Roxio MyDVD 10 Premier review

MyDVD 10 Premier is a DVD-authoring program that also lets you edit videos and photos.

The best new feature is a revamped menu template library. Most other packages' menu templates tend to be overly fussy and complex or unbearably cheesy, but the 72 included here are straightforward, attractive and genuinely useful. Animated backgrounds are classy and don't distract from the all-important buttons and text.

Menu soundtracks have been overhauled, with library music supplied by SmartSound. There isn't a huge amount of choice, but music is automatically edited to the required length, providing a proper ending rather than a fade out. SmartSound technology has been available in video-editing software for years, but it feels more at home in DVD menus where short tunes are more common.

There's scope to customise the design and behaviour of menus, but MyDVD's halfway house between template-driven handholding and open-ended design is often frustrating. For example, it's possible to choose whether a menu button links to a video or a scene selection page, but we couldn't find a way to combine the two options on the same menu page. There are a few rough edges, too; for example, deleting text resulted in an invisible but still functional button.

The MyDVD application is only one part of this package, with other modules covering video editing, photo editing, video format conversion and data disc burning. It's the same product as Roxio's Easy Media Creator 10 Suite (below), except it lacks various audio-related features. As such, it inherits Creator's tight integration. Double-click a video in MyDVD and it opens in VideoWave for truncating, colour correction or full-blown editing.

Other new features form part of the wider suite of applications. The Media Manager can transfer videos, photos and music to mobile devices, although it's barely more sophisticated than Windows Explorer in this respect. The ability to transfer videos directly to YouTube would be welcome if it were available - it's listed on the website and in the Help, but isn't yet implemented in the software. Roxio also boasts faster high-definition encoding, but this could be misleading; the suite can convert HD camera footage to WMV HD and MPEG2 but MyDVD can't create Blu-ray discs. Ulead DVD MovieFactory Plus can, as can Adobe's Premiere Elements 4 (reviewed in Labs, Shopper 241). Anyone who wants precise control over the look and behaviour of DVD menus should use Sony DVD Architect Studio.

This leaves MyDVD 10 Premier struggling to find an audience. Its attractive menu templates do give it an edge for people who have no interest in high definition and who are happy to go with the default disc structures. However, while it is currently available direct from www.roxio.co.uk for £50, the full Creator Suite is available for £40 from www.play.com. As such, there's no point buying MyDVD 10 Premier. Still, as part of the Creator Suite it's a friendly authoring tool that should suit casual users well.