Mid-Range DVD Solutions

For years, the only serious option for putting video on DVD disc wasusing premium tools like Sonic Scenarist or Mac-based DVDCreator. Forheavy DVD production, where access to the breadth of DVD options isparamount, those tools still reign. But for the average video producerdelivering finished projects, those tools can be budgetary overkill anda major time drain. Thankfully, today there are many more options.

Sonic DVD Producer offers an easy approach to professional DVD titlemaking, and experienced editors will find its tools, such as thetimeline window, familiar.

Here, in part two of Video Systems' three-part series onauthoring DVD discs, we examine two professional-grade authoring toolsthat are a step down from the premium systems on the market, butconsiderably less expensive. Sonic DVD Producer ($3,999) and Apple DVDStudio Pro ($999.95) still pack plenty of programming power forcreating quality discs with subtle user control, but both do it throughan interface that doesn't disorient the operator.

With a price around four digits instead of five, DVD Producer andDVD Studio Pro are appropriate tools for smaller services bureaus andlarger production and post facilities. Their users may not be DVDspecialists, at least not right away, but are rather interested inoffering DVD creation and output as an option on a broader menu ofservices. Next month we'll conclude this series with a look at threeauthoring tools aimed at professionals who prefer a straightforward andaffordable method of distributing video on DVD disc with simple menusand direct navigation. In this issue, we'll see how DVD Producer andDVD Studio Pro go a step beyond that. Which is best for your businesssituation probably depends on whether your output to DVD consists moreof utility or artistry.

In Sonic DVD Producer, you import assets by simply dragging menugraphics and video files in a variety of formats from the WindowsExplorer into an asset Palette, or bin. DVD Producer splits out theaudio track, but waits to perform any transcoding or multiplexing untilit prepares the final DVD disc image.

Apple DVD Studio Pro, on the other hand, only accepts compliant,prepared MPEG-2 elementary streams (separate video and audio files).However, the application install disc does include Apple QuickTime Pro,which can be used to transcode files into MPEG prior to importing theminto DVD Studio Pro. That's an extra step before authoring, but anecessary step at some point in the process. Since many editingstations now output MPEG-2 files, it may often be a moot point.

In DVD Studio Pro, you also import new project assets by using abin, but the software takes a very different approach to projectmanagement and overview. First, DVD Studio Pro's primary asset bin isreally quite useless (beyond the back-end DVD engine's need to logassets) and is ultimately nothing more than long, unmanageable list offiles. Thankfully, the asset bin is small and is paired with a secondwindow at the bottom of the interface, called the Project View, whichorganizes assets once they are used in the project. The Project Viewgroups assets by type, thus offering a quick overview of menus, videos,audio clips, or programming scripts.

In contrast, Sonic DVD Producer's Palette smartly does both. It actsmuch like the Windows Explorer with the ability to reorder the assetsby clicking one of several column headers such as name, file type,videos, audio clips, file size, etc.

However, Apple excels in its project overview. In addition to itsProject View asset lists, DVD Studio Pro's interface is dominated by alarge graphic flowchart into which you drag and drop menus and linkthem to video clips. It's a powerful visual aid that's common amongmature DVD authoring applications. DVD Studio Pro also includes a veryhandy and grand Matrix View that lists all assets, menus, and buttonsalong the X and Y axes of a spreadsheet to highlight the links betweeneach one. Sonic DVD Producer has neither, and that's a shortcoming.

The disadvantage of large flowcharts in DVD applications —like those of the high-end Scenarist — is that they can getcomplicated quickly and become visually useless. With the goal ofcreating an authoring application for non-DVD-centric videoprofessionals, Sonic was trying to avoid that. The solution was asimple two-column list of Menus and Movies. You can manually reordereach column, but that's all you get for a project overview. To gain anyinformation about how each is used or where any of the links are, youhave to drill down into the properties of each. Of course, the list iseasy to use on simple projects, but Sonic understands the limitationsand plans to add a flowchart view this fall.

Menu creation is the most visual and visible aspect of authoring DVDtitles, and it's no surprise that easy menu creation and linking takecenter stage in more affordable applications. In fact, many consumertools have just a single interface onto which you drop backgrounds andbuttons. That's often an efficient method, and both of these toolsgenerally support it. Sonic DVD Producer's drag and drop is especiallystrong. DVD Studio Pro requires more steps to achieve similar resultsand that slows down dumping-to-disc projects.

Sonic DVD Producer uses simple drag-and-drop functionality, whileApple Studio Pro allows more control over menu creation.

However, professional designers usually demand greater control, andthat's one area where the more advanced tools prove their worth. BothDVD Producer and DVD Studio Pro offer several options for creatingmenus and buttons, and both have advantages. For DVD Producer, it'sdrag-and-drop simplicity combined with traditional color-mapping. DVDProducer leverages Photoshop by accepting three-layer Photoshop filesthat are used to separate the background and primary button images froman overlay and a highlight, or “Hilite,” layer.Color-mapping on additional layers yields relatively speedy menus.

