Hello everyone. Sorry to be one of those newbie amateurs that drops in on you looking for help, but I'm desperate!

I guess you could call me a hobbiest. My major was graphic and web design, but my interest has now crossed over to video editing. Right now I'm planning out a project, but I'm stuck because I have no idea what software to use. I have my video clips on my computer, ready to be edited and pieced together to form my DVD, but short of Windows Movie Maker and Ulead VideoStudio 7, I have nothing to work with, and I don't believe either of those can do what I'm looking to do.

There's basically two things I'd like to do with this DVD I'm making. One is add text and graphics to parts of clips -- sort of like mini-captions. The other thing, the most important thing, is create a menu. I'm not looking for Hollywood-quality here. I'm just trying to piece together home videos from several years into one nice, easy to use DVD to give to family for Christmas.

So with that, and knowing that I'm on a rather tight budget and can't afford several hundred dollars worth of software, what would you recommend? Thanks so much for any advice!

You could do worse than Adobe Premiere ELements. You can download the trial from their website and find out for free if this is the tool for you.

Its available from the Website and often found on cover CDs

If that doesn't work try ULead Mediastudio Pro v8.


Good luck

__________________
IBM A51p with 160Gb Boot Disk, 160Gb external Firewire Disk, 2Gb Memory and a super duper sound card, 17\" TFT Monitor etc etc etc
Sony TRV33e : Sony TRV310e : Canon XM2
ULead products mostly including Mediastudio Pro (V8.0), Video Studio 8, Movie Factory 2.0, Premiere Elements

Remember, there is always more to learn than there is to teach.