What is the best HD-DVD authoring program?

Jeff9329 wrote on 9/9/2007, 2:33 PM

Since Sony isn't going to support HD-DVD, I might as well get set up with a good HD-DVD authoring solution.

I have been using Ulead Movie Studio+ with fair results to burn HD-DVD on standard DVDs. One of my problems is it dosen't work with 720P HDV files (among many, many other problems).

It seems the Sonic Professional Software is the industry leader right now. On 9-6-2007 they announced a "HD-Quickstart" authoring package for HD-DVD. All they have on the website is DVD-it Pro HD for $499.00 as of today. No telling what the "HD-Quickstart" package will cost, but I don't really care at this point.

Does anyone have any knowledge of the Sonic product or have another recommendation?

Thanks!

Comments

ScottW wrote on 9/9/2007, 4:27 PM

Here's one to look at; I've not played with it myself, but I have been keeping an eye on it: http://dostudio.netblender.com/dostudio/network/content/home/default.asp

Jeff9329 wrote on 9/9/2007, 6:05 PM

I looked into that one tonight. It is an (very) advanced content authoring tool. According to the manual:
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Advanced Content application development for HD DVD is more like web or game development than point-and-click DVD authoring. This is an important note for all DoStudio users. DoStudio does not author Type 1 or Standard Content HD DVD. DoStudio is only for
creating Advanced Content (Type 2) HD DVD using DoML and HDi.

As we have mentioned several times in this manual, Advanced Content HD DVD development is more like web or game programming than DVD Authoring. This means that to create a
successful HD DVD, you will need the skills and resources of others who were not part of the DVD Authoring workflow.
_____________________________________________________
Simple programs like DVDA do type 1 authoring, which is what I am looking for. DoStudio is also a $249 per month leased program for creating burnable images, no burning included.

This Type 2 advanced content authoring is the near future, but it adds too much time and complexity to my low budget productions.

Im starting to see why these formats, both BD & HD-DVD, are having some trouble launching. BD is in an even worse situation. BD doesn't support Type 1 content authoring, which is a DVD & HD-DVD consortium format (which we have all been using). BD can be "burned from the timeline" with no intro or navigation features whatsoever or you have BDAV or BDMV or go straight to the Java MUL advanced content authoring scenario (hire a programmer and break out the cash flow).

There aren't many good authoring options right now for HD-DVD.

GeorgeW wrote on 9/10/2007, 3:41 AM

When you say "Ulead Movie Studio+" -- is that Ulead Movie Factory, or is that Ulead Video Studio?

Have you got the latest versions and the corresponding patches applied?

Perhaps you can use an HD Intermediate before authoring for HD-DVD?

Jeff9329 wrote on 9/10/2007, 7:27 AM

Sorry, that's Movie Studio 6+, with patch 2.

For the moment, I will have to keep experimenting with MS6+. So far, my video quality results for 720P files is not acceptable due to an additional render.