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Roxio's VideoPack program is aimed at experienced hobbyists and business users. And, unlike most of its rivals, it doesn't make an effort to keep things simple. When you launch the program, you first have to specify if you're creating a DVD, VCD or S-VCD title.
You're then taken into the main workspace, which is quite unintuitive. The upper half of the screen is called the Source window and is divided into two panels. The left-hand panel displays a view of your PC's file structure, rather like Windows Explorer, allowing you to locate files you wish to include in your authoring project.
When you select a directory, any media files within it are displayed as thumbnails in the right-hand panel.
The lower half of the screen is also divided into Navigation and Editor panes. The Quick Start tutorial announces that creating a menu for your DVD projects is a simple matter of dragging and dropping preview icons from the top half of the screen down into the Navigation pane. You can then perform editing tasks in the Editor pane.
Unfortunately, we found ourselves still unclear about how this process works, even after completing the tutorial. When you drag files into the Navigation window, they become linked in a hierarchical fashion that dictates how the menu structure and navigation controls of your DVD title will work.
This is quite unlike the step-by-step approach taken by most other authoring programs. Admittedly, VideoPack provides more freedom to create complex, customised menu and navigation controls, but this is compromised by the program's poor ease of use.
The real problem lies with the software's documentation. Neither the Quick Start guide nor the more detailed Reference guide properly explain how these menu structures work.
The online help system is no good either. To find out how to import footage from a DV camera, we clicked the 'DV' entry in the help index, only to see a FAQ about audio compression codecs.
VideoPack might be more powerful and versatile than any of its low-cost rivals, but even experienced users are likely to be daunted by its unintuitive approach to authoring. In addition, with such a high price tag, VideoPack 5.0 could struggle to attract an audience.
Price: (as reviewed, ex. VAT) £297.99
/b> Computer 2000 (distributor) 01256 463 344
www.roxio.com
See also:
Studio Deluxe contains everything you need to start video editing. 14 Aug 2002
This latest application from Ulead makes creating DVDs easy and should satisfy beginners and more demanding users alike. 30 May 2002
The combination of video editing and DVD authoring tools makes this an excellent all-in-one suite. 16 May 2002
All Video Recording, Editing & Mixing
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