Menu Creation:  

Like all DVD Authoring software HT DVD Authoring Studio allows you to created a DVD menu and burn it to a disc; however, we experienced difficulty using the menu creation portion of this software.

HT DVD Authoring Studio includes about eight template options with as many frames and a few button templates. You can change text size and font. They also have layout options, but you cannot move or adjust any objects on your menu page. Thumbnail size is fixated as well as button/navigation size and text location.

Another difficulty was with importing video. When we imported our video clips HT automatically chaptered our footage. Although the chaptering worked out well, we were unable to recombine the created chapters (some of them were unnecessarily split), but we could farther chapter selected clips.

We also got an error message about our audio stream and codec problems. Although we did encounter some audio problems later in the authoring process, it had nothing to do with our codecs.

You can also set scene transitions, sort of. There are more than 130 scene transitions to choose from, but when we applied one of the transitions to our video it seemed like our video froze for the duration of the transition, which happened to be the entire video clip.

Features:  

HT DVD Authoring Studio has a few additional features. They include the authoring application, DVD copier and data DVD support. Additionally, the software includes a DVD preview function, built-in burner and photo support. You can also add video text, transitions and minor effects.

HT DVD Authoring Studio doesn’t include the ability to create slideshows or a single movie.

We also found the video playback feature and DVD preview screen to be jumpy and glitchy. It doesn’t give a true representation of what your final DVD product would look like.

Ease of Use:  

HT DVD Authoring Studio’s interface is simplistic; however, we found this simplicity to actually work against the software. Since the software gives you fewer options you often find yourself hunting for more features and capabilities. Usually you have to guess what a particular button or symbol represents.

We would like HT to include a standard tool bar across the top of the application for easier access to all the software’s features and functions.

Quality of Copy:  

The DVD menu we authored worked, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. The thumbnail pictures seemed a little squished, and the biggest problems had to do with scene transitions and audio. We included an optional scene transition into our chapters, but it made it seem like the disc was frozen. The transitions moved so slowly it took the entire length of the video to complete. It had no positive effect on our produced movie. Additionally, there was an audio delay. The chapter audio started about 20 seconds into the video.

We also found that the DVD automatically went back to the menu after each chapter and we couldn’t find a “play all” option in the software.

Ease of Installation/ Stability:  

Incidentally we didn’t have any problems installing HT DVD Authoring Software and the only stability problem we encountered what that codec error. However, it’s possible that error directly contributed to the 20 second audio delay.

Additionally, HT DVD Authoring Studio is not compatible with Windows Vista.

Help/Support:  

Honestect can benefit from more support options. They do offer email support and the software includes a built-in user manual. However, the manual is minimal and doesn’t include a search feature. They also a FAQ section online, but there is nothing specific to the DVD Authoring Studio.

HT DVD Authoring Studio, although was able to create a DVD with a menu, was just not up to par which many of the big players in this industry. They need to give the user more menu control, fix those scene transitions and double check the audio problems.