[kidokie]

I'm going to purchase a SuperDrive iMac later in the year, and one of the things I am most looking forward to is archiving stacks of old videotapes on DVD.

The problem is iDVD only does up tp 90 min of video per DVD, which would mean my archiving is going to be an expensive business. On the other hand, iDVD has ready-made menu templates, and from what I have read, DVD Studio Pro requires imported graphics from Photoshop. I am absolutely lousey at using Photoshop!

Are there DVD Studio Pro menu templates available? And does Studio Pro work on the new iMac? According to the tech specs it just needs a G4 with a AGP graphics card, which is what the iMac has.

Any advice for a newbie? I'd like to have control over my DVD authoring!

Cheers

[opallaser]

I think iDVD is going to be enough for what you want. DVDSP simply lets you set VBR (it's not ture VBR but...) encoding rates and thus fit more video on the disc. It also means you're going to have to put a bit more time into getting everything set-up, but once you've got a template and structure in place it's just going to be a matter of making some small adjustments for each disc.

I would just check iDVD when you get your machine and if you find it limiting, both with encoding and DVD preperation then you'll know you need DVDSP.

[ratlater]

DVD SP also allows for chapter breaks, which is a huge feature that iDVD lacks. iDVD is meant for home movies and series of short movies. If you have anything over 10 minutes, or you want to make your own little films you'll want DVD SP. It's actually very easy to use, but the price tag is really steep.

-matt

Originally posted by opallaser:
<STRONG>DVDSP simply lets you set VBR (it's not ture VBR but...) </STRONG>

Um, no.

DSP lets you do MUCH more:

Multiple Angles
Multiple Audio Tracks
Subtitles
Chapter Selection
True 16:9 support
Multiple Language support
Dolby 5.1 audio
Bitrate control
web links

and on and on and on

Plus it actually lets you be creative (unlike iDVD) when it comes to making your own menus....

[opallaser]

Yeah it does all of those things. Overkill for just about evey home DVD but if that's want you want to do, go ahead. We even use iDVD to quickly provide our clients with a motion proof. It's just drag and drop.