roxio - Easy Media Creator® 10 Suite

does anybody here have it, or use it? do you think it's better/worse than nero (or about the same)? i have purchased the full blown version 7.5 of nero about a year ago (which i got a discount on). but, i can get this version of roxio for @ $55 w/tax (for father's day). so, i'm wondering if it's worth it?

i'd like to make videos out of pictures, etc. i have used "wondershare" dvd slideshow builder, in the past (i considered purchasing it), and it was good. i normally save copies of software i installed - but, didn't have an older copy that worked. well, this last time i used it (newer version), my disk(s), always came out corrupted (jittered), i'm not sure if i had too many pics (about 900) or what, but the music stuttered, when switching pics.

i do burn alot of dvds, that's one reason i have nero (well, it came with my burner). i purchased it, so i could burn mpegs, avi's to cd (they only give you a 30 day trial - or something like that, for this).

the main comp i'm gonna use it on (screenshot below). on this comp, i also have pinaccle studio 10, which i got with my usb tv tuner card. the last couple of times i've used this to convert an avi to whatever, it said i didn't have enough memory(something like that), but i have plenty of that, as well as free disk space. i might have to uninstall/reinstall that?

i'm just wondering if it's worth the money or not? i know some things are easier to do in other software, etc. so what are your thoughts?

1 - roxio, yes or no (especially for the price? - it's normally $99.99, i get emails from them, and for father's day, it's 49.99 after a rebate (i'm sure it's mail in - so i figure it's about $55 or so with tax)
2 - nero better or not?
3 - other s/w to make video dvds ( ie - wondershare - dvd slideshow builder) - i'd have to check it out again.
4 - do i already have what i need (is it sufficient)?

thx, sosaman

 

I use Roxio Suite 10 and for years have preferred Roxio over Nero. In my experiences, Roxio and Nero conflict; i.e. when both installed Roxio doesn't seem to work correctly. My workaround is to unintall Nero. However, on another computer, I have two hard drives installed: one with Nero the other with Roxio products.

I prefer the Roxio for both XP and Vista. However, you MUST download the updates or you will have problems with the Videowave freezing. At ~$50. I think it's a steal.

re: other software: I tried Pinnacle a few years ago and while it gets high ratings for it's interface, it also is notorius for hogging up so much of your system resources that it renders itself too time-comsuming and I often had to reboot b/c of the system freezing. In short, I returned the produuct and will never use it again.

Also, I use ULead Studio 11 plus, which came with my video capture device. It's nice but more complicated to learn and navigate to get the transitions. I still have it and am still learning it. When I have something quick to do, I use Roxio 10. For me it was a lot easier to learn. And, the MyDVD is easy to use. Also, there are lots of tricks to manipulate the menu length in MyDVD.

Re: system resources: 3gb of ram is good esp.ly if you are using Vista. More importantly what is your video card's memory? How much shared? How much is primary? You are probably ok on that, I suspect; at least for Roxio.

I use roxio to make movies out of pics (not videos) as well as combining pics with videos. Sometimes, I use Windows Movie Maker on my Vista computer, then save it as an mpeg then import it to VideoWave. You may even be able to import a moviemaker file - I forget. But, Roxio is 10 is better than 9 b/c you can use MyDVD and import a VideoWave project without having to convert the VideoWave file first. Big tme saver!

Also, I like many of the features of MovieMaker. Also, if you are using Vista, you can just use MovieMaker then use DVD Maker (only available with Vista).

In short, your systems specs should be just fine~Roxio Suite 10 may satisfy all your needs; it's a huge suite ~at $50...I think you will be very happy with what you can easily and quickly do with it.