DVD Authoring Software - advice required

**tamlin** · 12-03-2006

I'm looking for some advice regarding DVD authoring software for a couple of reasons: I thought it would be quite cool to produce a sort of "portfolio DVD" featuring some of my photos with some atmospheric background music etc. that I could tout around galleries and suchlike. I'm also planning to buy a digital video camera for when I go on holiday in a couple of weeks time. So I need to know what's the best software to get? I'm mainly looking for a good mix of:

Ease of use (I can find my way around most application interfaces, but I don't want to have to read a 500-page book in order to learn how to use the thing)
Reasonable price (I don't want cheap'n'nasty, but I don't want to pay a fortune, either)
Good range of features (you know the kind of thing - Menu creation, scene transitions, credits - all that malarkey)

I have to admit I'm tempted by Adobe Premiere Elements 3 as I have already had experience of other Adobe applications, but I know there are other packages out there (Roxio, Cyberlink etc.). Anyone help out?

Also, on a related subject: what's the best digital camcorder format to go for? Mini DV? DVD?? HDD??? I'm totally confused...

Any help or advice will be gratefully received.

wombie · 12-03-2006

I would reccomend adobe encore for authoring DVDs with. Combined with after effect or photoshop you can make some amazing DVD's. At just under £300 its not exactly cheap but for intergration with other adobe products you can't beat it. As far as menu creation goes i would create the content in photoshop and then import to encore.

Also Adobe Premiere is a video editing application and as such has only very limited dvd authoring options.

As far as digital cam formats go I've always used mini DV and found that to be pretty good for my needs. the mini DV's are cheap and pretty hard wearing, the only irritating thing is you have to pull the video off them onto you computer in real time which can be a bit of a drag.

Jimbo Jones · 12-03-2006

As wombie already said, Adobe is the way to go from a design point of view. It works well with other Adobe products. The price however isn't going to be cheap, but nothing ever is with Adobe - you do get what you pay for.

If you're wanting to just put photos on a DVD portfolio with a bit of music and such, the cheaper alternative until you've found a prog that's right for you, is to create everything in Photoshop/Illustrator, import it to Flash, export the file then convert it to AVI/MPEG etc and make a preloader.

The portfolios I use are similar to this and you can put them on CD or DVD business cards and such like. Presentation always helps. I think I posted a crappy digicam pic of what I use to send out to people on another thread.

As for which format Digicam to go for...if you will be using the cam mostly for editing on a PC, which no doubt you are, Mini DV is the way to go. The quality conversion is usually much better with Mini DVs and you won't encounter many problems with them. DVD cams are good if you want to just shoot and convert into a DVD to play directly onto a DVD player, yet the quality is often lost when transfer the data to a PC. HDD cams are good for storing a lot of data, they can also be good for transfering to a PC, but they've been known to lose quality. The Mini DVs is your best option in my opinion.

If you're wanting some ideas for cams to go for...a good starting Digicam would be a Sony DCR-HC44 Handycam. For the price it's quite good and is worth checking out.

**tamlin** · 12-04-2006

Thanks for the advice, guys. I think Adobe Encore sounds a bit too expensive for my needs - I don't think I'd get enough use out of it to warrant the price. I'll keep looking.

I think I read somewhere that DVD cams didn't deliver as good quality as mini DV, so it's good to know that you're confirming it - I think I'll definitely go with mini DV...and I'll definitely check out the Sony Handycam - thanks for that, Jimbo.

agentxi · 12-04-2006

tamlin what are you wanting to create this portfolio dvd for?

to look for jobs, or to show clients? or just to have something cool to show family and relatives?

**tamlin** · 12-04-2006

The main thing I want it for is to include with any exhibition applications I make to galleries - although I suppose the idea of having "something cool" to show friends and family is also appealing!

paulopires · 12-04-2006

Look at this one.
Matchware: presentation software for desktop screen recording, brainstorming, mind mapping and history timelines