Question about DVD Authoring Software

[JimboC]

At work they're looking to make a bunch of training videos and they'd like to put these on DVD for people so they can take home and watch at their leisure.

We've got a video camera and can transfer the video to a PC in any number of different formats. That's all well and good. From there they want to make custom menus, edit scenes, add scene transitions, etc and finally burn it to a DVD.

They're leaning towards Adobe Encore DVD right now and asked for any recommendations I might have. Unfortunately I haven't ever done this so I was wondering if anyone had any software they've liked or disliked. The people using the software will be advanced-beginner to intermediate skill level with PCs, so simplicity is a must. They've budgeted $500 for the software, so it's got to cost less than that.

Any recommendations?

[Tedski]

I've only had a quick 'look' at the Adobe stuff. It doesn't seem that bad, but there does seem to be something of a 'learning curve' which may or may not be a bit too steep for the types of user you are looking at. Uleads DVD Movie Factory may well be a better bet as it is pretty simplistic, and it isn't too hard to learn the basics with it. I doubt it costs too much either - my copy came with one of my DVD burners. One thing to be very aware of from the get go though, is to try and be sure that the files you are recording with the video recorder, are done in a compliant format. This will save so much time it is untrue.
For more information than you can get through in a hurry, and some seriously good tutorials for all sorts, go here http://www.videohelp.com/
In fact, for anyone even thinking of getting involved in any way with video on discs, this is really the place to be looking at.
FWIW, Nero, in it's latest and largest form, will probably do it all for you as well, and you can probably download a fully functioning time limited demo from http://www.ahead.de

[8IronBob]

I believe that I've mentioned Pinnacle Studio once before, but that appears to be one of the better programs out there right now. You have that, Video Explosion Deluxe (when coupled with MyDVD), Ulead DVD MovieFactory, and so on, so forth. I certainly feel that you have some good options out there, I've been eyeing PS9 for a long, long time, because I've seen Pinnacle Studio in action, and it looks exciting to edit your own MPEGs, do all sorts of fancy transitions, put in your own titles and ending screens on there, that's all awesome stuff. I've done that with Video Explosion Deluxe already, so I don't see any trouble with any of those titles whatsoever.