I need a plain basic DVD menu template with 20 chapter buttons on a single page. I have Nero Express 6 which came bundled with my Samsung drive, and have added a template pack downloaded from the Nero website. Everything I have from Nero has a maximum of 12 buttons on 1 menu page. I think they want to avoid small button size, so 3 rows X 4 buttons per row is the maximum which will fit on 1 page without making the buttons "too small". I actually want small buttons, with no button text label and no button number label. Is there a place where I can get such a template, or learn how to create it myself? Thanks.
If you want to make a menu from scratch (Nero only used for burning the DVD) you can create an image that has the same resolution as the DVD (720x480 for NTSC) and then use DVDAuthor GUI to make the image into a menu still. In this example I made a plain screen with 20 images using Windows Paint. Choose a button number on the right panel, then select the area of the image that will take on that number (it can be anywhere) then select the action to be taken when that button is chosen. The actual movie title must be elementary streams, which means the movie has to be demuxed to video and audio streams (.m2v and .ac3)then remuxed together with the new menu. The compilation can then be burned to disk. The movie can be demuxed with 'VOBEdit'. http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/showsoftware_vobedit_254.html Run VobEdit > 'Open', select VTS_01_1.VOB (the first large VOB of the title, the rest will come in at the same time). Demux > select 'All Video and Audio'. The files will be saved as an .m2v and an ac3. Convert Menu Graphic to 'still' image and link to VOB's with DVD Author GUI - there is a guide on the site. http://download.videohelp.com/liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl
Thanks; your explanation is clear and understandable. That procedure is more complicated than I'm ready for, especially the 'elementary streams' requirement and all that includes. I'm beginning with two .avi files of 1hr each which I need to combine into one file, remove some extraneous parts, and place chapter marks at various irregular time points. All this, plus menu creation and DVD burning, can be done totally with Nero. Except I have to restrict my project to 12 chapters maximum, or have a 2page menu. Those concessions don't sound so bad, if all workarounds involve a similar level of complexity.
- but I think you are being too modest when it comes to doing it yourself - I ain't no Einstein and I got some sophisticated results from it.. For payware, probably check out this one. I recall it has a trial period and I know it has extensive menu capabilities. http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/index.html
I say complicated in the sense that installing 2 new softwares and learning a whole new thing just to fix a nitpick issue on a nonessential hobby project is not worth it (I'm not saying that learning is a bad thing). I normally get satisfactory results with Nero and have been using it for a long time. I just thought there might be some little detail or insider trick which could address this relatively minor gripe.
I'm starting to warm up to the idea; I like the flexibility it offers. So, I would need to somehow create a number of VOB files, one for each chapter/segment in the final product. Right? Is there some sort of tutorial to get me to that point, assuming I'm beginning with a collection of mpg/avi/wmv/etc. files.
