All video-editing applications include some kind of DVD-authoring capability, but few give precise control over how discs look and behave. DVDit was one of the first applications to provide advanced DVD-authoring tools for the PC, but now the market is considerably more crowded. The previous version of DVDit was underpowered compared with Adobe Encore DVD, Ulead DVD Workshop and Sony DVD Architect. DVDit 6 aims to make up lost ground and offers radical improvements over previous versions. Sonic has discontinued DVD Producer, which retailed for over £1,000, to make way for DVDit Pro 6, the version we tested.
The new screen layout comprises various floating windows, which you can resize, rearrange and split over two monitors. You can save and recall layouts, but only the preset layouts are accessible through keyboard shortcuts. The software assumes a basic grasp of the mechanics of DVD Video media but is satisfyingly straightforward to use in the main. Dragging media on to menus works as expected. You can convert any menu object into a link simply by dragging an imported video clip, known as a title, or other menu on to it.
DVDit's menu design was already strong, but now it's even better, enabling you to adjust the opacity, contrast, brightness, hue and saturation of menu buttons, text and backgrounds. Objects can be rotated, and it's easy to import your own buttons with custom highlight masks from Photoshop or other image-editing applications that support .psd files.
Versions 6 of DVDit introduces Playlists, which allow you to arrange titles in different orders on the same disc. These are simple to set up, although on some DVD players the chapter buttons will override them. It's a shame DVDit can't disable specific remote control buttons during playback, as this would provide a workaround.
MAKING ADVANCES
DVDit Pro adds various advanced features, including support for region coding, CSS encryption and Macrovision, although these are available only when writing to DLT, which is the standard medium DVD duplication facilities use. Each title can have up to eight audio tracks and 32 subtitles, and comprehensive subtitle editing and formatting is included, although this area of the software is less responsive than others.
DVDit can get complicated when you start to delve into its more advanced navigation functions. Menus and titles each have their own end actions, but these can be overridden depending on the context. DVDit's options are comprehensive, and you can choose which menu link is highlighted by default depending on where the user came from. You can also delay links on a menu for a set period and even define what the Menu remote control buttons link to in each menu and title. However, it's easy to lose track of what links to what, especially when the software uses names such as 'Movie 1: Movie 4' if you reorder titles. Why the title names don't simply default to the source filename is a mystery.
DVDit remains the only authoring program we know that can't preview motion menus without rendering them first. Interlaced footage still looks awful during previews, a problem that's exacerbated by the fact that previews aren't displayed at the native PAL resolution. It's too easy to truncate the top of text objects accidentally. You can dictate the order in which buttons on a menu are navigated, but the numbering system is cryptic. We also experienced various bugs: for instance, the disc space meter doesn't update when truncating titles, and any attempts to replace a title that was used in a playlist invariably resulted in a crash.
The latest version of DVDit is certainly a sophisticated program, but its price has increased accordingly, and it takes patience and dedication to benefit from many of its advanced features. Sony DVD Architect 3 lacks a few features but is far quicker and easier to use, particularly in its subtitling and disc navigation. If you want highly customisable menu design, but reasonably straightforward navigation options, DVD Architect Studio, which is bundled with Vegas Movie Studio for £75 including VAT, does the job superbly.
Requirements Windows XP SP2, 800MHz Pentium III processor, 128MB RAM (2GHz P4, 512MB recommended), 10GB disk space, Windows Media Player 10Author: Ben Pitt
Sonic Solutions DVDit Pro 6