DVD Creation Software

[blythy]

A collegue has asked me to create a DVD for him, which contains a few chapters - each consisting of slide-shows with a soundtrack. It doesn't need to be too 'fancy', but being a professional () - I want to do a decent job! I'm a bit of a novice in DVD-authoring to say the least...

Which software is the best for this? I've had a look at Adobe Encore - which seems to be ideal, but it appears to be ''Windows only''

Apple's iDVD isn't advanced enough as you cannot create your own templates. It appears to be the same in Roxio Toast 7 too. Apple's DVD Studio seems very technical - if this is the best software; are there any walkthrough tutorial sites available?

Any form of help would be appreciated!!

 

[kretzy]

There's nothing really in between iDVD or DVD Studio Pro that I know of. You can do training courses or get training packs which allow you to learn at your own pace.

 

[WinterMute]

You can create your own templates in iDVD, well, you can use custom backgrounds...

The main differences between iDVD and DVDSP are that iDVD will only allow single audio and video streams running simultaneously, it only handles stereo audio, it won't do subtitle streams and it's limited to how the remote can be configured.

DVDSP will allow 9 video angles, 8 audio streams (inc Dolby AC3 surround, DTS and stereo) allows 24 (I think) subtitle streams and has a very good custom interface design section.

You could easily achieve your goal in iDVD, the slideshows are very easy to set up and reasonably sophisticated, and you can run music behind each show. The only drawback is that it's impossible to get iDVD to link the individual slideshows into one, seamless playback, as it will keep returning to the menu at the end of each one.

You could create your slideshows in iMovie, add your music and chapter markers and the export the whole thing to iDVD however, this will then allow you to do what you describe.

Obviously you can do the same thing in DVDSP, but it's a steeper learning curve.

 

[mduser63]

Not being experienced with iDVD, I'm not sure if you can do it with that or not. WinterMute says it's possible though, and I'm sure he's right. Anyway, having used DVD SP extensively, I can tell you that it's not particularly hard to learn. In fact, Apple's designed it so iDVD users can put it in "Basic" mode and it feels a lot like iDVD. Advanced users can put it in "Advanced" mode and get access to all the features of the DVD specification. If you go through the included tutorials (one of which includes making slideshows), you'll feel pretty comfortable in a few hours. iDVD might be fine, just don't write DVD SP off as too hard without having tried it.

 

[blythy]

Thanks for the help chaps.

I had a quick play around last night and it turns out I can achieve pretty much something close to what I want by creating the slideshows in iMovie HD then exporting to iDVD. The only drawback is that I have to stick to one of the templates for the menus and so on.

 

[WinterMute]

Thanks for the help chaps.

I had a quick play around last night and it turns out I can achieve pretty much something close to what I want by creating the slideshows in iMovie HD then exporting to iDVD. The only drawback is that I have to stick to one of the templates for the menus and so on.

If you choose a template that has no drop-zones or motion effects, you can simply drop a .jpg or photoshop image into the window and it will become the background, all you need to do is ensure the image is 720x576 pixels and it'll fit. You can alter the button styles and text to suit, but obviously can't create your own.

Oh, and you can turn of the "Apple" image in the preferences.

 

[road dog]

you can create your own menu templates for Toast 7. they're just layered photoshop files...