Best DVD authoring software?

[rlu929s]

I have a nice new system coming I need to get some DVD Authoring software for. I'm looking for something that makes it really easy to make montion menu and really nice looking dvd's.

My friend showing me IDVD on the mac and I loved it. I've even thought about buying a mac just so I can use it. That's just silly so I'm hoping someone can lead me to a PC version that's comparable to IDVD.

I liked on IDVD how you just drag and drop things and it came with all kinds of cool templates that made it so easy.

Any suggestions?

 

[NuclearNed]

DVD Lab Pro

This is a complicated piece of software, and can be a little intimidating at first. However, the included tutorials make everything very simple to understand.

 

[QueBert]

It's not cheap, but Adobe Encore 2.0 is pretty slick. DVD Lab Pro is suposed to rock, but be very tough to learn. Encore comes with a ton of animations and graphics to use as menus. The interface is pretty slick, and I didn't have too much trouble using it.

 

[IamDavid]

Power Director by Cyberlink gets my vote.. Movie Factory by Ulead is pretty good too.

 

[fierydemise]

I'll second Quebert, Encore is a great program and its really easy to use but yeah it is expensive ($350). If you want the best then thats the way to go.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: fierydemise
I'll second Quebert, Encore is a great program and its really easy to use but yeah it is expensive ($350). If you want the best then thats the way to go.

You can get it much cheaper on Ebay, I picked it up for $149 + shipping. Might be a student version *shrug*

 

[Wheezer]

If you have any Photoshop skills, TMPGEnc 1.6 is very easy to use and you can create menus in Photoshop and import them to TMPGEnc 1.6.

Ulead DVD Workshop 2 is also very good and comes with a ton of buttons, backgrounds, and motion menu options, you can make invisible buttons, impot animated .gifs for buttons, create backgrounds in Photoshop and import them, it also has pre-made motion intros and text can be manipulated for 3d effects, shading, texture etc.

The learning curve is a bit more for Workshop, but it is not overwhelming.

One tip if you go with Workshop, if you have a video file in .VOB format, it is MUCH easier to convert it to mpeg2 and then use that to author your dvd.

Ulead also makes a program called DVD MovieFactory which will import .VOB files, but at the trade off of not having as many features.

You can get reviews of any of the software mentioned in this thread here

 

[rlu929s]

I've read through some review and DVD Lab Pro is ranked the highest. I've used it before and it works but is not always the most user friendly. I want something that makes it as easy as IDVD seemed to make it. I mean you just drag an mpg file into their template and bam...instant animated menu.

So DVD Workshop or Encore sounds good then?

Encore sounded like it had tons of bugs from the reviews there. How the lastest version?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Another vote for the Ulead programs (DVD Movie Factory and DVD Workshop)... they create the most compliant discs I've worked with, and the possibilities (especially for Workshop) are quite numerous (commentary, subtitles etc.)

I've had problems with discs authored in DVD-lab before, and don't even mention Sonic or other crappy products like that...

 

[fierydemise]

Originally posted by: rlu929s
Encore sounded like it had tons of bugs from the reviews there. How the lastest version?

I've been using Encore 2 almost since it came out and I haven't experienced any problems that haven't been caused by operator error.