ITWales.com

Group test: DVD authoring software packages

Norman Harris

Since its launch just over five years ago DVD-Video has become the fastest growing consumer technology ever developed, and has already become the industry standard format for the distribution of movies.

Initially DVD-Videos were only produced by the Hollywood studios due to the immense costs involved, and the fear that making the technology freely available would lead to an increase in piracy for the film industry. But after a slight change in the recording standard to keep the film industry happy, DVD recorders are eventually within reach, and it won't be long before they're as commonplace as the CD recorder in your desktop computer.

Used in conjunction with one of the many DVD burners now on the market, the right authoring software allows you to archive your home movies and corporate videos. Here Norman Harris of NH Technology looks at some of programs available for Microsoft Windows.

Not up-to-speed on DVD-speak? Click here a glossary of some of the terms used here.

MyDVD Plus V3.5
Cost: $79.00
http://www.mydvd.com/






























Surprisingly, for such a low budget, MyDVD Plus offers a one-piece solution for creating DVDs. It provides DVD authoring, Digital and Analogue video capture, Direct-to-DVD recording and DVD editing modules. You may even find a cut down version, missing one or more of these modules, bundled with your DVD recorder.

This is certainly one of the simplest routes to creating a DVD. You needn't get involved with bitrates, file formats or any other technicalities of the DVD creation process. Play your videotape through an analogue or firewire capture card, pop a blank DVD into the recorder, select a menu background, press record and stop at the appropriate times, and you have just made your first DVD. What could be simpler?

Well, maybe it's stretching things by describing the program as having Direct-to-DVD recording. The reality is that the program records onto your hard drive first, before creating the necessary files, and only then records onto DVD. So this isn't a real-time process and will take several times longer than the length of the captured video. Many of the refinements of other programs are also missing. Menu buttons can't be manually positioned, and you can't accurately position chapter points.

In addition to recording directly from tape to DVD, you can also import any AVI clips from the hard drive. One of the great things about the program is the ability to edit a DVD once it's been recorded with MyDVD 3.5. By using rewritable DVDs you can even re-edit the material and record back to the same disc. Version 4 of the program is due quite soon with some advanced menu features, and the ability to create slideshows from scanned images or digital cameras. If it's simplicity you're after rather than features, then this is the one for you.

DVD Workshop
Cost: £179.00
http://www.ulead.co.uk/


























Like MyDVD 3, DVD Workshop offers a one-piece solution with four basic stages to creating a DVD. First you Capture the video, then Edit it, set up the Menus, and finally Preview and Output the project.

Using a Digital Video source the program is capable of automatically detecting scenes based on the time they were recorded, which may be useful for setting chapter points. You can also record directly to the DVD-ready MPEG-2 format, in addition to recording AVIs and converting them later. Make sure you have the latest version though, if you want to include PCM audio or have widescreen support.

Menus are extremely easy to set up, and very flexible. An assortment of menu templates, background images and button styles are included, covering a wide variety of topics. Motion menus are also possible, although you don't get the flexibility of some of the more advanced packages.

When it comes to the final stage of the authoring process, a set of DVD-style controls lets you ensure that all the buttons and links work as intended, before committing your work to disc. Unfortunately this doesn't apply to any motion menus as they can only be previewed on a small non-interactive screen.

The program writes direct to DVD, using one of several profiles available which determine bitrate for the MPEG encoding, or you can write the file structure to the hard drive first. Watch out, though, if you captured in MPEG-2 format at the beginning of the authoring process, as DVD Workshop will try to re-encode the files unless the output profile shows a higher bitrate than the original.

This is a program full of highs and lows. DVD Workshop contains some easy-to-use high-end features, but is also lacking in other areas. While I generally like it, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

DVD Junior
Cost: $499.00
http://www.authoringware.com/


























It may be called Junior, but this is a full-featured authoring program. It handles up to eight audio tracks and eight subtitle tracks, and for mass duplication it has DLT tape output. It is also the only package here to offer region support. As well as being useful for multi-language productions, extra audio or subtitle tracks can be useful for adding director, or actor, commentaries to DVDs.

All material needs be correctly encoded into elementary or program streams before use. And you'll need to install a DVD player such as WinDVD or PowerDVD (usually supplied with your DVD writer) to be able to preview MPEGs within the program. On the audio side DVD Junior supports AC-3 audio, although, as with other material, this must be encoded outside the program. Again, buttons for the menus, and the menus themselves, have to be created outside DVD Junior, in any paint program that can make BMPs, such as Adobe Photoshop.

