What actually are all these files on my DVDs?

[ambrosechapel]

Is there a site or page which explains clearly what the different files are, what they all mean, which ones are required and so on?

I get that the VOB files are the actual video, and this page: http://www.deano.dsl.pipex.com/backup/structure/structure.htm has some clues.

As I understand it, if I had two movies to put on one DVD, they'd have to be

VTS_01_0.VOB
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB
(etc)

for the first movie and then

VTS_02_0.VOB
VTS_02_1.VOB
VTS_02_2.VOB
(etc)

for the second movie.

Could I just put those files on with no BUP or IFO and have the movie start up and play? And when it finished, the second one would just start up?

Is a VIDEO_TS.VOB required?

The IFO and BUP are just text files, right? Can you make your own?

I'm not terribly interested in authoring fancy menus and so on. Just getting the movie onto a DVD that plays when I put it in a DVD player.

[jameshgross]

<---- Glossary on left "DVD" and follow link.

[gadgetguy]

Look at "What Is DVD" on the left.

[Sifaga]

and on the "what is DVD" link at the bottom there is another link to check out "The DVDDemystified DVD FAQ"

[ZippyP.]

I'm not terribly interested in authoring fancy menus and so on. Just getting the movie onto a DVD that plays when I put it in a DVD player.

You need to "author" a DVD to create the proper structure and for it to play properly. You cannot just burn the VOB's to disk and hope that they play. TDA is a good basic authoring program which will accept VOB's as input. It will allow you to create a menu, or not.