DVD from multimedia website

[cdeemer]

I'm trying to burn a DVD from a multimedia website and so far not getting what I want.

What I've done so far is ... * use ImgBurn to make an ISO of the website ... * burn the ISO to a DVD ... indeed, everything is there but I want a particular start page to serve as a menu. How do I do this? (what I get as the start now is the FOLDER that contains all the files, not the particular file IN the folder.)

Any help/suggestions appreciated.

(I tried using html to exe compilers but the site, 3G, may be too large for most to handle.)

[Steve Grisetti]

So you're trying to turn HMTL into a DVD menu page, Charles?

[Chuck Engels]

I'm a little confused too, what exactly are you trying to accomplish Charles?

[cdeemer]

Yes, I want the start page of the DVD, the menu, to be the index/start page of the website, with all the links active. What I have now is the FOLDER that contains all the files (after I downloaded the website, which is mine, to my computer) as the DVD start page. But the actual start page is in the folder.

In other words, you stick in the DVD and it looks like a website.

[Bobby]

Gosh, I have never tried to do that, and it sounds like a tall order to me. There is really nothing compatible at all between the two environments.

If you are talking about playing it on your PC, you can always put the data files on the DVD. Clicking on any .HTML file (on a DVD or on your C drive) will always bring up your web browser to show that local page. But you need to ensure that all the components of that page (graphics, images, styles, etc. etc.) are also on the DVD. Most web pages are not a single .HTML file, and far from it. I doubt that Imgburn has the capability to run go through the entire webpage, look for all links and references, and form an ISO image from that.

But I assume you are talking about a playable DVD, such as on your living room TV system. To accomplish that you would have to again get all the HTML pieces, and then somehow convert it all to the VOB format that is the only thing that a player will understand.

Interesting challenge...

[Bob]

If you are talking about something that will play automatically on a PC and not your TV, you can do that by creating a data disk with the html and resources on it and using the autorun facility. Autorun won't launch an html page directly so you will need a program that will launch the browser with your index html page. If you have Flash you can do it with that. For playing on Windows systems, there is a free program called Autorun Pro that a lot of people use. You can get it from http://www.avdf.com/oct98/art_ot005.html. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and download the updated utility.

The zip file contains the program and a template inf file. Edit the inf file (you can use notepad) to contain your html file in the RUN1 line, delete the other RUN lines, and save it and the exe file in what will become the root location of the DVD. The index html file should be in the same location, include the path (e.g. folder/filename) if it isn't.

[Steve Grisetti]

Can you show us the site, Charles? Maybe we could offer some suggestions for easily recreating the look and feel.

[cdeemer]

I edit the online journal Oregon Literary Review at oregonliteraryreview.org. As you'll see, our past issues are archived, first on CD-ROM, and then as they got larger, on DVD. I did this satisfactorily by using an html to exe compiler to bring the entire issue under one .exe file, then putting that on CD or later DVD when it grew in size. You put the DVD in your drive, click the button that comes up, and the site appears as it does online and works the same, too.

We want these available at Lulu at cost for our contributors. So we have to meet Lulu's specifications. But all was well for the first 3 years of the review.

However, the issues continued to grow in size, because of using more and more video, and now they are too large for my compiler to handle. So I've been looking for another inexpensive way to get the last two issues onto individual DVDs with the look of the site, as I did with the smaller, earlier issues.

So far, no luck.

[Bobby]

...Autorun won't launch an html page directly...

I would think all you have to do is autorun "iexplore.exe" with the .html file as an operand.

[Chuck Engels]

Charles do you want the home page as the menu background and the links to be the chapters?
In other words, when you click on what was a link on the web page it now goes to a video on the chapter playlist?

Kind of a fake website looking DVD Menu - That sounds like a really cool idea !!!

[Steve Grisetti]

It should not be too hard either. http://orelitrev.startlogic.com/ is not a terribly difficult site to duplicate as a DVD menu.

[cdeemer]

I don't want to do any work ha ha, I just want to import all the files as before,. I don't want a DVD menu I want the home page to serve as the menu. Maybe I can find a compiler that will take a larger payload.

[Chuck Engels]

But a DVD doesn't have access to the internet on its own. I am still not really sure what you are trying to accomplish Charles

[Steve Grisetti]

Do you just want it to look like the web site?

If so, you might could just do a screen capture of the site and use it as your DVD background, adding your play buttons and scene links as needed.

[cdeemer]

It's offline, Chuck. The entire website on a DVD to view offline with exactly the same "experience." Like I say, I did this before but now it;s gotten too large for my compiler.

Steve, much too much work! There are 100s maybe 1000s of links on this site.

What makes this hard is satisfying the Lulu specs. If I were distributing this myself, I know how to do it ,,. but via Lulu, I have to go the DVD route. I think maybe I need to ask Lulu for help.

This was simple as can be until the issues got larger than 3G.