Put It On DVD
With affordable burners and easier video editing software, there's never been a better time to turn videos into slick discs you can share.Your long-winded CEO insisted on introducing your company's newest product. Trouble is, he rambled for a good long hour, and now he wants his breathtaking speech to be seen and heard by all your customers. Luckily, falling rewritable DVD drive prices and sophisticated software can make immortalizing your company's talking head on DVD--in a tactfully edited director's cut--as easy as pressing play.
Well, it might not be quite that easy, but at least it's increasingly affordable: Rewritable DVD drive prices have dipped below $300, on average. That was the price level that allowed CD burners to start setting the world on fire, and we expect the same to happen with DVD burners. On the creative side, DVD authoring software has become more affordable, too--several packages cost as little as $50. And you can get a pretty good set-top DVD player for less than $100 these days, making it easy to view your video discs on your television.
In this article, we've trained most of our attention on video editing and DVD authoring. But turning your PC into a DVD production studio requires several other components, so we have included advice on selecting the best of those as well. For suggestions on shopping for the right DV camcorder, see "How to Choose a Digital Camcorder." For the best rewritable DVD drives, see our Top 10 DVD Drives chart. In addition, we've also outlined some PC configurations that will optimize the video editing process (see "How Much PC Do You Need?").
Everybody Wants to Be in the Movies
Thanks to DVD's popularity, you have a crowded field of video editing and DVD authoring software to pick from. Figuring out which product does what--and what each does well--can be difficult. We've winnowed our review down to nine packages: Capable video editing programs that can also write to DVD, and DVD authoring programs that have limited editing capabilities and also write to DVD. The video editing programs we reviewed all output to videotape; to compressed, Internet-friendly files; or to a DVD. The DVD authoring programs output to DVD only. (Our evaluations are summarized in this chart.)
DVD authoring programs such as Pinnacle Expression, InterVideo WinDVD Creator Plus, and CyberLink PowerProducer offer limited options to edit the video and customize DVD menus. Other programs, such as Pinnacle Studio 8, provide more flexibility, with more-complex tools for tweaking the video and the DVD menus.
We tested the packages by using them to copy footage from a DV camcorder to DVD and assessing how well each handled the job. We also evaluated each program's feature set and ease of use. Finally, we lab-tested how long each package took to convert the video to MPEG-2, the format used on DVD movie discs.
Of our two Best Buys, Ulead's DVD MovieFactory 2 uses a simple interface and strong editing tools, making it a solid choice for DVD authoring, while Pinnacle Studio 8's robust set of tools provides great control over editing video before burning it to DVD.
Step 1: Import
As well as importing directly, all the products in this review can send commands (like Play, Fast Forward, and Reverse) to video from any MiniDV camcorder that supports the Open Host Controller Interface (OHCI) standard. And all digital camcorders currently manufactured support the OHCI standard (but if you are using an older camcorder, check the documentation). When you find the piece of video that you want to record to your hard drive, simply press the Record button in the program, and it will automatically play the videotape and begin transferring.
Many of the programs we tried can automatically detect scene changes--that is, they recognize skips in the time code or changes in the video content and create separate clips for each scene. You can then use these clips as chapters when creating the DVD menus later on. With most programs, scene detection occurs as you capture the video; with InterVideo's WinDVD Creator Plus and CyberLink's PowerProducer, however, you must instruct the program to detect scenes after the entire video has been imported.
Instead of scene detection, Adobe Premiere 6.5 uses batch capture: You preview the tape, create a list of time-stamped segments you want to capture, and then hit Record; thus Premiere records only what you want. This approach works best when you wish to import only small parts of a tape--for example, so you can capture just the good takes of a rehearsed speech.
Mediostream's NeoDVD 4 Plus lacks scene detection but lets you define DVD chapter points manually. Adobe depends on a bundled third-party DVD encoder--DVDit 2.5 LE--that doesn't include scene detection (but with Premiere's batch capture abilities, scene detection isn't really needed). Sonic/Adaptec's MyDVD Media Suite does include scene detection, but to use it, you must export the video to ArcSoft ShowBiz (a separate utility within the MyDVD Media Suite), which adds another step to the process.
