At the time of this writing (Dec '03), this Apple Pro Training Series title is the only in-depth, full-on tutorial volume available for DVD Studio Pro 2. If, like me, you've just acquired the package and are anxious to learn all the tools for authoring DVD media, I'd rate this book as an adequate step up from the tutorial that shipped in the box. On the other hand, if you're patient and are keen to keep trying to figure the program out on your own (like I was doing), you might want to wait for a better one.
Chances are, if you bought DVDSP2, you already have Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Express. The tools, interface and overall process of the programs are very similar, and anyone with a working familiarity with Apple's powerful video editing apps (as well as the basic structure of commercial DVD titles) can, with a little time and effort, discover how to work with it on their own. This book, to its credit, offers a rudimentary, 16-chapter course leading the reader through the production of three different video projects, each showcasing different functions of DVD authoring. For the most part accurate, some chapters unfortunately show signs of poor or rushed proofing ..... the sections on compression (a vitally important step in production) and scripting, most notably, are missing steps and contain misleading information, which could be very frustrating to first time users. The chapter on menus contains an erroneous screen shot ("your screen should look like this" ..... HUH?) and files are named differently on the materials provided than represented in the book. This should not be a deterrent, as long as you can figure out what the authors MEANT to write ....
DVDSP2/Apple Pro Training seems to be typical of most first-edition tutorial tomes (Macromedia Training-From-the-Source books are notorious for this), and if you're anxious to get seriously creating DVDs and want to get up and running quick, this title should prove for the most part helpful ...... definitely get it through Amazon as opposed to paying retail. Suggestion: supplement this book with Martin Sitter's DVDSP2 Visual QuickPro Guide, a much better written volume with more insight and expertise than you'll find in most titles currently available ...... that way, once you've stumbled through this flawed tutorial, you'll have an excellent reference to use later on.