Quote Hello, im trying to compile numerous video files on to a blu-ray as well as create a custom root menu and chapter screens. The tech support on here has been useless and wasted weeks of emailing. If any PD15 jedi master can help me, i will gladly pay something for the help. I prefer phone over multiple days/weeks of email exchanging though.

Creating custom menus for Blurays and DVDs in PowerDirector is challenging and a little archaic, and your menus won't end up looking much different than the majority of the menus you can download from DirectorZone (I highly recommend browsing, there are a gazzillion user-uploaded menus to choose from for FREE). You will notice that only slight variations exist between menus, really, particularly in how they most always use the same buttons and controls and have limitations in title space and thumbnail space. However, with patience, I was able to make my own custo menu for my old 8mm home movies that I digitized. So if I can do it, anybody can do it, because I totally fumbled my way through it.

I myself create Blurays exclusively for family video archives (bluray is the only media that exists for long term storage, everything else is perishable, including dvds, USB sticks, hard drives, etc). I usually use one of the downloaded or default menu styles (like "spotlight"). Adding chapters and menus is not only esy in PowerDirector, it's also one of the most enjoyable parts in my opinion.

There is a major bug in PowerDirector's DVD/bluray authoring process to steer around however, a persistent bug that has existed for many versions: Once you get your files arranged and edited on the timeline with all the effects and transitions you want, save that project file and then SAVE IT AS ANOTHER PROJECT FILE FOR BACKUP PURPOSES. Because once chapters and menus are added to the project and saved, the project file becomes corrupted (or PD itself can't properly load saved projects) and you will never be able to get back into the "Create Disc" room in that project ever again - if you try, PowerDirector will start loading the project and will lock up and will start maxing out your CPU and your hard drive will start thrashing itself, forcing you to do a hard reset on your PC. This is why you want to save a backup of the project file after all your editing is done but BEFORE you add chapters and menus to your project. Once you've added chapters and menus, make sure you burn your disc (or ISO disc image) before closing the project, because you're never going to get back into the "Create Disc" room again for that specific disc project if you save it. This is extremely annoying, but the only workaround I've ever managed to come up for this bug that is VERY old and goes back many versions. Because of this, I save my project files as multiple files with different names depending on what stage of creation I'm at.

If you download a menu from DirectorZone, take note of the menu specs, particularly the ratio (4:3 or 16:9). A lot of old 4:3 ratio menus are still online and have never been removed. Make sure any menu you download matches your project screen size/ratio. Most original 4:3 dvd menus have been updated with 16:9 versions for dvd/bluray by the original creators. Also, even if the menu says "DVD", it can still be used for Bluray.

PD has not changed the menu structure in PowerDirector for many years/versions, and so any video on YouTube or any post in this forum going back many versions of PowerDirector should be relevant today. For example, creating a menu on PD13 will be the same in PD17. Here's an instructional video to get you started (this guy's videos are a lot of fun):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRYhQw-RJgk

I hope this helps

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