A possible breakthrough for mid-range DVD authorers?

I know a guy who is building DVD's with those features now, when he gets back in town I'll ask what he uses to author. He has buttons that have video in them, moving menus, very fancy

might be getting studio 8 for the studioDV card we have at home, the software that came with it only works in win9x. Enf...

"The Wall" has the same kind of buttons. They look fucking cool. I imagine it must be pretty difficult.

Oh, I know how to DO them (see sticky at the top of this forum, marked "temporary"): I'm simply saying that this appears to be the first attempt by a software developer to actually *integrate* the compositing process, seamlessly into the DVD-authoring environment, rather than the somewhat-disjointed method which many, myself included, already employ, which requires compositing of the video streams and SUBSEQUENT importation of said streams into the DVD-authoring environment (e.g Maestro). Of course, as I said in my opening post, I have not actually confirmed that this is truly the case - I'm simply going by what I read in the magazine. As far as difficulty goes, I can assure you that, so long as you don't scare yourSELF away from tackling the task, it's actually pretty easy. Just take your time and follow the instructions (links above), and you'll be authoring animated menus like a pro in no time. ...and the effort is WELL worth it! :) Regards, Arky ;o)

As much as it irks me to say it, some of these features are available on Apple (cawf spit) systems. Apple's DVD Studio Pro software (which is essentially what Apple did with Maestro after they killed the PC software afaik) is quite good and incorporates a lot of this type of functionality - drag and drop video buttons for chapters, etc. Quite intuitive and for what it does, fairly inexpensive. The funny thing is that the software and hardware is good enough that I'd actually consider using it if it weren't for Apple's predatory business practises and the fact that Steve Jobs is an ass...

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what is being said here, but doesn't Ulead's DVD workshop allow most of this? The moving video in the menu button is something I use all the time on it.

The motion menu option certainly does work. I've used it on several original productions and they work like a charm. I have to admit that DVD workshop is the best mid-price authoring software out there.

Good stuff - for some bizarre reason I can't access Ulead's website all of a sudden, though! :( Will check it out later. Thanks for the 'heads-up' on DWS, guys :) Arky ;o)

I've tinkered with DVD Studio Pro on a Mac system at school. I find it to be quite similar to Maestro, but with a dash of Scenerist thrown in. The user interface was easy enough to understand that I felt I could start authoring on it immediately given my experience with PC DVD authoring. A brief look at the feature set seemed to include all of the usual features that high-end packages have. Wasn't able to check on command-sequence type operation however. We'll have a machine or two with it installed within the next few months at work, so I'll experiment more with it then. N.

sounds promising, altho i dont recall command sequences being mentioned on the site at all. Enf...