- Need Some Advice On Authoring A Christmas Present :)

[unloopme]

OK, here goes. Over the past week I have been "acquiring" some movie type files. I'm not sure if they are mpeg1, 2, asf, or mov. They all say "WinAmp Media File" when I try and look up their properties. Anyway, some will load in TMPG DVD Author, but most won't. I just want a simple DVD Main Menu with links to the various clips, perhaps a custom background from one of my own pics. Anyway, here are the questions.
1. Is there an authoring program that will recognize ALL movie files and allow a simple Menu creation?
2. Or do have to convert some of these files in order to load them in a DVD creation program?
-Open to all suggestions, thanks in advance for any help. Happy Holidays!

[larsli]

Uncheck the hide extension for known file types in windows to see if the files are asf, mov etc. You could also download AVIcodec from the tools section to see what codecs you need. If the files are something else than mpeg2 you will have to convert them to mpeg2 to use them on a DVD.

[rcb]

unloopme - also consult your TDA's help file. It will tell you details of what filetypes including both audio and video specs that can be accepted.

[unloopme]

larsli, thanks for the tip...I had forgotten how to do that.
-From what I see, most of the files are either .mpg, or .mpeg, not too many asf(can probably delete all the asf and have plenty with just the others.)
Will I have to convert all these mpg or mpeg's? There isn't one program with simple menu creation that will let me load, link, and do all the converting and DVD folder creation on it's own?
Thanks for the help, guys.

[bugster]

You could try Ulead DVD Workshop. It should accept most file types and convert them to DVD compliant mpegs. It will also let you create the menus etc that you want.