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by Mike Swope March 4, 2003
 Macintosh computers with SuperDrives, capable of burning DVDs, are changing the face of consumer video. No company has made video and DVD creation easier than Apple Computer. Not HP. Not Sony. Not Dell. iDVD 2.0 introduced enhancements for making DVDs up to 90 minutes in length (previously limited to 60 minutes) on the Mac.
Despite the powerful features of iDVD 2, many users quickly find iDVD 2's built-in themes very limiting. There's only so much that can be done with one parchment, one brushed metal, one wedding, one sports and one travel theme. Button shape and placement can provide some variation, but not much for the consumer who has made more than a couple of DVDs. Sure, the consumer can use his or her own photos or movie backgrounds, but the average consumer doesn't have the patience, software or skills required to produce high-quality results to match their growing desire for near-professional DVDs.
Enter iDVDThemes.com, with an additional 16 full-motion themes for iDVD 2 (iDVD 2 is only available for OS X) in two volumes, one a 4-theme holiday collection, the other a 12-theme, 2-CD showcase titled simply Volume One. Attractively labeled, the CDs for Volume One contain nearly 1.2 gigabytes of professional-quality themes for the Mac DVD creator. The small QuickTime movies on the iDVDThemes.com web site do not do these themes justice. Installation is as simple as dragging the twelve themes to either the ~user/library/iDVD/Favorites or the root library/iDVD/Favorites directories. That's it. When iDVD 2 is next launched, the themes will be listed in iDVD 2's Themes tab. A one-page Acrobat PDF installation sheet (most of the page is taken up by images) is also included on the first CD of Volume One.
There are three elements for a successful theme: background, accompaniment, and buttons. iDVDThemes.com has blended all three elements more successfully than anticipated. Volume One contains themes for Children (2 themes) , Road Trip (3 themes), Patriotic (1 theme), 1960s Tie Die (1 theme), Ducks on Pond (1 theme), Black and White (1 theme), Morning Breeze (1 theme), Coffee Beans (1 theme) and Yellow Liquid (1 theme).
The twelve full-motion, smooth, arresting backgrounds in Volume One from iDVDThemes.com are top notch, with excellent contrast for button readability. The variety of backgrounds also seems to address the next-level needs of consumers: Independence Day/summer/veterans celebrations/national holidays (USA Pride); quiet moments at home/family nostalgia (Morning Breeze); overland vacations (Road Trip 1, 2 and 3); young children (Pink or Blue Bubbles); and hunters/nature lovers (Ducks on Pond). There are also the Yellow Liquid, Tie Die and Black and White themes for which it will be more difficult to find suitable content.
The twelve themes utilize only ten soundtracks, sharing a soundtrack across the three Road Trip themes. This variety of accompaniment greatly increases the attractiveness of iDVDThemes.com's offerings. Each soundtrack is professional and appropriate. Unlike soundtracks I've used, these soundtracks are not abrasive or annoying. In fact, as I worked on this review, I listened to each of them over and over and over and over in the background. They left me as sane as when I began the review.
Buttons are a third element of a quality theme. Although Apple's stock themes use custom button shapes, the 14 somewhat-bland additional button shapes aren't very useful. There's very little special about them. Disappointingly, the Yellow Liquid, Tie Die, and Morning Breeze themes draw upon Apple's bland button shapes. Though not unique, the buttons are acceptable.
But the best themes -- from any source -- use custom button shapes. The remaining themes in Volume One from iDVDThemes.com use custom button shapes. The USA Pride theme uses a black-bordered square button that's about 40% smaller than Apple's. The Road Trip themes also share a button shape resembling the well-known Route 66 highway sign. The Pink Bubbles and Blue Bubbles themes share a 3D spherical "bubble" shape. The Duck on Pond theme uses an old school TV-tube-shaped button. The Coffee Bean theme employs an interesting round coffee-stain button. And the Black and White theme uses a grunge button similar to the Apple button found at Row 3 Button 2 in the Customize menu of iDVD 2.
If Volume One of iDVDThemes.com's themes for iDVD 2 for Macintosh are a litmus test, then one can do much worse than buying Volume One and the Holiday themes from iDVDThemes.com. Their themes are easy to install and easier to use, true to Apple's vision of one-click, drag-and-drop, near-professional DVD creation. We look forward to these themes being made iDVD 3 compatible, and to the surprises we'll find with the release of Volume Two.
Product
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iDVD Themes Volume One & Holiday Themes for iDVD 2.x for Macintosh
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Company
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idvdthemes.com |
MSRP
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Volume One: US $24.99
Holiday Themes: US $12.99 |
Hits
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High-quality, professional, full-motion themes for iDVD 2 appropriate for many subjects. |
Misses
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As of February 2003, not compatible with iDVD 3. A few esoteric themes. |
Rating
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(5 possible) 5 |
Requirements
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Mac: iDVD 2.x, OS X |
Mike Swope is publisher of inetreviews.com, a site that publishes hardware, software and book reviews and sells Macintosh and Coca Cola merchandise. Mike and his wife are also partners in SuperPersonalized.com, offering professional quality photo calendars, mousepads, magnets, t-shirts and other photographic gifts. Mike is also past-president of MacWichita Macintosh User Group in Wichita, KS, a full-time graphic/web designer for Koch Business Solutions, and proprietor of Swope Design.
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