REplacement for DVDWS2

joliverio · Post by **joliverio** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 4:45 am

Is the new Movie Factory 6 Plus a replacement for Workshop 2? IT seems to have most of the feature set.

For $79 though it is a lot cheaper than Workshop was so I am sceptical that it is as good.

Thanks,

Joe Oliverio

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 5:17 am

This rather depends upon an individuals perception of the future of Intervideo-Ulead Products.

Technically the answer is NO.
DVD Workshop enables you to start off with a completely blank screen.
You can add all sorts of things, thumbnails, text, animations, background videos etc. You can create those special menus you see on commercial DVD's for selecting subtitle tracks and alternative audio tracks.

However..... the current version DVD Workshop 2 is a few years old and in need of either a service pack or replacement. A thread exists
We Want Workshop 3

For Some Users they may say that for practical purposes YES.
MovieFactory does not have the flexibility of DVD Workshop but does support the recent developments of the DVD industry - HD / Blue Ray
Dolby 5.1. Widescreen (16.9) formats and so on. The DVD menu Templates contained within MovieFactory are now so good that many of our forum members would probably prefer to use those in preference to creating their own.

MovieFactory 6+ DVD Menus also contain new items that you could not create even in DVD Workshop such as this example:

dmz · Post by **dmz** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 9:19 am

I have been desperately searching for a decent authoring program. I tried the trial of moviefactory and quite frankly i found the authoring capabilities not much more than VS. I have also tried WS2 which I find is brilliant and can seem to do many more things than MF does. I absolutely insist on starting with a blank screen. Playlists are indispensible. Controlling the entire view/navigation structure is impossible in MF from what I noticed. If MF does have capabilities that I didnt find then it musnt be very intuitive.

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 11:04 am

sjj1805 wrote:MovieFactory 6+ DVD Menus also contain new items that you could not create even in DVD Workshop such as this example:

Just wondering why that example could not be created in DVDWS? It looks like a Motion Menu with a Loop-Point.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:46 pm

Those items you see moving in are the thumbnails and titles.
OK we know how to do transitions between menu pages but I can't see a way to do that effect.

The above example is perhaps misleading because it is an animated GIF so keeps repeating itself as an endless loop. When the page starts, the menu thumbnails and other items drift in from any one of 8 points - like the 8 points in OXO if the 9th is the centre square.

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 2:52 pm

Yes, but that's a Motion Menu with a Loop-Point. You can create the motion externally (thumbnails embedded as PiP's in your NLE).

Then add a Loop-Point to activate the buttons...

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:50 am

GeorgeW

I had already considered that. It would take quite a lot of work to recreate in a NLE plus to do it correctly you would need one for each menu page - which may be several.

Please view this short clip I managed to extract from a test DVD.

By the way, did you ever solve the problem of the DVD menu with the fire highlights?

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:33 am

Agreed, it would take some planning and work in your NLE. But it can be done in DVDWS (just not as quickly as using a template/wizard).

Regarding the firemenu -- I posted that challenge because I don't think it can be done in DVDWS. But I would be very happy if you can prove it can be done in DVDWS...

Regards,
George

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:40 am

I am still scratching my head over that fire menu.
I wish I had more time on my hands it is a real puzzler.