You may not always want to rely on automatic scene detection, though: If you happen to press the pause button frequently while taking video, you can end up with hundreds of clips and chapter points. All of the software programs here let you turn off scene detection, although this is much easier in a program such as Studio 8, which has powerful tools for trimming, splicing, and adding transitions between video clips. Once the video is captured and saved to your hard drive, you can cull video from several different tapes to put onto one DVD.
Many digital camcorders have analog-in ports, making it convenient for you to connect them to an older VCR or analog camcorder and digitize your old analog videotapes for simple transfer to a DVD disc. If you have even older media (such as 8mm film), you can copy them to digital videotape and then to DVD, using a projection device such as the $995 CineMate-15; or you can use a video transfer service.
Step 2: Edit & Author
If you don't think you'll want to do much with your video except add a few menus, you'll be satisfied with the limited editing capabilities of one of the DVD authoring applications we tested, such as DVD MovieFactory 2 or MyDVD Media Suite. On the other hand, if your video requires extensive editing and alteration, you'll want a more complex product that offers wide-ranging video editing capabilities, such as Studio 8.
No matter how polished your raw video might seem, you will likely want to add titles or trim out a mistake. Programs that focus on DVD authoring and not video editing furnish only basic editing tools, such as the ability to cut out or to merge clips. Among the programs here, MyDVD Media Suite and DVD MovieFactory 2 have the easiest-to-use tools.
The storyboard style of video editing--in which you drag icons representing video clips, transitions, and effects into a wide strip on the screen (like putting videos into a photo album)--might seem like child's play. The timeline approach, however, makes it easier to see how the video will flow and to ascertain how background music tracks will fit in. MyDVD Media Suite, WinDVD Creator Plus, and Studio 8 offer both approaches: You can switch between them as you wish.
Other packages (such as PowerProducer) do not allow this kind of editing at all: Though you can edit the individual clips and you can change where they appear on the DVD menu, you can't alter the sequence in which the clips are played.
Inside the Toolbox
Some products here don't integrate their tools very well--often because DVD capabilities were added long after the basic video editing applications were completed. If you capture a video clip in MyDVD Media Suite's capturing section and then want to edit it in ArcSoft ShowBiz, you have to select 'Send Selected Clip' in MyDVD, make your edits in ShowBiz, and then select 'Export to MyDVD project'. It works, but the two parts of the suite have a very different look and feel; other applications do it all in one interface. The editing process is not completely integrated either: You can trim a clip in MyDVD, but if you then send it to ShowBiz for further editing, you'll get the entire clip, not the edited version.
Like most programs, Pinnacle Expression and Roxio's Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 let you insert simple fades and wipes between video clips, while PowerProducer enables you to add special effects, such as embossing. However, these programs don't let you control the length of transitions or the degree to which the special effect alters the video--each effect can only be switched on or off.
Easy CD & DVD Creator 6, Studio 8, WinDVD Creator Plus, NeoDVD 4 Plus, and DVD MovieFactory 2 allow you to add a sound track to your video using an MP3 or WAV file. WinDVD Creator Plus also includes a handy audio mixer for setting the volume levels of different sound sources--useful if you want to strip the audio from a clip, for instance, or if the music is overwhelming the dialog.
MyDVD Media Suite does offer mixing capabilities, but only in the suite's ShowBiz component--so you would again find yourself passing clips to and fro between programs. Aside from Studio 8 and Premiere, none of the other products have a mixer; you'd have to employ a separate app to reduce the audio level of the music.
Easy CD & DVD Creator 6, Studio 8, and NeoDVD 4 Plus also let you record a live narration to your video with a microphone, but no program here allows you to create the subtitles or alternate audio tracks (such as director commentaries) that are featured on many movie DVDs.
