DVD authoring/editing questions from a total n00b

[DesertAvenger]

ok, i'm trying to find a free to $20 program that will let me combine multiple ~30min avi files--episodes of a tv show--with a basic customized Menu, with sub-menus for each episode...which allows me to set chapter points, as a sub-menu button. The points i wish to set will be 1) opening credits 2) first half 3) second half 4) closing credits.

Thanks
DA

[redwudz]

GUI for dvdauthor is one, DVD Author GUI is another. Both are freeware. You should be aware if you want to do some fancy effects, you may need to do part of them with other programs. But both the programs mentioned have guides at the bottom of their toolpages. Even with pro programs, other programs are used to do the menus, etc. But give those two a try. You can do professional work with them. Just a bit of a learning curve.

And welcome to our forums.

EDIT: You mentioned editing. You do that with a video editor, not a authoring program. Authoring just creates the DVD format. Look to the upper left on this page for 'WHAT IS' DVD for the DVD specifications, format and structure.

[ZQX]

Note that the above 2 mentioned tools require DVD-ready files. DVDStyler is another free one, that also accepts (and converts) avi files.

[Bjs]

Dvdflick

[guns1inger]

DVD Flick doesn't allow manual setting of chapter points, but it will do most of the rest of what is requested.

[ZQX]

Actually I think the latest AVStoDVD does the manual chapter point thing now?? Not sure about sub-menus but?

[DesertAvenger]

Thanks for all of your help! I ended up using GUI for DVDauthor, as that the Menu creation was quite easy. I still haven't figured out how to create animations for the main menu, but the chapter points came out fine (thankfully the program animated those for me :P ). I used Super DVD Creator to capture the images I wanted to use for the title image. I used Any Video Converter to convert the avi to mpeg (ntsc format).

DA