Ulead DVD Workshop Express review

Verdict:

Review Date: 19 Oct 2004

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Ben Pitt

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

DVD Workshop Express is the most affordable DVD authoring program outside simple template-based software and is aimed squarely at home users.

A simplification of Ulead's high-end authoring package, DVD Workshop 2, most of the omissions are judicious. For instance, discs are restricted to 30 menus, two audio tracks and two subtitle tracks (rather than unlimited, eight and 32 respectively), but most home and corporate projects won't ever hit these limitations. Encryption and regional coding are unlikely to be missed either, especially as Workshop Express can write directly to dual-layer media. DVD Workshop 2 required a DLT drive to do this when we reviewed it (What's New, Shopper September 2004).

The most notable limitation of this version, however, is a significant reduction in the number of menu and button templates. While DVD Workshop 2 has 32 sets of button styles, for example, Express has only 10.

This authoring program still offers exceptionally versatile menu design. Pretty much any type of image or video file can be imported and turned into a button using the flexible Playlist feature, which makes light work of complex disc navigation. We found that pressing the forward chapter control on some DVD players upset these playlists, but adding a chapter mark at the end of video titles fixed the problem.

Most people won't miss the features absent from DVD Workshop 2 and, although we're surprised at the reduced template library, those who want to rely on templates needn't spend more than £30 on authoring software. We'd like better control over button highlights and wish Ulead's disc navigation were more bullet-proof (Sonic's DVDit! 5 handles both these areas better), but DVD Workshop Express's polished design tools are well worth the price.

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