DVD Studio Pro 3 Review

Alex_Alexzander writes "A new review / tutorial of the major new features inside DVD Studio Pro 3 is on OSXWORLD, covering transitions, alpha transitions, the new graphical view, support for DTS audio, improved integration with Adobe Photoshop, and more."

DVD SP3 and iDVD

[Hungus]

The tutorial seems nice, I ran through the section on alpha transitions just a moment ago and am now snagging a local copy to go over later. Considering what DPD SP3 can do it is a remarkably easy program to use. It is nowhere nearly as user friendly for newbies as iDVD, and I do not t hink the average home use ever needs to even look at it but for the small media shop or company that would like to do in house DVDs at a fraction of the external cost it is supurb. I am personally waiting for my copy of SP3 to arrive alone with FCP 4.5HD.

I have no SuperDrive, you insensitive clod!

[Anonymous Coward]

nice review, though.

Re:I have no SuperDrive, you insensitive clod!

[HTH NE1]

Unlike iDVD, DSP will work with other DVD burners besides Apple-blessed SuperDrives.

However, earlier versions have had problems with some third party burners. I could not use a particular 1x DVD-R drive because it DSP would try to burn at 64x instead (the highest speed the drive says it supports according to Roxio Toast). I could not find a setting in DSP to prevent it from trying to burn at the highest "supported" speed.

Re:I have no SuperDrive, you insensitive clod!

[djupedal]

Unlike iDVD, DSP will work with other DVD burners besides Apple-blessed SuperDrives.

On the contrary....iDVD has always supported other drives, including externals - the enabler at this site brings that to light:
http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/personal_site/ mac_guide/pages/15-burn_idvd_other.html [mac.com]

Re:I have no SuperDrive, you insensitive clod!

[aoasus]

I'd like to add that this does work great. I keep copies of all my .img files so if I want to run another disk off it's a snap with Toast (adaptec.com). And also I'm using this in a venrable old B&W g3 w/G4 450 upgrade chip and a used pioneer a04 I picked up for $65 so quit'cher whinin' allready parent!

Re:I have no SuperDrive, you insensitive clod!

[HTH NE1]

I'm using a B&W G3 with a G4 upgrade(*) as well (550 MHz though), and was using a 1x DVD-R, DVD-RAM drive for which I paid too much new.

What I meant was that DVD Studio Pro works with third party drives out of the box, whereas iDVD does not, requiring additional software to enable their use. Software Apple would rather not have exist.

(*) To others thinking of doing the same, don't forget to edit the application package's Info.plist file to enable it to run on a non-AGP Mac. And the same to Compressor. And to repeat these changes every time the software is updated until you finally break down and buy an AGP-based Mac (I'm waiting for the expected dual-3 GHz G5).

Re:I have no SuperDrive, you insensitive clod!

[aoasus]

Are you saying to edit your .plist for DVDSP? I don't remember doing so for my simple iDVD install. Or are you saying to do so for OSX?

Re:I have no SuperDrive, you insensitive clod!

[shrapnull]

At least the prerequisite superdrive has gone the way of the dinosaur. iLife versions of iDVD and the new DVD Studio Pro no longer require that you have the supported drive in your system, but rather politely inform you that you will not be able to burn anything.

This is awesome for being able to work on a project on a lab computer or portable without the actual DVD burner installed.

Of course you need one to burn them though..

Re:iPod?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, if you took a look at it you could see that it encompasses all Apple media.

Using it now

[sakusha]

I've been using DVDSP 2 for a while, it's probably overkill for some of my projects, but at the time, it was the only way to achieve some specific things, like putting more than 120 min on a DVD using greater compression, iDVD wouldn't do that, AFAIK it still doesn't. I've been archiving some broadcast and cable TV shows from my TiVo and old VHS tapes onto DVDRs, the image quality isn't that great to start with, so they aren't greatly damaged by high levels of compression.
But I've found the DVDSP 3 interface a little daunting after using DVDSP1 and 2, I haven't quite gotten off the ground with it yet. I suppose I should RTFM, but this is a Mac app, we don't have to read manuals, right? Hmmm..

Re:Using it now

[akac]

The latest iDVD does let you have about 120 minutes of video using the DVD SP compressor.

Re:Using it now

[sakusha]

Right, like I said, iDVD doesn't allow you to put OVER 120 min on a disc. 180 min is the target for a lot of my projects.

Re:Using it now

[HTH NE1]

Sure it does; it just doesn't let you encode your content at the necessary bit rate to do it. If your >120min video is already MPEG-2 encoded at a bit rate that would fit, iDVD would indeed let you put it on a disc.

They won't sell Compressor with the necessary variable bit rate encoding with iDVD at that price. So you need to buy the more advanced software to enable that ability, or third party software that will do it for you.

You should try my problem: I want to put together a seamless 6 hour epic

Re:Using it now

[log0n]

Create 3 seperate sequences and pause the VCR (while it's recording) in between each sequence.

Or, export all of your sequences as stand alone DV files and put them into a playlist in Quicktime Player. Redirect the DV output through the bridge.

Re:Using it now

[HTH NE1]

Create 3 seperate sequences and pause the VCR (while it's recording) in between each sequence.

Unfortunately the resulting epic has no convenient places whence to pause where timing won't be critical. At least, not until the final unified credits sequence.

Or, export all of your sequences as stand alone DV files and put them into a playlist in Quicktime Player. Redirect the DV output through the bridge.

Now that's a thought. QuickTime Pro does have basic editing ability. Simple concatenation of the cl

Re:Using it now

[Nutrimentia]

Really? I thought it was only 90 minutes if you use the "Better Performance" option.

Story icon...

[Xyde]

Uhh, wrong menu option guys...