NTI Media Maker 8 is an all-in-one CD and DVD burner suite designed to compete with Nero 8 and Roxio Easy Media Creator 10. Like those packages, it's far more than just a CD burner—it also includes basic video and audio editing applications, slideshow software, video converters for iPod and Zune, and a full-featured backup program.
All the apps are opened from NTI's Launch Pad application. Most of the programs share a common interface: Whether you're creating a data DVD or recording live audio, you're presented with a Windows Explorer-style view where you can drag and drop files. Each function is broken into EasySteps, simple wizards that guide you through the process of media creation and editing. A few modules break from the design and have unique interfaces when appropriate, such as the CD ripper and the DVD viewer, but overall, the program's consistency makes it easy to master.
NTI Media Maker 8 supports creating regular, mixed-mode, and CD Extra data discs. You can create photo or video DVDs and remove features from unprotected commercial DVDs to make copies fit a single disc. Blu-ray support is limited to backups and data discs; you can't create Blu-ray video discs. To create quick-and-dirty video or slideshow discs, the Cinematic Video and Cinematic Slideshow modules will automatically select clips and set them to a soundtrack in a fashion similar to muvee autoProducer. On the audio front, you can create music and MP3 CDs, rip CDs, and edit audio files. You can also create music DVDs. These aren't full-up surround-sound DVDs—instead, you can select a picture to show as each song plays back in CD quality stereo.
The strongest program in the package is NTI Backup Now 5. It supports both drive-image and file-level backups, allowing you to easily select only certain files to back up, and to selectively restore individual files and folders. It supports backing up data to just about any optical drive format, including Blu-ray (BD-R, BD-RE/BD-RE DL). You can also save backups to removable hard disks or network drives, schedule backups, and create an emergency recovery disc so that you can restore the operating system without having to reinstall Windows and Backup Now 5 first.
Some of the other modules are less impressive. For example, the Home Video Maker is very simple: Drag video and image files into the window, add transitions and titles, and burn your disc. It works well enough, but even the free Windows Movie Maker offers more comprehensive editing options.
Though it was developed in China, the user interface text and help files are well-written and don't show any obvious translation idiosyncrasies. Its non-native-English origin does occasionally show up, however, with error messages like "The disc is incompatible with the current writing."
NTI Media Maker 8 doesn't have quite the rich options of Nero (which has more sophisticated video editing functions) or Easy Media Creator (with its superior ability to capture Internet audio). NTI Media Maker 8 does, however, have the easiest and most consistent user interface—and that makes it a very good choice when ease of use is a primary concern.
