What should I use for dvd menu's?

[bbrevolt]

Hi, I am looking for something to create custom dvd menu's and display screens. Particularly one that doesn't restrict me to a template(and most out there I've seen are bad with horrible fonts) and that I can insert images and clips for good multimedia. Can anyone recommend a good program for me. Also any really good movie clip editors out there that you use to create effects such as lighting and cutting and cropping scenes?

[Baldrick]

dvd-lab pro
ulead dvd workshop
dvd architect

[bbrevolt]

Ok, looked at them and they look good. I have another question as well. I want to burn avi's that average 715mb and was wondering if any of these tools can do that. I saw that dvd-lab pro works only with vob(that I saw) and the others I couldn't find. In the past I have used dvd creation tools that converted the avi to the complete vob package and is that worth it? Or should I convert first to vob or something in a seperate program and then import it into whatever program. File size is important and in the past never had a good experience converting avi-vob.

[steptoe]

If by filesizes of about 715MB you're referring to downloaded AVI's of movies, then you need to use other software that will convert these movies back

There is plenty of software that can do this, but bear in mind you will most likely end up with the dreaded audio sync problems, thats why I don't use this method anymore

If you are able to, just burn these "AVI files" to DVD as a data disc and play them in you're DVD player, assuming that is it will play AVI's (divx or xvid)

[thecoalman]

DVD Workshop works with AVI's. "MPEG-1, MPEG-2, VOB, AVI, QuickTime, WMV "

I have it and can say it's very easy to use. It supports multiple formats for other media too for iomages and audio. There isn't much you can't import into it. Also has AC3 and integrated encoder which is a version on the mainconcept encoder.

http://www.ulead.com/dws/compare.htm

I refer to it as the garbage compactor, it's ideal if you have video of varying resolutions, aspect ratios and bitrates...etc. You can use to encode to whatever is appropiate for that particular file seperately then throw them all together on one disc.