Please bare with me. I am new to digital editing including DVD making and have a few questions. Right now I am using convertxtodvd but while it does the job it is very simple in its capibilities. What I want to do is take some video footage and insert my own chapter points complete with a full dvd disc menu allowing me to view and select the chapters or select "Play DVD" like on a retail dvd. What is the best program I can purchase to do this? What is the maximum file size I can have to put on a single dvd? Currently I just turned a 450+MB avi file into a 4.5GB disc. Is the formula 10x the size of the avi file or is it much more complex than that? What if I have a 800MB file? I would want to have the best quality and it wouldn't bother me if I had 2-3 discs so what program could I use to split the file up? Thanks for the help. Larry

"What is the maximum file size" That's a very difficult question to answer. It depends upon the format and quality of the video. The standard DVD format is 720x480 mpeg2. If, for instance, the video is 320x240 AVI, it will be expanded quite a bit by the conversion process. If it's an MPEG2 720x480 format, it will be expanded very little. I can't recommend a new DVD creator.I use an older Ulead product (DVD movie Factory 2), which I am fairly satisfied with. But I can't recommend the newer Ulead versions (3 and 4). Sorry, I do not check for private messages

There are lots of programs out there, and I use many more than just one. But I think the one that prefer for making simple dvd's (with menus) is Pinnacle Studio 9.43 It comes as studio 9 and then with the correction patches found at the support site it ends up being 9.43. DO NOT get the new studio 10!!! It is loaded with bugs and will be at least another 8 or 9 months before it gets properly fixed. You can also go to www.videohelp.com for a better listing of what's available.

I use ArcSoft Showbiz 2 that came bundled with my HP external dvd writer....real simple and works great. I also use Pinnacle Studio 8 and it works good too. Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back with your results....thanks