Help : Menu DVD

[Lesodem]

I have a few avi. files that i want to burn but i want to make a menu so u can choose what clip you want to watch. please help

thanks

[redwudz]

Menus for DVD's are created in the authoring stage, after encoding to compliant MPEG-2 video and audio. I use TMPGEnc DVD Author, but there are other good programs. If you look to the left under 'AUTHOR' there are lots of guides.

[daamon]

Hi Lesodem,

Welcome to the forums.

There are two ways you can do this:

1) Use an all in one where you feed in your AVIs one end, arrange them as you want them, create the menu you want and the tool will do a load of "stuff" in the background and pop out a DVD.

It's quicker, but you don't have much control over what goes on in the background and this may compromise quality.

2) Do all the "stuff" manually - it takes longer, but you have much more control and so can tweak things to (probably) achieve better quality.

The steps would be:

a) If you want to, edit the AVIs in terms of arrangement, transitions etc. and save back to the same AVI format (e.g. DV etc.)

b) Encode these AVIs to MPEG2. I use TMPGEnc, but there are others.

c) Take the MPEG2 files and author them, as per rewudz's post. As well as menus, the end product are the VOB, IFO and BUP files in the VIDEO_TS folder, and an empty AUDIO_TS folder (this is normal).

d) Burn to disc. A lot of authoring tools do this too, including TDA.


If you look in the "Tools" section, there are categories for each of the steps I've mentioned above (key words in bold), as well as a "All-In-One DVD Converters" category for option 1, above.

Good luck, and enjoy...

[Lesodem]

Hi! thanks lol

im totally confused. i have nero so...

shall i just burn them to the dvd then i can just skip it ( i mean using the dvd player) ?

[daamon]

Hi,

When you say "I have Nero" - "Nero..." what? There's a number of tools named "Nero [something]". Knowing the "something" would be useful before we carry on...

[zworg2]

Lesodem
People here dont have to help you.
They do so because they want to.
Please help us help you by providing as much (useful) information as you can.

You say you have nero, but wot nero.
Nero Express?
Nero DVD Burning ROM?
Nero ReCode?
NeroVision Express?
or another?

Is this project a one-off?
Or is it likely that you are going to be wanting to do more similar things?
If there are likely to be more, are you able to spend a little?
Or would you prefer to use only free tools?

Personally;
I would use TMPGEnc to de-mux the AVI into a video stream
I would use Goldwave to extract a WAV file from the AVI
I would convert WAV to AC3 (if necessary)
Then use TMPGEnc DVD Author to author the DVD
and
burn with my favourite burner.


<------------------------Look

On the left there are links for tools guides etc....

Try HERE for tools that will do the AVI - DVD conversion for you (tho they wont all do menus as well.
Try HERE for guides for such a conversion.

Remember;

1) Help yourself (use the serach tool and links to the left)
2) Help us to help you (give information)

[daamon]

Personally;
I would use TMPGEnc to de-mux the AVI into a video stream
I would use Goldwave to extract a WAV file from the AVI
I would convert WAV to AC3 (if necessary)

@ Lesodem - As you're in the UK, you're in PAL land which means that MP2 (compressed) is acceptable for the audio, as is WAV (uncompressed). TMPGEnc will encode the audio from the AVI to MP2 and, depending on what settings you pick, will either mix it in with the video to give you one file containing both (footage.mpg) or two seperate files: video.m2v and audio.mp2

If the footage is short enough (max 1h30m), you'll be able to get away with using WAV (which takes up a lot of disc space because it's uncompressed) or, if it's longer, MP2 (being compressed) would leave more room for the video.

Either way, there's no need to over complicate things by demuxing, extracting WAVs and converting to AC3 - unless, of course, you really want to... To me, it's unnecessary. At most, you'll need a WAV file if you decide you want it. But, if you're happy with MP2 audio (no noticeable loss in quality) even if the footage is 1h30m or less then that'll be just fine.

The only problem you may face is if the audio in the original AVIs is VBR MP3 - TMPGenc spits its dummy out at this. That's easily rectified - I believe it's covered in the TMPGEnc common problems help page. Post back if you have trouble...

[zworg2]

The only problem you may face is if the audio in the original AVIs is VBR MP3 - TMPGenc spits its dummy out at this. That's easily rectified - I believe it's covered in the TMPGEnc common problems help page. Post back if you have trouble...

lol

that si EXACTLY why i get the audio and video streams seperately.

I have encoded (transcoded or whichever it is) a large number of AVI files into DVD format. Because of the sheer %age that TMPGEnc 'spat its dummy out' at i gave up and use golwave for the audio.

Thou i take your point that WAV can be huge and that MP2 is probably a better format.

[daamon]

@ Lesodem - If your AVI files are DV (i.e. from a miniDV cam, or analog converted to DV with something like and ADVC-100) then the audio in them will be uncompressed WAV.

If they're downloads, use either GSpot or AVICodec to get details on the file - both video and audio.