DVD Architect

[cdeemer]

I like this program a lot. Very powerful. And I just burned a good DVD in 8 minutes, a huge improvement over the time it takes PE! If I have a criticism of the program, it's that it might be hard to learn if you've never made a DVD before. I knew what to look for, knew the basic steps involved from working in PE (set markets etc), but if you've never done this sort of thing before, the manual and help isn't all that great. I had to fiddle and try a few things before I got it right. But it's a powerful program, the one I'll use. And at ten bucks, hey, you can't beat the price!!

[Steve Grisetti]

Wow! You found a copy for $10, Charles! What a deal!

As I was researching it, I noticed that it sells for $49, if you have it shipped to you, but only $39 if you download it from the Sony web site.

But if you found a current version for 10 bucks, you definitely got a deal!

Wait a minute...

Are you talking about the full version or the Studio version, Charles? DVD Architect Studio sells for under $50. The full version, comparable to Encore, sells for hundreds of dollars. If you found THAT for $10 -- wow!

[cdeemer]

It's the studio version 4 ... so it's not the current one. But it was new (unwrapped package), and it does much more than enough for my needs, at least at the present. I tell you, I love this program! I don't know why anyone would burn a DVD in PE, it takes so damn long. I just burned to a folder in 3 mins.

[VernonRobinson]

I'll bite. I was considering a copy of the program, but could never justify it in my mind sine PrEl works, and I have a copy of Nero that also works. But at $10.00? How did you do it?

Thanks,
-Vernon

[cdeemer]

No magic. I learned the current version is 4.5, so decided to look for a version earlier than that (my usual strategy when buying software I'm not sure about). At Amazon I found this page for version 4 ...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000JX3OD8/ref=dp_olp_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1218917733&sr=8-3

and ordered the cheapest one, which was $10. The current cheapest one is $12, also new, unwrapped. Worked for me!

[Bob D]

I have this product as well. I occasionally bring it up to try it out, but to be honest, I have never figured it out. I know many have praised what it can do and I'm sure if someone sat down with me to walk me through it I wold love it too, but I can really get by with PE menus and resorting to PGEdit for some other items I want, like play first clip before menu. The only thing missing that I would want to do is have sub menus off the main menu.


Bob D

[cdeemer]

I agree it's not the most intuitive program in the world. I think part of the challenge in learning new software is learning the special vocabulary usually associated with it. At any rate, after some false starts, I seem to have it down and, like I say, I think it smokes PE's DVD authoring system. In fact, it's so fast and easy, I'm recombining projects to make DVDs for friends I never would have considered in PE.

[VernonRobinson]

How hard is it to create a gallery to allow a person to look at a still like they do in some of the DVD extras. If I understand it, DVD Architect will allow us to create a sub menu to a menu. I also understand that each menu is limited to 99 items. What I am wanting to do is to create a slide show of my family pictures, but also to include the ability to go to the EXTRAS section and be able to move through the 300 - 400 pictures manually so that people can discuss and tell their story around that particular picture. Maybe this is possible in PrEl,l but I haven't been able to figure it out. Am I making sense?

Thanks,
-Vernon

[cdeemer]

I think there are ways in DVD Arch to do what you want ... you can have 255 playlists, each with 255 items, for example, organize those and put them on up on various menus.

[VernonRobinson]

I think there are ways in DVD Arch to do what you want ... you can have 255 playlists, each with 255 items, for example, organize those and put them on up on various menus.

Great!!! I see that there is Version 4 and Version 4.5. I will have to check out the difference. There also appears to be the Pro version. Not sure that I need quite that fire power.

Regards,
-Vernon

[cdeemer]

Version 4 is the one I got for ten bucks. I always try to get the version "prior" when I'm trying out something. This version has more than enough for what I need. I also have the Studio version. There's quite a difference in price to the other.

[VernonRobinson]

Just to reiterate, using playlists, I could conceivable put up to 255 stills in a "chapter/playlist", then use the arrow keys to advance or backup at will.

Thanks,
-Vernon

[cdeemer]

I don't know how the playlists work, never done one. But the manual says you can have 255 of them each with 255 entries.

You can download a manual here: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/dl/dl.aspx?dwnid=208

[VernonRobinson]

Decided to pull the trigger on this. Order Studio version 4. $16.00 with shipping. Will install it this weekend and try it out. Hopefully this will work. Wish me luck. Thanks for the tip on looking for older software.

-Vernon

[cdeemer]

Good luck with it. I love it, best software buy I ever made.