Menu Creation:  

Sony DVD Architect Studio is probably one of the most versatile and flexible DVD Authoring programs we reviewed. You can do just about anything regarding menu creation including scene chaptering, create submenus, animate thumbnails and menus and incorporate music.

Sony provides a small selection of template themes, buttons and backgrounds, but you can also insert your own graphic backgrounds and buttons. You can even export your customized menu creations as a theme. Sony also has a small selection of free downloadable themes created by other users located online. However, we’d like to see Sony include more sophisticated themes and backgrounds in future versions. As much as we like ultimate creation control we also like quick and easy.

Perhaps the only thing missing from Sony DVD Architect Studio are some minor menu additions like adding credits or menu transitions. Admittedly, we did have some difficulty creating a “play all” button, but with a little practice this got easier.

Features:  

Some of the features that Sony’s Architect does include is mixed media support for slideshows and music/video complications, a timeline editor with video support, a DVD player preview for checking DVD construction and functionality, a built-in burner and true drag and drop support with access to your windows explorer directly in the software.

DVD Architect Studio never claims to be anything more than a DVD Authoring program. Therefore, it doesn’t include a large array of fancy features like a video editor or the ability to directly import from your camcorder. It has a specific function, to create DVD Menus.

Unfortunately, we found that the video playback included in the preview feature and chaptering feature is a little choppy and sometimes did this strange fast forward thing. Remember that DVD Architect Studio is system intensive and relies heavily on your video card. If you video card is older or not up to date you will experience similar problems.

However, we did find that Sony takes great care to create a quality DVD and therefore rendering and burning your DVD might take a little long. Our best advice is to be patient, it is worth the wait.

If you are looking for more video editing options you can always use Sony DVD Architect Studio in conjunction with their video editing software Sony Vegas.

Ease of Use:  

Unfortunately this is where Sony DVD Architect Studio seriously falters. Although everything is clearly displayed and the navigation is fairly self-explanatory if you’ve never used DVD authoring software before, DVD Architect Studio is not the one to learn on.

Your basic menu structure is located in the left navigation, and right-clicking will always provide you with additional menu choices.

We would like to stress that once you get through the learning curve you’ll find that Sony Architect Studio is very powerful. It does get easier. The included tutorials are extraordinarily helpful and without them you would be completely lost. Maybe a wizard in conjunction with the help tutorials would further help this program’s ease of use.

Quality of Copy:  

The DVDs we created using Sony DVD Architect Studio were great. The displays were clean and each of the buttons and chapter selections worked perfectly. When you chose to watch a specific chapter the software defaults to play the following clip.

Perhaps our only complaint about our Architect Studio DVD copy is that small text had a tendency to seem blurry especially with light colored text on a dark background.However, you can change the size of your text in the creation process.

Ease of Installation/ Stability:  

Sony DVD Architect Studio is a system intensive piece of software; therefore, we found that it wasn’t particularly responsive when you have multiple applications running at the same time. Like most DVD Authoring software do not expect to be using your computer for six things at once, especially if you are on an older PC. Most computers just can’t handle that much when an authoring program is running.

However, we had no problems installing Sony’s DVD Architect Studio.

Help/Support:  

DVD Architect Studio has some of the best help in the business. The software includes an extensive selection of “Show Me How” tutorials that will walk you through almost every step of the program. The tutorials are pop-ups explaining sections of the software and interface. Additionally, we really like when the tutorial box mentions an additional feature or a function of the software it provides a link to the corresponding tutorial.

The tutorials are launched when you open the application and they can be accessed at any time during your authoring through a button on the toolbar.

Sony DVD Architect Studio also includes a built-in user manual, online knowledge base, email support and forums. Sony does offer telephone support but you have to purchase a support package. Packages start at $14.95.

Sony’s DVD Architect Studio is not for those of little patients. The software is an incredibly powerful DVD Authoring program for those that know what they are doing. However, newbies will quickly want to throw their computer out of the window. Frankly, we are in a conundrum. We can’t ask Sony to make their software easier without the distinct possibility of it losing its versatile strengths, but we can’t place it in our #1 spot because it is just too hard.

If you have the time to learn how to use DVD Architect Studio then we highly recommend it, but if you are looking for something that requires a little less effort see the #1 product, DVD MovieFactory.