I want to build custom animated menus and really give a production quality feel to my DVD's. Right now I have MyDVD (came with DVD burner) which can't go beyond simple menus. For example, have some animation play before the selections appear etc. What's my best choice out there now and aside from video conversion, is this something that can be patched together without using an authoring tool i.e. scripting.

Thanks,

Tom

I've heard some good things about DVDIt PE www.dvdit.com,
perhaps you can find a demo on their site to try out first. Good
luck!

DVDit PE won't currently do motion menus. The next version is supposed to have this feature. For motion menus, ReelDVD is required. DVDit PE IS very flexible in its menuing options and is the cheapest authoring program that also encodes AC-3 audio (allows longer videos per DVD at higher bitrates).

If AC-3 audio is not required, several cheaper programs are available that do motion menus.

Ulead DVD Workshop (not DVD Factory) I has some motion menus support. I dumped DVDIt! SE because it was way to picky about the MPEG2 files provided, did not give good contorl for setting chapter points and would often get buggy with a project forciung me to start all over. DVD Workshop is a new product, 1.2 is a free upgrade. It is much easier to use, but does not have all the exact contorls over buttons and button linking/action I would like. But I am able to get more work done quicker than with DVDIt!.
ULEAD has an eval on their website.

Sonic DVD Producer is another....

Thanks for all your input. I downloaded a trial of Dazzle's DVD Complete and it does most of what I want for $100. Motion menus and if you get past the templates, you have some freedom.

Sonic Foundry is about to release(Nov 1) a plug in pack for Sound Forge and Acid 4 (and perhaps for VV3) that will not only allow DVD authoring but ac3 5.1 channel recording. Rumor is that Vegas Video 4 will have 5.1 surround sound incorporated in it.