Burn to DVD X4

[noid]

I apologize for barging in, but I've got a bit of an issue I'm looking for help with. I tried a search, but since I don't even know the proper terminology, I didn't have any luck.

I used to burn DVDs all the time -- I never knew the technical aspects, I just knew how to do what I needed to do to produce DVDs that could play on computers and on DVD players. For reasons I won't bore anyone with, I used to do the editing with a Womble product, and then do the DVD authoring & burning in Movie Factory. I was a Movie Factory user going way back to version 3 (back in 2004) & most recently v 7. For reasons that escape my memory, I also started playing around with VS several years back -- I think I started with v 12, and the most current version I have is X4 Pro. While I was pretty proficient with MF, I never got the hang of VS, so I never did much with it. At some point, I was having installation problems with VS (can't recall if it was with X3 or X4 -- I should keep better notes) & Support told me that I shouldn't have MF installed anymore.

Last October, I got a new computer running 64-bit Windows 7. Since Support had previously told me not to install MF, I just stuck with VS X4 & never really did much burning because I just couldn't figure out how to get it to do what I wanted it to do. Around the same time, I got heavily invested in using NAS to stream videos to any room in the house, so I didn't miss not knowing how to burn DVD-Video disks with the new system.

Flash forward to now: my dd is going to be in hospital for an extended time & wants to have some of her "comfort" videos to help pass the time. Now, I need to be able to author & burn DVDs for her, and I don't know how any longer, and trying to learn to do a task when under significant pressure isn't working well for me.

So, here are my current issues. I had no problems doing what I needed to do in Womble & then open the files in VS. I think I successfully added the chapter marks & all that, but where I ran into trouble was with the Menus. Can anyone please point me to where the Menu process is explained? I just couldn't figure it out, and I couldn't find an explanation. It used to be so easy in MF! At one point, I thought I had menus done for the first disc, but I couldn't find how to change the individual thumbnails to show appropriate frames.

Running into a brick wall with the Menu creation, I used another program (Womble) to do the authoring, and the product was exported to a VIDEO_TS folder (and an empty AUDIO_TS folder since there's no separate audio) with the appropriate files. I also created an ISO file. For whatever reason, the Womble product isn't recognizing either of my burners although they are recognized in every other applicable program. Arrgh.

So, is there any way I can use VS X4 to use either that VIDEO_TS folder or the ISO file to burn a DVD-Video disc, and if so, how do I do it? I tried various ways, but was unsuccessful, hopefully just because I don't know what the heck I'm doing. *By being unsuccessful, what I mean is that when I import to VS X4 the files in the VIDEO_TS folder, the chapters are preserved, but the menus aren't. I need those menus & couldn't figure out how to do what I needed in VS X4.

Any guidance and/or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[Ken Berry]

So, is there any way I can use VS X4 to use either that VIDEO_TS folder or the ISO file to burn a DVD-Video disc

In a word, no. X4 can do neither, though X5 can at least burn an ISO with a plug-in that comes with the program.

But I am dumbfounded that Support told you you needed to uninstall MF 7. I have both MF7 Pro (and on one, MF 7 SE) installed on 3 computers, together with VS X2, X3, X4 and X5, and both work as normal. MF 7 SE was brought out to substitute for the hopeless burning engine produced in VS X3, but it should still work for the purpose. But to my mind, it is no different to the burning engine in X4 (or X2 for that matter). So I am equally mystified as to why you are having trouble penetrating it -- apart from the fact that it won't burn existing DVD folders or ISO files. (Mind you, it can *make* such folders and ISO files...)

There is a freeware program called ImgBurn which can do the burning for you. Or if you have Nero, the Roxio suite or other relatively cheap programs like Ashampoo's Burning Studio, you can also use them to burn folders or ISO files to disc.