Step 3: Write
All of the programs burned a complete video to disc with few problems--we could leave them running unattended, provided we had placed a blank disc in the rewritable DVD drive in our test bed. Letting the software run unattended may be a good strategy, because some programs took a very long time to compress the video into MPEG-2 format. Their speed depends mostly on the codec (compressor/decompressor) that each uses. For more details on the role of the codec in creating DVD videos, see "Speed Rendering With the Right Codec."
All nine software packages we reviewed support both DVD-RW and DVD+RW drives, so you can write movies to either a write-once disc or a rewritable disc you can write over later on. Many rewritable drives bundle a DVD authoring program, but in most cases, such software won't be a complete package, in contrast to the programs here. If they aren't stripped down, the bundled applications may be older versions of currently available software.
For recommendations on rewritable DVD drives, consult our Top 10 DVD Drives.
May I See the Menu, Please?
You can create DVD menus in all of these packages with a template-based approach. With most, you can modify the templates by changing the background image (important if you want the menu to show your company logo, say), the style of the menu buttons, and their placement; and you can add titles. WinDVD Creator Plus and Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 don't let you edit the menus.
DVD MovieFactory 2 provides the most templates--60--all of which can be edited. PowerProducer offers 28, which is probably enough for most people, except that you can't add your own backgrounds, and its included images (such as photos of sandy beaches, blue skies, and tropical sunsets) are clichéd.
Every program uses the chapter beginning points set up by scene detection as menu buttons--each chapter gets a button that takes you straight to that chapter.
Expression, Studio 8, and NeoDVD 4 Plus let you customize almost every aspect of the menu, but the others, such as WinDVD Creator Plus and Easy CD & DVD Creator 6, don't permit you to you alter the layout of the menus.
Most of the packages can add music that plays while users are choosing where to go from the menu. Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 sneaks in an annoying self-endorsement--it automatically inserts a 15-second animated Roxio video at the start of the disc. Fortunately, you can remove this, although it will keep coming back in every new project you create.
While Adobe Premiere 6.5 is a very capable video editing program, it can't create DVDs itself. Instead, it bundles Sonic's DVDit 2.5 LE, which you must use to create the disc menus and burn the disc. Unfortunately, DVDit doesn't have many features, and its unintuitive menus and lack of documentation make navigating the program a pain.
Another serious problem: You can set Premiere 6.5 to export files directly into DVDit once they have been encoded, but Premiere stores audio within a separate file, so you have to associate it manually with the video. Soon, however, Adobe will release EncoreDVD, a $600 program that it claims will be much more powerful than DVDit. (EncoreDVD wasn't available in time for this review.)
Once you've completed the menus, you can use an on-screen remote control--a feature all the programs have--to preview the presentation so you can gauge how the menus and video will appear to someone watching the DVD. At this point, if you see features that you wish to change, you can still make alterations without having to waste a write-once disc.
Previews can sometimes be misleading, however. Edited video in NeoDVD 4 Plus and MyDVD Media Suite appeared jerky, giving the impression that something was wrong with the video files. But when we burned the video to DVD, it looked fine.
Quality and Quantity
Most applications (including all of those we reviewed) let you choose a quality setting before you begin the process of writing to DVD. The lower the quality, the greater the amount of video you can fit on a disc--although the exact amount will depend on the individual settings of each program. All of the packages here store video at the maximum quality setting by default, which makes sense: Footage from a single 60-minute videotape will easily fit onto a single DVD at this setting.
Changing the quality setting changes the bit rate--the quantity of data allowed when compressing the video, expressed as megabytes per second. The higher the bit rate, the better the quality, but the smaller the amount of video you can fit on the disc.
NeoDVD describes its quality settings as "Good," "Better," and "Best," but some products are more specific in describing how much video you can fit onto a disc. WinDVD Creator Plus offers the quality settings of "DVD(1 hour)" and "DVD(2 hour)." Only Studio 8 and Premiere 6.5 let you directly edit the bit rate.
