Program for creating DVDs. DVDStyler - create a video disc with an interactive menu

DVD video burning programs are designed to create digital video discs that can be played on any DVD player. If you have videos of birthdays, various holidays, New Year's events, dances, your pranks and any other pleasant memories captured on video cameras and stored on mini-discs, VHS tapes and other specific media, then it would be a good idea to record and structure them on DVD. DVDs can be stored for quite a long time and, today, they can be opened almost anywhere where there is digital equipment.

With this class of programs, you will not need to edit each video separately and try to stitch them together. You can create and record interactive menu videos in a variety of templates, divide videos into chapters for easy navigation, add subtitles and additional audio tracks, cut scenes from videos, and even create photo slideshows. And all this can be done quickly and easily.

Note: You don't have to edit videos only with DVD video burning software. You can use any video editor for editing and correction. And this class of programs is only for importing and creating menus before burning to DVD.

Review of free programs for burning DVD video discs

DVD Flick - convenient and powerful DVD video recording

It is a fairly simple program, but at the same time it has powerful tools for editing and burning video to DVD. Using this program, you can quickly turn video reports stored in different folders into a full-fledged DVD video disc that will open not only on your computer, but also on any other digital players, including home theaters. At the same time, you can add additional audio tracks, for example, to clarify some important events. Insert explanations in the form of subtitles. And structure the video as a separate menu for quick and easy navigation.

The developer’s website notes the following advantages:

Burn almost any video file to DVD
Supports over 45 file formats
Supports more than 60 video codecs
Supports more than 40 audio codecs
Easy to add menu
Ability to add your own subtitles
Easy to use interface
Completely free, without adware, spyware and any restrictions.

DVD Flick allows even a novice user to create their own DVD video surprisingly quickly.

Quick selection guide (links to download programs for burning DVD video discs)

DVD Flick

		A simple but powerful program for burning video to DVD. Supports many file formats and audio-video codecs. It's easy to add a menu. Own subtitles. And much more.
		-------------
		http://www.dvdflick.net/download.php
		13 MB 1.3.0.7 Open source freeware Windows 2000 - 7
		64-bit OS support

A free program for creating DVD video images and burning them to disc.

Everyone has probably seen professionally made DVDs with all sorts of transitions and navigation menus. Have you ever wondered how these menus are created? Wouldn't you like to try to create something like this yourself? Probably, I wanted to (more than once :)).

Today we will learn how to create and record our own DVDs, which will be little inferior to their professionally made “brothers”. And one very good free program called DVD Styler.

The program combines everything you need for DVD authoring (as the process of creating menus is called) from scratch. And although it still falls short of professional solutions, it allows you to create a decent-looking disk with minimal time and effort. If we compare DVD Styler with paid analogues, then ZC DVD Creator Platinum will be closest to it in terms of functionality.

Comparison of the free DVD burning program DVDStyler with the paid analogue ZC DVD Creator Platinum

With relatively identical functionality, DVD Styler weighs five times less than its paid counterpart! Another plus is multilingualism, which makes the work of a Russian-speaking user much easier.

Installing DVDStyler

Download and install DVD Styler. In principle, the installation follows a standard scenario, but there are some minor nuances. The most important hitch will be associated with the proposal to install a plugin for Internet Explorer and/or Mozilla Firefox - kikin.

If you agree to install this plugin, then your browser, based on the history of pages visited, will begin to offer you the “most interesting” information from various online resources. If you can find everything you are interested in on your own, I advise you not to install kikin.

DVDStyler interface

When the installation procedure is completed, the program itself will start. The first (and, in principle, the only) thing you need to configure is the interface language.

Select "Russian" from the list and click "Ok". After this, you will see the program itself, which will offer to create a new one or open a ready-made project.

We choose to create a new one and set the required information: Disc name (optional), disc size (standard DVD or double-layer), video format (PAL/NTSC), aspect ratio and sound format of future films. Install it as needed and click “Ok” to start working.

