Review : Pinnacle Impression SE

With the success of the DVD player , and recently also the DVD recorder, DVD creation software is popping up everywhere.

Pinnacle , one of the big players in the video processing market , couldn't stay behind. Besides a couple of entry level tools they have now also a hi-end tool to create DVD's.

Available as a Standard Edition (SE) and Professional version. The standard version allows for 10 (can be animated) menu's , 1 video angle , 1 audio track per video segment. The professional adds 8 audio tracks for multiple languages , up to 32 subtitle tracks , unlimited menus , motion background for the menus and multiple video angles. The pro version carries a doubled price tag (399 US$ against 199 US$for the Se ) and requires you to install a hardware dongle that protects the program.

A first thing that sets this tool apart from the others out there is that this is a pure DVD creation tool . No VCD no SVCD, but you can do miniDVD's ( DVD stored on a CD ). Also Impression does not bring an MPEG compressor. You are responsible for providing the MPEG encoded video and audio streams. Impression will tackle the audio stream , and it actually wants you to provide it with a WAV file.

A second thing the it will not do is create buttons and work off templates.

So what does it do then . Well a lot ...

No limiting templates that cannot be edited , no limited button control but full blown control over a multitrack audio channel ,full motion menu capability , full control over every single button , including animation and hilighting. The Pro version also has the capability to create motion backgrounds for the menus as it brings an MPEG re-compressor and allows for subtitle insertion. Furthermore it is possible to make 16:9 DVD's with this tool.

The main work environment inside impression looks more like a video editor then a DVD composer. And that is exactly what it is. You arrange clips , still images , audio tracks and other assets to create exactly what you want to with virtually no limits to the creative process.

Starting a project and creating the Menu

The main screen is divided between the editor timeline , an asset manager and the Realtime viewer / editor.

The asset manager has 3 possible views and 3 groups of assets it manages. You can switch between a simple list , a thumbnail preview or a full view . The assets that construct the final DVD are divided between MPEG video and audio files , Menu's and images.

Impression reads directly Adobe Photoshop files. It even supports multilayered files and that is where Impression differs from most of the other tools.

To create a menu you simply create a layered image in Photoshop. By marking the layer names using the @ and # character you create buttons

A layer stack could look like this:

• (#)Button2
• (@)Button2
• (#)button1
• (@)button1
• background

The layers can be named anything you like , but the similarly named layers go together to make the animation. By default only the layers that have the @ sign in their name are displayed. Once you select a menu item , the layer gets exchanged for the layer with the same name but with the # sign in the layer name .