How to create an autoplay, autoloop endless looping DVD

This is something that I commonly have to do - there's no fiddling with remote controls and some DVD players won't loop, or leave an icon on the screen. It's surprising how often clients turn up with a 3 minute advert on DVD that they want to have play for a week on their exhibition stand, as the creators of the footage generally don't seem to ask the question - what do you want it to do on the DVD?

It took me a long time to find a suitable tool for this job (and I bought multiple DVD authoring programs and wasted a lot of money along the way) but I found a program that made it easy to author pretty much any DVD you wish and I haven't looked back. It's not free but it is certainly one of the most flexible DVD authoring programs I have seen in its price range.

So, first step in creating your endless autoplay, autoloop disc is to download DVDLab Pro (2) from www.mediachance.com.... there is a 30 day full working version available to give you an opportunity to really try it out. Install it and run the program and you will see the following image:

For the UK / Europe I've selected PAL, and to make a very simple DVD which will automatically play when inserted (ie. no menu structure), I have selected "Simple (Movie Only)". Click OK.

Next you will see a window similar to this - You may need to rearrange windows slightly, but the 2 key windows initially are our file browsing window (bottom left) and Movie 1 (centre screen).



First we need to import our clip into our file browser window. Video clips must be mpg or mpv format to author DVDs. TMPGEnc is a recommended encoder if you need one. Click the open folder icon in our file browser window (situated top left of the window just below a tab that says "Project"). Navigate to your clip and import it. If asked any questions about multiplexing it's best to follow the recommended course. You should end up with an mpv (video file) and matching mpa (audio file) which you can now drag and drop into the Movie 1 window. They will automatically be time aligned.

The next step is to maximise the connections window and you should see something similar to this image.

Hover over the small cross tool and check the tool tip (bottom left) - it should say "Draw End Connection Links". Pick this tool up and hover over the small grey dot on the right hand side of  our Movie 1 thumbnail (in the active window). Click and drag, and you should be able to drag an arrow labelled "Movie End" away which we then need to drop at the tip of the arrow on the opposite side of the thumbnail. If you have done this correctly you will see a line around the bottom of the box connecting the 2 points labelled "LOOP" (see picture below).

This is in effect our menu structure and we have created a DVD which will play immediately and endlessly until we stop it. We now need to compile the DVD and then burn it to a disc. (Compiling a DVD is essentially preparing a temporary file prior to burning to disc).

To compile the disc, go to the "Project" menu and select "Compile DVD". You may need to adjust settings if you don't have enough free space but default settings should otherwise be fine. Click "Start" and wait until its finished.

When the project is compiled, go back to "Project" menu and select "Burn DVD". You have an option to create an ISO image file, but the program does a decent job in  most instances of burning straight to disc (You need a working DVD recorder and appropriate blank discs). Click "Write" and wait until the job is complete. That's the job finished.

Remember to test your disc in the player you are going to use!