higher end dvd authoring software. an overshoot?

[Adi Head]

i am curious as to whether or not a high-end DVD authoring program such as SCENARIST has any advantages compared to a mid-range program such as DVD ARCHITECT, when burning with a not so expensive LG 4082B burner to DVD-R or DVD+R media.

not that i have nearly enough money to purchase scenarist, but i was wondering if higher end applications are an overshoot for what i have and need, or if there is better software out there that will create more reliable DVD's (using the same hardware i have), but just cost more.

thanks

[Jake Russell]

Yes Scenarist does have the advantage as you can do pretty much anything the dvd spec allows and you have complete control over the domains. So you basically can make a more efficient disc and you wont need to have lots off commands which aren't needed.

There are many factors though aside from the authoring app as to how compatible a disc is. Pretty much all abstraction layer apps are going to make spec legal builds these days so you might find something your app can't do but it wont reduce the compatibility really.

Jake

[Rob Lohman]

As indicated you get full access to the DVD spec including full
programming and multiple angles / audio tracks etc. It can do
a lot more than a prosumer application, but it has a very very
steap learning curve. It is not a simple application to use.

The only thing it cannot do (nor any other application you can buy)
is seamless branching.

[Jake Russell]

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman :

The only thing it cannot do (nor any other application you can buy)
is seamless branching. -->>>

Not totally true. You can by the Toshiba and Panasonic systems and TFDVDEdit already adds that functionality, but will soon add it to any authoring app there is out there.

Oh and it depends on your knowledge of the dvd spec as to how easy or hard Scenarist is. If you've used spec based apps then it's not that hard to pick up really. But if you haven't it can be a journey :-)

Jake

[Rob Lohman]

Jake: I know those products have it, but it was my understanding
they are not affordable to anyone but big companies or has that
changed? The most advanced thing I know about is Scenarist.

I talked to Scenarist and Apple at IBC last years regarding
seamless branching and neither was working on support in
their products for that.

Thanks for pointing me towards TFDVDEdit, didn't know that!

[Jake Russell]

Oh you are totally correct outside of tfdvdedit. I was at NAB this year and basically there is one guy in Europe developing Scenarist, part-time! The other apps are proprietary and six figures, so yep basically we can't buy them lol.

Scenarist can sometimes trick people to think it's supports it but for true seamless branching it's big bucks or Edit+any authoring app that supports stories.

Jake

[Kyle "Doc" Mitchell]

Guys:

Novice question: What's "seamless branching"? Some sort of nomenclature for menu transitions?

Regards,

Kyle "Doc" Mitchell

[Rob Lohman]

Seamless branching is where you have multiple different versions
of a movie on the same disc without needing to put the full movies
on there. So there is only the parts on there that are the same
and the different parts.

The most famous DVD is the Terminator 2 DVD with it's different versions.

[Jake Russell]

Yep that's it but you can do lots more with it too. But due to it's highend nature that's been the main use for it. T2, Alien etc

www.tfdvdedit.com/public/83.cfm

Jake

[Rob Lohman]

One thing to note is that this seems to be a Mac solution. Us PC
users are out of luck it seems... (with TFDVDEdit)

[Jake Russell]

There is nothing stopping a pc user from getting a mac :-) you can even get Virtual PC if you want :-)

Yep it's mac only but you don't have to have a G5 to run it. So a iMac or something would do the trick just fine.

Jake

[Rob Lohman]

That's true. Perhaps it will run under The MAC OS X emulator as well? <g>

I just happened to came across the DVDLab page today and
noticed that their Pro version seems to support seamless
branching as well! This IS a PC product. Doesn't seems to be
out either yet though.

[Dan Euritt]

rob, you can download and run the latest beta version of dvdlab pro for free... it'll time out after 30 days, because the developer will have an updated beta available by then... dvdlab pro is going to be a killer app.

i've heard people say that when it comes to making dvd's, you should get a mac just for dvdsp(?), it's that good... if i'm thinking of the correct app, i've run the old pc version of it, loved the interface.

[Jake Russell]

Rob thanks for the MAC OS X emulator link. I'll check it out or get someone too. Nope not seamless branching I'm afraid. Just branching. But the pro version seem like a useful app for pc users. There is nothing at that price range that has that feature set on pc.

Dan, dvdsp is very powerful, at the price range it hard to find anything to compete. This dvdLab app is as close I've seen any app on the pc offer the features that would come close to dvdsp(at the price range of course). The old dvdsp was Spruce Maestro on the pc. Dvdsp isn't quite Maestro but a poor mans version that is very good.

I'll check both those links out further though guys,

Thanks,

Jake

[Rob Lohman]

Jake; why do you think DVDLab Pro does *not* do seamless
branching when they list it as a feature?

I'm still waiting to run PearPC (the emulator) myself as well. It
looks very interesting. From what I understand it isn't very usable
yet though. It runs pretty slow it seems.