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Rating: 
Summary: Version 1.5 available Summer 2002.
Review: Follow a link, or search for the latest version.
Rating: 
Summary: Quirky Program Is Workable, But Frustrating
Review: I just finished a DVD project using Studio Pro DVD, and I must say it was no treat. My project contained a slideshow, two three minute films, and a 6 minute film with an additional link to a website. Although Studio Pro's interface is friendly, the layout of any project is restricted by limitations in the software. For instance, the WebLINK feature worked only intermittently. It's impossible to do both an audio and a video switch track, i.e. I hade two video's with two seperate audio tracks. There is no way to link the second audio track to the second video so that when the user only has to hit one button on the DVD controller. To get a unique interface, Studio Pro suggests you create the background screens and button overlays in Photoshop then import the finished files into Studio Pro. O.K., Photoshop is certainly a good place to do a lot of photo editing and drawing, but the importing sequence back into Studio Pro is cumbersome. The DVD burns also didn't go well from Studio Pro. I made three different burns at differnt compressions because no single compression played evenly on the test DVD players I used; including Sony, a DELL laptop, and a Panasonic. Jeez, if it won't play on a Sony it just won't play at all. I ran this program on a new Mac under both OS 9.0 and OS X and had different quirks pop-up under each. No solution was completely satisfactory. Nothing is perfect and this IS the first release of this software. I hope 1.5 is better. In the mean time, some of these problems can be worked around through judicious design. However, at (Money) a pop, I can recommend Studio Pro only to dedicated DVD designers and artist willing to climb the learning curve and put up with the quirks.
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