VCD Menu's

[raceman3]

Is it possible to create menus on a VCD similiar to what commercial DVD's offer and if so is it done with the Video editing software or the software you burn with. I'm using Ulead Video Studio to edit and Nero to burn. I saw that there was a option in Nero to enable menus but I wasn't sure what the effect would be.

[Mirror_Image]

Yes, although VCD menus aren't identical to DVD menus, they are still a welcome edition to any VCD. Depending on which version of Ulead Video Studio you have, you may have a VCD/SVCD/DVD plug-in built right in. On UVS5 it was an extra plug-in, in UVS6 it's included. The plug-in lets you burn right from UVS.

Finish tab...Create VCD...renders file, and when it's done, then the plug-in runs and the menu creation wizard starts. You choose your chapter points, menu backgrounds and style, even add an intro video (you have to make it in advance though). It lets you test-run your menu before you burn, not too bad.

If you have UVS5 (with the plug-in) or UVS6, that's how it's done. If not, then look to the "how to" link at the left and do it the hard way...or try the 30-day trial of UVS6!

[raceman3]

Mirror_Image:

Thanks for the quick response. I do have version 6 and now I know what was blowing up when I used it to create a VCD. I'd have it create the vcd and then walk away for an hour or so. When I came back XP would have a message up saying that Ulead died and it would close it down, however the mpeg was created sucessfully. I guess it was blowing up when the screen came up for menu selection, I'll have to watch a little closer. Next question, if I use TmpGenc to create the mpeg can I still add menus ? Ulead isn't to bad for standard vcd's but I usually bump up the bit rate to about 2000 and the resulting mpeg Ulead creates is very blocky which is why I use TmpGenc which produces much better results although encoding time is significantly longer