BIG TIP for potential DVD Studio Pro 4 buyers

[kwajaln]

First of all, I am not that familiar with the specifics of the "pro" software that Apple offers. I consider myself to have about mastered iMovie and iDVD but haven't really seriously considered the next level. Anyway, I was in an Apple Store in Chicago today just killing time and while walking down the software aisle I noticed a DVD Studio Pro 4 box. I picked it up and looked at the price - $199. Wow, I thought, expecting it to be significantly more. As my heart started racing, I flagged down an Apple dude to tell me more about this little gem. He was super knowledgable about Studio Pro, having just recently become officially certified and took a lot of time showing me different things. Within about 20 seconds I knew that I was going to buy-buy-buy, as well as get Pro Care for $100. (Good for one year, you get one-on-one instruction with an Apple expert on anything you desire. One hour a week for a year) To make this long story shorter, when I got to the register, I was expecting roughly $300 plus tax but was startled with a figure of $600 plus tax!! So here's my tip for you potential Studio Pro buyers - If you are NOT aware of the pricing, the FULL version is $499 and the UPGRADE version sells for $199. Not knowing this I had coincidentally picked an upgrade box in the store. Boy, was I embarrased, especially after the Apple dude spent about 30 minutes showing things that Studio Pro could do! The guy totally understood, but I felt like a retard anyway. I passed on the purchase, but am definitely planning to buy SP in the near future, along with Pro Care. OK, you can laugh at me now!

 

[mikeyredk]

Pick up an old version for like 100 and buy the new for 199

 

[markjones05]

DVD studio pro sucks. It is by far one of the weakest apple software products available today. It is buggy as hell and often fails to burn for no reason at any given point in time. STAY AWAY!

 

[Lacero]

DVD studio pro sucks. It is by far one of the weakest apple software products available today. It is buggy as hell and often fails to burn for no reason at any given point in time. STAY AWAY!

Really? I think it's awesome. DVD Studio Pro is one of those bread and butter apps (like Photoshop and Final Cut Pro) that many pros rely on for their livelihood. Are you a professional or some punk?

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

 

[markjones05]

Really? I think it's awesome. DVD Studio Pro is one of those bread and butter apps (like Photoshop and Final Cut Pro) that many pros rely on for their livelihood. Are you a professional or some punk?

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

I wouldn't call myself a professional but i am far from a punk on the matter. I am making my money by being a freelance editor at the moment and I can say first hand that it is a widley agreed on fact amongst many of my co-workers that dvd studio pro is a buggy and unreliable program.

ps exuse my spelling ive had a few...viva la transit strike!

 

[LethalWolfe]

I have to agree w/Lacero. Every program has faults, but I haven't heard an above average amount of grumbling about DVDSP.


Lethal

 

[WinterMute]

DVDSP, far from being faultless is actually a very stable and versatile app, however there is a issue with "Build and format" which can cause some machines to fail their burn cycle.

The trick is to encode to MPEG2 and aiff prior to import into DVDSP and not let the app do the encoding, then build to HD and burn using Toast (although I confess not to having any particular problem burning from DVDSP).

I have professional friends whose DVD production depts are switching from Sonic Solutions to DVDSP and FCP for the through-put alone.

I put 40-60 DVD's a semester through DVDSP with no problems.

 

[robbieduncan]

DVDSP, far from being faultless is actually a very stable and versatile app, however there is a issue with "Build and format" which can cause some machines to fail their burn cycle.

The trick is to encode to MPEG2 and aiff prior to import into DVDSP and not let the app do the encoding, then build to HD and burn using Toast (although I confess not to having any particular problem burning from DVDSP).

I have professional friends whose DVD production depts are switching from Sonic Solutions to DVDSP and FCP for the through-put alone.

I put 40-60 DVD's a semester through DVDSP with no problems.

To be fair it sounds like you are having to do some serious work to work around a bug/failure in the application. Whilst this workaround may well work you do need extra softwatre (Toast) on top of a $500 package that his advertised as being able to do this.

I'm not a DVDSP user so I can't really comment on it though.

 

[WinterMute]

To be fair it sounds like you are having to do some serious work to work around a bug/failure in the application. Whilst this workaround may well work you do need extra softwatre (Toast) on top of a $500 package that his advertised as being able to do this.

I'm not a DVDSP user so I can't really comment on it though.

It's mainly a timesaver, as Toast will burn in the background and I can get on with another disc, the legacy of having a single speed Superdrive I'm afraid. I'll burn directly from DVDSP if I'm on a single job, but I tend to let them back up till I have 3 or 4 and then run them all down in a single session.

DVDSP works fine IMO.

 

[markjones05]

DVDSP, far from being faultless is actually a very stable and versatile app, however there is a issue with "Build and format" which can cause some machines to fail their burn cycle.

The trick is to encode to MPEG2 and aiff prior to import into DVDSP and not let the app do the encoding, then build to HD and burn using Toast (although I confess not to having any particular problem burning from DVDSP).

I have professional friends whose DVD production depts are switching from Sonic Solutions to DVDSP and FCP for the through-put alone.

I put 40-60 DVD's a semester through DVDSP with no problems.

This is exactly what I am talking about. I am very familiar with this operation and in my eyes this renders DVDSP very unstable. And as you may have not had any problems burning from DVDSP I know I have had many. Glitches in the video as well as burn failure for no reason. Maybe apple has spoiled me, but I expect better.