How do I author a simple dvd for episodes?

[exillion]

Hello I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to author a very simple dvd with a basic menu listing all the episodes of a series. Basicly, you would just pop the dvd in and it would list all the episodes right off the bat, they don't even have to be thumbnails. I've tried a bunch of authoring software but I haven't been able to achieve this despite it seeming to be such a simple task. I've seen it done before however I can't seem to do it. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

[workinmatrix]

Do you mean that the program can list all the episodes with TEXT, no image thumbnails?

[exillion]

Not exactly, I don't mind thumbnails. I just want to have a dvd where I can put in and have all the episodes be listed or thumbnailed right there when it comes on. Instead of having to go to Menu -> Episodes -> Scene -> etc. Also I find it impossible to author a dvd with multiple video files, most of the time the tutorials show you how to get one big video file i.e. a movie and a lot of scene selection but none that teach you how to author with multiple video files.

[bourboner]

DVDAuthorGUI should do the job, and it's a nice easy method. Just read the short manual! You will need to prepare your menu background first, with episode titles typed up on it (or position your thumbnail stills). When you import it into DVDAuthorGUI, you can easily make the text into clickable buttons and assign them to the appropriate video titles. It's real easy, just read the manual and guide, they're short but comprehensive. (Compare it to GUIforDVDAuthor's huge convoluted manual ha ha!) I think DVDAuthorGUI is a real nice little uber-user-friendy program that actually does quite a lot. Kudos to liquid217!

You can have animated menu backgrounds, or even animated thumbnails also, if you want. (I haven't tried animated thumbnails, but I know it's possible (I think?)).

[manono]

but I know it's possible (I think?))

Hehe, yes, very possible, but maybe a bit too complex for exillion at the moment.

But you're right about DVDAuthorGUI. I'd recommend it as well. All he has to do is prepare a 720x480 BMP with the text written on it. Like maybe save a still from the film and use some picture editor to write in the text (even MSPaint, if he doesn't have anything better). Or get a picture of a movie poster or DVD cover, a pic of one of the stars, whatever. DVDAuthorGUI will turn that BMP into an M2V suitable for a menu page. He can even add music to it if he likes, music in AC3 or WAV format.

Also, I believe that FAVC, DVD Flick, ConvertXToDVD, AVI2DVD and maybe others are also capable of creating simple menus at the same time as encoding and creating the DVD. Even simpler.

kschang has even written a nice guide to AVI2DVD and how to create a menu within that program:

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic298122.html

Here's a similar guide for FAVC:

http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/FAVC_Video_to_DVD_Guide_page1.html

[guns1inger]

DVD Flick only has menus in the Beta version

[FallenAngel10]

Try DvdShrink -- Titlewriter - Its a 2 click for a menu -- once you fill in the DVD_TEXT

[borax]

...all the episodes of a series

I think this is the major problem...
Nobody knows what kind of video material exillion tries to author...

@bourboner
Whatever dvdauthor based program you use (dvdauthorgui, dvdstyler or gfd) it will only work with already dvd compliant source material. Given that, the choice of the gui is just a matter of taste. And GfD has a very simple 'Getting started' guide too: http://download.videohelp.com/gfd/Help/GettingStarted.html

[dfisher052]

I use convertxtodvd all the time for just that purpose. If I have a series of programs I just make a menu listing the programs in the order I want them to play & then convert them. Very simple.

[manono]

...all the episodes of a series

I think this is the major problem...
Nobody knows what kind of video material exillion tries to author...

Right. I was just taking him at his word when he said I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to author a very simple dvd with a basic menu listing all the episodes of a series. If by author he was starting with a bunch of AVIs and (incorrectly) meaning the whole AVI to DVD process, then that's why I gave the list of all those all-in-one programs. And I didn't mean to denigrate GUI4DVDAuthor by not mentioning it. It's just that I'm more familiar with DVDAuthorGUI. Had guns1inger (or others) answered first, your nifty program would have gotten the recommendation, I'm sure.

[bourboner]

the choice of the gui is just a matter of taste.

Hey I love the concept of GUIforDVDAuthor, it's just I would not recommend it to exillion. Great versatile software nonetheless!

Sure, I assumed he had DVD-ready video.

If not, I would recommend straight away ConvertXtoDVD, and just be done with it.

[exillion]

...all the episodes of a series

I think this is the major problem...
Nobody knows what kind of video material exillion tries to author...

@bourboner
Whatever based program you use it will only work with already dvd compliant source material. Given that, the choice of the gui is just a matter of taste.

Basicly just avis I download here and there, I could just use TMPGEnc to convert them into dvd compliant source material right? And oh wow thanks everyone for your help! I'm gonna spend the whole day testing all these out tosee what works best for me(or which I'll manage to do). If anyone has anymore reccomendations please let me know! Thanks guys!