OSNews

Rajan: I'm not gonna quote you on MyDVD, but notice here http://www.cnet.com/software/search/0,11066,0-3227896-1202-0,00.htm...
for consumer DVD editing;
1) Dazzle DVD Complete (9/10)
2) MedioStream NeoDVD Standard 4.0 (8/10)
3) DVD MovieFactory (7/10)
InterVideo WinProducer 3.0 DVD (7/10)
Sonic MyDVD Plus 4.0 (7/10)

Rajan: So, accroading to CNET, they rated two PC titles better than iDVD, and two more as good as iDVD. Plus, for MyDVD, CNET rated it as good as iDVD.

I wouldn't buy those products based on the cnet ratings, since the user reviews are unbelieavbly negative

On the Dazzle DVD Complete (43 percent negative):

"Who's kidding who? Did Erik Holsinger even use the product before reviewing it? Looks like he submitted a review pre-written by Dazzle's marketing department. How can anyone condone $24.95 per call for support on a product that will crash and/or fail each time you try to use it? . . . .Erik Holsinger's review and be sure to search the web for user reports in forums and newsgroups to get the "real story."

""Just doesn't work... I recieved this program as part of the Dazzle DVD Creation Station 200. I have yet to be able to create a DVD. I supply the program with captured video, it processes it, then when I attempt to burn it on DVD, the program simply stops with no error messages. Tech support has been of no help at all(when you can even get thru to them, i've spent literally HOURS on hold). I'm just about ready to try for a refund. Too bad, because the hardware does a good job of video capture."

InterVideo WinProducer 3.0 DVD (only one review, negative): ""Doesn't remember settings. One of the most fustrating pieces of software I can ever remember using. "

Sonic MyDVD Plus 4.0 (only two reviews, both negative): "Terrible product"
The video interlacing isn't properly preserved, so the output look jagged and noisey. It frequently crashes, as well. Stay away from this product." and ""Difficult to downloadAfter numerous downloads and calls for help to Sonic, i just pitched it and bought Wind DVD"

MedioStream NeoDVD Standard 4.0 (I could find only one review to read (even though the site said there was 8, they weren't there), and the one review was negative: "Lovely except for DVD Quality" Also problems connecting to Hauppauge USB and PCII video devices" 40 percent of the 12 reviews for Neo DVD Plus 3.0 were negative.

DVD MovieFactory (44 percent negative reviews): "The interface repeatedly crashed when trying to to chapters so you need to save your project often. I really hope Ulead gets their act together and fixes this because otherwise this is a nice consumer product." and

""The capture plug-in always crashes."In response to my email to Ulead asking for support for this product, which simply doesn't capture video, their main suggestions were to (1) uninstall and reinstall the software (which I had already tried and TOLD them in my email that I had tried it), and (2) they suggested that if (1) didn't work, I should reinstall my operating system. This is an horrible suggestion, as it would take days to reinstall and reconfigure all of my software, and there would be no greater chance DVD Factory would work" and

""Poor for what it costs. For a hundred dollars, I expect a piece of software that really works. DVD MovieFactory is unstable, has terrible DVD burning support and features (i.e. no DVD+R or DVD+RW support), has a poor interface, the slow motion implementation is horrible, and that's just a start. The sad thing is, I don't know of any better piece of software in the price range. "

Rajan quoting a Cnet iDVD review:
"The bad: Doesn't transfer or edit footage; doesn't create submenus for links to particular scenes; works only on Apple computers equipped with SuperDrives; requires OS X 10.1."

88 percent of the user reviews on iDVD were positive. iMovie is used to transfer an and edit footage, obviously. The fact that it runs only on Apple and 10.1 is are not "problems," it's just the way it goes. Lack of chapter marks is a missing feature, but hardly determinative of the merits of the program.

appleforever: I cited this article because it states that iDVD remains the gold standard for consumer DVD authoring software (i.e., is superior to the PC equivalents)

rajan: Than you are looking at the wrong source. CNET says Dazzle DVD Complete is the best of the lot. And PC-only too. . . ."Dazzle DVD Complete offers more sophisticated DVD-authoring features than any other PC-based, sub-$100 DVD program. It's ideal for beginners and intermediate moviemakers who work on a Windows machine and don't need video-editing tools."

First, again 43 percent of the user reviews were negative. Second, Cnet says it offers more "features" than "any other PC-based, sub-$100 DVD program." It doesn't say it's the best. Plus it's got the most features of the "PC-based" programs, which in common usage refers to the PC world, not Apple.

Rajan: "But would I buy a Mac just to use iTunes with iPod? Never. You and instead just manage your playlists in other players, and import them in Musicmatch and sync it. "

If you remember, you had asserted that only the mac press found iTunes more intuitive than the PC jukebox/mp3 players. I gave you a cite to a Tom's Hardware article saying iTunes was more intuitive than Musicmatch. That's all.