Does a simple AVCHD authoring program exist like DVD programs?

[Killer3737]

I've looked around at AVCHD authoring options and everyone seems to point to multiAVCHD, which to be honest I find an absolute pain to use. So many options to tweak to get things right how you want them, defaults to remove, arrgh.

All I want is something that will let me create a simple menu, like DVD authoring tools. Move things around the menu freely, WYSIWYG feel. I have three videos, I want to put them on one disc and have each one selectable with simple text and buttons. I can't even get multiAVCHD to do that, I can only get one play button.

Are there are better guides for multiAVCHD out there than the one on the author site (which barely seems to correlate with the programs actual options), or a better alternative for basic menu building?

[Baldrick]

I haven't seen any other free avchd authoring with basic menu support. AVCHDCoder creates a menu but I don't think you can customize it that much. Or else can you use commercial software Tmpgenc authoring works.

[Killer3737]

Well my preferred DVD authoring tool is Encore which I know outputs Blu Ray but I don't believe it does AVCHD, does it? What If I create a Blu Ray in Encore then load that into multiAVCHD? Will it retain my menus from Encore?

[jman98]

Well my preferred DVD authoring tool is Encore which I know outputs Blu Ray but I don't believe it does AVCHD, does it?

Do you have a solid reason why this isn't good enough or are you just assuming that you HAVE to use AVCHD because you are burning to DVD-5/9 media? Some BluRay players will play DVD discs with BluRay format burned them and it's not a strict requirement to use AVCHD just because you are burning to DVD media. If this is a just an assumption, why not try a burn on BluRay format to a re-writable DVD and see if it works in your player?

BluRay is quite a bit more complex than DVD which is probably why there aren't as many tools available for it.

[Killer3737]

To be honest that was going to be my next question, what technically is the difference between a Blu Ray structure and AVCHD disc structure? They seem fairly similar to me.