I have got to the stage where I have tried various products with varying degrees of success, finished up very frustrated and wonder if anyone here can help?
My story is that I want (at this stage of my learning curve) to put together a clip from a non-protected DVD, a movie from my DV camcorder, a collection of photos as a slideshow; hold it all together with a menu and burn it to a DVD for playing on either a PC or domestic DVD player.
Specifically -
- I want decent templates for the menus, but have total editing facilities for the layout/text etc and not be stuck with someone else's ideas of how my menus should look, and be able to add a small movie as an automated intro to the DVD;
- I want the ability to edit the DVD and camcorder footage (e.g., clip, add transitions (including fades at the beginning and end, if needed), add audio, etc., etc.);
- I want total flexibility on how I build up the slideshow (e.g., transitions (basic crossfades as well as fancy), audio (trimming, volume, fades, etc), ability to add features to individual pictures (eg news-type scrolling text), etc., etc.
I tried Nero but got totally put off by their restrictive menu designs. I rather liked Roxio's EMC, but found too many unsolvable bugs in the finished product. Then I remembered I had MovieMaker and VideoStudio as bundled software with my TV card. Unfortunately, MovieMaker is version 3 SE and VideoStudio is version 7SE DVD and they both come across as too basic.
Before I venture into the trials of the latest Ulead offerings, could anyone who knows about these things please advise me if I need both MovieMaker and VideoStudio or will one product satisfy?
- you are definitely dedicated, and I am seriously impressed, but shouldn't makers like Ulead and Nero etc. be ashamed that you've got to go through all this palaver just to make a presentable DVD?