Has anyone found a way to use the menus from iDVD (a mac program) on other PC based programs (such as DVD Creator or DVD Workshop)?

As a general rule, all PC DVD creators are crap. I would include Mac programs but I have not tried them. I have concluded that the DVD burner is too new for a killer program to have been released yet. I look forward to the day when I can download a really good free program that will do it better than all the others (alla EAC).

So, sorry, I can't help you there. From what I've seen of the different programs (and I've installed and deleted all of them), they are all very proprietary. However, I don't know how iDVD creates menus, but a program like Impression DVD from Pinnacle uses Photoshop images, but it might require them to be prepared differently.

Argh, now I'm all frustrated again. These programs have really annoyed me for the past few months....

Argh, now I'm all frustrated again. These programs have really annoyed me for the past few months....

Honestly, go find a local Apple reseller and see what you can do with iDVD. Most resellers, and the official Apple stores encourage people to actually use the products. I had a friend visit the local store with his camcorder full of video he has been working on, and they sat him down on a machine to see Final Cut Pro in action.

To respond to the first post, I don't have iDVD on a system to see how it stores the themes. Best bet would be to hold control while clicking the iDVD icon, and select "Show Package Contents". That will show you the internals of the program, and the themes may be easially extractable.

/me waits impatiently for the day he buys a Powerbook equipped with a DVD burner.

I've got a DVD burner at work (rescued from a dead server), I'm waiting for the DVD mastering equivalent of Premier before I think about using it for anything other then backing my mp3s up.

iDVD themes are just DV movie clips, TIFF images and AIFF sound clips.

The layout is in XML AFAIK, but it wouldn't be too difficult to re-create a theme from the elements.

Hehe, sorry, but when I'm talking about free killer dvd burning programs and you are talking about Final Cut Pro, I think there's a disconnect somewhere

At the very least I want something equivalent to Paint Shop Pro. Simple enough for any amatuer, but not dumbed down and wizard based.

Mainly, I just want something that works without bugs and pickiness. Impression DVD Pro is the best program I've found so far, but I still have to make my files perfect before I import them, or I will get a random, indescernable error message. This is what bugs me.

Although now that TMPGEnc has it's on DVD authoring, I've been using that a lot.

Hey, I'll try Final Cut Pro, but I certainly won't buy it If it can import my MPEG2 Tivo extractions without any complaints, then I'll be suitably impressed. I still don't think I'll shell out the cash to buy an Apple and a high-end piece of software, though

can the TIFF images be changed to .jpg easily?

Hehe, sorry, but when I'm talking about free killer dvd burning programs and you are talking about Final Cut Pro, I think there's a disconnect somewhere

Nonono, I was using the example of my friend to show how open the Apple stores are to letting you do what you want on the equipment. Final Cut Pro is a movie editing solution, in line with their free iMovie. iDVD is the free equivelent to Dvd Studio Pro.

True, you do need a Mac for iDVD, but hell, it's worth a shot to see if the software is any good. It might taint your views similar to mine when I first played with OS X 2 years ago.

Well, that's okay, but from what I've seen of iDVD, it doesn't look like it's any better than the ones I've already tried. I've also had other Apple users turn me off of iDVD based on my experiences with Windows programs.

But I'll see if they have the program installed on any of the computers at the local Apple store. Won't make any promises.

Oh, and I played with OSX there. I did not like it.