Roxio's DVDit Pro HD disc-authoring program impresses me: It's easy to use, and it offers fine control over the look and feel of menus. At $500 it's not for the average user, but it is currently the only option for editing menus on BD-AV (Blu-ray) discs unless you want to step up to Sonic's $5000 Scenarist, a program aimed at professional editors.
DVDit Pro HD provides a number of advanced features unavailable in low-end editors: It lets you add content protection, using the Advanced Access Content System (AACS), to Blu-ray Disc projects (and Content Scrambling System, or CSS, protection to DVDs); create high-def slide shows with PCM audio on Blu-ray Discs; encode video to 1080p, 1080i, and 720p; and create DLT (DVD) and CMF (Blu-ray) masters for duplication houses. Unfortunately, DVDit Pro HD lacks Scenarist's support for interactive Blu-ray disc menus and HD DVD discs, which is especially unfortunate since HD DVD burners should be available soon. These shortcomings are deal-killers for some pros.
The program's interface, easy to learn and use, is borrowed largely from Scenarist, to great effect. Unlike "beginner-friendly" approaches, the interface doesn't force you into a workflow. You can tweak any part of your creation at any time. You can create menus with the included templates, use your own images to make custom templates, or create a menu in Adobe Photoshop and import it. The interface is less obtuse than that of Adobe's Premiere and Encore DVD (neither of which currently supports Blu-ray), yet it still allows you complete control over the placement of menu components. A handy project window lets you easily track menus, video, and playlists, and a simulation window allows you to preview your project before burning it. The interface has some oddities, such as the inability to select multiple titles in a project for deletion, but by and large the authoring process doesn't get much more efficient.
Don't go near this program with anything less than a top-of-the-line CPU and 1GB of memory, though: DVDit Pro HD is a memory hog that takes its time with everything--forget multitasking while this program is processing video. For some reason it also redrew my XP desktop with each element it loaded at startup; I also managed to crash the program once by simply editing the text of a menu item.
At the moment DVDit Pro HD is the only remotely affordable option for video authors who need Blu-ray Disc menu editing (the $299 DVDit Pro writes DVD masters). Despite its lack of interactive menus and HD DVD authoring, DVDit Pro HD works well. As a $199 upgrade from eligible versions of MyDVD or Easy Media Creator, it's an attractive step up, but most users will be fine with the rudimentary BD-AV menus and DVD authoring of cheaper products such as Roxio's own Easy Media Creator or Ulead's DVD MovieFactory.
Jon L. Jacobi