Is there any program out there are at all besides MicroDVD Player that allows you to have AVI files on a CD/and or DVD that have things like menus but doesn't involve any encoding of the files? Or is there any type of general CD or DVD authoring product out there that might let someone do this even if it's not specifically designed for video files?
Sounds more like a launcher than a menu. AVI itself doesn't support menus, closest is the DivX media format, which is a hack/extension of the AVI container.
Agree with Celtic--this software sounds more like a launcher.
You can make you own animated launcher of this type; either write the GUI yourself or use some kind of SDK for interactive media (i.e. Flash). What you're asking for is transfer a bunch of .avi's to disk and have something that opens them. Not much different then Windows Explorer, really ;). If you want something with an interface of some sort, you could just use something simple, like HTML.
Divx, on the other hand, is a media codec which supports interactive content. This is comparable to the DVD interactivity, although it is reputability more customizable and supports more versatile interactivity interfaces. DivX, unlike a simple launcher, will actually re-encode your media files into DivX AVIs, which can only be played on PCs that have the DivXcodec (and a select few DVD players). If you're willing to re-encode your media into DivX, then what is stopping you from encoding to DVD? Really, as far as compatibility, ease, etc. go, that's really the best option.
Basically, what I'm trying to say: why are you so afraid of/against converting to VOB?
Well I was talking about any programs similar to MicroDVD Player http://www.tiasoft.de/mdvdp/index.htm The reason I don't want to encode these type of files to DVD format is because of size, it takes up so much space and the quality while it may be almost like the original still wont be.
