Jimco Software Reviews - DVD Workshop 2.2 (continued)
Edit Step
The Edit step is where you'll add videos, audio, etc. to your project. DVD Workshop contains a rudimentary Library Manager for keeping track of files you add to your project. Since DVD Workshop comes with so many video files, etc., you'll certainly want to use it. In figure 3, you can see that I've created my own library for rendered video. By adding my video files into their own folder, I'm able to easily keep track of them and then remove them when I'm finished with my project.
Figure 3 - The Library Manager
It would be nice to see this area beefed up some. Personally, I'd like to see Ulead make this feature more like the media folders in Sony Vegas. Still, it's functional the way that Ulead has implemented it and I never had any difficulty finding the media I needed.
You use the Library shown in figure 4 to locate videos, images, buttons, text effects, objects, menu overlays, etc. I was impressed by the large number of library items that are included with DVD Workshop. However, it's disappointing to learn that you need Ulead's PhotoImpact if you are going to edit any of the existing objects or create your own. Even so, Ulead seems committed to making it easy for users of PhotoImpact to work with DVD Workshop menus. They even provide a free plug-in for PhotoImpact to make it even easier.
You can get a copy of Ulead's PhotoImpact for $89, so this is surely not a deal breaker. There's enough to love about DVD Workshop that you likely won't even care.
Figure 4 - Library Folders : Everything you see here came with DVD Workshop (and this is only a fraction!)
Adding video to the library iis easy. You can either capture video (using the Capture step) or you can import video. Imported video can be video rendered by another application (such as Sony Vegas 6.0) or you can easily import video from an existing DVD. The latter is a nice feature that I've found lacking in other DVD authoring packages. DVD Workshop also allows you to import images for use in a slide show. I personally don't use these features in DVD authoring packages. Instead, I create my slide shows in a video editor. However, for those who are interested in such features, DVD Workshop is quite capable and offers some nice features.
Once your video has been imported into DVD Workshop's library, adding it to your project is as simple as drag and drop. At the bottom of the screen is the Title List. Video files can be dragged onto the First Play pane in the Title List or onto the New Title pane. Obviously, dropping a video on the First Play pane makes it the First Play video, the video that plays prior to the menu when the DVD is first inserted. Any title can be easily set as the First Play video by simply right-clicking it and choosing Set as First Play Video from the context menu.
The Video tab on the Options panel (shown in figure 5) allows you to easily set up chapter points in your DVD. DVD Workshop allows for chapter points only on I-frames. By checking the Locate I-frame checkbox on the video tab, you can more easily navigate to I-frames in the preview window.
Figure 5 - The Video Tab
The Convert to Disc Template checkbox specifies that the video file should be converted as per the disc template configured in the Finish step. (More on that later in the review.) If you know that your video file is already in the desired format, you'll want to uncheck this box. Otherwise, DVD Workshop will re-render your video. If the video you've imported is not compatible for the DVD format, the Convert to Disc Template box will be disabled. In that case, DVD Workshop will automatically re-render your video.