HomePage 9 of 9: DVD Compilation and Burning
Step 7: DVD Compilation and Burning
It's finally time to compile the DVD. Save your project now if you haven't, just in case. Press the "Compile DVD" button on the top DVD-lab Pro tool bar to open up the "Compile DVD" options window. If you get a warning screen before the "Compile DVD" options window opens up, read the warnings and try and fix all problems before continuing.
You need to configure the "Output Folder" to where you want the finished DVD files to be stored. We will first generate the DVD folder on your hard-drive, test it with a software DVD player like PowerDVD or WinDVD, and then burn it within DVD-lab Pro, or another software like ImgBurn.
The "Create/Use Frame Index ..." option should be familiar, as it's the same option that was mentioned in Step 2 when we created the chapter stops, so have it enabled. The "Test Compile" option is useful, as DVD-lab Pro will replace the movie files with dummy files, so you can test the menus without having to wait too long. If you select the "Run on Background" option, you will be able to continue working in DVD-lab Pro during compilation, otherwise you will have to wait until it finishes. The "Build DVD Image File" option will create an IMG file (that can be renamed to ISO) for burning, which ensures that almost any DVD writing software will be able to burn a working DVD-Video disc (but this is probably not helpful here, as we will first test the DVD folder in a software player first, and software players don't support images directly).
Press the "Start" button to start producing the DVD files. When it has finished, test the DVD and make sure everything works. Edit and re-compile the project if it doesn't. And when you're ready to burn the project to DVD, from the "Project" menu, select "Burn DVD". This opens the "DVD-lab General Disc Recorder" program.
The options here are pretty standard for a DVD burner, just make sure the input folder location is correct, that you are writing to the right media type (DVD, MiniDVD or Dual Layer DVD), choose a low speed (eg. 4x), add a label, used the "Advanced" tab to add additional (non DVD) files to the disc and then Burn (with the option to create an image, for multiple burns later on). And that's it.
I hope you've enjoyed this DVD-lab Pro guide. I will try to make an advanced version of this guide that will cover topics such as VGM menus, multi-angle movies, more advanced menu connection structures and who knows what else, will be covered. So until then ...
