Interactive menus

[glimmerung]

I put this in the editing forum by mistake, then realised what I'd done, so I'm putting it here as well. Sorry for the cockup.

Anyway, to the question:

I've made a few interactive menus for S/CVDs but they do not have the true
interaction of a professionally produced DVD. Is there any way to make menus
for S/VCDs or DVD-Rs that works in the same way as these menus? What I'm
looking at doing is making a menu that allows you to move though it
highlighting chapters, rather than having to select numbers and enter them
to get to the desired section.
To make this a little clearer: with a pro' DVD one can use the cursor keys
to move around before selecting enter to get to the chapter required. I
would like to be able to do the same with my S/VCDs and with home made DVDs.

Any ideas or suggestions? Can it actually be done?

[Geff33]

Yes it can be done. I use DVD Maestro and Photoshop to create interactive menus.

[Chip]

There's numerous programs that will do that. I do it with Roxio's VideoPack5 and Corel PhotoPaint10. It's also a snap to make all the chapter thumbnails as preview movie buttons.

VideoPack5 will create VCD, SVCD or DVDs from about any file and automatically convert it. VideoPack5 does have some quirks that drive me nuts but after you learn to work with them, VP5 is great.

[vitualis]

You cannot use cursor keys for S/VCDs no matter which program you use. These functions are simply not supported by the S/VCD specs.

You can however create a dummy highlighting system with multiple still screens where the choice is selected by pressing the "default" key (which is usually mapped as "play" on DVD players.

As for comprehensive S/VCD authoring proggies, I strongly suggest VCDImager +/- a GUI (e.g., TSCV or VCD Easy). VCDImager is by far the most flexible and powerful VCD authoring system in existence and the GUIs make it easier to use.

BTW, you can make real MPEG stills now (unlike TSCV) with VCD Easy.

Also, VCDImager if open source and doesn't cost anything...

http://www.vcdimager.org
http://www.vcdimager.org/guides

Regards.

[Chip]

Thank you for the clarification. The poster said S/VCD's or DVD-R's and I guess I was responding to the DVD-R as was the poster before me. I think S/VCD's are rapidly becoming obsolete. Technology wise, of course they already are but feasability wise they still have a stronghold. .... but with DVD-R drives at $300 and media at under $2/DVD-R the cost to SVCD limitation ratio is starting to lean towards DVD-R.

[vitualis]

In the US perhaps, but not so in many parts of the world.

For example, DVD burners and media are still extremely expensive here in Australia from a hobbiest point of view. Also, in Asia, the penetration of S/VCD players (as opposed to DVD players) into the community is MUCH greater than in the US (indeed, more popular than VHS by far).

Regards.