Current applications are Toast and Encore. You can probably also find Apple's old software iDVD and DVD Studio Pro. If you wish to create a DVD player supported DVD, you need a DVD authoring software to start with. To help you choose, we’re going to suggest you the 5 best free DVD authoring software for Windows: 1. Filmora: Filmora is one of the best DVD authoring software for Windows that satisfies the authoring needs.
Click to expand.Nothing really. I have iDVD and DVDSP, and I'm still using them (as well as FCP7). I'm not in any hurry to switch; I'm really just wondering what alternatives (if any) are out there right now. I'm hoping to find a program that I actually like better, but I'm not holding my breath. Also, I'm sort of shocked by the whole thing.
I knew last June that Apple was abandoning DVDSP, but I just found out about iDVD fairly recently. I'm shocked because there doesn't seem to be another company offering any comparable alternative. I guess Encore is the closest thing we have. Usually, when Apple suddenly drops support for a product, it is because either Apple has a better product, or it is a need already being covered by a third party. Apple dropped iWeb along with MobileMe, but at least one could argue that there are cheap alternatives to iWeb out there. I haven't found a program comparable to iDVD.
In spite of all the fuss being made over Final Cut, I'm actually far more upset over iDVD and iWeb. I use them all the time. Apple stopped them because it tries to stay ahead of the curve not behind.
Thunderbolt (just like Firewire years ago) was a year or two ahead of its time. Steve Jobs believed correctly that DVD's are going to go the way of VHS, CD's, 8-tracks. Those of us who still like DVD's, such as myself, can keep making great DVD's with DVDSP. It still is a great program, but you have to be blind to not see that DVD's will be extinct very soon. The internet and the Cloud are the future, (maybe even Apple TV who knows what they have in store with that at this point in time).
DVD's are so limited in their size and their durability. Open your eyes.
Apple stopped them because it tries to stay ahead of the curve not behind. Thunderbolt (just like Firewire years ago) was a year or two ahead of its time. Steve Jobs believed correctly that DVD's are going to go the way of VHS, CD's, 8-tracks. Those of us who still like DVD's, such as myself, can keep making great DVD's with DVDSP. It still is a great program, but you have to be blind to not see that DVD's will be extinct very soon. The internet and the Cloud are the future, (maybe even Apple TV who knows what they have in store with that at this point in time). DVD's are so limited in their size and their durability.
Open your eyes. Click to expand.Lightpeak (aka Thunderbolt) is from intel, not Apple.
IEEE 1394a was developed by a consortium, not just by Apple (and it might have taken off more if Apple did charge high fees for the FireWire name). After a decade of plummeting CD sales digital downloads have finally, by 0.3%, outsold CD sales in the US (vinyl is having record breaking sales btw). Apple stopped developing DVD SP because it doesn't fit in their version of reality (not to mention that Blu-ray is a competitor to the iTMS) and, unfortunately, Apple's version of reality isn't always, well, real. Questions about authoring apps come up all the time on many of the forums I go to. Posting a video on YT or sending someone a small H.264 file via YouSendIt doesn't always fit the bill for what people need or want. You might want to take your own advice and open your eyes because the world is a bigger place than just Apple's walled garden.
Click to expand.ditto! Lol I offer video transfers for clients and no joke, I have some older clients who are just getting rid of their VHS decks and buying blu ray or DVD players. Even some younger folks in their 40s/50s stare blankly when I ask if they would like some digital files to stream from their computer to TV or for their iphone/ipads. Some understand, but the majority (in my non-scientific unofficial study), do not. To the OP, keep using DVDSP if you don't need blu ray. Compressor 4 offers blu ray support, but very basic menu design. For my clients, they want to hit a button and watch their movies so it works, but I certainly would like to 'dress' it up a bit more as it won't even do chapter selections (like you can in DVDSP).
I've been looking at Encore, but from what I can see, not a product which can be purchased by itself unfortunately. Good luck, Keebler.
Click to expand.Huh? I just asked what people use to author DVDs. Why do you assume that I'm clinging to optical media like a life raft?
Believe me, my eyes are very open to this. I am already moving my company away from DVD, offering videos as quicktime and avi files on USB drives as an alternative. It's starting to take off, but right now, in the present, not the future, most of my customers still want a DVD or a blu-ray.
I've been expecting Apple to ditch these programs at some point, but IMO they pulled the trigger a bit too soon. And Apple is right, optical media is going away. But that's besides the point. They can talk about the future of the industry being totally online until they're blue in the face. It won't change the fact that we are living in the present. DVD and blu ray are certainly on their way out, but they're still long from dead. It's a slow process.
And believe me, I want them to die. Burned DVDs are the largest area of complaint that I've noticed in the event videography industry. That's speaking from my own company's experiences as well as other companies I've worked with. They're unreliable, they're cheap, they're slowly becoming obsolete, and many players have a difficult time playing them correctly. Sometimes they can't even be read. I'll be happier when I can export a video, put it on a thumb drive, maybe upload it to Dropbox or Vimeo, and move on to the next project.
But until then, DVD is still king. First: mBox: What software do you use for BluRay authoring?
Maybe I'll look into that. Second: As the discussion is heating up, I would like to mention an open source software:. While it doesn't produce the fancy animated menus that you get with the presets in iDVD and DVD Studio Pro, it has some major advantages: 1.
You can very easily set any background and buttons that you want 2. It features scripting possibilities for some advanced features (like 'play all and then go to menu X') 3. It does not have the 16:9 issues I am struggling with in iDVD. Over all: If you already have a movie that has been encoded decently to MPEG-2, and you just want menus with more than a 'press play' button, it's not half bad.
I would pick it over the FCPX and Compressor abilities every day. But of course, it's far from being the 'best DVD authoring program' as the thread title suggests. Click to expand.True.
DVD SP is an awesome piece of software. I think when writing this, I referred to DVD SP when mentioning 'very easily', but to be honest, it is even pretty easy to handle. DVD SP in my opinion only has two drawbacks: 1. I don't own it. It's not sold anymore.
If I ever get my hands on a cheap FCS3 package, I'll definitely go for it and probably only use DVD SP out of the suite. And maybe Color. I would pay a considerable amount of money if Apple just sold me DVD SP. No support or anything, just the software. I don't know why they won't do it. Click to expand.Yes, that does sound interesting. But I have also been making googly eyes at After Effects and Speedgrade, and would be interested in the Photoshop update (right now, I have the Creative Suite which I actually use for work).
I don't know about Audition, any experience with that? I have Logic Studio, and am pretty happy, especially with the sound library, but I wouldn't consider myself an expert and could still go for something else if well done. How do those two compare? Anyways: For After Effects, Speedgrade and Encore alone, let alone Photoshop, the rental fee wouldn't pay off compared to the academic pricing for the suite (the discount is surprisingly generous).