Let's take a closer look at the program's working window:

We hardly need the menu bar at the top, since all the necessary buttons are located on the toolbar (below). On the left is the program’s file manager, with which you can manage downloaded pictures and videos. Below is a kind of storyboard for navigating through the sections of the future DVD. The main space is occupied by the work area displaying the current active menu item.

Creating a DVD Menu

When creating a new DVD, we have one ready-made menu on the storyboard. True, it is empty. Let's add some background image to it. Go to the "Background Images" tab and double-click on the image you like. If the standard ones do not suit you, you can add any image from your computer.

To do this, go to the “File Manager” and find what you need. The drawing can be prepared in advance in any graphics editor so that it contains ready-made inscriptions and/or additional fragments that correspond to the general theme of the future DVD.

Adding movies

Once we have decided on the image, we can start adding films to the project (although this could have been done before choosing an image for the menu). This is done simply: click the “Add file” button and select the desired movie using Windows Explorer. It is better to do this by expanding the program window to full screen.

Why? Because in this case, in the lower right corner you will see a scale of how full the future disk will be over time. Be careful not to overdo it with the number of films!

So, the films have been added, they’ve been completed within the allotted time, now it’s time to think about the menu. Right-click on it and select “Properties”.

Sound design in the menu

Here we can add sound to our menu (if we want, of course). Click on the button after the “Audio” field and select the desired music in the Explorer window that opens. You may be alarmed that the formats listed are only MP2 and AC3 files. Just set this field to "All files" and you can add any MP3 or WAV tune.

Typically, a DVD consists of several menus: a main menu, and an episode menu for each movie (although the latter are not the main attribute). We'll create a disc with just the main menu as an example.

Creating Buttons

We go to the "Buttons" tab and can add navigation keys to our menu by simply dragging the button you like directly from the list. I note that among the buttons there is a frame in which arbitrary frames from the movie “linked” to it will be displayed. Adding such frames significantly improves the overall appearance of the menu.

The first button is by default "linked" to the first added movie. Let's see what we can do with it. Call the context menu of the button by right-clicking the mouse. Here we are interested in two items: “Add” and “Properties”. Thanks to the first one, we can add a beautiful inscription (for example, the title of a movie) using the “Text” and “Text with shadow” items.

There shouldn't be any problems here, so let's take a closer look at "Properties".

Here are all the settings for a specific button. In the first section we can set the action that will be performed when the button is clicked. This can be either going to a certain part of the DVD, or, for example, playing a certain melody or going to another menu. The "View" section is responsible for the design of the button.

In the case of a frame, we can install any image from a computer into it or allow us to install an arbitrary frame directly from the film (you can also manually specify the time of the desired frame). Here we also indicate the transparency level of the inserted image, the width of the frame and its color. It is better to adjust the location and size using the mouse.

Above we looked at how to add text with the title of the movie. However, the name can also be written on the button. Select the appropriate one, drag it into the working window and write the desired name in the properties. Then we “bind” this button in “Actions” to one of the films, and the job is done!

In a similar way, we create buttons for moving to other movies, and we will get a rather beautiful and functional menu:

Since all the films may not fit on one page, sometimes it will be very useful to make another one, linking it with cross-references to the first one. You can also add additional images if you have not taken care of this in advance.

Saving a project and burning a disc

Now that everything is ready, you can move on to the last step - saving. You can save a project, a disk image, or directly burn a DVD. If we don’t want to stop there, click the “Burn” button on the toolbar and be transferred to the following window:

This is the “last bastion” of DVD Styler. Whatever you choose, in any case you will have to wait (and for quite a long time). After all, all files are first converted to DVD format, and only then can be burned to disk. For processing video, you will need free space on your hard drive (about half as much as the DVD project takes up).