In our informal tests, we saw no significant differences in the quality of the video produced by the programs at their best setting; all produced video that looked clean and sharp, with clear sound. In movies produced by applications that lacked volume control, however, any background music tended to drown out the dialogue. Video produced using lower quality settings looked less pleasant--we saw obvious compression artifacts, and the video appeared fuzzy.
Evaluating Performance
To compare each product's performance, we took two 10-minute videos, created a simple menu with two chapters, and timed how long each one took to render the contents in MPEG-2 format.
Of the nine programs we tested, NeoDVD 4 Plus was fastest. (See the chart "Processing Times for DVD Authoring Software" at the bottom of the section "Speed Rendering With the Right Codec"). Pinnacle Expression compressed the video significantly faster than Pinnacle Studio 8. Pinnacle claims it will soon offer an update for Studio 8 that includes a newer codec. But even if the update provides the same results as Expression, it would still be significantly slower than most packages we tested. Despite Studio 8's lagging time in authoring a DVD, we still appreciate its powerful and complex tools for editing and processing video and audio.
Burning Direct to Disc
While most programs must import the video, compress it, and burn it to disc in separate steps, four packages (NeoDVD 4 Plus, MyDVD Media Suite, DVD MovieFactory 2, and Easy CD & DVD Creator 6) can write movies from your camcorder to DVD discs in (almost) real time. This process is referred to as "direct-to-disc."
Based on our informal tests, such direct burning takes a fairly powerful PC. We tried it on a 2.53-GHz Pentium 4 system and a slower 1.3-GHz Athlon XP 1500+. It worked fine on the Pentium 4 system, but failed on the Athlon--the system couldn't keep up. Also, the process works in near-real time only with rewritable discs: All the programs except NeoDVD 4 Plus can do direct-to-disc on write-once discs, but they have to import the video, encode it, and then burn it to disc.
The programs that support direct-to-disc use a new format called DVD+VR (using a DVD+RW disc) or DVD-VR (on DVD-RW discs), which allows the discs to be edited after video has been written to them. On a VR-formatted disc, you can delete video, reuse the space, and then edit the menus on a set-top DVD recorder that supports it. Discs using this format are also likelier to be compatible with set-top DVD recorders. However, DVD+VR and DVD-VR are relatively new. Only Mediostream's NeoDVD 4 Plus, Sonic/Adaptec's MyDVD Media Suite, and Roxio's Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 support DVD+VR, and only Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 supports DVD-VR. But other products are likely to follow soon.
The main drawback of direct-to-disc: You give up the ability to add a sound track or edit the video. Still, it can be useful if you want to make quick copies of your videos, or if you just don't want to take the time to edit them.
Richard Baguley is a senior associate editor, Kalpana Narayanamurthi is an associate editor, and Alan Stafford is a senior editor at PC World. Testing was performed by Performance Analyst Thomas Luong of the PC World Test Center.
