how do I make a dvd from various video sources

[Sharkey]

Hi Guys

I have just returned from a holiday with my mates and would like to produce the pictures and video from my phone & digital camera onto a VCD so they can play it in their home DVD players.

If possible I would also like to add the video content from the mobile phones in a menu system.

I have a programe called programe Cyberlink powerproducer that can produce VCDs but how would I convert the pics & videos from my phone to a compatable format.

Hope someone can help

[senu]

Im not sure just what cyberlink can do but I would point you towards
Uleads entry level but versatile DVD authoring program here

It should be able to accept you videos and then help you put them in a DVD viewable format mpeg2. By doing the conversions in the background. Yu stiills can be made into a slide show ( video) within it.
The ease with which you can do all this depends on which format your mobile phone and digital (still )camera record video in. It may be mpeg4 ( divx, xvid mp4) avi or mjpeg. and your system may or may not have the right codec installed

VCD format is mpeg1: Even Nero vision may be able to import from mobile phone and encode to mpeg1.

Im not sure what you mean by menu system but VCDs dont tend to have menus , unlike DVDs

[Sharkey]

Ah

So will I be better off making a DVD rather than a VCD (not sure of the differance) I want to be able to put it in a Home DVD player and a menu comes up so you can select either,

1: Still photo slide show with background music
2: Various video playback

I have Ulead DVD Movie Factory 3 but have never used it, perhaps I will give it a go. Any tips would be appreciated

[senu]

Originally Posted by Sharkey

......So will I be better off making a DVD rather than a VCD (not sure of the differance) I want to be able to put it in a Home DVD player and a menu comes up so you can select either,.......

Yes
VCD ( nearer to VHS) is of significantly lower PQ than DVD video ,
In order to compress video and audio data to fit onto a Cd (700mb) a more compressed file ( mpeg1) with smaller pixel dimensions and lower birate encoding is employed.

The resulting PQ is less pleasing to the eye than DVD. While DVD making needs a bit more grunt ( and space) from your PC, Its resulting PQ is more than worth the effort. Not only are DVD writers (now) about £25 , The actual Discs can be obtained for 20p a disc ( for 4.7Gb).
In short better value than CD!.if you need the extra space. Note too that some DVD players ( admittely fewer now) are fussy about VCD playback.
The Menu system you describe is more of a DVD feature and you should be able to make a DVD with various "chapters" for slide show and different video shoots
Note that the starting material does affect video playback quality so footage from a camera phone/ digital still will not approach DV camcorder quality even though on a DVD video as quality not obtained originally cannot be synthesised
I actually make slide shows with another program ( Proshow Gold) and output as DVD mpeg2.
I then take edited videos edited and output either as AVI or DVD mpeg2 and make up a DVD with material from various sources in Movie factory (and its big brother MovieWorkshop).

I have Ulead DVD Movie Factory 3 but have never used it, perhaps I will give it a go. Any tips would be appreciated

Try it . I have used the Program from ver 1. what i can say is, Ver 5 and 5+ are more gently evolutions compared to 4. Ver 4 is a step above 3
PM me for 4 if u want to try it otherwise you can just as easily download a trail Version of 5 or 5+ ( fully working for 30 days)

[Sharkey]

Thanks Senu

Will start experimenting tomorrow.