New DVD Menu Templates

[jj95]

Hi!

I have recently started to convert my old VHS home videos to DVD, and have been using Premiere Elements to manipulate the captured files (transitions, cuts, yada yada).

I am finally at the point where I am going to make the DVD menu and burn, but the supplied DVD menus are pretty weak. These are home videos, so the "topic" changes every 8 minutes - so all the soccer theme, halloween theme, etc., stuff just isnt working.

I am trying to find something pretty simple: 6 or more links per menu page, pictures with the links would be cool but not necessary. I have found a few, but the text box next to them has been an issue - if I type "Matthew's 3rd Birthday" the text ends up word wrapping down and overlays the text of the next button below it.

I have tried to create my own menus, but didnt have much luck.

Does anyone know of a place to download free (or buy if I have to) some menu templates? I surfed around the web, found a place or two, but again it was themed templates for weddings, honeymoons, etc.

Thanks for any assistance!

[tpaulauski]

I too have converted old VHS tapes to DVDs and found no DVD templates that fit my needs, but have found solutions. First, it depends on which versions of Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Premiere you are using. I started with Photoshop Elements 4.0 and Photoshop Premiere Elements 2.0. With those versions in the Photoshop Elements Editor 4.0 you could create a new DVD template using an existing DVD template and change the background, titles, etc. and save it as a different template name and it would show up in Photoshop Premiere Elements 2.0 list of DVD Templates.

I've just upgraded to Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Photoshop Premiere Elements 3.0 and found the above process has been removed from the Photoshop Elements Editor 5.0. Also, Photoshop Premiere Elements 3.0 DVD Templates are in the PAL format and get converted to NTSC format when encoding. I'm getting into more complex menu design for my new video/slideshow projects and I'm using Adobe Encore DVD 2.0 along with Photoshop CS to create custom menus, buttons, etc. There is a learning curve to using these other products (and cost) but it has a lot of flexibility. There are limited editing of PE3 DVD templates like adding a still image as a background, video backgrounds, and audio backgrounds. Also, I only found one widescreen DVD template which is very simple design.

I hope this helped.

TOM

[jj95]

Thanks.

I am using Photoshop Elements 4 and Premiere Elements 2. I have tried to edit or create my own template, based on some of those that exist, but ran into one issue after another, such as not being able to add the "next page" or "previous page" icons to the menu, along with some serious issues with how it was wanting to align the text. It just wasnt working out well at all, so I thought I might start looking around.

Thanks for your help.