# Free/Cheap DVD authoring software? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-cheap-dvd-authoring-software/556175 "2010-10-05T20:52:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-cheap-dvd-authoring-software/556175/1 "2010-10-05T20:52:17Z")
I have some video files that I’ve edited and I wanted to put them on a DVD with menus and stuff… but I don’t know what software to use. This project has to be very low budget… anyone know of something free or cheap that they’ve used that works well? Bonus points if it’s easy to use… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-cheap-dvd-authoring-software/556175/2 "2010-10-05T22:04:26Z")
What system are you using? On Windows, I used [DVD-Lab](http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/index.html) to make the menus after I’d imported the video files. I tried the early version of Adobe’s DVD authoring tool, but at that time it was rather buggy and I had better results with DVD-Lab. Windows (Live) Movie Maker and iMovie/iDVD both allow you to author DVDs as well. There seem to be several versions of Movie Maker; [Here’s Windows Movie Maker for XP](http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx). There’s also [Windows Live Movie Maker](http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker) which is newer… but requires Windows DVD Maker. Windows DVD Maker is included in most versions of Windows 7. iDVD comes as part of Apple’s [iLife](http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB966Z/A/iLife-09?fnode=NDQ5MDg0MA&mco=MTM3NDgwNjI) suite. For additional info, I can only recommend [www.videohelp.com](http://www.videohelp.com). They have listings of tools, tutorials, reviews, all kinds of info. The site helped me greatly when I was making DVDs. You can go to increasing levels of detail; when my PC died, I was investigating how to make custom menus in Photoshop… ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-cheap-dvd-authoring-software/556175/3 "2010-10-06T00:57:42Z")
I’ve had good luck with [DVD Styler](http://www.dvdstyler.de/). It is more on the basic side and there is a sleight learning curve, but it makes decent menued DVD’s. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-cheap-dvd-authoring-software/556175/4 "2010-10-06T02:16:57Z")
> [@Dragwyr](#): > > I’ve had good luck with [DVD Styler](http://www.dvdstyler.de/). It is more on the basic side and there is a sleight learning curve, but it makes decent menued DVD’s. Oh yes, I’d forgotten abput DVD Styler. I see there’s a beta Mac version as well. Now downloading… ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-cheap-dvd-authoring-software/556175/5 "2010-10-06T05:12:34Z")
Oh duh :smack: I’m using Windows Vista. I’ll check out the stuff you guys mentioned–in the meantime, anyone else with recommendations please join in! Thanks guys! ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-cheap-dvd-authoring-software/556175/6 "2010-10-07T00:20:49Z")
Not sure if these are good but have ok user ratings [**Free Movie DVD Maker 3.5**](http://download.cnet.com/Free-Movie-DVD-Maker/3000-18554_4-10669082.html) [**Pinnacle Video Spin 1.1.2.542**](http://download.cnet.com/Pinnacle-Video-Spin/3000-13631_4-10747819.html?tag=mncol;8)