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The Arsenal of Videocracy

It's nothing short of astonishing; the level of technology that's currently available for literally anyone who wants to produce DVDs has grown tremendously. If you have any doubts, just compare the video editing equipment - hardware, and especially software - available today from $100 to $1000 to what was available 25 years ago. (That was the era of 12-inch laser discs. And trust me, you weren't editing them on your TRS-80 back then.) But there's always a trade-off, of course: the number of programs and their varied purposes can seem overwhelming at times. So let's try to break down what some of the options are.

These days, all-in-one suites, which can transfer and edit footage from a DV camcorder, create DVD menus and then burn the entire production to DVD, have never been more powerful. Sometimes deceptively so: Adobe has designed the initial appearance of its latest incarnation of Premiere Elements to be as non-threatening as possible for newcomers to video editing. And yet, lurking just underneath its rather genteel interface is a very powerful editing machine that is capable of handling a wide variety of aspects of video production.

In addition to burning video for DVD distribution, newer all-in-one programs can also create video podcasts (using slideshows, full-motion video or both). As podcasting sites such as Apple's iTunes and clip-oriented sites such as YouTube and Google Video grow in popularity, these features will become increasingly important tools for promotion and distribution.

However, DVD is still the primary method of distribution for most video producers at this point in the game, which is why it's important to check a program's menu production features. Having some variety of professional-looking menu templates can make your life easier, especially if you'll be cranking out a lot of similar projects. Many programs come with default DVD menus to choose from, but their quality and flexibility vary widely.

Check to see that those menus look like something you'd be comfortable releasing to clients, and whether or not they offer sound, still pictures, moving video, and other touches we've become accustomed to seeing on the menus that accompany Hollywood films on DVD.

While production suites may have stout video editing capabilities, their sound editing and audio production features are often somewhat basic. When mixing down to DVD, give some thought to what most of your productions will be mixed in. Mono or two-channel stereo won't be a problem for most editing suites, but not all programs can handle surround sound, although it's becoming more common.

There's also mastering video, of course. Beyond basic editing programs, DVD mastering suites such as Sonic Solutions' DVDit Pro series allow for more mixed-media approaches (e.g., allowing the inclusion of DVD-ROM content). These programs assume a certain amount of video editing and preparation have already been done and are geared towards taking the video onto the mastering stage. They can create the sort of multimedia discs we're used to seeing from Hollywood studios for blockbuster titles. You know - the ones with not just the core movie, but also a PDF file of the script, an MP3 of the theme song and JPEGs of the stars. Many of these programs allow for the insertion of such nifty features as direct links from DVD menus to Web sites, hi-definition video, high-resolution stills, MP3s, flash, documents, presentations, spreadsheets, executables and many other types of files.

Whether it's a video- or audio-oriented editing program, most multimedia programs require a fair amount of processing power and memory. This seems obvious, but make sure your computer has the horsepower to handle the program you're considering - and be prepared to upgrade if it doesn't.

Assuming your computer is up to snuff, it's time to check out the program itself you're considering purchasing. Perhaps its most important element is its graphical interface. How comfortable you are interacting with it will determine how happy you'll be with the program as a whole. Some programs offer a degree of customization, and it might be worth exploring how much you can tweak an interface to make it your own. Some suites offer deceptively simple-looking GUIs (Graphical User Interface), which are deliberately designed to be as non-threatening as possible to newcomers to video production.

On the other hand, sometimes, a simple GUI really is the mark of an under-powered program. Searching for a broad array of user feedback online before purchasing a program is always a good idea, of course. And check online for screen shots from various programs. A confusing interface to one person might be a sign of great functionality to another. Also, these days, most programs will have a free trial you can download from their respective Web sites. There's no better way to know if you're comfortable with a particular interface until you've given it a test drive.