Is it possible to add a DVD Menu to a AVI?

[Rayster]

Hello guys, I'm new here

Anyway, I need to verify and ask something.

First of all, I have a collections of unlicensed anime in .mkv and .ogm formats. And by using Mediacoder to convert them into .avi format with xvid codec and lame mp3 to audio. The video bitrate ranges from 750-1000 ABT.

I've been burning some of my anime (the .avi ones) directly to a standard DVD and watch it on our television. Our DVD Player supports .avi with xvid/mp3 codec. I'm using Nero Express to burn them as DATA DISC so that I can fit almost 1 season in it.

Now the question is, is it possible to add a DVD Menu? Like most standard DVD Menus, it has background music, buttons, animated icons of the anime etc. This time I really want to add a little graphics to my anime collections.

Also, can it fit lets say a 37 Episodes of Anime with a reasonable video bitrate? I noticed that some of my 750 Video Bitrate Anime has a pixel-like animation during an action or fast-paced movements.

You can recommend me some softwares to used also. Thanks for the replies

[DB83]

I do not think you can add menus to data disks.

You could create standard dvds that can use the menus as you describe but you will then be limited to two hours of playback for decent video quality.

[Rayster]

^Thanks for the reply man. I'm curious about how some dvd have some anime and also have a dvd menu and also have the whole season of it. That's why I'm asking if its possible to make one also.

[guns1inger]

Certainly with Nero you cannot. If you have a Divx ultra certified player then you can author a menu for your Divx AVI files, although to be honest, I cannot recall anyone successfully do this on a regular basic because the tools are not great. Tmpgenc DVD Author can do it, and there is a free tool from Divx. However even Divx themselves have pretty much given up on the idea.

As for fitting a whole series on a DVD with a menu - sure. You can fit a lot of hours on a DVD9, if you are prepared to lower the quality to VCD level. You can fit around 15 - 16 hours per disc at these rates, however the quality is not even remotely DVD quality.

While we have had claims, from time to time, of whole series of Anime on a single disc at DVD quality, when it comes time to put up or shut up, things tend to go very quiet.

[Rayster]

Certainly with Nero you cannot. If you have a Divx ultra certified player then you can author a menu for your Divx AVI files, although to be honest, I cannot recall anyone successfully do this on a regular basic because the tools are not great. Tmpgenc DVD Author can do it, and there is a free tool from Divx. However even Divx themselves have pretty much given up on the idea.

Yeah, I'll try this. Thanks!

As for fitting a whole series on a DVD with a menu - sure. You can fit a lot of hours on a DVD9, if you are prepared to lower the quality to VCD level. You can fit around 15 - 16 hours per disc at these rates, however the quality is not even remotely DVD quality.

Any softwares that I can use for authoring? Well aside the the DivX you gave earlier

While we have had claims, from time to time, of whole series of Anime on a single disc at DVD quality, when it comes time to put up or shut up, things tend to go very quiet.

I also noticed that some threads have no replies.

[KBeee]

You need to re-read guns1ingers answer.
It'll only work if you have a DivX ULTRA certified player. A normal AVI/MPEG4/DivX player won't handle the menus.

[Rayster]

I thought so. Oh well, I guess I have to stick to my old habit of burning stuffs.

[yoda313]

@rayster - if menus are really important to you why not spend some time and encode to dvd proper? That way you'll have a "real" dvd. You won't be able to cram as much on per disc if you want to maintain quality but you'll be able to make regular dvd menus.

Just remember to use a bitrate calculator to better estimate your file sizes. Don't forget to leave room for your dvd menus themselves. And remember motion menus take more time and I believe more space to create. If you have at least a dual core processor motion menus shouldn't take a terribly long time but will take more time than static thumbnails.

Of course if more episodes per disc is more important to you than you should consider abandoning menus all together and stick with the original file on a dvd. As long as you are using dual layers you can still cram a bunch on a disc just probably not a 37 episode series without seriously degrading quality upon reencoding as was previously mentioned.

[redwudz]

Rayster, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks,
Moderator redwudz

[Rayster]

@yoda313, Thanks for the reply. I tried using DVDStyler and put 0.8MB of Video Framerate. I was suppose to fit my 24 Episodes of Anime.

But sadly, after the looong hours of waiting for the thing to finish. I found the video very lacking. Pixel-like animation can be seen almost every area of the animation. Well it's 0.8mb for yah.

Well it seems like you can't have it at the same time. -_-

@redwudz, ok sir sorry.