While DVD Junior is quite easy to use, it does lack some of the more friendly features of other programs. The linking of menu buttons to video tracks is done using the name and number of the clips - fairly simple if the project only contains a few video tracks, but you don't have the luxury of visually confirming that you have picked the correct track, and it's easy to lose your way on large projects.

Setting chapter points tends to be a very hit and miss affair, with only a play and pause command to help find the chapter's in points. The other option is to maybe use a non-linear video editing program, and make a note of the times where you want the chapter points to appear, which can then be manually entered.

DVD Junior isn't a standalone product that will do everything for you. Not that this is a bad thing in itself, as it forces you to think about the authoring process. If you have the graphic skills then menus built using Photoshop should be better designed than those automatically generated by any authoring program. On the other hand, the authoring process invariably takes longer. DVD Junior has some very professional features, you just have to work harder to make the most of them.

Impression DVD-Pro 2.2
Cost: £335.00
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/


























There's plenty of choice for multilingual applications or education use within Impressions DVD-Pro as it can use up to 2 video angles, 8 audio tracks and 32 subtitle tracks on one DVD. Surprisingly for such a full-featured program, the main interface has a simple and friendly look to it, with everything done within three main windows.

Although AVI files can be imported into this version, you should ideally use elementary MPEG streams. This gives you the advantage of precise control over the bitrate used, and makes the most of some of the more advanced features of the program. The program accepts MPEG or WAV, as well as Dolby Digital AC3 audio files, but unfortunately there's no way of converting files from one format to another, or creating AC3 files within the program.

If you already use a non-linear video editor then you'll find the Timeline approach to authoring DVDs comes naturally. It's simply a matter of dragging and dropping the media files onto the Timeline in the correct order, and checking they play correctly in the Preview window. Creating a simple linear DVD in this way couldn't be more natural.

The program handles both static and motion menus, and offers two different sorts of buttons. Ideally these should be created in Photoshop, and the easiest way to understand their construction is to import some of the examples supplied to see how they've been constructed. Although creating menus can be a complex affair at first, it should all become clear once you've examined the samples.

Creating subtitles, however, is a long drawn-out process requiring a bit-mapped image for each title, together with a text file listing the times that each subtitle must appear. Much simpler is the slide-show facility, where you just need to set a standard duration for each slide, then drop the images onto the timeline.

ReelDVD 2.5
Cost: £1000.00
http://www.sonic.com/products/reeldvd/

























From the same stable as Scenarist, which is the choice of many Hollywood film studios, comes ReelDVD. And although at around £1,000 it's the most expensive in this review, it must seem a real bargain compared to the £17,000 you'd have to pay for Scenarist.

The program can use up to 3 audio tracks and 3 subtitle tracks. While material must be in elementary streams for import into ReelDVD, it can convert audio files to Dolby Digital AC-3, and is the only program here capable of doing so. Motion menus are ideally created in Premiere (or a similar non-linear editor) while static menus can be designed in Adobe's Photoshop, with ReelDVD automatically converting the layers into buttons and hot-spot areas.

The program has a highly informative interface featuring a Storyboard editor and Timeline view. Each window can be docked or individually floated around on the screen, and resized, letting you make the most of the job in hand. The Preview window also contains safe-area marks so that you can ensure essential details remain within the visible viewing area.

ReelDVD has some advanced features such as track ordering and menu button ordering. The first of these allows you to place DVD tracks in the most efficient order to reduce seek-times, making sure the DVD runs as smoothly as possible. With buttons ordering you can set which sequence menu buttons are selected when pressing the up/down/left/right buttons on a DVD player.

Subtitles are really easy, with ReelDVD's built-in subtitle editor doing all the work for you. And if you have a number of similar projects to work on, there is a template feature. All the hard work in setting links from the first project is saved and re-used for the others.

ReelDVD is in a league of its own. It's easy to create highly individual DVD projects that will compete with many of the commercially bought ones that come out of the large studios - but at a cost.


In addition to his freelance journalism work, Norman has been running his own Audio Visual and Multimedia company for the last 15 years. He can be contacted on 01792 290998 or through his website at http://www.nhtechnology.co.uk/

Home, Services, Events, Features, Interviews, Profiles, Reviews, News, Resources, Press