Best DVD Authoring Software - 2021

[RobustReviews]

Hello all,

We're abandoning DVD entirely 01 January 2022 and I don't want to spend a lot of money (I need eight licences of whatever I go for), but I need some basic but robust DVD authoring software.

Our licences have just expired on Wondershare (something or other, it's a horrid bit of carp) so just need something to get us over the line.

Don't mind paying up to $100 (US) ish per chair, but don't really want to invest any more money than that.

It's 2021, so we don't make menus etc, I just need some very basic and robust authoring software that allows chaptering and doesn't completely mash video when encoding.

The source is generally DV AVI, creating PAL discs only.

Any suggestions? It needs to be robust and reliable rather than feature-laden and stuffed with tacky menus we don't use.

[lordsmurf]

Simple DVD Creator, freeware, $0.

Menu-less discs, which I also do. (Once upon a time, menus were neat, but time has shown that nobody cares. A bad or ugly menu is worse than no menu. A good menu is ignored. And I was really good at menus.)

It's just authoring, you properly encode assets beforehand. (MPEG-2 + audio + optional subs/etc)

[RobustReviews]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Simple DVD Creator, freeware, $0.

Menu-less discs, which I also do. (Once upon a time, menus were neat, but time has shown that nobody cares. A bad or ugly menu is worse than no menu. A good menu is ignored. And I was really good at menus.)

It's just authoring, you properly encode assets beforehand. (MPEG-2 + audio + optional subs/etc)

Totally agree on menus, they often just look tacky and as you've said, nobody actually cares these days. Our work is often just previewed by the sort of clients who just want to put the disc in and scan through it or for domestic clients they don't seem to care at all.

I'll look into this, thanks for the suggestion. We have various means of rendering for DVD output, I need to do the time/effort calculations to see if an application with a built in converter is more time effective but this is definitely something I'll download and test.

I've just purchased our final 500 AZO discs, after they run out, or 01 January 2022 (whichever comes first) we will no longer be offering DVD.

Thanks again,
RR

[lordsmurf]

"built-in" quality has always been lousy, and it's slower than good encoder. Lose-lose.

Converting to MPEG + AC3/MP2/etc is both faster and better with a good encoder. Then just drop both assets in the SDC, let it take a few minutes, and done. This all goes quite fast with modern i7 CPUs and SSDs. My main system is still a Skylake i7-6700K, and it chews through these sorts of encodes quality. The authoring aspect can literally be "blink and you miss it".

We haven't done disc-based work in years now. It's all lossless or streaming. Our last batch of discs is mostly sitting here aging in a closet. Most were from decent clearance back when some of the media companies were going under. (There are so few left now, both manufacturers and vendors. The Amazon effect hit several of the vendors, to the point where they now use Amazon to sell their own house brand goods, and their site/store is gone. Linkyo, aka SuperMediaStore, for example.) We do keep a lot of discs on hand, both used and blank, for our ongoing media research.

[dpalomaki]

FWIW: Some commercial alternatives in case the organization is opposed to using freeware or shareware

I've been using TMPGenc Authoring Works for both DVD and Blu-Ray. Not free but under $100 for the first seat and discounts for additional seats. It is easy to use once you realize the interface is a bit different from typical software and it does support menus creation. (I find simple menus still of value with media that contains a series of different but related events: e.g., rehearsal, ceremony, reception.)

Before that I used Media Chance's DVD Lab Pro 2, still available but no longer being developed. It gave very good control over the DVD authoring process. Does not include encoders. $49 a seat for 8 seats.

[Hushpower]

Quote:

I find simple menus still of value with media that contains a series of different but related events: e.g., rehearsal, ceremony, reception.

Agree. Being able to jump to a section of a "file" using a basic menu was good. Now I have to break up my subject videos so the filename represents every minor topic.