How do I get video files I burn to CD to play in a specified order?

In this excerpt from
Answercast #71, I look at ways that video files can be ordered to play.

Setting play order for CD

So. It depends a lot on exactly what format you have the videos in. The very
first step is: if you have them on a cassette, you need to record them on to
your PC. I’m going to assume you’ve already done that.

I have an article on that that will point you to a couple of other resources
because I don’t have specific answers on just how you go about transferring
video from a cassette tape to your computer, but there are lots of resources
out there to do exactly that.

Organize the files

Once you’ve got it on your computer, it really depends on how it’s
organized. For example, you’re saying you have several movies – plural.

If they are separate files, then you should be able to (when you burn them to
CD) create a specific order simply by alphabetizing the file names. One common
way to do this is to have the file names be “01_” and then whatever the name of
the first movie is; “02_”, then whatever the name of the second movie is, and
so forth. That way they’ll be naturally alphabetized on the CD when you look at
the directory listing. In most cases, that will imply that the player will play
them in that order.

Now, with that as a caveat, remember it’s the player that determines what
order the things are going to get played in.

Create a playlist

The other approach to dealing with this is (regardless of their file names)
create a playlist just like you would in audio. You can, in most video players
(such as VLC, I think, Windows Media Player, and so forth) create a playlist
that lists the files you want to play in the order that you want to play
them.

Then, instead of playing the video files one at a time or having the video
player somehow just sort of assume based on the file names, you tell the video
player, “Play this playlist.” Then it goes out and gets those files in the
order that are specified in that playlist.

So, that’s what I would recommend you do.

Burn old movies to DVD

Now, what a lot of people ask about is actually not burning them to CD, but
burning to DVD so that they can be played on a plain old DVD player not related
to a computer in any way.

That requires DVD-authoring software. I don’t have a specific recommendation
for that at this time. The important point to realize about DVD-authoring
software is that the order in which the videos play is an integral part of
putting together a DVD. It’s part of how you set up that title menu when you
first insert the DVD.

You get to say what goes on that title menu.

Different DVD authoring programs have different capabilities when it comes
to that title, but that’s where it’s all specified. So, there is no side effect
on creating a DVD. You actually end up specifying what order they get played
in.

If you’re just creating a CD with a bunch of data files and you want those
data files to be played in a particular order, my recommendation is actually to
throw a playlist on there and then use that playlist to play the videos in the
order that you specified.