DVD Studio Pro Future options and operating systems

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Level 1

9 points

DVD Studio Pro Future options and operating systems

What are you doing to keep your DVD related business moving forward as Apple operating systems move past DVD Studio Pro? I'm running 4 workstations in our studio on all the last 4 operating systems just so I can continue to keep Mountain Lion for DVDSP. Whether it's weddings, competitions, dance groups, church events DVD's are simply not going anywhere in terms of customers needs. Please don't even lecture about people not wanting them anymore. Our business is exploding, only getting larger and larger. It will be a decade easily before this will fade. Parents want it as much as they still want hard copy photography of special moments. DVD authoring software choices are next to nil, or terrible. Nothing seems to have the flexibility of DVD Studio Pro for control over menu authoring, button design, background designs, complete creativity and unique NON FAKE TEMPLATE choices. Encore? bad reviews abound. I'm doing research, I'm already in Premier, but of course my .m2v and .wav combinations function independently and can go anywhere.

Someone out there must have answers or suggestions. Thank you in advance.

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.3

Posted on Jan 29, 2016 10:43 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,555 points

Jan 29, 2016 1:25 PM in response to bearguy9

Why change what you are doing, if it is working for you?

Bunker 1 or 2 workstations in their current configuration for DVD creation.

Any future high quality DVD authoring software is not going to be coming from Apple or Adobe.

They have moved on

MtD

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Answer 2

bearguy9 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2016 1:33 PM in response to Meg The Dog

Thank you for your suggestion. It's getting really expensive to tie up workstations with a matching operating system (even if each OS is in it's own Serial ATA startup internal drive). Today I wrote this post because during a series of crashes - and my inability using every workaround I've known for a decade - I really wondered how long I could keep this nonsense going. What will our company do the day DVDSP just craps out in Mountain Lion for whatever reason? Is it really true that no one on planet Earth needs to author DVD's anymore with any professional seriousness? Forget Apple or Adobe - I accept it won't come from them - I'm just amazed that 3rd parties, or anywhere in the world of technology, a respectable DVD authoring choice for software could exist. In the end, I found the file causing the crashes, but every DVD file the 30 second intro was initially in is now corrupted, so I have to design from scratch days of work over again. I've done it before. This was a particularly bad incident. Usually "internal muxer error" can be tracked down file by file - but this new crash series was a brand new crisis. No warnings, just crashes.

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Answer 3

Drew13

Level 6

12,387 points

Feb 1, 2016 1:33 PM in response to bearguy9

It is a situation where some machines need to be dedicated to running older OS in order to maintain DVD authoring on DVD SP. I use it often, including three machines running Snow Leopard just for this reason. (VMWare does not work.) In fact because the systems are stable, I have not bother running the software on any OS later than SL.

It is not too difficult to tie machines in together (network) in order to allow other machines do the heavy lifting for encoding, etc. But even then older machines can still do a lot of the work, depending on the source material.

DVDs, unfortunately, are going away in many respects. But that it does not mean there is still not a call for them. It sounds like you are in a good position with your business where you are earning from them still. The easiest option for you is to find a couple of older used machines, dedicate them to do the muxing/authoring and not get bogged down in trying to get them to run on later OSes. I have authored many, many DVDs that have gone to replication on machines running OS 9. I would get Snow Leopard Server if available still through Apple or if you have Snow Leopard installs. Get them on a older machine (

You can get a Mac Pro for under $400 http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Apple-Systems/Used/Mac-Pro?_ga=1.20017790.7512388 13.1450705895)

then produce what you need. Sounds like it will pay for itself very quickly for you.

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Answer 4

bearguy9 Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 4, 2016 9:55 AM in response to Drew13

Thank you for the best answer. I have never heard of Snow Leopard Server. I currently have Snow Leopard on a startup Serial ATA drive in a drawer of a MacPro working just fine. Occasional bizarre crashes on burns/finalizations, but if I redesign a DVD starting completely from scratch again, (incredibly time consuming) it can slip by to make the master the 2nd time. Would Snow Leopard Server be more stable?

Does the same thing exist for Mountain Lion? DVD Studio Pro runs great on Mountain Lion, and that's the way it's going to stay. Adobe GoLive (web design, also a necessity for us) means going back to Snow Leopard. (Dreamweaver is an incomprehensible transition from Go LIve)

Just a quick addition for others . . .Adobe Media Encoder thankfully still makes the .m2v/.wav combination required for DVD's and is fast as heck, and in the latest OS's all the way through El Capitan - if you keep your projects an really stable powerful drives (not always portables running purely on a USB cable) you can move them around workstation to workstation (careful with graphics art, links can get broken) and use a smooth operation to get it all done. I just was hoping there was something for the future - I predict we can't keep this up forever.

