I have posted this before but I still have not found the answer.

I have old home movies in various formats and I want to put them on dvds.
I have two standalone dvd recorders (with hds) that can digitize them.
One is a 3 year old Panny and one is a new Philips. Both can put titles on tracks but it is very laborious since you are not using a keyboard.

What I am thinking is to make the dvd on the standalone and then redoing the track titles on my computer that has a dvd recorder (unfortunately I don't have a video card with encoderso that is why I am using the standalones to do that work).

I tried taking a dvd made with a standalone and inputing the tracks on my computer and renaming the tracks using Nero 6.

Nero 6 tends to have big pictures on the menus it creates. My renaming was so small on the screen that it was not legible. Maybe there is another way to get Nero 6 to make a different kind of menu. I would like to get rid of the pictures and just have the names (which describe the content). That is what the standalones do but again naming them on the standalones is a pain.

Any suggestions on how to do this easier? Maybe with different software.
Too bad you can't plug a keyboard into a standalone.

Unless you stubbornly insist on using a computer, one thing you might try is something like a Videonics Titlemaker TM2000, prepare your titles (it has a full keyboard), then route from the player (composite or s-video) through the titlemaker onto the dvd recorder. Many font, size and color options, can superimpose the titles over the video coming in, . . .

That was my exclusive titler during my tape editting days, and I've been making extensive use of it even now when working with dvd's. Simple, quite flexible.

Good Luck

Richard.

Bryce,

I'm having the same problem as you with Nero 6. I also want a template with titles only.

The TitlemakerT might indeed work well. If I am finding the same machine as you mentioned, it costs around $500. I would think there would be a software solution that would be considerably less expensive. Perhaps a competitor to Nero or a later version of Nero than I have (which is 6).

Indeed it is possible that Nero 6 has a simpler menu with words rather than pictures. I haven't found it yet.

Brycej, the Videonics Titlemaker TM2000 should be under $100 on eBay; the last ones went for $51 + $15 SH on Jan 22, $71 + 12 on Jan 17. They will need the 9 volt AC power adapter, and should have a manual or be able to get one. $500 is out of line, I don't think they cost that much new.

Richard

I have posted this before but I still have not found the answer.

I have old home movies in various formats and I want to put them on dvds.
I have two standalone dvd recorders (with hds) that can digitize them.
One is a 3 year old Panny and one is a new Philips. Both can put titles on tracks but it is very laborious since you are not using a keyboard.

What I am thinking is to make the dvd on the standalone and then redoing the track titles on my computer that has a dvd recorder (unfortunately I don't have a video card with encoderso that is why I am using the standalones to do that work).

I tried taking a dvd made with a standalone and inputing the tracks on my computer and renaming the tracks using Nero 6.

Nero 6 tends to have big pictures on the menus it creates. My renaming was so small on the screen that it was not legible. Maybe there is another way to get Nero 6 to make a different kind of menu. I would like to get rid of the pictures and just have the names (which describe the content). That is what the standalones do but again naming them on the standalones is a pain.

Any suggestions on how to do this easier? Maybe with different software.
Too bad you can't plug a keyboard into a standalone.
I used the trial version of Nero awhile ago, and IIRC, you can alter the font size, though I can't recall how. I never had the tiny font problem on the dvs I made with it. I eventually decided not to but Nero due to it being a resource hog on the pc.
Here's a nice program I like alot. http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/download/tda3.html
Try the trial version and see if you like it. Fonts can be as large as you wish, and varied.

What I really want to get rid of are the pictures in the menu.

I just want plain vanilla text in the menu that says what's going
on in the track. Maybe several lines per track. Something visible on
the screen.

On Nero 6, so much of the menu is taken up with the pictures of
the beginning of the track, that there is no room left for words.
Except for the title of the whole video and maybe a sub-title
at the bottom.

I actually like the standalone menus that are plain vanilla except
they are a pain to create without a keyboard. I want some software
to replace the menu file.

By the way what are the menu file(s) called? video_ts.vob?
And what what are the .ifo and .bup files for?

Don't want to be nagging, but Titlemaker allows 4 background choices: Solid color of your choice: solid but granulated (fine marblized); zigzag rainbow: or video, the moving picture (which you don't want).

What I really want to get rid of are the pictures in the menu.

I just want plain vanilla text in the menu that says what's going
on in the track. Maybe several lines per track. Something visible on
the screen.

In that case, download the trial of TMPG, and use it to extract the video on the disc you already have, and create a new dvd with only a text menu screen-there are multiple menu options, and that's one of them. Though there are picture menu options where the windows are small, and again, the font size can be set to your liking.

In what file on a dvd is contained the menu information and links to menu files?