There is an ocean of DVD training out there with more flooding the market every week. It’s all supposedly designed to give you one-on-one training in just about anything you’re interested in. Some courses are monster albums of DVDs with more than 30 hours of training, while others offer a short one sitting treatment. Some come as regular DVDs you can play on TV while others arrive as DVD ROMs that must be played on your computer. Some are very expensive and others seem like a bargain compared to taking that Adobe seminar at the local Hilton. Is this stuff good? Or, is it a waste of time and money? I’ll try to sort that out for you in this new column.
In this series, I will reveal what you can expect in terms of purpose, content, organization, quality of presentation, and anything special like useful extras. I’m rating each one on a ten star basis over eight different categories. Five stars just aren’t enough for me. Anything with an overall rating of 7 or more is really worth considering. I’ve amassed literally hundreds of hours watching these things and some are not easy to sit through…in fact I’ve bailed on several.
Indeed, you will get the benefit of my pain. I’ve set the really bad examples aside for a while, so my first reviews for now are of training you’ll really want to consider investing in.
If you’re thinking about a DVD series and would like me to review it before you buy, I just might. Send me an email here at the magazine and I’ll see what I can do. Also if you’ve stumbled across a particularly wonderful DVD series, let me know about that as well. Perhaps I can feature it here. (pplantec@accessintel.com)
The first DVD I review are from one of my favorite publishers: Total Training. This is a fresh release focused on the brand new Adobe After Effects version 7, entitled Broadcast Design Secrets with host Dean Velez.

Click here for the review.