Ever needed to create a movie DVD, that is playable on all DVD players, of non-DVD format videos? For that you need a DVD authoring program to do that. dotTech has a review on best free DVD authoring program for Windows. Wondershare DVD Creator is another DVD authoring program. Let’s see how good (or bad) it is.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

Wondershare DVD Creator is a DVD authoring program that allows users to create movie DVDs (DVDs playable on any DVD player) with DVD menus out of any and all video formats, including SD and HD videos. It also allows you to create video slideshows from photos and include them on DVD.

Take note Wondershare DVD Creator has Windows and Mac OS X versions. We specifically reviewed the Windows version for this review.

Pros

• Allows users to create movie DVDs with DVD menu out of almost any video format, including MP4, FLV, WMV, etc. (see chart to the right for more details)
• Allows users to create video slideshows of images (JPG/JPEG/BMP/GIF/PNG/ICO) and include that on movie DVD
• Can burn directly to disc and/or output as ISO (you can do both at the same time, if you want)
  • Note: Although there is no explicit feature for it, outputs are also saved as DVD folder on your computer
• Allows users to sort inputs by title (you can create as many titles as you want, and each title can include as many videos as you want)
• Allows users to perform basic edits on individual input videos
  • Flip [horizontally, vertically], rotate [90 degrees clockwise, 90 degrees counterclockwise], zoom [keep original, full screen, 16:9, 4:3, pan&scan], effect [gray, emboss, negative, old film], deinterlacing [repeat odd field, repeat even field, odd interpolate, even interpolate], adjust properties [brightness, saturation, contrast, volume], trim, add text or image watermark, add subtitle [SRT, ASS, SSA]
• Allows users to perform basic edits on individual input photo slideshows
  • Modify photo order, add text on each photo, modify transition effects, and add background audio/music
• Allows users to fully and easily customize DVD menus, including pick custom background, add background audio/music, add chapter, and modify buttons
• Has 26 templates you can use for DVD menus, 6 that come with the program and 20 that you can freely download
• Allows users to control if they want DVD to be 16:9 or 4:3 (you can also modify individual videos’ aspect ratios, if you don’t want to change whole DVD)
• Supports DVD-5, DVD-9, NTSC, and PAL DVDs
• Supports all types of DVD discs: DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL, DVD-RAM
• Has the ability to automatically shutdown computer after output
• Good output quality

Cons

• Burning/creating DVDs is not slow but it isn’t fast either. For example, it took 9 mins to create an ISO of roughly 12 minute 530MB DVD; add on 3-4 mins for burning to disc. Creating DVD is not fast because Wondershare DVD Creator does not make full use of available resources; it was using 30-40% of my CPU (I have an Intel Core i5) when it could have been using 100% CPU to process faster.
  • As illustrated by my example, the program can make use of more than one CPU core but it obviously doesn’t make use of full CPU
• No information on if GPU acceleration is supported. It doesn’t look like GPU acceleration is supported.
• No 2-pass encode
• Is unable to add custom sound tracks to overlay or be included with input videos
• There are some reports Wondershare DVD Creator shows pop-up ads occasionally on your computer. I have not experienced this myself so I cannot confirm or deny these reports.
• $39.95 (Windows) and $49.00 (Mac OS X) is a bit high of a price, in my opinion, consider how many freewares can do the same thing as Wondershare DVD Creator

Discussion

As explained in our review of best free DVD authoring programs for Windows, the difference between simply burning DVDs and authoring DVDs is that programs that author DVDs can burn non-DVD video formats (AVI, MP4, WMV, FLV, MOV, etc.) onto a movie DVD that has a DVD menu and is playable on all DVD players. Wondershare DVD Creator is a DVD authoring program. And it is a great one at that.

With Wondershare DVD Creator, you can easily create movie DVDs out of almost any video format (SD and HD) and even create video slideshows of images. It is extremely easy to use, allows customization of DVD menus, can burn to DVD, output as ISO, and output DVD folders.

Really there isn’t much for me to complain or discuss about Wondershare DVD Creator. It does exactly what it claims to do, and does it well. Indeed, the hallmark of a good program is a short Discussion section in dotTech’s review; if we cannot find a lot to nitpick about in a program, then the program is either so bad it isn’t worth talking about or so good that there isn’t much to discuss. Wondershare DVD Creator is the latter.

Conclusion and download link

I’ve had the opportunity to review dozens of Wondershare programs over the years. In the past Wondershare used to provide subpar software but, over the years, they have grown and matured to provide excellent programs. In fact, I’ve coined the term “Wondershare quality” to mean a program that works well, is easy-to-use, and does exactly what it claims. Wondershare DVD Creator is “Wondershare quality”, through and through. In other words, Wondershare DVD Creator is an excellent program.

Unfortunately, there is another aspect associated with Wondershare programs and that is being overpriced. Wondershare programs tend to always be overpriced and the same applies for Wondershare DVD Creator. It is an excellent program, yes, but, in my opinion, it doesn’t provide anything groundbreakingly unique that warrants the $39.95/$49.00 price tag. A $19.95 or even $29.95 price would be much better.

In the end, I won’t formally recommend or not recommend Wondershare DVD Creator. I will let you make the decision if you want to get Wondershare DVD Creator or not — if you feel the program is worth the price being asked. All I can tell you is that Wondershare DVD Creator is an excellent program.

If you don’t want to pay for Wondershare DVD Creator but still want DVD authoring capabilities, check out dotTech’s review on best free DVD authoring program for Windows.

Price: $39.95 (Windows), $49.00 (Mac OS X)

Version reviewed: 2.6.5

Supported OS: Windows 2003/XP/Vista/Win7/Win8, Mac OS X 10.6/10.7/10.8

Download size: 34.4 MB (Windows), 64.6 MB (Mac OS X)

VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/45 (Windows)

Is it portable? No

Wondershare DVD Creator homepage