I'm overwhlemed by all the info here. I simply want to take some files on my computer (avi, mpeg, asf, etc) and put them on DVDs. Of course I want the audio and stuff and I'd like to be able to put multiple files on one DVD.
Is there an all in one product like Nero that will do it? Or do I need ot mix and match with stuff like Winavi and DVD Shrink?
Nero can do most of what you need. Now Nero7 comes bundled with Nero Vision.
If you use WinAvi, you will need a burning application like Nero to burn the movie however, you will not have a menu.
VSO DivXtoDVD may be an option. It does not do menus now, but I think when v2.00 comes out it will have a menu funcion. It also has a burning engine, so it is almost an all in one program. Just needs the menu feature.
There should also be software from companies like Ulead, Roxio, Pinnacle, etc... that are simple to use.
Also, EVE2 from Mainconcept may be an option. It uses the Mainconcept mpeg encoder, which is very good. Its main function is to edit, but it seems to be able to author a DVD as well. I forget the price on that one though.
Sony DVD Architect may also be able to do the same thing. It also has mainconept encoder in there somewhere, but I have never imported anything but Mpeg-2 streams to it, so I do not know what it can handle.
Anything else will either be too expensive or need extra software to use. The only reasonably cheap possibility I see is TMPGEnc Encoder w/ TPMGEnc DVD Author. Both together should be about $80. I know the encoder is good, but I have no experience with the authoring program. However if you want .AC3 files you will either need the AC# plugin or use another program like BeSweet.
The TMPGEnc DVD Author is a very good, simple program and if you're not looking for professional results, it's quick to learn and powerful enough to do most of what you need. I suggest that you convert all of your files to DVD format before you attempt to author, you mentioned that you had a bunch of different formats and TMPGEnc can do the conversions on most of them, or WinAVI is another program that converts very easily.
There are guides here or at http://www.videohelp.com that will walk you through the process step by step and you can always just ask for help, we're happy to do what we can.
