Adding motion menus and chapter buttons to video then encode

[tnc1]

I want to take my dv avi files and download via firewire to my hard drive. Then edit them and create motion background menu with chapter buttons for each short video clip I created. I want to then encode it in CCE for burning into a dvd-r disc. Now, not having tons of video building knowledge which software program can I edit the multiple video clips in and add the motion background menu and make a chapter button for each seperate clip and put them all together to fit so I can then encode them to fit onto 1 dvd-r using CCE as my encoder? (for best quality I want to use the cce program to do the encoding and not the all in one capture,edit, encode programs which dont do a very good job of encoding my avi video files into the quality video for dvd-r).
Tough and complicated question but not too hard for some of the brilliant people I have been viewing in these forums.

[andkiich]

Most of this will depend on you're authoring program and if it supports mostion menus and motion chapter point frames.

[timmmay]

To edit your clips, depending on how extensive the editing is, you can use programs like Adobe Premiere, Vegas, etc.. Motion menus will depend on the capability of your authoring software.

[timmyp]

Pretty new to all this, but I've tried a few authoring programs.

IMO, DVD-Lab is absolutely the best bang for your buck.

Tim

[Vejita-sama]

The short answer is YES. You can do all that and more. You do this when your author the DVD. Motion menus are nothing more than another MPEG2 video stream with a subpicture to define the buttons.

So to make a motion menu you just generate a MPEG as normal, then create a subpicture for it.

You're authoring software has to support motion menus (ie. not just stills). $ for $, DVD Lab is your best bet ($79 30day free fully functional trail) (you can only use one audio track and no subs, there are ways around that thou if you really need them). If you've got the cash Adobe Encore (~$550) is another good choice.

Here's how it works:

1) Capture - transfer everything from your DV camera to the HD

2) Edit - edit footage as desired (Vegas, Adobe, Ulead, etc). You can also generate the files that you'll want to use a menus (draw buttons, think of transitions, cut/paste, etc).

3) Encode - encode everything to MPEG2 (menus should be 720x480 4:3, 16:9 menus can cause problems on some DVD players as they only allow one subpicture).

4) Author - this were you import all of your assests: m2v, ac3, menus, subpictures, etc. And you define you chapter points, what each button does, the action of each button, the next/prev commands, links, etc.

5) Burn

If you read the online help for DVD LAB and DVD Menu Studio (don't need to buy the programs but the help files are a good intro/primer reading) and the guides here you'll be off to a good start:

http://www.mediachance.com/dvdmenu/Help/indexdvd.htm

[tnc1]

Thanks for all the help. Great tips from everyone. I will read the guides and then choose which authoring program from there to use. I knew if anyone could figure out if this could be done it would be the people who come to this forum. It's a great site!