First impressions.

I've spent about 30 minutes looking at Extra DVD Creator, and it really has left me unimpressed.

They boast:

It supports DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW, DVD-5, DVD-9. No other DVD creator supports such comprehensive video formats like Extra DVD Creator!

These are actually disc types - and whether they are available is more dependent on the type of DVD disc you have sitting in your DVD burner - and the capabilities of your DVD drive/burner (or a combination of your disc AND drive.)

To say that "no other DVD creator supports such comprehensive video formats like Extra DVD Creator" is just untrue.

- There is a help button - but no help - just a link back to the sellers webpage.
You can read how to use the product at http://www.dvdcopyrip.com/extra-dvd-creator-guide.html

(Except it is the guide for a different product)

The Key features in Extra DVD Creator:

* Create AVI,MPEG,MOV,DIVX to standard DVD without losing quality.

Without getting into the argument on decompression and recompression, changing video types, sizes and file formats it is entirely possible you WILL lose quality. Sometimes this loss of quality is acceptable, other times it is not. You will not know how much the quality has changed until you try to convert something. This quality loss can appear in any products of this type. To claim there is no loss of quality is untrue.

* Choose DIVX, XVID, AVI, MPG, or MOV video formats.

Well Duh. Pretty pointless if you couldn't select your source file. The list of supported file types are by no means comprehensive. This second "key feature" is nothing more than the first key feature, reworded. blah blah... fill the points out.

* Convert each chapter to an individual file.

Not here. There is no such feature I could find. Converting to "an individual file" doesn't even make sense for a DVD. Converting individual files to a separate chapter is fairly standard, but this program doesn't appear capable of even this. Other programs I have used do this as a standard feature.

* Estimate output file size before creation.

Nope. Nothing. Not even a progress bar creeping towards 100% as you add files. In fact the program doesn't even know before you start the conversion if you are planning on writing to a DVD-5 or DVD-9 (how much storage space is available). Clearly this feature doesn't exist either.

* Convert from any position to any position of a movie.

Nope. Only works if "any position" is "the start" and "the end". Perhaps if you used another tool first to split your source files up. You cannot specify a custom start or finish time for anything with this program.

* User-friendly interface without any complicated settings.

I'd call it simple to the point of sparse, verging on useless. Unless you want to do the absolutely most basic possible, you will be disappointed and frustrated by the total lack of control and options.

* Choose to automatically shutdown computer after especially long conversions.

You will probably smash your computer before you get that far.

* Burn to a DVD movie disk or a DVD folder.

Well that is the two obvious options. I suppose you could call this a "Key Feature". I'd call it a basic requirement. Programs that cannot output DVDs media onto DVDs or a folder aren't worth squat. This is the one feature the product description I could possibly call correct - except I wasn't about to waste a blank DVD to output 20% of a movie to check. If anyone actually cares - they can verify how well it burns the results to disk.

Truthfully - I'm more concerned with the 'creation' steps and lack of mystery features than with the burning to disk at the end.

The only feature that had me intrigued was:

It allows you to specify NTSC or PAL, adjust 4:3 or 16:9 video aspect, set actions

The only "action" that remains that I haven't tried out so far is "uninstall".

And to think this is a version 6 product, I would've hoped it would be a little more mature with obvious features already in place and working. Clearly also this is related to a poor setup of the host website which either hasn't been checked or corrected. This could be an honest mistake, but when you are selling a product off the back of claims and features, promising what the product can do (and these claims really are very basic) - I would hope those claims are a little closer to reality.


Updates

Thanks to Mike - who has worked out how to select a start and end time for a video. (With a label on the program screen - this could be even more obvious)

If you look (above) at the Program Requirements box (just below the user rating) - Vista isn't mentioned.

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/NT/XP

If the software isn't for that platform, then it isn't supported. If you can get it to work, then 'great'. If it won't install etc, then not much point mentioning it - because nobody really expects it to work, and the developer probably doesn't support it running on that platform either.

A Few Freeware & Open Source Alternatives - with features that exist !

DVD Flick
http://www.dvdflick.net/

DVD Styler
http://www.dvdstyler.de/

Video DVD Maker Free
http://protectedsoft.com/products.php

Free DVD Creator
http://www.minidvdsoft.com/dvdcreator/

Plato DVD Creator Pro
http://www.dvdtompegx.com/html/dvdcreator_pro.html

Sothink Movie DVD Maker
http://www.sothinkmedia.com/movie-dvd-maker/

Videotrans (for those who like to DIY)
http://videotrans.sourceforge.net/

And as a bonus - the above will work on Vista (no promises with 64bit).

(as subsequently mentioned by Ron - "Plato DVD Creator Pro" is bundled with “relevantknowledge marketscore” adware. However, you are given an Accept/Decline choice (see screenshot) during install. Simply select to Decline the install of relevantknowledge - and you are good to go).

#4, Fubar - The Step by Step Guide, as I said - is for a DIFFERENT program. (Check the title bar in the screenshots).

No such option exists in todays program.

does not support custom resolution, does not support mkv extension.

I think the first comment from the gentleman who tested this is right.
I'll probably wait for something else to come up !