Alex Alexzander
Forum Replies Created
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If you have access to a PC with a SCSI card that you can attach your DLT drive to, you can use Gear Pro Mastering Edtion. In fact, you can download a free 60 day trial and do this for free.
gearsoftware.com
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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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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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I’m not worried about it James. My original answer was perfect. If Robert is upset by my opinion, he’ll get over it.
-Alex
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The question was, what is the best for the money.
Answer is clear: DVDLab.
Want easy, DVDit from Sonic is easy.
All other DVD authoring applications use the method of background plus overlay for menus, or use templates. Only Encore DVD has a crazy method of defining buttons through the use of layers with (=), and (+) and so on. If its easy you want, Encore DVD isn’t it. I can think of easier.
Robert, read what the user posted: “I would like the DVD Authoring software to have plenty of room for growth potential as my skills continue to grow.”
Please explain to me why you think Encore DVD has greater room for growth over DVDLab Pro. I’d love to read your report.
Encore has no scripting. No access to registers at all. No ability to adjust the VTS order, which is very bad for DVD9 titles. It is based on the Sonic engine for DVDit, which in my opinion is even easier then Encore DVD. So why bother with Encore when you can get Sonic’s application for less. It’s more straight forward, and it has the same limitations.
The only thing Encore has going for it, is it tie in to Photoshop, which is completely non-standard for anyone designing DVD menus. All other applications use backgrounds and overlays, and learning that concept rather than Encore’s concept is better for the beginner because it leaves him with something he can take to another authoring application.
Sonic Producer for example, background and overlay. DVD Studio Pro, background and overlay. DVDLab, background and overlay. The list goes on and on. Why not learn how it really works the first time?
-Alex
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You can use Photoshop and After Effects to design menus for DVDLab Pro, DVDit, DVD Studio Pro, and just about any authoring system I can think of.
Encore doesn’t have a tenth of the functionality of DVDLab. If you want an authoring application where you can’t even define the VTS order, go with Encore. It’s wholely based on teh Sonic DVDit engin. May as well just get DVDit.
-Alex
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Try DVDLab Pro. Version 1.52 is the lattest version, and it is an outstanding authoring application which costs just $199.00.
From Liquid Editon, you can export to Elementary MPEG2 / WAVE audio. It will actually export a video file with an extension of .m2v, and the audio file will actually be three audio files. _1.wav, _2.wav, and _S.wav. The _1, and _2 files are each single channel mono channels. The _s.wav is a stereo audio track, which is what you will bring into DVDLab Pro along with the .m2v video file. Both of these assets come from Liquid.
MediaChange, the company that sells DVDLab Pro offers an encoder. It’s called the TMPGEnc encoder. There is a $79 TMPGEnc encoder package called TMPGEnc Xpress 3.0 which comes with an AC3 plug in. If you buy and install that, the DVDLab Pro can compress the _s.wav stero track from Linear PCM to AC3, and save you a lot of space. This is done right in the timeline track view of DVDLab Pro. DVDLab Pro works with several outside applications to to do its job.
Another such application is called CopyToDVD, which is a $29 CD/DVD writing application which also plugs into DVDLab. DVDLab Pro will first build the projects you create to hard disc, then you send the build to CopyToDVD to burn the project to DVD.
If you plan on going to DLT for replication, then Gear Pro Mastering Edition is a good choice. That application is $399 and has a ton of other uses making it a great application to have anyway.
DVDLab Pro starts small, and grows as you need to grow. It has more functions than almost any authoring application out there. It allows you to create multiple Video Title Sets, place menus in any VTS, and even place menus in the VMG if you like. It is smart, and the abstraction layer is by far the cleanest I’ve ever seen.
Right off the bat, in my opinion, you need three applications to get started with it.
DVDLab Pro 1.52 – $199
CopyToDVD – $29
TMPGEnc Xpress 3 with AC3 plugin – $79https://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/dvdlabpro.html
https://www.vso-software.fr/download.htm
https://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/te3xp.html-Alex
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Anyone can easily learn eDVD. You wont need to join a paid membership site to gain access to help. I wrote a review about this software months ago. The review is a mini tutorial in itself, and available right here.
eDVD is the same technology uses in millions of commercial DVDs today. It works well, and its very simple.
-Alex
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The Demo of Gear will read the DLT tape.
Choose the Mastering Menu Option, then Select Restore Tape Files.
This will take a while, but you will be left with the image file, the control file, and the DDPID file on your hard drive from the tape.
-Alex
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Hi Roger,
I really like DVDLab-Pro myself. If you really want to write to a DLT and keep using DVDLab-Pro, you can Gear Pro Mastering Edition version 7. This will allow you go from DVDLab to DLT, plus set the CSS flag.
Gear will also allow you to transfer the tape image to your hard drive. You will the three files that make up a DLT that way. Main.DAT, DDPID, and Control. I believe those are the files. I forget now.
DVD Studio Pro actually has a neat feature called “READ DLT”, which will read the DLT and transfer the files back to the hard drive as a working VIDEO_TS folder that can be played with a software DVD player. I have not tried it with CSS flagged DLTs though.
Still, if all you want to do is see if the files are there, that would work.
Another util I use is called TapeCopy 2.1 from NovStore. That has a function to allow you to see what files are on the tape, plus it makes backups of DLTs if you have 2 or more DLT drives.
Gear is $400, and TapeCopy is $400. DVDSP is $500 and requires a Mac.
-Alex