DVDStyler

DVDStyler is an open-source – hence free – tool designed to help you create high-quality DVDs using your homemade videos as a source.

Actually, you can use nearly any video in any of the most common file formats, and mix them in any way you like on the same disc. The program will let you choose any of its many templates and tilesets so that you can add an attractive and navigable menu for your disc.

It may not boast the look and feel of expensive professional apps, and it may also lack many of the options and features available in those other authoring tools, but DVDStyler offers at no cost probably what most amateur movie lovers need to produce their homemade discs out of their own video collection. Actually, unless you wish or need to create a commercial product, all you need to turn your video memories into nicely navigable discs is a tool that is, first of all, capable of converting into MPEG files all the most common video carriers, such as MP4, AVI, Ogg, or MOV, to name a few. Then, it should let you organize them in any way you like within the disc’s table of contents and turn that list into a stylish standard DVD menu complete with buttons and the background image of your choice. And, finally, it needs to burn it to a blank DVD disc or to file (an ISO file, for instance) without too much fuss.

DVDStyler covers all those areas, and it does in a simple and efficient way, suitable for all kinds of users regardless of their computer skills. Besides, it will let you add multiple subtitle streams and audio tracks to your video files and create slideshows out of your best digital photographs, complete with background music and nice-looking transitions.

Being an open-source development, DVDStyler is not only a 100 % free tool, but also one that is bound to improve over the years thanks to the contributions of their own users. It's its simplicity and efficiency that you’re looking for, just give it a try – it will surely surprise you.