Replacing menus - any easy way?

[MatiasR]

Hello folks.

First of all, I'm really, really new to all this so please bear with me. I'm slowly trying to assimilate the tons of information in these forums, the guides, etc., and it feels like I've still got a long way to go before I can say I have a clue, heh.

But anyway, straight to the specific issue I'm posting about.

I have downloaded an amateur video recording of a concert. This comes already authored and has a really simple menu where the only button you can click would be one of those 'play all' buttons.

What I want to do: I'm trying to find a way to replace that menu with one created by me, so I can make buttons for each chapter (ie song) on the movie.

Beware: I have done nothing so far. So I would need to know how to make the menu (what software to use, etc.) first, and then how to replace it with the original.

For an unexperienced person like me, this sounded like a fairly easy task, but I think I may have been way off. I've yet to find the answer, or maybe I'm just getting it all wrong?

By the way, the movie is all one chunk, only divided into 0.99 GB VOBs. That means I only have VTS_01_x (x is 1 to 4). As I understand it, when you convert it to several chapters you'll get VTS_XX_x (where XX is the chapter number, and x is the number of 0.99 GB chunks said chapter needed to be split into).

Any suggestions will be GREATLY appreciated. As you see, I'm a real newbie here. I was wondering if there's an ap that lets you modify the menus without touching the VOBs, mainly because I fear more high-end programs will require a whole lot more input from me, and that's when I'll definitely screw it up! But, if you tell me about any ap that reauthors the whole thing and promise I won't die trying not to screw up, I'll give it a shot!

Thanks in advance for any help on this. By the way, excuse my wicked English but this is an Argentine newbie here!

Cheers,

Matias

[Baldrick]

Easiest, Tmpgenc dvd author and select add dvd video and select the files with the vob,ifo files. Make a new menu and author,burn. You can't make that advanced menus...so you can't screw it up.

Or DVDRemake Pro but it's not really for newbies...

[MatiasR]

Thank you for your suggestion!

I tried Tmpgenc dvd author and it is indeed so easy to use. It's just what I needed! I know there may be way more advanced aps out there but, as I said, I'm a real newbie and a high-end ap would just scare the crap out of me... That's how I'd spend hours and hours reading tutorials getting nowhere every time things got too complex.

I hope I can learn enough to fix that... heheh... but for the time being, I'm so happy I could get the job done! My HDD also thanks you for this one, Baldrick! Now it can breathe again.

[MatiasR]

As I stated before, Tmpgenc dvd author really did the trick and I'm more than happy with it. Now, I was wondering... I have downloaded this DVD-video which has a multi-angle feature. Again, the menu is quite simplistic as it doesn't have any kind of chapter menus to browse through. How difficult is it to do the same thing (replace a menu on an already authored DVD with a new one created by me) when it has a multi-angle feature? Is it way out of reach for my newbie skills? If so, how about any app that does not require reauthoring in order to replace a menu?

Any advice/recommendation/hint/encouragement/discouragement will be greatly appreciated.

[MatiasR]

I've read DVDRemake does that, but how difficult it is is what I'm actually wondering. By the way, I've tried playing some of the VOB files from this multi-angle DVD download and PowerDVD does not play them correctly (it's as if it keeps skipping all the way). It does play ok when I open the main file, FWIW.