Software DVD encoders. 120 minutes will encode 1 minute............
DVD for Dummies
iServ
Astarte DVDirector
Astarte's Toast did for CD-R what PageMaker did for laser printers.
Having sold Toast to Adaptec, Astarte has now turned its attention to the frontier of DVD recording, where an easy-to-use and affordable tool is desperately needed. The fruits of its labor, DVDirector, will be available in October on the Mac platform, followed a few months later by a PC version.
DVDirector ($5,400) is an authoring and premastering tool for creating highly interactive DVDs. Simple windows facilitate the organizing and assembling of content. Adding menus and navigation features in the DVD format should pose little problem to those skilled with today's multimedia creation packages. Development of custom looks are eased further by drag-and-drop compatibility with multilayer Photoshop files. Support for eight audio sources and 32 subtitles on each of the 99 possible tracks will appeal to those creating multilanguage productions.
DVDirector places its output files in a folder marked with the _tf extension, which is recognized as a DVD by desktop DVD players.
However, DVDirector does not cover the production of DVDs from start to finish. You will also need video capture tools, and a DVD-R drive with mastering software, such as Astartes own ToastDVD (a $99 add-on to Toast). You can also write a DLT tape to give to a mastering facility. Astarte does bundle its software compression tool for making MPEG 2 audio and video files, a task that can take two minutes for every second of source material. We recommend using a real-time hardware encoder, such as those listed in this month's Insider's Guide.
Real-world testing of your production is then possible by combining DVDirector with a DVD playback product, such as Elecede Technologies' CoolDVD, for emulation of the DVD image.
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