You can reduce the size only if you select “Create ISO image” (probably the word “image” was translated incorrectly). If you choose this option, you will also need to specify the folder to save the image. You can also activate "Preview" after DVD generation by checking the appropriate option.

After all the installations, finally click the “Start” button and wait until everything is ready:

conclusions

As you can see, creating your own DVDs is not that difficult if you use good software. DVD Styler may not have some of the features that its paid counterparts have, but it is quite easy to use, and it has a lot of functions.

Another plus is that DVD Styler allows all manipulations to create a disc to be carried out within one window, which significantly saves time and effort when searching for the necessary tools. I wish you successful and beautiful projects that will give you joy every time you watch them!

P.S. Permission is granted to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.

Hello. I have a friend. A very old, excellent, reliable, kind friend. So he has a daughter - Veronica, as he affectionately calls her. I have never met people who adore their child so much. Seriously.

Volodya simply has all the GIGABYTES of memory in his smartphone and computer filled with her photos and videos. 😯 He asked me to find a simple and free program for creating a DVD video disc with beautiful interactive menu options. So that you can record a video on a disk and shove a slideshow of photos there.

How can I refuse a friend? I found such a program and today I will describe it - it’s called DVDStyler. Personal opinion - an excellent, simple program with great capabilities for creating a DVD video disc with an interactive menu. I hope it will be very useful to you too.

In order for you to always be able to download the latest version of the program, I provide a link to the page of the official website - there at the top, on the right, there will always be a green button with the latest version of the program. It looks like this (don't click on the picture - link below)...

Download DVDStyler

Have you downloaded it? Well done! The installation process is as simple as three pennies and there is no point in describing it. I’ll just mention one window, a clever one...

All the checkboxes in it need to be unchecked if you don’t want to pick up a bunch of bars, etc. on your computer.

Let's start working in DVDStyler by adding our own backgrounds for the interactive menu (they are there by default, but there are few of them and they are all sad in my opinion). To do this you need to follow this path...

We put (insert) our photos or wallpaper into a folder...

That's it, now you can run the program. When you launch it for the first time, a window like this will appear...

Here you can name your future DVD video disc, indicate the disc size, video format (if you plan to watch the disc not on a computer, but on a TV) and aspect ratio. I left everything as is and the disc was displayed perfectly both on the laptop and on the TV. Click “ok”.

Now a window with interactive menu options has appeared...

Choose a menu layout that “looks right at you.” Now, the main window of the DVDStyler program has finally opened. The first thing we are offered is to select a menu background. You and I have already prepared it, remember?

Select the background and assign it by double clicking the mouse.

This is the background I chose for myself. I rewrote the inscriptions with the same double click on them (initially they were in the angelic language). Now go to the “File Manager” tab...

...and having selected your videos in it that you want to burn to disk, simply drag them down while holding down the LEFT mouse button...

It looks like this...

This is a preview in the player, and in the program window you can drag these windows as you want. Double-click on any window to open...

Here you can experiment. Note! In the “View” section there is a dot on “Video”, and to the right there is a button with three dots - click on it...

Here you can specify the duration of the video and your disc menu will have buttons for sections with live video.

And if you double-click on one of your videos in the bottom line of the program...

You can add more video files to the section and it turns out that there will be several videos under one section button.

In the same way, you can make a section with photographs. You can place one photo between videos, or you can make a whole slideshow, just like combining several videos into one section.

As you can see from the screenshot, you can also attach music to the slideshow.

On the left in the program tabs there is a whole section with buttons for the menu. The choice is simply huge. Try, assign, drag, rename...

Have you calmed down? Have you been spoiled? Now save the project just in case...

Watching your favorite films in a pleasant company is always an interesting pastime. And although many of us are accustomed to enjoying the latest movies on the Internet or on the big screen, the most convenient way to watch them is on a DVD player. To do this, you just need to burn the desired movie to disk. A visual DVD creation program such as VideoMASTER will help with this.

