Sonic Solutions DVDit LE

It's a simple matter to produce video for DVD with this unit, too. Just select Make Movie, and export each of the segments, where each clip you've selected will be an MPEG-2 file. After that, it's time to author your DVD in the included Sonic Solutions DVDit LE software, which has a great looking interface that's a joy to use. However, the LE version is limited. If you're putting together a DVD, you'll only be able to have one menu on your front page, so if you need to do some really elaborate submenu structures on a DVD project, you'll have to shell out another $200 for an upgrade to the full version or go with one of the high-level authoring apps like the ones made by Spruce or Daikin. But DVDit specializes in what could be more accurately called DVD publishing rather than authoring. It has most of the features a casual DVD producer would want. It's fun and easy (really) to lay out a few buttons and assign a video clip to each one. Lots of whimsical button graphics are included, along with many truly useful ones, so you can get started producing DVDs right away.

After you've laid out the menu in DVDit, you build a volume and image for a DVD. Here's where you either store the image volume or print to DVD disk, but keep in mind that if you want to actually burn a DVD, you'll need a $5000 DVD burner. Otherwise, put that disk image on a Jaz disk or streamer tape and drop it off at a service bureau, and you're in the DVD bidness! What a great way to distribute video, especially since now more and more computers are sold with a DVD drive as standard equipment.

Read More