Wide Screen DVD

[Al Stu]

Normally I just save all my video as AVI's and don't burn to DVD format. But I have a project the requires a DVD format CD that can be played on standard DVD Player & TV. All the video is wide screen (16:9) created with MM2. I see no options for wide screen in Sonic MyDVD (4.5) and in the preview it shows as 4:3. Is this how it will display on TV too? How can I keep it wide screen?

Thanks,
Al

 

[John Kelly]

Hello,

Quite a few programs (I have seen and been told about) fail to deal with
4:3 and 16:9 properly. I can tell you that both programs for DVD making that
I use DO handle it well, thery are Nero 6.6 and Dazzle DVD complete. I have
never used Sonic (other than load it and delete it) A friend used to use it
and he had the same problems. He has now moved to Nero.

For quality I am torn between Nero and DVD complete. DVD Complete has a more
up front user interface which was at first hard to understand. The degree of
control available is greater than I will ever need. But it does not handle
Dual Layer disks...thats when I switched to Nero. It has considerable
abilities but they are not immediately obvious. I always use Nero when
importing from my DVD/TV combo...its easier in Nero than Complete and its
two pass compression is faster than Complete. The resulting quality...I
can't tell the difference between them on screen.

Hope that helps

Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org

Normally I just save all my video as AVI's and don't burn to DVD format.
But I have a project the requires a DVD format CD that can be played on
standard DVD Player & TV. All the video is wide screen (16:9) created with
MM2. I see no options for wide screen in Sonic MyDVD (4.5) and in the
preview it shows as 4:3. Is this how it will display on TV too? How can I
keep it wide screen?

Thanks,
Al

 

[Al Stu]

What are the price tags and are they available online? I don't do much DVD
formatted burning so don't really want to spend much money, if any at all.
Which is why I was trying to use the freebie Sonic MyDVD that came with
computer 2 years ago. It works, does everything I need except wide screen
video (so far as I can tell). Interestingly though it maintains aspect
ratio of slideshow photos.

 

[John Kelly]

Hello Al,

Nero can be downloaded/purchased online from www.nero.com If you are in
Europe its called Nero Reloaded otherwise its called Nero Ultra...I "think"
its around US $69 but you will discover the proper price if you go look. You
can download the evaluation copy...which will do everything except make a
DVD...apparently it will make a SVCD and VCD as well as do all the things it
is better known for in the realm of creating any format CD....its an
excelent program in that respect alone.

Dazzle DVD Complete is no longer sold in the shops.....it was withdrawn
because it competed with the reportedly inferioree Pinnacle
product...Pinnacle bought that part of the Dazzle company (or all of
it...not sure) I was once told that you can still find it on the web by
doing a search and it was (2 - 3 months back) still possible to buy it. My
copy cost me something like £50 (US $100) TYake note that DVD Complete is
ONLY a Video DVD creation program...it has none of the other functions found
in Nero.

Hop that helps a little

Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org

 

[Al Stu]

Anyone have experience with Roxio Easy Media Creator 7.5 for creating
widescreen (16:9) DVD format CD's?

 

[Wojo]

I've never used version 7.5 and don't create widescreen DVD's but I do have
Roxio Media Creator version 6 and don't like it at all simply because the
control and abilities of the program are very limited.
I agree with John's assessment of Nero (that's correct you cannot create
DVD's with the trial) and I definitely agree with his sentiments on MyDVD (I
hate that program) and I now plan on checking out Dazzle DVD Complete simply
for the info to add to my website if nothing else.
Personally I like to use the Ulead family of DVD products. Movie Factory was
my favorite by far until I discovered DVD Workshop which will do pretty much
anything you could possibly want to do with a DVD.
The price tag is very high but the free demo is not crippled in any way that
matters and they have a much cheaper version called DVD Workshop Express
that works just fine as well.
There is a list of the more popular DVD authoring programs available on my
website in the "DVD Programs" section. Each includes a link to the author's
site where you can download a trial version.
Try a few and see what you think all the trial versions work except, as I
said before, Nero Vision Express.

 

[Wojo]

Hey John you should check out Ulead DVD workshop.
Remember I was always commenting that the one thing I couldn't find a DVD
Authoring program that could do well was to create a DVD menu with clickable
regions (IE text or clipart etc...) to go to a video?
Well DVD Workshop accomplishes this very well.
I wouldn't recommend purchasing it unless you really want to get into DVD
authoring on a high level but the trial version is almost uncrippled (it's
demo limitations are so high that I haven't even reached them yet).
Download: http://www.ulead.com/dws/runme.htm
Video: http://tinyurl.com/bpw7y
-Wojo

 

[John Kelly]

Hi Wojo,

Yes, I did play with it, a mate runs a distibution company and he sends
me samples from time to time. But, Nero can be used to make a menu with
clickable images and position them where you want. You use one of the
default menus and replace everything with video or still backgrounds etc. I
am burning one just now two episodes of a TV series...there is no default
menu system that suits so I made my own....The program is called All
Creatures Great & Small so I made the background of the main menu a snap of
our rear garden with a bird (Blue Tit) caught with a low shutter so that its
wings look blurred (the humingbird shot) and the two active areas have a 30
second clip from the very start of each program conveniently giving the
title of each episode. Then moving on to the menu for each program I
replaced the background with similar shots from our garden and used a 30
second clip starting at the relevant chapter point for the active areas. I
have previously used a video for the menu backgrouns and stills from the
video for the active area...did not like the result...far to much going on..
You can also move around the elements by the usual click and drag
method...it works fairly well. You can change the shape of the active area
by choosing a predefined shape. As far as I can remember you cannot use a
shape of your own...must take a look at that some day.

