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[Jim_Hardin]

A quick check of those who have been doing video for a long time will reveal very few who use P&B or recommend it!

With the introduction of Roxio Easy VHS to DVD and mention of fixes to P&B in the SP4 update to the Creator 2009, a revisit of this component was in order.

It has come a long way since I first dabbled with it in V6. There have been a lot of innovative improvements, which offer more flexibility than I had thought possible.

First notable improvements are the choices of Menu – No Menu. If Menu is selected, you have a choice of backgrounds and you can change the Title text for your menu page.



With a Menu project you can Name the Menu Button, as long as you do so before you start the Capture. Otherwise it defaults to Movie 1, Movie 2, etc.



Before you start you have a choice of Quality to set. Keep in mind that it cannot read minds or length of capture so you must set it correctly or find yourself abruptly finished!

The Choices are limited to HQ or SP, however these are very different from elsewhere in the Suite!!!

HQ = 720 X 480 @ 8mbps or about 1 hour on a 4.7Gb DVD

SP = 352 X 480 @ 4mbps or about 1 1/2 hours on a 4.7Gb DVD

These are the only choices – LP shows but will only work with a FireWire Capture...

You will be able to choose to add Chapters into each Movie, based on detected scene changes or a fixed points in time. (detected scenes may yield unpredicted results)



There are also Options as well Enhance Picture buttons under the Capture preview.

Options allow you set the final output of the disc:



And Enhance Picture allows several adjustments



These Enhance Picture options must be used with some caution as they are applied to the entire capture and not just the part you might want them for.

The time available is indicated at the bottom of the window.

Added is the ability to STOP capture and move to a different portion and START again! (very early versions were strictly Start&Done!!!)

Doing this will automatically result in a new Menu button but as before, you can rename the button as long as you do it before you restart the capture.

When you have it all, clicking Finish will complete the burn. It may take some time for the final rendering to take place but with all of this flexibility over the early versions, it has to be this way.

Some other things that may not be realized at first glance…

Input can be from the Roxio USB Capture device or Firewire. If a camcorder is connected via Firewire, it is controllable through the program. Control is not possible through USB.

The Quality choices are different when a Firewire is used…



Regardless of input, your output may be for a DVD Movie a VCD or a SVCD. But you only have a one time choice since no file is saved.

While P&B has come a long way when you weigh all of its’ limitations and added complexity, I cannot find any real use for it in my day to day applications…

Look back at all of the things you have to have just right to make a DVD… Then compare that to the Capture – Edit (if needed) – Author steps of the Suite???

With the Suite I don’t have to lay aside time to do it without interruption. I can capture, for the most part, unattended and come back days later.

I can edit if needed and just edit those portions of the capture that require it, or skip editing completely. If not finished, I can save and come back when I have time.

And the Authoring program allows me far greater control over the output and I can even combine this most recent capture with one I did years ago.

Yet P&B in the No Menu form offers the entry level user the ability to get from tape to disc without a lot of fuss.

It remains up to the user to pick their poison