For full detailed Comparison go here

What knowledge do I need in order to use the DVD-lab?

Both DVD-lab Standard and PRO are created with a quite wide user base in mind. It gives users a large flexibility and advanced features but it can also guide and teach relative novice user.
For example you have a Connection window where you can connect movies, menus, first play and title button. Even if you don't use it, it is fine, because it does the most common connection automatically as you are adding elements.
When designing menus you can just add some text, drop a movie to it from project window and that's it for basic functionality. However advanced user can create more elaborate menus where he can determine looks of the highlighted pattern, navigational routing, color map etc.

What OS are supported ?

The DVD-lab works on 95/98/NT/2000 and XP.
However what you must consider is the file system.
The minimal file system is FAT32 (you shouldn't use FAT16 anyway). This system supports files up to 4GB which is often enough. The best is NTFS on NT,2000 or XP which has no such limits.
If you use FAT32, make sure no single title (video+audio) is bigger than 4GB.

A very honest answer is that we can't guarantee 100% playability unless we do test all players ever build on all kinds of files, which is not possible. At this moment our own estimation would be a 98% players compatibility (PRO version), where we put a "safe" margin of 2% of players that may have problem playing the authored DVD's for whatever reason. Please note, it is an estimation, not guarantee. We are trying to improve this ratio constantly. If you find a player that has an obvious problem playing the authored disk (excluding disk related defects and problems) please let us know the type and model.

Note: No actual software would offer 100% compatibility. If you need to create disc that may be guaranteed to play on all possible players it is strongly advisable to actually have it made by a professional and experienced authoring studio with a good feedback from customers. They will try to eliminate the compatibility issues between different players by detailed and experienced supervising of the whole authoring process from capture, encoding, authoring (using Sonic Scenarist, the standard for commercial DVD title production) to the testing and final glass master.

Especially the PRO version is probably the best choice for any advanced learning. It has all the important aspects of DVD specifications shown in accessible and transparent way. Studenst can learn about DVD structure, DVD commands and other aspects of DVD creation using user friendly software. This knowledge can be then later used for understanding high-end systems such as Sonic Scenarist. In fact DVD-lab PRO is the perfect jump-start to learn serious advanced DVD authoring because the gained knowledge is general, not specific to DVD-lab.

Why there is no MPEG Encoder bundled?

What Encoders are recommended?

Many people use TMPGenc because it is non-expensive, relatively fast and let's you really tweak the mpeg properties. Also it allows you to resize or resample the clips which is a handy bonus.

Another choice is CinemaCraft encoder which is one of the fastest yet it produce quality clips, Mainconcept (often bundled with authoring and video editing applications), Canopus ProCoder and few other popular choices.

At the end, the choice is yours, there are more quality hardware and software solutions available every day.

Is there support for 24fps and Pulldown?

What about multiple audio channels?

What is Full D1, Half D1 etc..

To what extent can I create menus in DVDlab?

Here are more advanced features of the menu designer.

• You can change color not only of text but also of any graphical object like buttons, frames or video stills.
• You can add a drop shadow or glow to any object
• Active object can be visible, invisible in normal state, invisible in selected state or always invisible. This will enable you to create any types of highlighted overlays. For example a frame around a text or text underline which will be visible only when the button is selected
• You can use Group HotSpot to define which objects belongs to a single button or define a different hotspot region of the button. Together with the visibility option this gives you the total power.
• Each active object can belong to one of three color group and you can select the highlighted color mapping for each group separately
• You can do your own navigation routing if you want (what button is selected when user press up,down,left, right on his remote)

You have really the power to create truly interesting menus. For an interesting idea see this tutorial.

Can I create DVD without movie, just menus?

How to create motion menus?

Because the looping of a short video is a bit annoying you should consider a motion menu which is about 40 - 60 seconds or more.

Can I add audio to a still menu?

If you change something in the menus you have to also Rebuild the transition. Right click on the transition in COnnection View and select Rebuild Transition. You can also change it to any other transition type.

What is Auto-Action on button?

The job of the Preview window is to set chapters and to locate some video stills you can then use in menus. To hear audio for this task is not essential. You should insert chapter points to a video clues such as scene change. In fact since the chapter points in DVD are bound to video I-frames you won't be even able to add chapters with any big precission to audio clues anyway.