"VideoMASTER" is incredibly simple and at the same time universal, allowing you to work with any video files. With its help, you can convert video recordings into various formats, as well as work with them in the built-in editor (cut and merge videos, add effects, etc.). The program easily converts both popular video extensions and more rare ones, for example, MKV, FLV, etc. .d.

Supports any video formats

One of the most useful features of the utility is the function of downloading videos from YouTube and VKontakte. And if the downloaded video for some reason is not played by your player, then it can be easily converted to another format, including audio. It is also possible to upload films and clips to the Internet directly through the editor, because VideoMASTER generates FLV and SWF videos with a ready-made player. Media player settings are set in advance.

Video editing

The program for creating DVD discs is equipped with a built-in video clip editor. This will allow you to make various changes to a particular video file. The editor contains a huge selection of filters for processing. Thus, with one click of the mouse, you can crop a video, add unusual special effects, improve image quality, extract sound, etc. At the same time, you can add an unlimited number of files, and even entire folders with videos.

Convenient DVD recording

Now let's talk about using the VideoMASTER program. To get started, you need to insert a blank DVD media into the computer drive. Next, you will be prompted to add video files of interest to the user - be they films, clips or something else. After this, you can begin to create an interactive menu that will be displayed on the TV screen. A special module contains a collection of ready-made design templates that can be edited. Here you can change the background, choose a title, add pictures, etc.

"VideoMASTER" is not only a convenient program for creating DVDs, but also a high-quality video converter for different devices. With its help, you can download any video to your iPhone, iPod or other device at hand. The utility has over 350 video profiles for smartphones, players and game consoles, and the list of models is constantly updated.

Conclusion

To summarize what has been said, we note that VideoMASTER is a very good choice for home use, since this program is simple and comfortable to use. Thanks to an impressive number of features and a clear interface in Russian, the converter will help you convert and process video in the shortest possible time, as well as burn a DVD with an interactive menu.

DVD is gradually conquering the market and the issues of using programs and hardware solutions for working with DVD are becoming more and more interesting for many, many people. With the hardware component, everything is more or less clear - there are DVD burners of two competing standards, and there are hardware MPEG encoders for those who cannot wait hours for the results of software encoders. All that remains is to understand what programs can and/or should be used to create DVD-Video discs.

This question is not as simple as it seems. Just a few years ago there were very few programs for DVD Authoring, they cost a lot of money even by Western standards (up to $30,000) and their use was the lot of only a few thousand people, 90% of whom worked in the USA. With the advent of computer DVD recorders, the situation has changed, but now there is a bend in the other direction. The release of a program for creating DVD-Video discs has become a matter of honor for all companies that have at least some connection to video. In advertising press releases from manufacturers, any DVD-Authoring program is now presented as a universal tool, ideal for creating DVD-Video discs of the Hollywood Video level. Some similar programs even have menu templates, which are modestly called Hollywood Quality. In reality, of course, this is far from the case. To list the programs that can actually create Hollywood Quality DVD-Video discs, the fingers of one hand will suffice. The mass development of DVD Authoring programs is also facilitated by the inviolability of the DVD-Video standard, and changing this standard is hardly possible in the foreseeable future, since tens of millions of DVD players are already in tens of millions of apartments and it is impossible to ignore such a number of users in a hypothetical change of the standard.

But there is one distinctive feature that allows you to separate one group of programs from another - this is the approach to creating menus for DVD-Video discs. The vast majority of new programs created for the mass user allow only small variations in both the design of the menu and the selection methods in it, and most importantly, do not allow the use of a video clip as a menu. This limitation significantly reduces the creative possibilities of the disc author.

But, unfortunately, we will not be able to discuss further the pros and cons of programs for creating DVD-Video discs without at least briefly getting acquainted with the requirements for a DVD-Video disc.

