Comparing DVD authoring in UDMF 4 and 5

[JaySigel]

As a user of MediaStudio Pro, I don't use Ulead DVD Movie Factory (UDMF) for capture or editing. Since acquiring the "new and improved" UDMF 5 Plus, I noticed numerous problems and if you can, you might want to obtain and retain 4 because I found only one overriding advantage to using 5.

Problems with UDMF 5:
1) Fewer templates with tedious editing. You can't have more than 8-9 chapters on a single menu. [With 4, you had up to 12.] More menu windows means more space for menus needed on the DVD and less room for the actual videos. If you only want to number the chapters, you have to delete each and every chapter heading "chapter001," "chapter002" and so on. Unused and undeleted titles appear as "new title." You don't have full, basic editing of any of the titles. The editing features basic to Windows Notepad don't work (such as Ctrl-X deletions) and cutting and pasting are tedious.
2) You can't import templates from 4 but you can copy them to their place in 5. But if you attempt to edit them, prepare for 5 to totally crash with loss of any work you have done. [4 could handle UDMF 3 templates.]
3) Larger menu overhead for 5. For each menu, if you want to maximize room on the DVD for your video, you have you have to remove the special effects menus and annoying menu audios.
4) DVD writing options not retained between sessions on the last screen.
5) Smaller DVD project sizes with no overrides. The maximum project size is 4.32 GB and this is smaller than in UDMF 4. [In 4, if the DVD project was determined to not fit onto a DVD of 4.38 GB, you could create the DVD files or ISO image anyway and then try to fit it on a DVD using other programs, such as DVD Shrink or Nero, which could write 4.5 GB to a plain DVD.] When given the option to fit it on a DVD, 5 shrinks the project to 4.2 GB, a 7% unnecessary reduction compared to what Nero can potentially write to a DVD.
6) Video editing is very basic - only trim and title options. Most people experienced with video editing don't consider trimming as editing.

Improvements to UDMF 5:
1) Fancier menus with more special effects.
2) Much faster DVD creation when importing clips from a DVD or DVD file. This is where 5 really shined. [What UDMF 5 could do in a 1/2 hour took UDMF 4 almost 2 hours, but the final results were equally good.]
3) Overall speed of DVD file creation was slightly faster than with 4.

Overall, when I create an MPEG video I want it to have the highest resolution and therefore the least compression. Such an MPEG file will approach the limits of what can fit on a DVD. I want to minimize the overhead of menus and so forth. It is the movie that is important, not the fancy menus and other gimmicks (although, there are exceptions, like the menus for "Finding Nemo" and "Spaceballs"). But UDMF 5 has some severe limitations. The minimal time savings in creating the DVD files is much less than the increased time and tediousness of authoring the DVD menus. The final result is potentially a DVD project that is smaller than what you wanted with no options for other programs to try to fit the DVD files onto a DVD. With 5, it's "my way or the highway." With 4, you have greater simplicity and flexibility.

[maddrummer3301]

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[sjj1805]

Please view:
Making my Video fit with DVD Movie Factory