DVD Studio Pro goes one better with a fabulous feature forfacilities with collaborative designers. DVD Studio Pro importsPhotoshop files with unlimited layers and then allows you to assign oneor more layers to any button state or action. It's an industry-bestfeature that gives graphic designers full control of menu and buttonappearances. The caveat is that using these Photoshop layers actuallycreates more work for a DVD player by forcing it to replace entire JPEGfiles with any cursor movement, rather than simply substituting mappedcolors. The danger, albeit not a severe one, is the potential latencyor lack of remote-click responsiveness. Still, Apple also supportstraditional color-mapping.

Project management windows help organize your assets, but the realwork in both DVD Studio Pro and DVD Producer is done in what eachcompany calls the Property Inspector, or Property Window, respectively.It's here that you program links, create parameters for motion menus,set priorities for menu defaults, and assign buttons states for normal,selected, and activated. These property windows are what distance thesetwo applications from the more modest and affordable applications we'lllook at next month.

Through a series of straightforward pulldown menus, both productscan link any menu or button to any other asset, set end actions foreach video clip or timed-out menu, and set and change button highlightsand default states. DVD Producer elegantly offers the most commonlyused programmed functions — to jump to and from anywhere and toset menu and button defaults — as simple pulldown menus in theProperty Window. By doing so, Sonic has created a wonderful blend ofpower and ease-of-use.

Apple DVD Studio Pro has a similar facility, especially in terms ofjumping anywhere, but it's often less straightforward. Admittedly,that's generally because DVD Studio Pro exposes more features in itsProperty Inspector, while DVD Producer hides more, morphing the windowto suit the type of asset you're programming. Apple DVD Studio Pro isultimately more powerful, exposing DVDs' GPRMs (General ParameterRegister Memories) to enable, disable, and prioritize clips based onviewer interaction. However, while this functionality nearly matchesthat of top tier authoring systems, many such actions requirecode-based scripting. That can be powerful, but also intimidating for avideo professional with other focuses beyond DVD. Still, thefunctionality belies the price.

Apple DVD Studio Pro also supports far more of DVDs' intricatefunctionality than Sonic DVD Producer, including multi-angle videos,slide shows, enhanced DVD, parental control, copy protection, andregion coding. Sonic claims that several of those features are on theway, with some already available as higher-priced options, but DVDStudio comes a lot closer to the heavy hitting applications. DVD StudioPro still has plenty of rough edges that have been ignored as Apple hasperfected the consumer iDVD applications with ease-of-use methodologythat would benefit DVD Studio Pro in places. DVD Studio Pro also lacksa timeline interface for linking elementary audio and video streams(that is done by dropping audio clips on videos, but offers no offsetfeature) or for setting chapter marks (entered manually or importedfrom the Final Cut Pro NLE timeline).

Sonic DVD Producer's shortcomings are the opposite: a good inherentfacility, but a lack of some obvious features. Still, Sonic may have amagic bullet in DVD Producer as the first professional-grade authoringtool to support Sonic's OpenDVD “standard,” allowing DVDProducer users to re-open and make changes to a finished DVD projecteven if all you have is a burned disc and no project files. That'sbecause OpenDVD places project metadata into the DVD disc image and candeconstruct the project and assets. It's a potentially major advantagein the face of fickle clientele always needing changes and revisions,without having to back up complete projects. It's also a tremendousoption for archiving and backing up video.

Unfortunately, the OpenDVD standard is only supported by one otherproduct at this time, Sonic's base-level consumer authoring tool,MyDVD. What's more, Sonic concedes that MyDVD cannot yet open DVDProducer files to make even rudimentary changes. Also, the DVD+RWconsortium now has its own cross-company VR (Video Recording) formatthat does much the same thing. Still, Sonic is the first company to usethe feature in MyDVD and DVD Producer and deserves credit forintroducing potentially industry-changing functionality.

On a straight features basis, Sonic DVD Producer hardly matches DVDStudio Pro, regardless of its higher price. With its scriptingcapabilities and GPRM control, DVD Studio Pro is easily the more robustprogramming tool. However, features alone do not tell the entirestory.

DVD Studio Pro is an Apple product that requires the MacOS (version9 or OS X) and, thus, an Apple computer. If you're a Windows-only shop,that's a clear barrier. Apple knows that, but also knows the sub-$1,000tag is below the comparative market value of such a thorough tool andthat the $3,000 you'll save could go a long way toward a fast new G4.And above selling copies of DVD Studio Pro, Apple wants to sellcomputers.

Ease of use features — like accepting and automaticallytranscoding non-compliant video formats, and drag-and-drop menucreation — give DVD Producer an advantage, particularly withvideo pros who don't particularly want to specialize in authoring, butstill desire top results. DVD Producer's video timeline window will becomfortable for editors, of course, and much better than DVD StudioPro's manual chapter point entry. On the other hand, DVD Studio Pro'sability to read Final Cut markers as chapter points is much betterstill.

Neither product is perfect, but both can do a good job. Apple DVDStudio Pro has features that almost match top tools, while Sonic DVDProducer offers a fresh and deceptively easy approach to professionalDVD title making.

Next month, we'll see how even more affordable authoring tools matchup.

Contributing editor Jeff Sauer is a freelance video producer andindustry consultant. He directs the DTV Group Lab, an independentresearch and testing facility in Cambridge, Mass. You can reach him atjeff@dtvgroup.com.

To comment on this article, email the Video Systems editorial staffat vsfeedback@primediabusiness.com.