What DVD authoring Hardware/Software do I need?

rubyeye · Post by **rubyeye** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:48 pm

I'm starting to see a lot of studios asking for demo reels on DVD. This seems to imply that it must be quite easy (and cheap?) now to burn video on DVD as easily as I burn CDs. However, what kind of Hardware & Software do I need to do this? What is the best and/or cheapest equipment I would need and where could I get it?

I've never bothered with DVD creation because I've never needed to but with the new Blue-Ray and HD DVDs coming to the market within the next year or two, I thought I'd get an early start knowing how to do this.

dokool · Post by **dokool** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:55 pm

You can get a solid 16x DVD Burner for $50 on sites like newegg.com. Dual Layer burners will cost a bit more, but honestly the price of DL blanks tends to be so prohibitive that you're better off burning 2 4.5GB discs instead of a single 9GB disc.

As far as authoring software... there's Ulead DVD Studio, which is very basic. There's also Adobe Encore, which is nice because you can integrate it with other Adobe apps for stuff like animated menus.

narcted · Post by **narcted** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 2:27 am

Here's a list of basic guides on DVD authoring. Authoring.

Ulead DVD Moviefactory is basic DVD authoring. DVD Workshop is professional and more advanced.

You'll also need a DVD writer. Preferably get a dual format (both + and -r). Dual Layers are avaliable, but the discs are really expensive right now and uneccesary unless you are putting a lot of video on one disc. DVD Writers

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:10 am

A demo reel might be one of those rare instances where a LightScribe drive would be very useful.

Org Profile · Post by **LantisEscudo** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:35 pm

Interesting I see this topic as my computer works on churning out fourteen copies of a DVD I authored.

Hardware:
I'd recommend getting a Dual-Layer drive, since it will still burn single layer disks, and can do dual layer when the media gets to a suitable price. Almost all current drives can burn both -R and +R disks, which is almost a requirement nowadays.

Remember your burning speed is going to be limited by both your drive and your media. On one of my burners, I burn at 4X because of the drive's limits, and on my other at 8X because my media is the limit (the drive can do 16X). I'd say get the fastest drive you can, and let the media be the limit, so as the faster media gets cheaper, you can burn faster since your drive will already support it.

If you're going to need to burn a lot of disks in a short time, I'd recommend getting more than one and a recent copy of Nero, since it can burn on more than one recorder simultaneously. I've got a Pioneer A06 (4X) and a Lite-On SOHW-1633 (16X, DL 2.4X). I paid $160 for the Pioneer in 2003 and $70 for the Lite-On in 2005, both when they were fairly new. You should be able to get an excellent drive for under $75, including shipping.

Software:
I've used a number of authoring programs, and I'm partial to Sony's DVD Architect ($675, as part of the Vegas+DVD suite, not sure if you can get it seperately anymore). I had a number of problems with Adobe Encore 1.0 ($350 for latest version), including the dreaded "Unknown Error: -1" that I never managed to rectify. Reportedly, later versions (currently at 1.5) are better, but I've never gone back to check.

Ulead's DVD MovieFactory ($80, often bundled with drives) is very simplistic, and not really useful for any kind of advanced authoring. I've never tried DVD Workshop ($395), so I can't speak to how good it is.

Also a possibility is DVDLab Pro ($200), which is my second choice to DVD Architect.

rubyeye · Post by **rubyeye** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 5:49 pm

Thanks. There's a lot to go through so I appreciate the links and your recommendations. I'll check everything out and see what I can work with.