Thank you!!!

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Answer 5

Drew13

Level 6

12,387 points

Feb 4, 2016 10:18 AM in response to bearguy9

I usually use my Snow Leopard (non-Server) version, but also picked up the Server. I have not tested between them to see which is more stable. As to the occasional crashes, they are bound to happen but there are various ways to stop some from occurring. One that I found the best was to build, then burn. (Not do both in one step.) Also Toast does a nice job of burning. If you run into crashes, there is often something that can be fixed. There were some weird little things which could cause that to happen. For instance (if I recall correctly) small gaps on the timeline when putting move than one video on the timeline would cause errors. Another good thing to try is encoding menus outside of DVD SP (do not drag movies as backgrounds into menus and let DVD SP encode.) But if you run into it, post here.

I pretty much skipped Mountain Lion. DVDs is a big part of what I do, so I need to make sure I have a machine (or 3 🙂 ) ready and available in case any of my machines go down. I really liked GoLive myself, but move into Dreamweaver a bit when Adobe bought out Macromedia. (I do not use Creative Cloud, just the last versions of the ones the could be purchased and installed without the whole CC thing.)

It is a real bummer that DVD SP has not been upgraded in so long, but even 5-6 years ago the writing was on the wall, including HD authoring. On the other hand, it works well. I also use DVDAfterEdit (not longer made and does not run on anything past SL) with DVD SP to complete projects. Hence, my over caution on having old machines. One quick set-up I use is my tower (SL) to an iMac (which can run SL if needed and has Thunderbolt) via ethernet, so have many TB devices available. Works pretty well in terms of accessing files and sharing. At some point I may get an R2D2 Mac Pro for the speed, but for the most part the extra speed for authoring is not something I feel like I am missing. Encoding is where the time comes in, but often just set things up, press encode and walk away from a bit. There are some times where deadlines creep in, but for the most part it does not put me too far behind. It is more the manual things (building menus, editing footage, etc.) that lead to the crunches.

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Answer 6

bearguy9 Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 4, 2016 10:32 AM in response to Drew13

I've learned more from your two posts than I've been able to put together from 3 years of Creative Cow and these Community forums combined. I feel like perhaps our business and needs are similar enough that maybe we should connect/network outside of here via email - if ok with you - as possible support. Your reference to "R2D2" took me a moment - because I'm the group called it the "MacNYC Garbage Can" - my employees first through I had moved a coffee maker out into the studio - but I will assure you - it's SCREAMING fast. No time to even use it to make a cup of coffee during an encode any more!

I laughed at your many suggestions since I've been tortured into figuring most of them out before now, painfully testing ways around crashes for the past 5 years to come up with them myself. Timelines, spaces, encode outside of DVDSP, and the best one - don't build and burn at the same time. I think of the weeks and tears you might have saved me had I known you then. I thought once I would have to refund thousands of dollars to customers and my days of DVD burning were over at one point until I figured out how to out-fox "internal muxor error".

Nice to meet you . . . Tony **********.com

<E-mail Edited by Host>

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Answer 7

Apr 9, 2016 9:06 PM in response to bearguy9

Hi, I have an iMac 2013 with OS X 10.10.5 Yosemite and am using DVDSP 4.2.2 with no problems at all. I still deliver on dvds, lots of them. If you have FCP Studio, DVDSP was included, you can install just that app. That is what I did. I am now one of the only persons in this business around here that can still make dvds with menus etc. Hope this helps. I've been asking on this forum if DVDSP works with El Capitan? If anyone knows it would be nice to know. Thanks

Mark

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Answer 8

Jun 16, 2016 10:54 PM in response to bearguy9

DVD Studio Pro 4 still works 100% on 10.11 , I use it everyday and would be lost without it

you need to insert all its components manually into their

locations. Templates etc library files , Quicktime mpeg2 codec etc + , 9 Gb template

folder . App in Apps , but should install it on 10.9 before you upgrade to 10.11.

as the original Finalcut Studio 7 installer still works even though it doesnt install successfully

aall the time all the way . It does launch so all you need is your original packaging with your sn number

and you part install it the main app will launch it won't find the templates etc as the install doesnt

finish completely but if you google you should find a support page somewhere showing you

where it's original folders are ment to be . Good luck but you need to use it on a modern system its

a waste to hold back your other workstation to 10.7 or 10.8 it's safe on 10,9,10,11 and even on systems

Without built in Dvd drives . Good luck.

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