DVD Transfer & Authoring?

[AAR.oner]

by the best, i'm assuming you mean pro-level editing/authoring packages...prices are from B&H [which are usually a good gauge of current prices]

PC/Windows:
Adobe Premiere/Encore DVD [$990 US]
Sony Vegas+DVD Prod Suite [$580]
Avid Xpress Pro Suite [$1400]

MAC:
Final Cut Production Suite [~$1200]

if you are a student or know a student who'd order for ya, you can find alot of companies who give a sizable "educational discount"...the catch is usually that you can't upgrade to the new edition for "upgrade price"...

[drpino]

many of the suggestions here are professional level SW suites that far exceed any consumer-level needs and would honestly not be worth it to you unless you are publishing retail DVDs...they're also a HUGE jump from Nero Vision Express...

what's your usage?

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvdauthoring.htm

[Rider]

moved to Techno where you might find more help.

[AAR.oner]

^^^he's correct that these aren't "consumer-level" programs...by "the best" i was assuming Fadedu2 was askin for the best available...

if you want a decent consumer-level program, i've *heard* that folks like TMPGEnc DVD Author [which i think runs around 50 bucks]...i have no working-knowlege of any of the consumer programs...i do know TMPGEnc has a much better compressor than Nero Vision or Roxio's DVD Builder, etc.

[drpino]

"best" is such a relative word isn't it

DVD Lab Pro is also an excellent "prosumer" level authoring suite...

[saltman]

Everyone has an opinion... I learned (basic understanding, good enough for dvd production) Vegas/DVD Architect in less than an hour w/o any previous experience and know others that have done the same. DVD Lab Pro was way to hard for me to grasp... maybe I'm odd. I had great success with the TPGEnc DVD author also... It was the easiest to use and I should've reccommended that first. It is somewhat limited in what it can do.... like Nero Vision express you are trying to get away from. I would almost say it is easier to use than that and even more limited. I understand Avid just bought Pinnacle so they're quality will be getting better....

[drpino]

there's also Adobe Encore DVD...

one thing to keep in mind is that the professional level linear editing suites require a significantly powerful system in order to utilize properly...

[AAR.oner]

Avid bought Pinnacle salt? interesting...guess it'll be their consumer version of Xpress Pro?

[saltman]

Originally Posted by drpino

there's also Adobe Encore DVD...

one thing to keep in mind is that the professional level linear editing suites require a significantly powerful system in order to utilize properly...

I find Adobe Encore to be the most difficult of all to use.

AAR.oner yep avid bought pinnacle for 462 million.

[DrRock]

I have 3 sets of Lotus from the State Theater in Virginia and have already set all the chapter marks and intro and used the dvd arch template for rendering. After everything was said and done and ready to burn each set is already over 5 gigs with no extras.
My questions are:
-IS it worth using one of the HD templates to make this?
-Should I just combine both sets and make it a DV9; even though I don't have a burner that will burn a 8gig dvd and will have to use dvdshrink?

These are HI8 masters and I've already captured the avi files and like I mentioned above have made the intro's and chapter markers and now I'm just waiting on what to do on rerendering the video/audio. I had to tweak the intro a little bit so rerendering the files isn't that big of a deal since I have to anyways. So before I go any furthur I wanted an idea of what the dvd authorers on this site thought would be the best idea for my little situation.

ANy help would be greatly and deeply appreciated.

Thanks
Cs

[Chachi420]

hmmm.... I've never done hd so I don't know the answer, but I imagine it doesn't make much difference unless it's recorded in hd (but that's just a guess)...
interesting post...
it's about time to buy one of these:
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Broadcastan.../HDCX310.shtml
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Broadcastan...Model?id=75301

[saltman]

don't use HD. 5 gigs at what bitrate? I would render DVD9 files for backup... split them onto however many you need to and burn them as data to assemble when dvd9s are cheaper.
Then I would render to avi in vegas... then use dvd architect to optimize the dvd to fit DVD5. Or you can render in vegas if you know the proper bitrate. Whatever you do, don't render in vegas and then render in dvd architect.
Vegas's encoder is MUCH better if you are doind lower bitrate VBR renders. If you're doing 9800 CBR it doesn't matter.

[DrRock]

Ok this is the set-up I have now for rendering:
HI8 Master>AVI>VEGAS6>MPEG2>DVDARCH>DVD

Video:
Template: NTSC DV (720x480, 29.970 fps)
Frame Rate: 29.970 (NTSC)
Audio:
48,000 Hz, 16Bit, Stereo, PCM

For video rendering I always select the Main Concept MPEG-2
and then below that for the template I select the DVD Arch

I see the CBR and VBR options. RIght now VBR is checked with max 8,000,000 and average 6,000,000

I still have the original files I captured using the HI8 camera even though there almost like 14 gigs apiece.
From what I've described above I'm on the right track. I have a 51inch HD tv so watching it is possible but making it that way isn'tsuper important.
If I do select one of the HD templates what is the best? And will that file be compatible with dvd arch right away?

[saltman]

yeah.... there's an option to render to avi instead of mpg2. if you can't calculate bitrates. dvda will do it for you. and you should do some research into what a HD signal is in terms of number of lines etc...

don't do hd. quality won't be better since original signal wasn't in hd standards. and you can view any dvd on any hd tv.

render to avi in vegas. import that avi into dvda. prepare dvd. optimize. bam@!

[DrRock]

Thanks much. I really appreciate the help. I now will be able to finally get these shows finished and out to the community.