Newby question: 25 video clips on a DVD. I want to play one at a time.

[keeskeeskees]

I have about 25 short video files (avi, wmv). I can categorize those video clips in (say) 5 "categories" with 5 clips each. Total duration about one hour. Total size far less than the size of a DVD. No subtitle files. One language only.

I would like to put those files all together on one DVD disc. I would like the user to use a regular DVD palyer. He would see a menuin which he make choice between the 5 categories and subsequently he would make a choice between the 5 video clips in that category.

After playing that clip, I do not want to play the next clip. The user probably will want to go back to the initial menu and select a new clip in a new category.

This all seems to be much harder then I thought. I have tried a dozen of DVD burner applications. They all keep talking about "chapters". My video clips are not chapters of one large movie.

I would be very grateful if somebody would give me some hints. Maybe you can advise me about a tutorial that is sufficient simple, even for me?

Thank you very much in advance.

kees

[hech54]

Normally it is the "other way around". People usually have trouble getting multiple clips to react like chapters in a title. "DVD burner applications" don't create DVDs...they just burn.....so what programs have you tried so far?

[DB83]

1st grade stuff.

But I doubt if the free dvd authoring tools can achieve this - the ones I have looked at just use a simple menu structure.

What you have here are nested menus.

The main menu consists of 5 items and each item links to another menu.

Each of those 5 menus then has six selections - five which link to the videos and one back to the main menu. Linking back to the calling menu after playing the video is normally a default function.

To achieve this you need a commercial dvd-authoring program such as tmpenc or corel. Ulead dvd workshop could do this with its eyes closed. I am fairly sure that dvd-lab could also do this. The pro version will most definately.

If you want to use the simple free programs such as dvdflick you would have to put all 25 items on to a single menu and that will inevitably look a little untidy.

[hech54]

1st grade stuff.

I have about 25 short video files (avi, wmv).

Really?

[DB83]

1st grade stuff.

I have about 25 short video files (avi, wmv).

Really?

I was refering to the menu structure rather than taking a mixed bag of clips to make the dvd.

However, I should qualify my reply inasmuch that dvd-lab would require dvd-compliant videos as source material. The avis, wmv's that you have would need to be converted first to use that.

A program such as ConvertXtodvd should take unconverted clips but there could be all sorts of issues if these clips are really mixed - some PAL, some NTSC, some 4:3, some 16:9 etc etc.

So 'one-click' programs may not be the answer here so you need to inext time to convert them in to a standard form before throwing them at a dvd-authoring program.

[manono]

The freebie authoring programs (DVD Styler, GUI4DVDAuthor, DVDAuthorGUI) can do it easily, and that's what they were designed to do. However, like DVD-Lab Pro, the assets should all be DVD compliant before beginning the authoring, except maybe for DVD Styler which also has encoding capabilities. As hech54 implied with his 'Really?' comment, you were making this out to be much more simple than it really is. First you encode, then you author.