Dazzle DVD Complete lets you put all sorts of objects on the
window....but as I prefer fairly simple unclutered screen Imost often have
just four chapter points and the usual next/prior options on the submenus
snd two or three on the main menu

Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

Hi Al,

I'd hate to see you purchase something else if MyDVD can handle the widescreen OK... I recently moved from the MyDVD 4.5 that came bundled on my laptop two years ago... to the Sonic 6.1 suite.... I had never made any widescreen DVDs... my reason for changing was because v4.5 can't handle the new Photo Story 3 files.

Sonic has online support at http://www.sonic.com and here's a tech support number: 1-877-383-1124... you might be best asking them before investing in your next package.

--
PapaJohn
Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org


Normally I just save all my video as AVI's and don't burn to DVD format. But I have a project the requires a DVD format CD that can be played on standard DVD Player & TV. All the video is wide screen (16:9) created with MM2. I see no options for wide screen in Sonic MyDVD (4.5) and in the preview it shows as 4:3. Is this how it will display on TV too? How can I keep it wide screen?

Thanks,
Al

 

[John Kelly]

Hi again,

Yes, I have Easy CD/DVD version 6 or maybe 7 not sure....Version 5 and
whatever the more recent version is both came to me via my friend who owns
the distribution company.....this was before I had Nero. He sent me Nero
after I sent him a report on what I thought of Roxio Easy thingy.....I know
some people swear by it but I often wonder if they do so because they have
difficulty in general (whether they realise it or not) but know how to use
that program. If so then their thoughts are true to them but do not make the
program the best around.

Best Wishes.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org

 

[Wojo]

I think it is because Roxio is easy to use and if they haven't tried
anything else to see how much more they could be doing with their DVD
creations they don't know how bad Roxio really is.

 

[Al Stu]

Thanks Wojo, downloaded Ulead DVD Workshop 2 demo yesterday (hope it's not
laced with spyware). Took a little playing to figure how to go about
certain things but it does appear to be pretty flexible. Although for a
product with such a hefty price tag there seems to be some capabilities
lacking. For instance, motion menu buttons with different loop lengths (and
possibly loop position, unless perhaps this is done with chapter marks).

Also I may not have been going about it the way intended, but I had to
switch back to Edit tab to select the item I wanted to place on the menu.
If I just pulled a still from the image library then it couldn't be a motion
active button. Suppose that may be what the video library is for, but that
seems like an unnecessary additional step as well. But like I said, I
probably wasn't using it as intended.

But as demos go very capable.

BTW, in Disc Template Manager, Edit, Compression, I couldn't find any help
info about the Speed-Quality setting. Goes from 0 (Speed) to 100 (Quality)
but says nothing about this setting that I could find. For instance what
I'd like to know is if I use a setting of 100 (Max Quality) does that mean
it's not reducing the quality of my DV-AVI movie at all?

 

[John Kelly]

A good point

Best Wishes...John Kely
www.the-kellys.org

 

[Wojo]

Thanks Wojo, downloaded Ulead DVD Workshop 2 demo yesterday (hope it's
not laced with spyware).

None what-so-ever.

Took a little playing to figure how to go about certain things but it does
appear to be pretty flexible.

Yes I should mention that there is a bit of a learning curve with the
program but it's well worth it.

Although for a product with such a hefty price tag there seems to be some
capabilities lacking. For instance, motion menu buttons with different
loop lengths (and possibly loop position, unless perhaps this is done with
chapter marks).

Motion menu button's are certainly a capability but I don't know about
different loop length's I never had a need for that option but I'll have to
look into it with my next project.

Also I may not have been going about it the way intended, but I had to
switch back to Edit tab to select the item I wanted to place on the menu.
If I just pulled a still from the image library then it couldn't be a
motion active button. Suppose that may be what the video library is for,
but that seems like an unnecessary additional step as well. But like I
said, I probably wasn't using it as intended.

It is what the library is for and if you set the program up with all the
different stills/motion videos that you use regularly it is worthwhile in
the end.

But as demos go very capable.

BTW, in Disc Template Manager, Edit, Compression, I couldn't find any help
info about the Speed-Quality setting. Goes from 0 (Speed) to 100
(Quality) but says nothing about this setting that I could find. For
instance what I'd like to know is if I use a setting of 100 (Max Quality)
does that mean it's not reducing the quality of my DV-AVI movie at all?

It will still reduce it some since DV-AVI is basically raw video and you are
converting to MPEG2 for DVD viewing so there is some but when I use the max
setting or even lower settings (within reason) it is not noticable in the
slightest.

 

[Al Stu]

Now I remember why I rarely make a DVD disc. It takes forever just to
process (convert) the videos.

2 AVI Videos of 5 and 20 minutes, and one 11 photo slideshow, took 1:15 just
in preparation for burning the disc.

21 Month Old Dell Inspiron 8600
1.4 GHz Centrino
512 MB RAM
7200 RPM Disk Drive

 

[Wojo]

Yes it does take time but it's not like you need to be at the computer for
the work to be done.
I just set mine up and leave for dinner or bed or whatever and let it do the
work.

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

What do you expect with a centrino processor? If you wanted to do video
processing/encoding, you should have gone with something other than a
centrino.

Bobby

 

[Al Stu]

CPU speed is not the be all end all of video processing. Storage device and
memory speeds play a very big part as well. In fact they are frequently the
bottleneck these days.

If your computer usage is narrow enough and wallet fat enough you only need
to consider one purpose for your purchase decision, good for you. I've
never been sorry for the purchase and I'm still not.

I look forward to the day when the speed and capacity of memory, storage,
and networks are so large and fast we never even remember the days of the
lossy-compression band-aid.

 

[Wojo]

Believe it or not HDD speeds and memory are two of the biggest
considerations when it comes to video editing/processing. This is why
keeping your HDD defragged is so important.