Creating a data DVD with a menu

[029]

Hi,

I've got a question about making a data DVD. I know that this might not be the right forum (as my question is not entirely about video), but I hope somebody could still give me a hint.

I'm planning on making a data DVD with video, audio and text data. I would like to have an autorunmenu starting up as soon as the dvd is loaded into the computer. The menu should have the options "play video", "play music" and "view pdf". Are there any (preferably but not necessarily) free programs that can help me making such a DVD?

I've got NERO 7 on my computer, but it seems that that program doesn't allow me to make data dvd's with menus, am I Right?

Thanks in advance!

Tomas

[guns1inger]

Any CD menu designer/maker will do this. You just need to find one that suits you.

Heres a few freeware apps to get you started

http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Smart_CD-Menu_Creator/cissmartcdmenu.html
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/MediaMenu/mediamenu.html
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Quick_Menu_Builder/qmbuilder.html

Or you can just create an autorun.inf file that loads a simple html or flash menu into a browser. Plenty of tools to do that as well.

[Alex_ander]

AutoPlay Media Studio (not free):
http://www.indigorose.com/ams/
I used an earlier (CD only) version of it.

[029]

Thanks very much, I will look into all the options you gave me

[029]

Quickmenu Builder works like a charm for now!!

Another question: is it possible to make a DVD suitable for normal DVD players with both video and audio (as in mp3 or wav) data on it? If so, how can i get a menu on the DVD with the options "play audiotrack #1", "~ #2", etc and "play video #1", "~ #2", etc?

EDIT I would like to use nero doing that - is that an option?

[Alex_ander]

The usual way of doing this is building a DVD video (not a data DVD) with audio-only tracks in DVD compatible format (LPCM, AC3, MP2 etc. sampled at 48 or 96 kHz). Some authoring applications have a special option for this: SonyDVDArchitect, DVDLabPro (latest versions can attach a still picture to a chapter, not just to a track like DVDArchitect). Video and audio tracks can be combined on such a DVD.

[029]

ok i will try that! thanks for your help, i appreciate it

[guns1inger]

You can't create a DVD menu that will play mp3 or other material. You have to encode it as DVD compliant video and audio. You create a DVD that has the usual Audio_TS and Video_TS folders, and then create extra folders at the same level for files - eg a folder called soundtrack might have the music as MP3 files. These would be accessible from a PC, and even some (although not most) standalone players.