Forcing DVD-R to play movie directly after insert

[EVH5150]

Hi guys,

This question is as the title says really! I want the DVDs that I am backing up to automatically play the movie after the insert of the disc. That is, without having to view FBI warnings, copyright notices etc. & keeping the menus.

You might say "just press the Next or Menu button" because the P-UOPs have been disabled. That would seem to be ideal, except that in order to save space on the DVD-R, I've used Shrink to replace these video messages with a still image, and having the DVD start with this still image makes it untidy in my mind. A bit picky, I know.

I've also considered re-authoring & trying to get the menus back, but I think that would probably be even more time consuming.

I've been having a look at this guide which unfortunately is a little complicated for me without having to learn more about PGCEdit. It is not that easy to follow a guide when you don't know what your actions are doing!

So in summation I am wondering if there is any easier option to this. Is there a program that I could download or buy that would make this much more simple, as I say, without having to learn PGCEdit?


Thank you in advance,

EVH

[ormonde]

"Is there a program that I could download or buy that would make this much more simple"

You could try and use "TMPGEnc DVD Author". You can control how the DVD will play by using the various options in the "Menu Display Settings" dialog.

[EVH5150]

I'm new to using TMPGEnc DVD Author. If I have a DVD-R which has already been DVD Shrink-ed the way I want it etc, how do I then go about loading it in TMPGEnc DVD Author & re-encoding it so that it knows to go straight to the movie on insert?

Apologies for my noobness to this application.


EVH



PS. I also have access to DVDRemakePro if this application is of any use.

[ormonde]

"how do I then go about loading it in TMPGEnc DVD Author"

"Create New Project" > "Add DVD Video"

[EVH5150]

lol I'd worked that bit out, it's what comes after that, that I'm not so sure about. As I said, the ONLY thing I want to do is make sure that the DVD goes to the movie at startup. Aside from that, I've already authored the DVD exactly as I want it, and that includes having the menus already as I want them.


Thanks,


EVH

[EVH5150]

Well, it seems that using TMPGEnc DVD Author is not an option, since it does not support multiple audio tracks.

I'd be very appreciative to anyone who can offer any other suggestions.


Thanks again,

EVH

[jeanl]

mmm, it looks like you don't really want the movie to start upon insert, what you want is remove all the unwanted stuff, but keep the menus, right?
Any number of apps will do that for you, non-free (DVD remake for example), or free (titlesetblanker - very simple to use - , vobblanker).
These will give you a DVD that will play like the original, but skip everything you blanked, so you'll end up at the menu in less than a second.

DVD Author is not the tool for you, since you want to keep the menus, you don't want to reauthor.

Here's what I recommend:
- Try titlesetblanker. That's the easiest, but it will only blank complete titlesets. In most cases (99% of the time), that's enough to get rid of FBI warnings, unwanted previews, and extra material.

If that does not work for you, then vobblanker will give you more control (you can blank individual titles).

Jeanl

[EVH5150]

Thanks jeanl,

As it happens I am just now creating a test DVD-RW using DVDRemakePro. I'll let you know how it turns out.


Thanks,

EVH

[EVH5150]

DVDRemakePro seems to have done the trick.

Just to follow up on what you were saying jeanl, all I am interested in is making sure that I don't EVER see any of those copyright notices, FBI warnings etc in my backups. I had originally thought that it would be much, much simpler to encode the DVD to go straight to the menu, ignoring those notices/warnings, but it seems now that it is easier to "blank" that part of the .vob. So thank you for the advice.

By the way, which program do you prefer, DVDRemakePro or VOBBlanker? (Titlesetblanker is no use because on this particular DVD, the notices/warnings are in the same titleset as a menu that I want to keep)


Thank you,

EVH

[jeanl]

I don't use DVDRemake pro, but I'm sure it's pretty good.
I tend to use titlesetblanker on a regular basis because is't sooooo quick, and most of the time I can get rid of what I want to get rid of with it (the FBI warnings are usually in the VMGM)...
When I can't, I blank with PgcEdit, because that's also fast - no real VOB processing).

Jeanl

[blutach]

EVH - jean's guide is the easiest way to do what you want. Once you get to know it, it takes less than 1 minute to implement. I do this on every DVD I backup.

If you want to put a menu back to a DVD Shrink reauthored title, try this - it's a bit complicated but it works. http://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?link=711

As far as I am concerned, the technology of choice in doing this stuff is PgcEdit (which will soon have menu editing functions) and VobBlanker as well as IfoEdit.

Regards and HNY

[EVH5150]

In that case I'll have another go at the guide, and see what happens. Last time I kept getting the same menu appearing again & again at "Step 2: Put a breakpoint at the movie playback".

I must have been doing something wrong.


EVH

[blutach]

To enter a breakpoint - just ctrl - alt - t. It means a PgcEdit trace breakpoint.

[EVH5150]

OK, I've just burned a second disc successfully after a PGCEdit. The main problem that I was having was with Step 3, because when PGCEdit found the first menu, I didn't know which option to select. The confusion arose because some of clips in the Extras of this DVD (a sports DVD with many different clips of various sizes) were as big as some of the Main Movie clips, and I didn't know if the clip that I wanted my DVD-R to commence at was part of the Main Movie, or the Extras.

Does that make sense? It turned out that the clip that I wanted the DVD-R to commence at was part of the Main Movie, so when given the option by PGCEdit to select "Play All" or "Extras" when it traced the first menu, I selected "Play All".

This worked a treat.


EVH

[blutach]

Glad of that. Let jeanl know - he put a lot of work into that guide and it's a treat.

HNY