Cheap authoring software?

[Tony_Reyes]

I'm looking for some inexpensive authoring software. Right now I'm using Sonic MyDVD 'mediacenter edition' which sucks. I've used it for one project and it was fine, no errors. I went a little bigger this time I made something that is about 23 minutes and now I get one error after the other and cant seem to write it. So I'm looking for something a little better than what I have, something more consistent and reliable. Any ideas? I will more than likely use the tryout of Encore to finish this project.

Thanks

[bodaphoto]

What editing software are you using? What are your computer specs?

I had that software and it was very frustrating and worthless.

Also make sure you system is defragmented and that you have enough hard drive space to cache for the disk to burn (at least 4GB free space defragged.)

A cheap and good alternative is Pinnacle Studio 9. It authors very good quality dvds and you have complete control over the settings.

[Tony_Reyes]

I have seen Pinnacle Studio 9 around, thanks for the advice. I think the hardrive issue may have been the trouble at first but then I got 2 other errors. I also defragmented and cleaned up the harddrive to where I had about 121 gig's free and I still got another error. What do you mean when you say, "enough hard drive space to cache for the disk to burn." I don't understand cache basically. Thank you very much for your input, I'll take a good look at Pinnicle Studio 9.

[Tony_Reyes]

Almost forgot the specs. It's really just a normal desktop PC. 512 mb about 150 gb hardrive. 2.6 P4 processor I believe. Nothing special, unfortunately I have to use it to edit video. Also, I'm using Premiere 6.5 to edit. I think it's just that the version of MyDVD that I got with my computer is weak and they really only expected me to burn what I had recorded on my computer.

[Tony_Reyes]

I've been running around the Sonic site (the manufacturer of my software) and it is actually very knowledgable. I'm learning a lot about different file types and authoring as a whole. I've come to realize that it's not quite so black and white, as it is marketed. Ex. 4.7 gigs isn't neccessarily 4.7, it depends on what types of files your writing onto your DVD, also the audio, the motion menus the buttons and the list goes on. So, maybe I can make this program work, cuz I'm really not in the market to buy anything right now, seeing that I'm pretty damn poor. ;D

[Tin2tin]

A you can find a couple of free ones here:
http://www.videohelp.com/tools?listuser=&orderby=Type&s=2#2
The two GUIs for dvdauthor are very good - and totally free - so there's nothing to loose ;)

Tin2tin

[Tony_Reyes]

Good call buddy, free is for me.

[Tony_Reyes]

I downloaded the first GUI file and it's a .dz file... Windows wanted me to download something like WinZip for it. I did that and WinZip won't open it for me. Do you guys know what will open it?

[Tin2tin]

I'm not sure I understand what your problem is - you're not writing which program you're trying out... :)

I prefer these two(which should be possible to download and install without much trouble):

GUI for DVDauthor (http://www.videohelp.com/~gfd/)
DVDauthorGUI (http://www.videohelp.com/~liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl)

Have fun,
Tin2tin

[Tony_Reyes]

i mainly just need to know what program i need to unzip a .dz file.

thanks

[Tony_Reyes]

alright... this is what i've come up with so far. i found this link--->
http://www.psychology.nottingham.ac.uk/staff/cr1/gz.html
i downloaded the program and decompressed it. then i had a whole nother slew of files i couldnt open.

[ulisses]

DVD LAB, www.mediachance.com

Ulisses