DVD-ROM with DVD menu and multiple MPEG-4 avis

[MCSmarties]

First of all, the apologies.
- sorry if this is not in the correct forum!
- sorry if my question is just the result of being confused about what a miniDVD really is
- sorry if this project sounds stupid or impossible. I'm looking for some insight, that's all.

Second, the disclaimers.
- I did search all over the net for this and read the "miniDVD" guides
- I did use the search forum feature but didn't find the answer
- I don't consider myself a newbie (except on DVD authoring) and I'm certainly not afraid to work hard on my project! (more on that below)

This being out of the way, here is my problem.

I would like to store an entire season of Babylon 5 in XViD rips onto ONE DVD (DL obviously) and add a nice,
animated menu that duplicates as closely the feel of the original DVD menus. How do I do this?

I guess what I am talking about is a authoring a "miniDVD" on a DVD support but with MPEG-4 (Xvid), not MPEG-2 streams.

I have ripped all episodes and movies from the DVDs and encoded them with AutoGK
(XVid, 672 x 368, MP3 128kb/s VBR, file size 334 MB per episode / 700MB per movie, ESS compatibility mode)
I also would like to add subtitles in two languages.

I have built a DVD-like menu using a freeware utility called "Quick Menu Builder" but don't like it all that much
(no possibility of remote control support, transitions between submenus not all that elegant)
but without false modesty I still consider that it looks pretty decent.

A "demo" of that menu system (don't ask how long it took to make it!) is available here (http://rapidshare.de/files/15160663/Babylon_5_Season_I_menu.exe.html).

I would be grateful if somebody would download it (9MB, includes all player/codec files) and comment.
It will work on any computer without installing anything at all.
Just extract the file somewhere and run Start.bat in the \Menu subfolder.

How can I can author a "real" DVD menu looking like the one I made, if possible using the material I already have
(original DVDs; AVI and JPG captures/designs of individual menus and submenus)
and link it to MPEG-4 streams rather than MPEG2 streams on the resulting DVD9?
In other words, a make a "DVD front-end" for MPEG4 content?

It would be awesome if I could do that in a way that's compatible with a DivX-capable standalone DVD player
but am aware that this is most likely not possible. Playback on PC only is fine.

I am confused whether that's considered a type of miniDVD or if what I'm trying to do is just plain impossible.

Thanks a lot for any comments or help - even if it's just to say that I am crazy! ;)

[goonix]

@MCSmarties

I have looked at your menu. It is really good (beside the horrible quality of the video streams due to the heavy compression).

DVDLab is capable of making a similar animated menu with sound.
But I doubt you can use DVDLab for making a menu for mpeg-4 streams.

And as fare as I remember, a mini-DVD is a small DVD complient structure of files in mpeg2 (mpeg1?) for burning on a CD and not related to mpeg-4.
Am I wrong?

Maybe some other members of the doom9 forum has more ideas/experience to help you.

goonix

[MCSmarties]

Hi Goonix and thank for the reply. A big thanks for taking a look at my menu!

Sorry I forgot to warn that the videos I included in my menu were super-heavy compressed to keep the file size down!

There are 5 of them: the intro and short sequences from episodes 0 + 1 and the 2 bonus videos - all compressed with div3 at 100kb/s!
(must be some kind of record) :rolleyes:

And as fare as I remember, a mini-DVD is a small DVD complient structure of files in mpeg2 (mpeg1?) for burning on a CD and not related to mpeg-4
That's what I thought too but I was wondering if I could tweak that somehow...

What about that "microDVD" application-thing that's floating around?
I read about it but can't really make any sense. I have no idea where I could get it, either.

I looked into DVDLab as well (that is, I read a tutorial - I never actually used it)

Anybody else have an idea about this crazy fad of mine? ;)

[Groasnicu']

Divx 6 has implemented menus with mpeg 4 streams, but only few players have (now) the posibility to play those.