Features Comparison: Video Editing and DVD Authoring Software Packages (chart)
| Software | Street price | Comments | Video editing: Editing format | Video editing: Auto scene detection | Video editing: Edits audio | Video editing: Adds audio to clips/movies | Video editing: Multiple video quality settings | DVD: Number of built-in menu styles | DVD: Menu styles customizable | DVD: Adds audio to menus | DVD: Can create DVD files on hard drive | DVD: VideoCD/SVCD support | DVD: Creates DVD photo slide shows | DVD: DVD codec used | DVD: Rendering time 1(minutes:seconds) |
| Adobe Premiere 6.5 (http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=607310http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=607310) | $549 | Has incredibly powerful video editing capabilities; poor DVD authoring components mean it's not the best choice for burning movies, however. (  ) | Timeline | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 15 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | MainConcept | 32:092 |
| CyberLink PowerProducer (http://www.gocyberlink.com/english/products/product_main.jsp?ProdId=47) | $50 | Employs a step-by-step approach to DVD authoring, yet places some features in odd locations. Very slow in our tests. (  ) | None | Yes | No | No | Yes | 28 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | CyberLink | 65:29 |
| InterVideo WinDVD Creator Plus (http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/Product_Profile.jsp?p=WinDVDCreatorPlus) | $100 | Provides a good selection of editing tools, but they are confusingly laid out, and you can't edit menus. ( ) | Storyboard/timeline | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 31 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | InterVideo | 27:06 |
| Mediostream NeoDVD 4 Plus (http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=652237) | $50 | Though it has minimal editing features, its simple, step-by-step approach to creating DVD videos should suit beginners. (  ) | None | No | No | Yes | Yes | 29 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Mediostream | 14:07 |
| Pinnacle Expression (http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=617878) | $50 | Provides a relatively simple way to create DVDs, but the minimal, clunky editing tools make it awkward to use. ( ) | Storyboard | Yes | No | No | Yes | 45 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Pinnacle | 60:06 |
| Best Buy Pinnacle Studio 8 (http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=607571) | $100 | Its loads of features for editing and enhancing audio and video overcome one fault: It was the slowest at compressing video. (  ) | Storyboard/timeline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 45 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Pinnacle | 83:32 |
| Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 (http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=683258) | $100 | Though its three-step process for creating discs makes it easy to use, the program does not give you much control over how the menus look. ( ) | Storyboard | Yes | No | Yes | No | 20 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ligos | 34:05 |
| Sonic/Adaptec MyDVD Media Suite (http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=635281) | $100 | A nice collection of programs that also includes packet writing, audio editing, and graphics manipulation utilities. ( ) | Storyboard/timeline | Yes3 | Yes3 | No | Yes | 33 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ligos | 34:53 |
| Best Buy Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 (http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=666025) | $50 | This program has an easy-to-use interface that gives you plenty of control over how the final DVD will look. ( ) | Storyboard | Yes | No | No | Yes | 60 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | MainConcept | 44:11 |
How to Choose a Digital Camcorder
To make a good DVD, you need a good digital video camcorder--but not necessarily an expensive one. You should look for features that make the capturing process easier and the video quality better.
Most DV camcorders use color LCD displays (many analog models have monochrome displays). Check the display size: Bigger is better, but it almost always depends on the size of the camcorder itself, and some people would rather have a smaller device. Consider buying an extra battery, since most camcorders' batteries tend to peter out after about an hour (the length of a single tape).
All other things being equal, you will get better-quality video with a camera whose CCD has more pixels; moderately priced models commonly use 680,000-pixel CCDs. A 10X optical zoom should be sufficient for most settings. However, you should approach vendor claims about digital zoom with caution: Anything above 100X produces such poor image quality that it is generally not usable. Finally, consider how the camera fits in your hand. Although smaller camcorders can be more convenient to tote around, their controls are often awkwardly placed. Moreover, people with large hands may find them more frustrating to use than a slightly larger model.
How to Choose a Digital Camcorder (graphic)
Software Best Buys
If you want to get the best results with your video, Pinnacle
Studio 8 provides a slew of powerful editing tools and doesn't cost a fortune.
If you just want to get your videos onto DVD with a minimum of fuss, Ulead DVD
MovieFactory 2 offers a simple, uncluttered approach, with most features only a
few mouse clicks away.
Hardware Best Buys
Fast, reasonably priced drives from Sony and Hewlett-Packard
win our nod as the best rewritable DVD drives. Sony's DRU-500A supports both
the +RW and-RW formats, while HP's DVD Writer Dvd300i, a newcomer to our
Top 10 DVD
Drives chart, is the first drive to write to +R discs at
4X.
Editing Video Clips
How Much PC Do You Need?
If you were to trust the minimum PC configuration recommendations listed on the side of a software package's box, you'd think you could edit video with any old PC. Many vendors state that a Pentium II-450 is adequate, but realistically, you need a better-equipped machine.
