DVD Authoring Software (page 2)

Almost Perfect

Home DVD authoring is here and now. From a small handful of first generation products a year ago, DVD authoring applications are now maturing and diversifying. Independent professionals may be disappointed to learn that while we have seen almost every sub-$1,000 application available, we haven't found one that does everything described in this article. Novices and home hobbyists will be pleased to hear that there are many excellent programs for putting your video on disc to share with your family, friends or small organization. Our recommendation: get the hardware, try out the included software and troll the Web for free trial versions before you decide. Perhaps the best news about home DVD for jaded video veterans: DVD authoring is (relative to shooting and editing) fun and easy. Nothing since the invention of the Star Wipe has generated so many "wow, cool" responses from our readers.

Sidebar One: Dolby Encoding

Until recently, Dolby Laboratories was charging premium fees for encoding licenses. By "premium" we mean that you could not find end-user Dolby 5.1 surround encoding software for much under $1,000 and even simple stereo encoding was at least $100. Fortunately, that appears to be changing, with Dolby charging roughly $50 per unit to the software manufacturer (this is still a huge licensing fee per box). As of this writing, proper surround mixing starts at around $350 for Sonic Foundry ACID, plus another $200-300 for the Sonic Foundry 5.1 encoding plug-in.

Sidebar Two: DVD-R vs. DVD+R

The short answer for the relationship of authoring software and the DVD format war is that it is irrelevant. Most authoring software just doesn't care what kind of media you are using. Just make sure your burning software supports the particular drive you want to use (e.g. Pioneer DVR-A05) and you are good to go.

Sidebar Three: Compatibility

During the past year, we've learned that compatibility, while important for authors, is largely out of their control. Some DVD players play home-burned DVDs and some don't, and there is very little you can do to change this. In our tests, we've found that the particular piece of software used to create the disc is mostly irrelevant to the final compatibility of the disc.