How can I preview audio in DVD-lab?

How can I preview video which is not yet added to the movie (it is still in Asset bin)?

The enhanced "Flexible" multiplexer was added in 1.2 to be able to process all kinds of files without stutering during playback. You have to remember that if your files are not DVD compliant or have some errors this will not make them compliant or error free. They may be muxed to be playable without stuttering, but the DVD will still remain non-compliant or with the errors.
The error checking and fixing didn't come without penalty so the "Flexible" muxer needs at least 2x more temporary space than the "Fast" one and also the compilation will take bit longer.
If you planning to use "Flexible" multiplexor then the best is to use Elementary streams.

The GOP structure is important for smooth playback on standalone DVD players. DVD ready video should have all I, P and B frames. The GOP structure for NTSC is IBBPBBPBBPBBPBBPBB (max number of frames in GOP 18) and for PAL it is IBBPBBPBBPBBPBB (max number: 15).

If your GOP structure have only I and P frames then you should set the standard structure (as above) in your encoder.

What is Compile on background?

External exe should point to BeSweet.exe and the commandline should be exactly:

-core( -input $INPUT -output $OUTPUT ) -azid( -n1 -c normal -L -3db --maximize ) -ssrc( --rate 48000 ) -ac3enc( -b 224 )

...also select Output is ac3 for the correct extension.

You can change the bitrate in the last command in ac3enc, here is 224kBps.
Anyway, for any serious dvdmaker there are number of licenced ac3 encoders, the simple 2 channel is not expensive and some software may have it already build in.

When you buy blank DVD+RW it is not formatted (the data side is shiny). A recording software needs to FULLY format such blank DVD+RW at least once before the data can be recorded. Because the formatting is long process (about 20 min per DVD) the burning software usually formats only the part that is really needed to hold data. You recognize such formated part as darker in color. Next time if you write less data then the disc doesn't have to be formatted, if you try to write more data, the remaining unformatted part will have to be again formatted by the application.
Once the part of DVD+RW is formatted it doesn't have to be ever formatted again to write new data over it. Of course a quick format can be then done which will simply erase the previous data but that is not necessary. This is different from DVD-RW. DVD-RW has to be erased each time you want to record new data, but it doesn't have to be erased when you get a brand new blank - you can directly write to it.

This of course causes a lot of confussion. Especially with new combo drives able to record both +/RW and -RW.

If the DVD+RW disc is not formatted or the data to be written are larger than already formatted part, DVD-lab record module as any other applications will after clicking Write start first formatting the needed part. You will see no action for many minutes. Only then the data can be written.

The far best way to deal with DVD+RW media is, when it is brand new, simply run the software that comes with your recorder (Nero, Roxio, Veritas..), select Format (some applicationss call it boldly Erase to confuse people even more) and choose Full Format (or Erase if you will). This will fully format the DVD+R in about 20-30 min. (the data side will appear darker on whole area). Once you have such DVD+RW you can then simply use DVD-lab or any other software to Write on it again and again without use of additional formatting.
Note: The Erase/Format button in DVD-lab recorder works as a Quick format - it quickly erases all data on DVD+RW, but it doesn't fully format whole disc if it is blank. As that it is not necessary for +RW discs. Only Write will fully format the disc if needed and user will see no action for many minutes.

DVD-RW as mentioned before is different. The blank DVD-RW is ready to be written, no need to wait to format the disc. However DVD-RW needs to be closed after writing which adds to the total writing time. (More data you writte, less it takes to close DVD-RW)
When you want to write new data on the DVD-RW you have to Erase the disc. In DVD-lab recording module press the Erase/Format button. It takes few minutes.

Writing few data to already fully formatted DVD+RW is then faster than to DVD-RW because the -RW needs additional time to close the disc and you need to erase it each time you want new data to be written. So for testing purposes the +RW format seems better overal. However when it comes to +R/-R media then the -R seems to have advantage of broader support between hardware players and the -R blanks can be obtained much cheaper.

If you are still confused, don't worry. One day this will all become clear...