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Best DVD menu Creation Program



13 Oct 2006 22:01:19 -0700 rec.video.desktop
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John...
I am looking for a menu creation program. What I want in the program
is the ability to use Adobe Photoshop CS to create most of the DVD menu
layout. This is the main reason I like Adobe Encore but I don't like
all the bugs in it at least in version I think it was 1.0 or 1.5. I
have not used version 2.0, yet. Also it is pretty expensive.

I have been reading about DVD-Lab. Can I do the above in this
software?

Jukka Aho...
You can download a trial version of the various flavors of DVD-lab here
and try it for yourself:

See the comparison table:

Also see the description of the "Import from PSD" feature on this page:

As you can see, DVD-lab, however great it otherwise might be,
unfortunately has a problem in that it forces the user to import stills
(including menu backgrounds) in a non-standard resolution, insisting on
resampling the images to a standard DVD resolution by itself. This
unnecessary resampling is unacceptable for image quality reasons alone,
but especially for users who would like to create PAL discs since they
can't use the full PAL resolution (576 lines) at all. Forced resampling
also makes it impossible to create pixel-perfect menu designs. In
addition to that, the developers seem to have a bit misguided idea about
DVD pixel aspect ratios, so the aspect ratio will be slightly off if the
user follows the instructions given in the documentation.

It's pretty strange they have not fixed these flaws yet, especially as
they are so hard trying to maintain on their web pages that their
product - unlike most of the other DVD authoring packages - doesn't do
things behind the user's back. It's also sad because otherwise DVD-lab
would be a great DVD authoring tool. :(
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