Hi guys. This is my first post so please bear with me. How can I burn 2 dvds on one disc while keeping the menus intact and adding a new menu at the beginning that leads to each dvd seperately?

there's no way to do this while still retaining the original menus.

Thanx for your reply. If I can't retain the original menus then how can I just create a generic menu that leads to each of the 2 movies(with the menus removed). Which would be the best software to use for this for an average user?

DVDlab will the job nicely

Is there a guide or a tutorial that will explain this process using DVDLAB?

You can get some help from their own tutorial (although its centred around authoring SVCD, it really applies to all) http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/tutorial/svcd.html

"there's no way to do this while still retaining the original menus." AZImmortal

I beg to differ... I just got a copy of return of the king ( the actual dvd) it was a pre release and someone had split it into two halves, each disc had the same menus and it looks very much like at one time it had been on one disc. Using dvdshrink to backup the files, vobmerge 2.5 to rejoin the 8 vob's into 4, IFOedit to repair the structure and cloneDVD to burn I was able to join 2 dvd's onto one disc while still retaining the menu's. There is a lot of documentation out there on how to use each of these utilities, and I didn't take notes on how I did it so keep looking, ANYTHING

is possible

I think you'll find Return of the King is spanned over 2 DVDs, the actual film as well.
So in theory, what you done was put the 2 halves of Return of the King onto 1 DVD with both menus?
Now you have 1 DVD with 2 menus linking to the same film? Have I got this right?

um, it's not the same thing when a disc has been split into two halves and you simply join them together again. the menus are already authored to accommodate all of the titles.

also, there are no retail versions of the the return of the king that are split in this manner, with the same menu for both discs, prerelease or not. you obviously have a pirated copy and can consider yourself warned.

I think your got your wires crossed JStalin, you simply cant put 2 original menus of 2 different DVD's onto the one DVD expecting to run 2 separate movies. How do youlink one menu to the other to allow you to selct the second movie? It can all be done manually if you author each movie and menus to the one DVD but you cant simply use the files you mention to add extra buttons to a menu to link to another menu.

seems to me that you could merge the vob files that contain the menus and then reference the start point of each in another menu... as to how to reference each menu I don't know, I'm not a programmer. all I know is if you can think it it can be done.

No... the menus are the exact same... disc one has chapters 1-28 and disc 2 has chapters 29-61, all the chapters are in the chapter select menu but if you try to go to a chapter that isn't present on the disc it will either play from the last chapter on or from the first chapter on, depending on which disc is playing. The ifo file of disc 1 has chapters 1-28 in the pgc chain and disc 2 has chapters 1, 29-61 in the pgc chain. after merging the vobs it was a major pain in the butt to add chapters 29-61 to the ifo of disc 1

now that was way off topic but I believe a similar approach could be taken to fit 2 different movies onto a single disc.

all the new menu would need is two buttons, one for the track 1 menu and one for the track 2 menu. I am sure that both menus could be stored in the VTS_01_0.vob and reference each menu with a unique ID

currently there is no software out there that I am aware of that can do this but if a codehead guru can come up with a program to edit menus (like menuedit for example) then surely one can create some sort of software to accomplish this task

I say again, anything is possible

does anyone know of a simple guide to putting two video_ts folders on to one disc so they play as one continuas file using dvdlab or other software? i have looked at chickenmans link on post #6 but can`t seem to follow it for doing dvd`s.

thanks.

You can't.
You can only have 1 VIDEO_TS folder per dvd.
You CAN have more than one VTS within that folder.
Import the VTS_01_1.VOB and join the rest in DVDLab Pro.
Import the VTS_01_1.VOB from the second movie and join the same way.
Reauthor.
Compile.
Shrink if needed.
Burn.

I don't know of any way to do this with two complete dvd titles though, unless a combination of Shrink and DVDRemake (maybe IFO Edit) can do it.

what i`ve got is 1 show on 2 discs(video_ts folders) 7.5GB total size. i had a nother try with dvdlab and had parshal succes i got all the files into 1 video_ts folder but dvdshrink wouldn`t accept it.

so i`am now pre shrinking each folder to 2.2gb, then i`ll use your tips for joing them.

do i still jave to worry about this? although i`ll try it anyway as i`am using RW`s so no waste just learning.

thanks

any chance i could get some more detaled instructions, i`ve managed to get both halves onto 1 disc but it only plays back the first half, there just not linked and i`am kind of stuck now

thanks

Like I said. You cannot have two VIDEO_TS folders on one DVD...well, you CAN, but only one of them will play.
The instructions are simple, as I posted above.
Get DVDLab and try it.
Guides are in the link below my sig.
Have a good read, give it a try, then post back if you have specific questions

p.s. There's a workaround using DVDecrypter, and IFO edit (or rejig), but if you think DVDLab is confusing, you'll never get through the process anyhow.

sorted

thanks for the help and your fine guides reboot.

i haven`t made any fancy menu or changed the chapter settings. but i`ll get more adventurois later.

Merger of complete DVDs (keeping menus, original navigation, etc) is possible. It is actually a "one-click" procedure with DvdReMake Pro. Take a look: http://www.dimadsoft.com/dvdremakepro/ht_merge_full.php