks, Ray

  • Jeff Kirkland

    January 25, 2020 at 8:25 pm

    I missed the CD part. I’ve always used Toast for audio CDs and never had an issue but I haven’t upgraded in a few years so maybe the newer version introduced some bugs?

    —-
    Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer & Cinematographer
    Hobart, Tasmania | Twitter: @jeffkirkland

  • Ray Sherman

    January 25, 2020 at 8:56 pm

    I was all in on purchaasing Toast 18 Pro but, I thought I better look at some reviews. Currently there seems to be 32bit and 64bit issues in regards to reliability. One thing that turned me off is when you go to check out they have a couple options for you such as;

    At $120.00 I.M.O. this is nothing more than greedy………….. I’ve never come across a company that wants to charge you to retrieve a purchased code. Thanks again for trying to help me out, I sincerely appreciate it. Ray

  • Devin Terpstra

    January 28, 2020 at 3:24 pm

    We author 2000 DVDs a year with DVD Studio Pro on 9 year old Mac Pros. DVD SP is rock solid and does some pretty complex authoring. I’m guessing you may be able to find a old Mac Pro with FCP installed for a very reasonable price. With that you get the old iTunes that was great for making mix CDs in the day.

  • Ray Sherman

    January 28, 2020 at 6:17 pm

    Thank for the help……. It’s a shame that they did away with DVD SP. Unfortunately, I only have my 2016 MacBook Pro. The search is on…….. Thanks again. Ray ????????

  • Drew Lahat

    February 14, 2020 at 10:13 pm

    Sorry I didn’t see this thread 3 weeks ago. ☺

    I run a full small post-house “facility” and I have a few clients for whom authoring reliable, quality BluRay’s and DVD’s is a requirement. It took a lot of research to come up with a solution that works for me.
    My advice:

    1. Forget about finding a “good” solution, you’re gonna have to make do with what’s available and what works for you. I think that if you’re this picky about Toast’s nagging upselling tactics, you’re never gonna end up with any solution. ???? From what you shared, I think they’re bad form, but hardly a dealbreaker. There are bigger concerns.
    In all likelihood, forget about finding a good solution without a virtual machine to run Windows on, or even investing in a PC or old Mac, if your authoring work needs justify it.

    2. My basic requirements include strong support for subtitles. I think that after 18(!) versions it’s a bit of a joke that Toast hasn’t developed that capability, which sets apart “authoring” software from disc burners that can ‘also make video discs’. That said, I can’t live without Toast. ☺ It runs on Mac, and does an automatic verification pass, which some other tools shockingly lack. So I use Toast all the time, but only to burn the complete image files of my authored discs.

    3. DVD Architect: Unfortunately, my experience was drastically different than Jeff’s. It crashed more than any other authoring software I tried, and another dealbreaker for me was that it couldn’t import SUP files nor subtitle bitmaps. Point is, your own mileage may vary – whether you read Jeff’s opinion, mine, or the Toast reviews.

    4. Encore CS6: I’m not sure what’s the state of Encore’s availability, but it’s a love-hate thing. Some features make it very convenient, but it can be buggy as hell. And for me, the stupid requirement for 5-frame gaps between BluRay subtitles was a dealbreaker. Also, you’ll need an emulator anyway to run it (like Parallels, to run an old OS X in a virtual machine inside your Mac), so at that point you might as well use Windows.

    5. Apple DVD Studio Pro: An excellent, legit, powerful authoring software – for DVD’s only. ☹ Will require older OS X in a VM.

    6. TMPGEnc Authoring Works: This is actually my recommendation to try. Weird interface, but it is quite capable. Tbh I tried it and had too many bugs, but their support team seemed willing to work on them. Will require Windows in a VM.

    7. So what do I use? Encore and DVD Studio Pro for DVDs (with some cursing), and for BluRays…. tsMuxerGUI (!) with a smattering of hacky Windows apps (in a VM) to help it work. There’s a build that runs natively on Mac, it “eats” BluRay H264 files from Adobe without reencoding (which is a big deal), and is super fast. The downside? It’s not an “authoring software” as per the above definition, forget about menus.

    Hope this helps.

  • Ken Bennett

    March 20, 2020 at 7:28 pm

    Ray, I’m in the same boat. I need a new DVD/BD authoring software that supports closed captions/subtitling. Ive spent a week search for something. Can’t get Encore CS6 on my Mac to accept CC/subtitles files. I used DVDA way back when I was on Sony Vegas Pro 12 but never looked into CC or subtitles.

    If you find something, let me know.

    Ken Bennett
    Video Adventures
    Capturing Your Life’s Adventures!

  • Ray Sherman

    April 17, 2020 at 4:47 pm

    Sorry for the late reply…. Thank you everyone for your help and information……. I haven’t really found anything but, I am on the edge of going with Toast Pro 18. Thanks again, your help is more tha appreciated. Keep safe. Ray

  • Ray Sherman

    April 17, 2020 at 4:49 pm

    Sorry for the late reply…. Thank you everyone for your help and information……. I haven’t really found anything but, I am on the edge of going with Toast Pro 18. Thanks again, your help is more than appreciated. Keep safe. Ray

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