DVD/CD Menu Creation - what's the best utility for this?

[Darwin]

Hi all you software sages out there in Cody-land... It's a sweltering, sticky evening here in Lotus-land and my thoughts have turned to how I'm going to submit my PhD dissertation (I'm ignoring all of you who are unkindly snickering at the fact that I haven't even gotten a chapter finished yet, as acknowledging this fact is beneath my dignity and wounded pride). I'm going to try to submit a non-traditional disseration and am hoping to avoid paper altogether. I'm toying with the possibility of submitting a DVD or a CD-ROM that will autorun and present an interactive homepage that will take my readers (both of them) to areas of the project - I'm hoping to avoid the traditional, linear approach and am going for something more organic (what does this mean? I haven't a clue, but it sounds good, no?). I've got Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 loaded and a licence for RecordNow 8 Deluxe, though it is no longer installed. I've also got WinDVD Creator 2 (the freebie that came with my burner) and Windows Movie Maker. Do I have everything that I need to make a killer presentation or do any of you have any recommendations for an alternative app to do this?

Thanks,

Mike

[KenR]

Hey Darwin,

Nero Ultra Enhanced Super Stupendous (current version) has some really nice features for this. I have not used them, but I have noted them while I was doing other things with the program. It's features in this area seem to be pretty thorough. Although Nero gets a lot of flack for being all wasted space, I have found the utilities to be both well thought out and very capable. You might take a look and see what you think.

Ken

[Darwin]

Thanks, Ken - I'll take a look. Of course, I should also dust off my RecordNow installer and take a look at that, too - I've paid for it, I'm not using it, might as well use it if it will do the job! Right, off to the NeroPortal...

Nero Ultra Enhanced Super Stupendous... 

[steeladept]

I have found that the problem isn't in the burning, etc.; but rather in the autorun part.  Getting it to startup what you want and to get things working properly always seemed to be problematic.  Most programs like this I found either were woefully undercapable, or expensive.  Though I will admit I haven't tried many of the ones others have listed.  I have found a good workaround, though, in AutoRunPro.  It basically starts up, then reads an INI file that then starts any program you list.  Want it start a custom splash screen?  Just make the JPEG (or whatever) and tell it to open that splashscreen.  Want a custom menu?  Create a script or batch file for it and run it.  I am now using it on my USB drive so I can do several things (if I can just get it all to work together  ).  Once I get it together I will post about it, but not here (no hijack this time  ) and not now, since I am not done.

[tonsofpcs]

There's a small, free utility that will run system open on a file (windows only, sorry, you gotta do something fancy for Mac, or you just make everything but index.html be hidden) based on a text config in the same directory.  I'll find the name of it and details tomorrow and post it up.

[KenR]

Oh, hey Darwin, one thing...

As I read steeladept's post, I realized I was focused on making Video DVDs. If that's what you are wanting to do, then I'll stand by what I said. If you are wanting to make other types of DVDs, such as program with installers, then Nero might or might not work. I have not really seen those features in it - though I guess it's possible I've just overlooked them.

Ken

[Darwin]

Hmm... Thanks steeladept, I'll add it to the list. AutoRunPro certainly looks like it means business!

So far, I'm looking at:

Nero
AutoRun Pro
CDMenu Pro - I found this one via Google, but haven't downloaded it yet
RecordNow 8 Deluxe - as mentioned above, I already own this but am not thrilled at the thought of reinstalling it. Same probably holds for Nero, really. Still, as noted above, why spend ~$50 for functionality that it's just possible I've already paid for?

My plan is to save the homepages for all the potential apps as a Maxthon group and then spend some time comparing them before settling on what I want to try out...

Thanks for your suggestions - please keep them coming!

PS tonsofpcs - you posted while I was typing the above - many thanks for the suggestion and no worries, I am on Windows so would welcome whatever info you can provide.

[Darwin]

No worries, Ken. I suspect that Nero will pretty much do it all - and I've always wanted an excuse to try it out - I've always been with Sonic/Roxio and have never been near Nero. Thus, I am sure that it will do what I want, it just may do far, far more than I need it to!

[tonsofpcs]

I haven't found the disc that has it on it yet, but meanwhile, this does basically the same thing:

http://www.naughter.com/shelexec.html

For burning the final cd, CD Burner XP Pro is free. 

[tomos]

Mike,
from my Surfulater "archives" 
I haven't tried either of these, they may be too basic for your requirements

Autorun.inf Maker (freeware)
& hamradio's
Compact Autorunner

[Darwin]

Cool - thanks Tom. Looks like I'm going to be spoiled for choice here. I'll need to resist the temptation to throw money at this until I've fully researched it!

[PaladinMJ]

look at AutoPlay Media Studio 6.0 you can probably do the whole presentation in it depeding on what you want it's lua extrensible too

[Darwin]

Thanks PaladinMJ  - I'll take a look! I still haven't settled on anything just yet - I've a way to go before this is going to becomes a pressing issue