The table below shows the most important parameters of the source data for the further creation of a DVD-Video disc (hereinafter we assume that PAL is used as the television system):

Name	Meaning
Frame size	720x576, 704x576, 352x576, 352x288
Frame frequency	25 fps
Screen aspect ratio	4:3 or 16:9
GOP parameters ** (header required).	30 fields, 15 frames
Maximum bit rate (video+audio)	9.8 Mbit/sec
Minimum bit rate (video+audio)	No ****
DVD used in the project PCM sound.	8 Mbit/sec
The maximum video stream speed, if DVD used in the project Dolby Digital Stereo sound.	9.4 Mbit/sec
Sound format	PCM (uncompressed audio), Dolby Digital Stereo or 5.1, DTS (Digital Theater System) and MPEG-1 Layer II ***

** GOP - Group of Pictures - literally “group of images”. An MPEG stream always consists of sequential GOPs. Each GOP begins with a reference, or I-frame, in which the image is compressed without taking into account the video information in adjacent frames. All other GOP frames contain only the information that is not contained in the I frame. MPEG compatible DVD must contain only GOP with titles. The GOP header specifies parameters such as bit rate, GOP size, image aspect ratio, etc.
***Not recommended format. Plays only on PAL DVD players.
**** Many encoders or DVD creation programs limit the minimum bit rate. In particular, ReelDVD does not allow encoding of static (still) menus at a speed of less than 1 Mbit/sec. Scenarist has no such restrictions.

If you look carefully at the permissible video and sound parameters for DVD-Video, it is easy to notice that the video quality, for example, depends on the format in which the sound is recorded - if the sound is in PCM, then the maximum bitrate of the video should be much less than with audio encoding in Dolby Digital format. Encoding audio into the MPEG-1 Layer II format gives a sound bitrate comparable to Dolby Digital, but the quality of the compressed audio itself is inferior to Dolby Digital at the same bitrate.

Briefly about many things

Now we can move on to a brief analysis of the most popular DVD Authoring programs. Like any other similar analysis, it is partially subjective, but nevertheless:

Programs for those who do not want to waste time creating a DVD-Video disc

Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.5- in terms of creating a DVD, it is very simple, it has practically no degrees of freedom for the author, but therefore there is no mastering stage and any beginner can make a DVD disc on it.

Advantages:

No skill or knowledge is required to create a DVD.

Speed of operation - it will take 10-15 minutes to prepare the menu and you can burn a disc.

Support VCD, SuperVCD, XSVCD.

Flaws:

The film must consist of only one file (not counting the short introductory file), and only the MPEG Program Stream format is supported (video + audio in one file).

No other video or audio formats are supported.

The menu cannot be spoken.

The menu can only have frames from the movie as buttons, and only the place where these frames are taken can be navigated to.

SpruceUP- entry-level program. There are also few degrees of freedom, but somewhat more than in Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.5. But with this program you cannot make a DVD disc just by mechanically pressing Next and you will have to perform several independent steps. Unfortunately, the company that developed the Spruce Technologies program was acquired by Apple in 2001 and there will no longer be further development of this and a number of other programs of the Spruce line.

Advantages:

Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio support. The program does not have its own Dolby Digital encoder, but allows the use of ac3 files.

It is possible to use control buttons of your own design.

To display a chapter, any frame of the film can be used.

Flaws:

The movie must consist of only one file, since the sequence of playing the files is not specified. At the end of playing each file, you return to the menu.

It can make a disc that is incorrect for a home DVD player, but will only play normally on a computer DVD-ROM.

Without entering the menu, watching a movie is impossible.

Ulead DVD Movie Factory- a more “advanced” version of DVD Plug-in to Ulead MediaStudio Pro. Allows the use of multiple files, allows you to voice the menu. Has a built-in MPEG encoder. Otherwise almost identical to DVD Plug-in.

Programs for advanced amateurs

Sonic DVDiT Professional Edition 2.5.2- this program, despite its simplicity, has a number of significant differences from entry-level programs.

Advantages:

No significant knowledge is required to create DVDs.

