Joining several videos together

[theness]

I have a number of music video clips (mostly AVI's/mpeg but there are a couple of video clips) and I wanted to convert them and burn on a dvd, initially without a menu but I would like to learn how to do this later.
I've tried Cucusoft pro which has a merge feature but it does not seem to work?!?
I've had a good look around the videohelp site but can't see the wood for the trees So to recap....
1) what prog/s can I use to convert and merge into one a number of mpeg music video clips (say 10) so that the resultat dvd will play thru continous or forward to the next video (Chapter).
2) Once I've 'mastered 1) above how can I create my own menu system for the dvd.
Sorry if this is the wrong forum. It seemed the best to use. Appreciate any guidance/help/pointers/constructive criticism!

[thecoalman]

First make sure your videos are DVD compliant, see the conversion guides if they aren't.

Just about any editing or authoring app will do what you want once they are.

[reboot]

It's easier to encode each clip separately, then merge either with an mpeg editor, or in an authoring app, such as DVDLab. (See guides below).

[mmasw]

well, there are several different methods to acheive waht you want.

1st....the reason Cucusoft won't merge could very well be because the videos don't have the same attributes.

You need to encode them all with the same attributes, then either "join" them prior to authoring or in the authoring process.

Here's what I'd do: I would encode them all to the same DVD-Compliant specs with TMPGEnc either with a pre-supplied template or one I created.

After encoding, I could then use MPEG Tools in TMPGEnc to merge.....but I wouldn't bother....

I'd then use TMPGEnc DVD Author(TDA) to create a DVD. YouI could add them all to the same track with TDA, but it would be just as simple to place each video in it's own track with a simple menu listing each song. TDA has settings where you could either set 'First Play'(1st action by dvd player) as showing the main menu page or starting at 1st song. The dvd could then be set to play by going to next song after finishing preceding song.


It's not as complicated as it sounds, and what you're asking for is a rather basic dvd.

[ticos2000]

well, there are several different methods to acheive waht you want.

1st....the reason Cucusoft won't merge could very well be because the videos don't have the same attributes.

You need to encode them all with the same attributes, then either "join" them prior to authoring or in the authoring process.

Here's what I'd do: I would encode them all to the same DVD-Compliant specs with TMPGEnc either with a pre-supplied template or one I created.

After encoding, I could then use MPEG Tools in TMPGEnc to merge.....but I wouldn't bother....

I'd then use TMPGEnc DVD Author(TDA) to create a DVD. YouI could add them all to the same track with TDA, but it would be just as simple to place each video in it's own track with a simple menu listing each song. TDA has settings where you could either set 'First Play'(1st action by dvd player) as showing the main menu page or starting at 1st song. The dvd could then be set to play by going to next song after finishing preceding song.


It's not as complicated as it sounds, and what you're asking for is a rather basic dvd.

I agreed with mmsw but i think that if you have yor videos on vcd format that is good enough for TDA. It can handle vcd format as well of course of dvd compliant files. so actually you wont have to reencode as far as you have VCD form,at or mpeg2 files.

Other fancy method that you can use to acomplish this, is using vegas video 4 or 5. You just add the videos to the interactive window on vegas put also some cool transitions and customize your video (say you put your name on the corner of the video), mark chapters and voila!!..you will have an mpeg2 file or vcd file if you want with all your videos joined together.

best regards from colombia south america