DVD Onscreen Essay(s)

[slark]

If I want to put a long essay (lots of text) on a DVD for reading onscreen, what would be the best way (best program to use) to go about this? And if not the same, which would be the easiest program to use to do this?

Thanks.

[andkiich]

I think the answers you want will depend on the functionality that you want.

If you want to be able to jump at your discretion from page to page, then you might have to create a slideshow or set up a DVD with just menu structure. This will allow you to navigate through the screens forward and backward at your command. The stills or menus would be backgrounds or images that are created in some image creation software like Photoshop or Paintshop Pro. Then you can just use your remote to navigate through the essay.

If you want it to play on it's own, possibly with a voice track reading the text as it goes or add music(now that I think about it, you can have that with the option above as well) and have it cycle through the essay on it's own as if it were a movie, then you can use an editing tools that allows you to add text to a section of video. Something like Windows Movie Maker 2 ort Ulead VideoStudio have this capability. You could take the video you want to use superimpose the text on top, then export the finished product, convert and author. I've done something like this before on a very small scale with WIndows Movie Maker. I just placed the text on a blank background, then exported the finished product to an AVI file, converted with TMPGENc to a DVD-compliant MPEG2 then authored. You could add chapter points to jump to the section you want or go back.

I didn't include all the things, but let your imagination go with it and I'm sure you can fill in the blanks. If you need any clarification, just PM me.