is it really impossible to create divx-DVDs with Menus?

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is it really impossible to create divx-DVDs with Menus?

(19 posts) (6 voices)

Started 16 years ago by ender
Latest reply from Archangel

ender
Member

Ok, after a couple of days of googling and searching, i have pretty much saw most places saying, its impossible to have Divx DVDs with menus, where you burned lets say 10 or 20 clips of divx-encoded music vids on a DVD, but also want to have a nice menue, where you can select a certain clip.
I have a DVD player, that plays DIVX DVDs just fine, and it accepts the DVD i have burned so far, with no problems, the only thing that bugs me, is of course ,that the table of content, the menue, is just plain text and only can scroll up and down to choose the clip, its ugly. I would rather love to have a nice menue, with pictures, where i can click on it, and choose that vid.

can you guys here, who are happened to also be tech geeks, maybe confirm thats its true thats its impossible?

Posted 16 years ago #
goodgotd
Member

If I understand what you're getting at, I think the answer is that it is very close to if not actually impossible. DivX movies on DVD's are written as *data* files, not even remotely close to the video on a full-up DVD.

Nor are they written in the same file format [look at a DVD using windows explorer, you'll find 2 directories, AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS, and in the latter a set of .VOB and .IFO files (and the others are generally backups of the IFO's)]- the VOB files are the actual video and audio, and more than one because there is a file size limit so they have to be split- and the IFO files are... well, you can call them scripts to tell how to play the video, including the menu text, video, pictures, and audio. There isn't any way I know of to shift between the 2 play formats, and the table of contents is generally generated by your player and is pretty much just a file listing of the contents.

Like playing a disc full of MP3's, the player hasn't a clue how to get a handle on them, so it tosses up a list and lets the user choose, and if it finds a way to play it, it does.

Sorry, but if somebody's done it, they haven't let the info escape.

Posted 16 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

The only way that I can think it would be possible - is if it was a function of the actual player. If it prescanned the disc and generated thumbnails on the fly - so the menu would be dynamically generated. But it would be player specific - and I'm not aware of any players that do this.

There is no technical reason why someone couldn't define a standard for representing graphical menus for divx videos, just it seems nobody has to date - and therefore there is no support on divx players.

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

thanks bubby and goodgotd for your replies.
i guess, i have to live with the fact, that so far, there is no way to do it.

Posted 16 years ago #
Archangel
Member

It is impossible to use the menus of a dvd after being converted to DivX or XviD (or any avi type of format for that matter).

If you explain in detail what your wanting to do, some of us may be able to help.

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

hello archangel, i thought, i had tried to explain it in my initial post, but i will try again:
i have a bunch of youtube mash up fanvids downloaded , and converterted to avi , and now would love to watch them on tv with my dvd player. that dvd player plays avi / divx vids just fine, i have about fifty of them burned on 1 dvd.
but they are just in one big list, with names , and if i want to select one, i scroll up or down.
i thought , maybe there would be a program, that let me make a nice menue with stills, where i could click on it, and that vid would play.
but i have read in all forums, its not possible. at least without reencoding and such.

Posted 16 years ago #
Stryker
Member

If you mean to do a menu compatible with a standard DVD/Divx player connected to TV, it seems impossible, except if you convert it all to real DVD video.
But there's a way to create a menu for a CD or DVD containing divx (or xvid, or any other format) available for computer use : Quick Menu builder.

This French freeware program (don't worry, english language is also included, and other languages can be added too) is not updated since 2003, but it is efficient (not tested with Vista, but sure works fine OK for Win 9x or XP).
Check it there : http://www.quickmenubuilder.com/MenuFr.php?page=Telecharger

Forum contains some help and infos, both in French and English.
Forum url : http://forum.quickmenubuilder.com/

Posted 16 years ago #
Archangel
Member

Yes I do remember you stating about the "Still"s and you've heard correct. I do alot of crunching and converting back to DVD format. The software I use allows me to create a mnenu with Titles/Date/or whatever of each movie but no "Stills".

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

archangel, which software do you use ?

Posted 16 years ago #
Archangel
Member

It is a VSO product call ConvertXtoDvd and I love it.

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

thanks!

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

its shareware, so i googled around, and found a mentioned of this program, that is suppose to maybe do the same, and is freeware:
http://freewaregenius.com/2006/11/28/avi2dvd/

i will try, and well, i guess, for now, give up the dream of divx dvds with menues, and will try to make normal DVDs with menues with this program first.

Posted 16 years ago #
TopJ2008
Member

On the DivX.com site they have a program called DivX Author (PC only) that lets you make menus for a Divx file (just like a DVD). It's $20, but they have a free trial for 30-days.

The menus work with the DivX Player and some DivX DVD players. Might need to check to see if the menus will play back on your DVD player.

http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/author/

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

thanks a lot, TopJ2008, i feel so dumb, that i didnt tried to look at the *source* at divx site itsself !
i cant find my dvd player there, but i will surely give this a try!

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

hmmm, maybe this freeware is able to do the same as the divx authoring software?
http://www.kamiwa.de/node/4
DivXMuxGUI is a Graphical User Interface for the command line orientated DivXMux.exe from the DivX Media Tools.
It muxes (combines) video, audio and subtitle streams into one DivX Media file.
It should be especially useful for those of you, who suffer from the Doctor DivX 2.0 current mux- and synchronicity-bug, as you can at least try to rescue the Doctor's output. If the Doctor refused to mux the streams from the temp folder, you can try to do it manually. If the output is out of sync, DivXMux supports positive and negative values for audio-delay.
Additionally it offers you the possibility to mux your original mpeg audio into the DivX file, without having to convert it to mp3, even if it isn't AC3. Or you could mix AC3 and mp3 tracks.
You could have done all this already with DivXmux.exe. But now you can do it without having to do a lot of typing.
Furthermore DivXMux (GUI) allows you to:
Join several video files into one.
Use XML files to create DVD like menus
Remux an existing DivX file
Create DivX menu block file format, needed for menu creation

Posted 16 years ago #
TopJ2008
Member

There's also some menu tools on the DivX Labs site (http://labs.divx.com/Tools) like the DivXMuxGUI (http://labs.divx.com/DivXMuxGUI) that I haven't tried, but the Author program looks to be the easiest. If your DVD player is a DivX Ultra player then for sure the menus will work.

Good luck!

Posted 16 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

Thanks TopJ2008, for pointing this out, like FF I overlooked the (obvious) DivX site. I'm definitely going to be having a closer look at this, especially if these menus are quick to prepare (I want it to look great, with minimal time and effort).

Posted 16 years ago #
ender
Member

hi bubby, i am confused, what does "FF" stands for ?

and thanks to TopJ2008 for the link of DivXMuxGUI at the divx site, i didnt knew, that the author also had his software directly linked from divx, i only found his homepage for DivXMuxGUI.

Posted 16 years ago #
Archangel
Member

FF = FreewareFan (our number 1 freeware link poster)!

Oh and I looked at the Open Source stuff a while ago and ended up purchasing what suited my needs but if you find something that fits what you need please let me know.

Posted 16 years ago #

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