Product
Review (November 2003)
InterVideo - WinDVD Creator 2 Platinum
Do
you have old video tapes lying around that you wish could be viewed on
your DVD player? With so many older video formats it becomes a concern
for those priceless memories sitting on the shelf or in boxes on aging
analog tape. If you're like most camera owners, you probably have an older
model that produces decent-quality tapes, but the tape format is inherently
limited and susceptible to dropouts. Many of these recording should really
be transferred to DVD as a backup and as a convenient way of watching
the movies. In addition, the DVD format offers the capability to add menus
and provides random access. InterVideo has introduced WinDVD Creator
2, an easy to use application that captures video, allows editing
and menu creation and burns the content to CD, DVD or your hard drive.
The four step process (capture, edit, author and burn) is easy to follow
and is very intuitive for those who have some experience with similar
software CD/DVD creation products.
Capture
WinDVD Creator 2 is designed to recognize most DV camcorders or
other A/V capture hardware installed in the computer. Content can also
be directly recorded to DVD or CD without hard-disc buffering, saving
a tremendous amount of time. The real-time video encoder produces impressive
results depending on the format. Most of the content that we tested came
from our JVC camcorder via the IEEE-1394 cable. However, we did do a fair
amount of testing with the analog A/V inputs.
Edit
Scene breaks can be automatically created by setting the sensitivity of
the Scene Detection algorithm. Manual or timed scene breaks are
also possible. Split Cut editing allows users to remove sections
of video from a clip such as commercials or not-so-great moments captured
on video. A variety of Transition Effects between scenes give presentations
a professional look. The Undo/Redo feature makes it easy to make
a modification and preview the video before accepting it. Still
pictures can also be inserted into the video.
The software supports Storyboard and Timeline editing. Much like making Hollywood movies, the Storyboard gives the user a visual timeline of the events as well as the transitions and effects that occur. It works well and provides virtually instant feedback without having to wait for the rendering process. Voice narration and/or background music can easily be added using the Audio Mixer feature. We particularly liked the transition and effects that give the presentation a professional look. Once the project is ready, the user can simply preview the content to make sure it looks correct.
Author
This area covers the menu creation process that gives the presentation
a stylish look. Several predefined menus are available. Still picture
can be added as background for the menu panel. Much like big Hollywood
DVD releases, users can also add motion menus. Full customization of the
menu buttons (size and position) and text can give each presentation a
unique and professional appearance.
Make
Your Movie
The user can select from VCD, SVCD, DVD-on-CD, DVD (1 or 2 hour) or VR
on DVD. The on-disc editing features offered on DVD+R/-VR formats allow
users to add or change chapters and titles after the content has been
burned on the disc. This flexible format is great when editing commercials
out or creating custom movies of your home videos.
Conclusion
InterVideo's WinDVD Creator 2 is a simple to use software package
which has a nice set of features that help users create powerful looking
DVD presentations. The design of the software makes it easy for virtually
anyone to create impressive videos from content captured on their own
camcorder. The software performed well during our review and appeared
to be stable. A fast machine will help reduce the long wait time required
during the rendering process. The direct recording capability greatly
reduces the process time normally needed to render a disc, but does so
at the expense of a glossy user interface. WinDVD Creator 2 is
a great product that comes highly recommended.
- Kevin Nakano