Sams Teach Yourself DVD Authoring in 24 Hours

DVD authoring software lets you create Hollywood-style DVDs using your own videos, music, and photos. Sams Teach Yourself DVD Authoring in 24 Hours helps you make the most of this new technology. This book gives you hands-on, step-by-step instruction on the entire DVD creation process: from video and audio production to DVD authoring. It eases you into the DVD authoring process then gradually helps you build your skills to the point where you can create professional-looking DVDs.

DVDs are quickly replacing tape as the video publishing format of choice for video professionals and video enthusiasts. Here's why:

• DVDs are an excellent media to archive, publish, and share data and multimedia.
• DVDs can hold two hours of high quality video.
• DVDs are interactive. Using menus, users can easily and immediately access "chapters" within videos, images, text, and high-quality audio.
• DVD recorders ("burners") are now widely available at prices well within the reach of average consumers.
• DVD technology is the fastest growing consumer electronics product in history. There are more than 30 million DVD set-top players and more than 70 million DVD-equipped PCs in the market today.

DVD authoring software lets you create Hollywood-style DVDs using your own videos, music, and photos. Sams Teach Yourself DVD Authoring in 24 Hours helps you make the most of this new technology. This book gives you hands-on, step-by-step instruction on the entire DVD creation process: from video and audio production to DVD authoring. It eases you into the DVD authoring process then gradually helps you build your skills to the point where you can create professional-looking DVDs.

Sams Teach Yourself DVD Authoring in 24 Hours comes with a companion DVD packed with software, including:

The latest versions of three DVD authoring products from industry leader Sonic Solutions:

         MyDVD - the world s top-selling DVD creation tool geared to home DVD enthusiasts

         DVDit! - extra power and features for those who want to ramp up their DVD creation skills

         ReelDVD - professional DVD creation made easy

         Pinnacle Studio - industry leading consumer-level video editor

         Adobe Premiere - best-selling prosumer/professional video editor

         Adobe Photoshop Elements - industry standard, entry-level image editor

         SmartSound Movie Maestro-easy-to-use, customized music creation software

DVDs are quickly replacing tape as the video publishing format of choice for video professionals and video enthusiasts. Here s why:

         DVDs are an excellent media to archive, publish, and share data and multimedia.

         DVDs can hold two hours of high quality video.

         DVDs are interactive. Using menus, users can easily and immediately access chapters within videos, images, text, and high-quality audio.

         DVD recorders ( burners ) are now widely available at prices well within the reach of average consumers.

         DVD technology is the fastest growing consumer electronics product in history. There are more than 30 million DVD set-top players and more than 70 million DVD-equipped PCs in the market today.

Library Journal

People have been interested in creating DVDs for some time, but it has only recently become affordable for home users; these guides are for that audience. After an introduction to DVD and VCD (Video CD), Create highlights features of various editors, then covers capturing video and creating movies in each editor. Its CD includes demos of several DVD authoring, burning, and player packages. A good illustrated overview for all libraries; supplement with more thorough guides to individual packages. More in-depth than Create, SAMS teaches authoring to beginners through straightforward chapter objectives, summaries, workshops, quizzes, tasks, and exercises. Its DVD contains demo and shareware players and video authoring, music creation, and image-editing tools; it also covers choosing a DVD authoring product and includes more information on burning data DVDs, adding and creating music, and more advanced editing techniques. For all libraries; choose if you can afford only one overview. Intermediate users and more ambitious beginners will gravitate to Idea Book, which addresses creating different types of videos, from home movies and wedding tapes to features and documentaries. It provides more background on how and why to create "good" video rather than just how to use software and also offers tips for choosing camcorders and other equipment. Its CD includes sample clips and projects; a companion web site was inactive at the time of this review. For intermediate video authors seeking ideas on jazzing up their projects, 50 Fast contains step-by-step instructions for 50 different video techniques, organized into chapters from special effects and titles to exporting and CD or DVD. Its CD contains demo and shareware video, music, and image software; project video; finished examples; and sound effects clips. A full-color glossy insert further illustrates some techniques, each of which is described both in iMovie and Windows Movie Maker. Idea Book and 50 Fast are appropriate for medium and larger public libraries. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Jeff Sengstack has worn many hats: TV news reporter/anchor, video producer, writer focusing on PC technology, radio station disk jockey, music publisher marketing director, high school math and science teacher, and (presently) school board trustee. As a news reporter, he won a regional Emmy and two Society of Professional Journalists first-place awards. He's an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) on Premiere, is writing a higher-education DV curriculum guide for Adobe, and has written 300 articles and four books, including Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours.