Simple DVD Authoring program

[Lywyllyn]

My apologies if this has been covered before, however my search did not come up with a clear answer.

I am looking for a simple DVD authoring program. I have used Nero 7 (trial) before, it worked fine, especially Nero Vision 4) However I cannot get it to work on newer machine (I have taken this up with the Nero support folks...) after all I was ready to purchase the product :-)

What I am looking for is a simple program that allows me to create a DVD from the usual suspects (.avi, .mov, .wmp and ofcourse .iso and .vob)

I am not concerned about the ability to burn from within that program, as I use DVD shrink to squeeze things and burn with Encrypter.

Being able to choose a background image (maybe a short clip), a set of buttons with preview images for chapters and maybe a title and subtitle beneath the chapters would be enough. I have looked a plenty of offerings on the net. I have downloaded quite a few of them and I must say that quality control is not a strong suit in most programs. I have downloaded a good collection of codecs, but most programs still fail to either create a valid .vob or simply just crash in the middle of setting up a DVD menue, or previewing etc.

I liked Nero Vision (when it worked :( ) so anything along those lines would be a good start.

I appreciate your time and thoughts and again my apologies if this has been covered ad nauseum.

Cheers!

-Lywyllyn

[setarip_old]

Hi!What I am looking for is a simple program that allows me to create a DVD from the usual suspects (.avi, .mov, .wmp and ofcourse .iso and .vob)Why would you need a DVD authoring program for the last two types listed, when they are most often created or extracted FROM DVDs?

[varekai]

Hello Lywyllyn! :)

Have you tried this one?
This is a free and easy to use DVD Authoring program:
http://www.dvdstyler.de/
http://www.dvdstyler.de/shots.html
Read here what users experience:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dvdstyler/
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=318795

@setarip_old
I could easily think of lots and lots of reasons why anyone
could need a DVD authoring program for an existing iso or vob!!!
All perfectly legal and also within this forums very clear rules.
I'm shure you can to but it seems to me you are more interested
to scare people away... Why is that? I see your post all over
this place and in so many of them you are not answering or helping,
just putting people off? I just don't understand why...?

varekai

[Lywyllyn]

Thank you for your reply. The reason I am looking to author a menue for a dvd from .iso or .vob is because I spend lots of time converting the free StarTrek New Voyages (http://www.newvoyages.com) with a tool that makes .vob from .wmps and .avis

Varekai, thank you for the leads, I will check them out!

By the way the program does not have to be free, I am happy to pay for something that will work :)

[BigCondor]

TMPG DVD Author works on vobs and is very easy to use.

[setarip_old]

Thank you for your reply. The reason I am looking to author a menue for a dvd from .iso or .vob is because I spend lots of time converting the free StarTrek New Voyages (http://www.newvoyages.com) with a tool that makes .vob from .wmps and .avisThanks for clarifying.

For .AVIs and .MOVs (requires "QTReader plugin"), one set of procedures (other posters may/probably will suggest alternative methods) would be:

1) Use "TMPGEnc" (or "TMPGEncPlus") to convert the .AVI
(DivX-compressed or otherwise) to compliant MPEG2-for-DVD format - Use "TMPGEnc's" DVD wizard/template to accomplish this

2) Use "TMPGEnc DVD Author" v.1.6 (a different program than
"TMPGEnc") to easily create the required additional DVD files and structure (and chapters and a menu, if you wish)
You can obtain a FULLY functional free 30 day trial version of this commercial program at:

http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/download/tda16.html

**If the combined filesize of the DVD "package" written to your hard drive is greater than 4.37Gb, use DVD Shrink (or similar) to compress

If your O/S is either Win2000 or WinXP, TMPGEnc DVD Author can also burn your DVD. Otherwise, use NERO to burn in "DVD-Video" mode (As an alternative to "TMPGEnc DVD Author", you could use "DVDLab")


Let us know of your success ;>}

[varekai]

@Lywyllyn
As setarip_old mentioned DVDLab Pro is another very good
but not free [$245] DVD authoring program. I haven't tried
this newer version but an earlier 30 day trial v.1.60
I really liked it alot but couldn't afford to buy... :(
Hmmm... maybe next month...

It's very easy to start up a new project and I think the
program will grow on you as you learn more about it.
Also there is a very good and very much alive forum where
you can find tons of tips. Well worth a try out!

DVD-lab PRO Advanced DVD Authoring 2.2
http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/dvdlabpro.html
Get a Full 30-days evaluation version here.
http://www.mediachance.com/download.htm
Forum
http://www.mmbforums.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=24

When it comes to burning DVD-Video this is my choice:
ImgBurn v2.1.0.0 [Free]
http://www.imgburn.com/

varekai

[Lywyllyn]

Thanks guys. I will keep you appraised of my progress. I have used TMPGEnc 4.0 (trial version) It seems to work fine, I was bit taken aback when my 600mb movie turned into a 4.5 GB mpeg ! I will have to try the output options to see if I can get a smaller converted mpeg. Ideally I would like to put all three movies on one DVD (I am willing to sacrifice quality) since I am not really a Star Trek fan :-0)

I have also (thanks to Google Vid) downloaded a bunch of TinTin movies, that will be my next project (perhaps in time for my son's birthday)

I will be in touch, thanks for the help!