Newbie Q : which product for me?

[stan4th]

Hi,
can you help me decide which product I require?
my main initial requirement is to be able to take stuff recorded on DVD-RAM on a Panasonic DMR-E55 and select the progs I want and put onto DVD-R, put some menus on as well. So sometimes the episodes will be on several DVD-RAM discs with other stuff on them. I have a dvd writer on my PC which can read/write all formats including DVDRAM and dual layer DVD+R.
Which Ulead product would I need?Many thanks all.
P.S. I tried another product for which I needed to use pinnacle virtual dvd drive to copy it onto hdd and mount it first but the authoring software then quite often will cut the video produced off before its due to end.

P.P.S. I can get Video Studio 8.0 discounted would this be enough?

[MikeGunter]

Hi,

VideoStudio has built-in DVD software and it does a great job.

It isn't full-featured like Movie Factory or DVD Workshop, so your decision will be which is the most rewarding, making video or authoring DVDs.

Mike

[Masami]

VS 8.0 will probably serve you well enough, but if you're into more complex editing - like me - VS 9 has some cool new features including some very cool new special effects, including some pretty good looking rain and smoke effects, masks for the overlay track and my personal favorite Chroma Key (for those who don't know Chroma Key is the technique of removing one color from the screen and making it transparent. It's how blue/green screen works)

[stan4th]

Thanks guys,
have you ever experienced this problem where the recording just stops despite the full program was recorded orignally?
Can version 8 do most menuing and chapters and maybe choose own image for background of menus?
Cheers.

[DVDDoug]

It is rather confusing... They seem to claim that all of the products do everything. You can download 30-day trials of all the products, or you can order a CD with all of the trial software for $9.00.

Video Studio is mainly video editing software with limited DVD authoring. Video editing is all the stuff that the director/editor does to complete the movie after the "film" is shot- Cutting & splicing, transitions special video-effects, titles, sound & music, etc. You could also use the editing software to create the background audio/video for your DVD menu.

DVD Workshop is DVD authoring software. DVD Authoring is all the stuff that's done when transferring the completed movie to DVD- Menus, multi-language subtitles, multi-language soundtracks, etc.

Most authoring software (including DVD Workshop) will also do the proper DVD-compliant MPEG encoding and audio encoding, and will have the ability to burn a DVD.

With DVD Workshop Express, you can make very professional multi-level menus. You can even add subtitles or a 2nd soundtrack. I've made a couple of DVDs with both censored and uncensored soundtracks. When I'm copying my VHS movies to DVD, I just use DVD Workshop. No video editing software is needed.

One WARNING - If the stuff on DVD-RAM is in MPEG format (I assume it is) you may get audio-video sync errors. I had this problem when I used video-transition effects with MPEG files in Video Studio 8.

If Video Studio works for you, Video Studio and DVD Workshop Express make a good pair. And, if you own Video Studio, you can get the Special Edition Upgrade version of DVD Workshop Express for $150.

Now, I'm using Ulead DVD Workshop Express for DVD authoring. I'm using Womble MPEG Video Wizard for editing MPEGs.