IYHO, Best DVD Creation/Authoring Software

Ok, I planning on (in the near future) building a Multimedia Computer. Now, I want to be able to burn dvds to watch. I've already decided what DVD Burner I'm going to get, but I want to get some opionions on different kinds of DVD Creation/Authoring Software that you, in your opinion, think is the best.

Thanks.

 

REELDVD, it's the software that is used to create the DVD's you buy in the store or rent. The cost is a little prohibitive though ($1000.00)

Just my 2 cents

 

Check out the April 2002 VIDEOMAKER and the June (or July) 2002 DV MAGAZINE. Both covered this rather extensively.

 

The article that Semaj talked about is a very good article for this topic,

Personally I use DVD Studio Pro. Very professional, great setup/layout of the app and it results (with a little planning of course) in a great product. With DVD SP, you can create a DVD that has the same features as a DVD you would buy in the store (multiple angles, multiple audio tracks, animated menus, etc)

I have also used iDVD (although not as much) for smaller projects that didnt require a lot of attention. Very easy to use (drag and drop) but you are only capable of 90 minutes worth of video. In DVD SP Ive gotten over 3 hours of video easily with very good quality.

Both are available from Apple.

 

DVD Studio Pro, hands down. Again this costs $1000.

Sonic DVDit! Professional Edition would be my second choice. A few hundred less than DVD SP, but with some fewer features.

Both DVD SP and DVDit! PE have Dolby Digital 5.1 support and 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen encoding, which alone put them leaps and bounds above just about every other DVD authoring software on the planet.

 

Nice thing about DVD Studio Pro (which is what I also use) is that you also get Dolby 5.1 AC3 audio encoding which sounds great and saves you a boatload of space which you can devote to a higher bitrate. So if you have a box that is Apple based w/ a SuperDrive, DVDSP is the way to go for complex DVD authoring.

If you are just making slapdash dvd, then iDVD2 is great. It does a max of 90 minutes (30 minutes more than the previous version).

 

For anyone near an Apple store, I believe that you can go pick up IDVD3 now.

Personally, I think DVD SP is the best way to go, but for the novice that is just archiving some fun stuff and wants a cheap easy way of getting it done fast IDVD3 works great because it is integrated with Imovie now making it twice as fast to put out a DVD as before.

For the people stuck in their Windows machines, I've heard some good things about Dazzle from my brother. (yes, they have a DVD authoring program) If you are starting from scratch, at least take a look at what Apple has got to offer in the field of Video Authoring

 

ReelDVD 3 - It's what i use & it supports Dolby 5.1, multi audio track & multi camera angles. Also it's not to hard to get good results....

Mushi

 

Thanks for all the replies. But, can anyone of these work on a PC? I should have been more clear, sorry. PCs are just my preferred choice.

Any replies would be great. Thanks.

 

Anything mentioned here other than the great DVD Studio Pro and iDVD should be available for PC.