For instance, Adobe Premiere requires only a PIII-500 CPU, but Adobe's Bruce Bowman says the program will operate slowly using such a system. A PC using a Pentium 4 or Athlon XP processor will encode and process effects much more swiftly. And if you plan to use a program that does direct-to-disc authoring, we'd recommend a system with at least a 2-GHz Pentium 4 or a 2.13-GHz Athlon XP 2600+.
As for RAM, 512MB should normally be enough. Bowman notes that more than 512MB will be necessary only if you are running a number of additional programs.
Some software vendors suggest that a 4GB hard drive is sufficient. However, a single one-hour tape of digital video will consume 13GB of storage space. Even if that 4GB drive didn't house system files, you'd have room for only about 15 minutes of footage.
If you own an older system, you may be able to install a second hard drive to get enough storage space. Most new PCs come with at least 60GB hard drives, and hard drives over 100GB are now common. Storing your video on a separate hard drive will also speed things up--video editing involves an awful lot of disk reads and writes.
Finally, either a CRT or an LCD screen should be fine for editing video, because the monitor has no effect on the production quality of the movie. Older LCDs may exhibit on-screen trails when you play movies, but some new LCDs feature faster (16ms) response times, which will minimize such effects.
--Kalpana Narayanamurthi
Speed Rendering With the Right Codec
Got some time to kill? Render some video. The fastest application we tested, Mediostream's NeoDVD 4 Plus, took the length of a coffee break to convert our digital video test footage into a DVD-friendly MPEG-2 file, while the slowest, Pinnacle Studio 8, took the length of a long lunch. The credit--or blame--lies with the codecs they use.
A codec--short for compressor/decompressor--does the heavy lifting behind the scenes of these applications; the applications use them to convert and compress video and audio into a format such as AVI, QuickTime, or MPEG-2. An hour of footage from a DV camcorder takes up about 13GB on your hard drive; an application using a codec can make it fit on a 4.7GB DVD and still look fabulous, but the operation takes time. "The single biggest hindrance to rendering speed is how fast the codec is," says Richard Townhill, group product manager for Adobe Premiere. "Every single time you touch every single frame of video, you're using a codec. It is a mathematically complex and time-consuming process."
Who's Cracked the Codec Code?
For premiere, Adobe licenses an MPEG-2 codec from MainConcept. We first tested Premiere with version 1.1 of the codec; the process took 54 minutes. We then updated the codec to version 1.2, which adds support for Pentium 4 optimizations and hyperthreading, plus other tweaks; the updated codec helped us shave 40 percent off the rendering time--not unusual, according to Mark Bailey, chief operating officer of MainConcept LLC. However, our test bed used an Athlon 2000+ processor, not a P4. According to the PC World Test Center, Athlon processors access most of the same optimizations that Pentiums do, and in many tests conducted by the Test Center in the past, Athlon systems have performed just as well as--and occasionally even better than--Pentium 4 systems on P4-optimized tasks.
Ligos licenses its codec to Roxio and Adaptec, among others. Pinnacle says that both Studio 8 and Expression employ an MPEG-2 codec of its own design. But because Expression was released later than Studio and uses a newer version of the codec, Expression encoded our test files in about an hour, compared to nearly an hour and a half for Studio. Pinnacle says both versions of the codec take advantage of Pentium 4 optimizations and hyperthreading; nevertheless, both performed our tests substantially slower than the average of the products we tested.
One trick that codecs use is to analyze upcoming frames and recognize similarities to previous frames. "If you know the sky is going to stay the same," explains Brandon Higa, senior marketing engineer at Canopus, "you can see that and not do anything with it." Canopus's codec works with Premiere.
The MPEG-2 codec used for DVD movie playback need not be the same as the one used for encoding. Set-top DVD players and game consoles with DVD drives have hardware-based decoders that work just like software codecs, says MainConcept's Bailey. But movies not destined for DVD--Web videos, for example--usually require that codecs for both video and audio be installed on your system.
--Alan Stafford