Decent DVD authoring software (1 Viewer)

[John_Berger]

Studio doesn't seem to support AC-3, at least from what I can see on Pinnacles slow website.

No, Studio doesn't support AC-3. It does have an "MPEG audio" setting for authoring the DVD so you're not "stuck" with PCM, but it's not DD/AC-3.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I'm using a Canopus DVRex-RT to do my transfer. At first I was using a Panasonic AG-DV1000 mini-DV tape deck to do the A/D and then by firewire into the DVRex, but I was not pleased with the digitized signal. So instead I'm going analog S-Video into the DVRex, letting my LD player do the Y/C separation instead of DVRex.

Before I started the capture, I put in the Video Essentials LD and adjusted the DVRex capture brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation settings. The Canopus software has waveform monitor and vectorscope windows to eliminate the guesswork, but it still took some trial and error to get everything aligned just right. This is an important first step in making sure that the final DVD-R will match the laserdisc.

Right now I'm in the process of scraping off the biggest, most indigestible chunks of the "special sauce". The "look sir, droids!" scene is now back to its original length and original audio, the new footage is gone but I decided to keep the modified shot with the CG dewbacks in the background. This required some trickery in Adobe After Effects, as the modified shot was shorter and further complicated by a clockwipe from the previous scene which I had to recreate. Now I have to get through the Mos Eisley mess, and only then a Jedi Master of Editing will I be.