GUI for DVDAuthor - does it work in SP3/Vista/Win7?

[thedarkness]

"GUI for DVDAuthor/MuxMan" was my favourite tool for menu creation
http://download.videohelp.com/gfd/

but..... does it work in SP3/Vista/Win7 yet? I still have SP2 on one machine, and wasnt sure if its worth updating if GUI for DVD Author no longer runs fully, unless it can be "corrected" in some way or another- so I am wondering if there is a way to get it to especially work in SP3? If not, what tools do exactly the same job out there, free or not, with no limitations? I have tried demos of some menu creation programs with limitations, only to find out from forums these limitations featured on the full product also (eg I cannot add more than 10 to 30 seconds of audio to any menu-convertxtodvd) or that have just been harder to use in general. I have not found a menu creation program that has as many features as GUI for DVD Author/Muxman, and its a FREE tool! thanks for any info on if it now works in SP3, if I can get it working, or what the best equivalent program would be

[tin2tin]

Works fine under Vista.

[Jim44]

I used it quite a bit on XP-SP3, and have used it successfully recently on the Win7-64 box.

Why would you think it doesn't work on those OSes? XP and Vista are listed, and most Vista-capable programs work in Win7 (yes, I'm sure there are some exceptions).

[thedarkness]

thanks, thats good to know. I might give it a go under SP3 again, but I dont think its been updated for a long time, so im assuming that it still wont work with SP3. Jim- I had tried it with SP3 before, but it did not work, and many forums were also stating that it was not working with SP3. Can you (or anyone) recommend any good dvd authoring programs anyway-just incase I still cant get it to run? If I cant use DVDAuthor on this old desktop with SP3, then I'll be after a menu creation tool as good as dvdauthor, being able to :-

- allow me to add my own custom buttons/fonts/images/backgrounds
- allow me to move my own custom buttons/fonts/images to where ever I want on screen!
- add audio of unlimited (or at least up to 5mins in length) to a page
- give the option of creating either photo dvds or video dvds, or a combination.

Am I asking for too much? I dont see how, at least in terms of being able to move my items around anywhere I want them to be on screen, since DVD Author let me do it on XP... when i could run it- lol! One site recommended DVD Movie Factory as the best with the most features, but while its good for creating photo dvds, its still extremely basic according to other reviews, as it does not let me do what I want with menu design. Another site recommended ConvertXtoDVD, I tried it out, not bad, but it had an audio length problem (10 to 30 secs max).. with menu creation (again) still not on par with DVD Author-there were limits on what could be added to a menus design, as templates were used for dvd screen design- so again you couldnt move fonts/images around to where you want them to be, unless you know how to create your own templates for the program. I do not know of any other tools that might be the better option, as most reviews do not go in depth, so I thought these forums might be a better bet with someone recommending what I could use. I am making home dvds with captured videos and photos to dvd, with my own custom designs for menus.

thanks

[borax]

Up until now I had only one user who complaint about problems with Win7 (I don't remember if it was the 64 or 32 bit version).
My son also uses GfD quite often on a Win7-64 system. No problems. If it would not work, I'm sure there would be several threads here about these problems...

...and many forums were also stating that it was not working with SP3

Where did you find this???

I had tried it with SP3 before, but it did not work

What did not work?

[thedarkness]

Im going to try installing SP3 (!) and DVDAuthor just now It was a while back, but I did remember not being able to run it at all... perhaps it was either a very early SP3 having trouble, or a program that I was using in combo with GUI for DVD Author Muxman to create the final dvds- but I will post here any problems I have, if any

thanks

ps Im crossing my fingers with SP3 after reading old posts from http://www.reviewsaurus.com/tips-tricks/windows-xp-sp3-service-pack-3-install-problems/

lol

[usually_quiet]

I had no trouble getting GFD to work in XP SP3 32-bit or Vista 32-bit, with both dvdauthor and muxman. I am having some trouble using it in Windows 7 32-bit with muxman. (dvdauthor works fine using the same resources.) This is typical of what I see in the log window. I have looked at author.bat, but haven't been able to figure out what muxman can't access.


Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\UQ\Documents\GFDOutDir\Temp>Time: 6/9/2010 5:22:34 PM

shrink video files...

C:\Users\UQ\Documents\GFDOutDir\Temp>Time: 6/9/2010 5:22:34 PM

author DVD
Access is denied.

C:\Users\UQ\Documents\GFDOutDir\Temp>

ERR: MuxMan error!
Time: 6/9/2010 5:22:36 PM

[borax]

That's really hard to say...
Try to run MuxMan manually (it will start the gui) and load the muxman.mxp file (File->Load Project) which was created by GfD (you can find it in GfDs /Output/Temp folder). Then click on Start.
Maybe you get a more detailed error log where the problem is.

[extent]

THANKS for the reassurance - it works in SP3! by the way, I am "thedarkness" and "extent/extentofmysin" from as far back as 2006. if I have registered three times in total, perhaps my memory in general as well as with dvdauthor not working, was... well... "just me" ;( lol! but then, it doesnt help when I have 4+ email addresses If I find any problems in SP3 then Ill be sure to add them on here

[usually_quiet]

That's really hard to say...
Try to run MuxMan manually (it will start the gui) and load the muxman.mxp file (File->Load Project) which was created by GfD (you can find it in GfDs /Output/Temp folder). Then click on Start.
Maybe you get a more detailed error log where the problem is.

Thanks for your help. I did as suggested, using the .mxp file from the same GFD project that had previously failed. It worked perfectly.

Since it seemed less likely that the real source of my problem was within MuxMan or GFD, I looked elsewhere. It turns out that my free Comodo firewall was to blame.

After I uninstalled it, GFD began working again using MuxMan as the authoring engine. I installed the newest version of the same firewall, hoping it would behave differently. Lucky for me, it did. GFD is still working as it should.