Supports Dolby Digital Stereo audio. Has a built-in audio encoder for this format.

A film can consist of many files, and the playback sequence is easily determined by the user when creating the disc.

A hierarchical structure of several menus is allowed.

You can watch the entire movie, including the introductory clip (First Play), without going to the menu.

Ability to specify the coordinates of chapters via timecode.

Flaws:

Does not support six-channel Dolby Digital AC-3 (i.e. 5.1) audio.

Does not support motion menu.

Ulead DVD Workshop 1.3- outwardly it looks like a program that has many of the capabilities of professional products, but in fact it cannot be classified as a serious class program.

Advantages:

Intuitive interface.

Supports audio in LPCM format.

Each menu can have its own soundtrack.

Built-in MPEG encoder.

It is possible to use control buttons, backgrounds, text, etc. own design.

To indicate a chapter, you can use any frame of a film or any other picture.

Motion menu supported.

Audio compression into Dolby Digital Stereo format is supported when upgrading Workshop to version AC-3.

Flaws:

After playing the intro clip, you always go to the menu.

The menu does not work on some DVD players.

The appearance of the menu can only be quite monotonous - rectangular windows for video fragments/still frames of the film. Another type requires a noticeable amount of manual work from the author.

Dazzle DVD Complete- the program practically corresponds to Ulead DVD Workshop 1.3, but differs in slightly greater menu design capabilities. On the other hand, DVD Complete is more difficult to understand than DVD Workshop.

Programs for professionals and very advanced amateurs

Sonic (formerly Daikin) ReelDVD 2.5.1/3.02- semi-professional level program. It operates with subpicture, so the possibilities for disc design are great.

Advantages:

Does not require serious knowledge to create DVD.

Intuitive interface.

Built-in Dolby Digital Stereo encoder and Dolby Digital 5.1 capability.

Since the menu is created either in a graphic or video editor, the menu design is limited only by the author’s imagination.

A movie can consist of many files, and the playback sequence is determined by the user when creating the disc.

Flaws:

Requires an understanding of how a DVD player works.

Mastering a program based only on its description is very difficult.

Sonic (formerly Daikin) Scenarist NT 2.5/2.7- professional level program. In short, you can say this - he can do everything. There is only one drawback - the program is somewhat difficult to understand and master.

So what should we work on?

This brief overview of DVD-Authoring programs certainly does not claim to be complete; we only talked about the most famous programs on the market. A reasonable question arises - which program to choose to create your DVD-Video discs? In our opinion, there are 3 options for this choice:

There is no desire to spend more than 15 minutes creating a DVD-Video disc.- in this case, the most correct choice would be to use Ulead DVD Movie Factory. Everything is simple and clear, you don’t even need to think about anything.

I just want to make a disc with a movie, no menus need to be created, but the disc should be played in its entirety, without going to any menus- in this version it is easiest to use Sonic DVDiT Professional Edition 2.5.2. Oddly enough, this program is no more complicated than entry-level programs, but it allows you to simply link several different clips and, having made one symbolic (phantom) menu, simply put your movie on a DVD disc, easily ensuring its continuous viewing.

I'm not looking for easy ways, I want to make my DVD no less interesting than my film on this disc- in this case, only ReelDVD or Scenarist NT will allow you to create any design for your disc.

Regarding the last point, I would like to talk in a little more detail - in our opinion, ReelDVD covers 95% of the needs of both amateurs and a number of professionals to create their projects. Of course, Sonic Scenarist NT can do even more, but its interface is somewhat less intuitive and the features that make it different from ReelDVD may never be needed. Mastering ReelDVD, if necessary, will make the transition to Sonic Scenarist NT much easier, since these programs are similar in many ways and you can easily transfer your project from ReelDVD to Sonic Scenarist NT, and this possibility is provided by the authors of both programs.

Based on materials from the site radiolocman.ru, 2004.