Missing bottom portion of menu

[C&C]

I use several programs to rip/compress a DVD and on the odd ocassion, the bottom portion of the root menu is cut off, as if the menu size had been increased vertically. The end result is that the menu buttons are now "off" the screen.

Initially, I rip the DVD using either DVD Decrypter or DVDFab Express. I then use DVD Remake to strip out unwanted extras, menus, etc and then compress with DVD Shrink (removing further unwanted audio and subtitles). Finally, I use PGCEdit to "fix" the files and burn with ImgBurn. It's sounds time consuming and my knowledge is pretty basic on it all but it works for me!

The "new" DVD is displayed correctly on the PC using Power DVD but in the stand alone player, I will ocassionally get a cut off menu. The TV is capable of multiple aspect ratios and I have tried them all but the menu still remains cut off, leading me to believe it is a problem with the DVD process above. Can anyone shed some light on why this occurs, what I can do to see if it will happen prior to burning, and what I can do to fix it?

Thanks.

[blutach]

G'day mate. The procedure is similar to the one I use

If it is displayed correctly in PowerDVD or Media Player Classic, then it must be an issue with your standalone.

I know DVD Remake Pro won't mess up the menus, even in its menu to stills mode. Neither will MenuShrink or VobBlanker.

Most menus have a couple of sets of buttons for each display aspect ratio. The player setup takes care of what your TV is and displays the buttons in the right places.

Does the menu look like it is in the wrong aspect ratio (people taller and thinner)?

How about a screenshot of what you are talking about?

Regards

[C&C]

Missing bottom portion of menu

The aspect ratio of the menu actually looks ok, but it's as if it has been cropped and then enlarged to fit the screen. When using DVD Remake, I notice there are other "buttons" in the menu, usually in the corner of the screen - these I don't touch, I usually disable extra features, language selection, etc and leave scene selection and play.

This first image is from Power DVD and is as the menu should appear.


When viewed on the standalone player, this is the same menu.


Since this problem doesn't occur often, I don't remember which DVDs it affects, but this is the latest one (Underworld Evolution).

[blutach]

Well, it must be a setup issue with your standalone. I wonder if you could post your IFOs (zip them up) and either do a MenuShrink on your menus or from DVD Remake Pro make the bad menu into a still and post the (now very small) VOB. You might want to use www.rapidshare.com or something for posting this if it's still too big. I'm only interested in the PGC that's bad - demux it without the audio please.

BTW: The buttons in the corners are usually auto-execute buttons that take you to the next or previous scene selection menu when you press right or left from say chapter 4 to go automatically to chapter 5 on page 2. Leave them alone.

Thread transferred to Authoring & Editing forum as it really is not a ripping issue.

Regards

[C&C]

Missing bottom portion of menu

Hopefully I've been able to provide what you need!

Here are the IFOs from my original "production" sequence where the menu is cutoff on playback:
UNDERWORLD_EVOLUTION - IFOs.zip

Here are the IFOs with the menus converted to stills:
UNDERWORLD_EVOLUTION - Still IFOs.zip

And here is the VOB for the menu:
VOBs.zip

[blutach]

Dunno if this is your problem, but the menus where you have buttons are 16:9 DAR and the menus you have blanked out (eg your scene slection ones) are 4:3.

Check it out on your non-shrunk menu PGCs. It might be just DVD Remake Pro changing it due to your virtual player setup or something. Any chance of getting VTS_01_0.VOB shrunk but all PGCs converted to a still and not hidden?

Regards

[blutach]

You might want to change your video attributes for VTSM 1 from 16:9 auto pan and scan to 16:9 auto letterbox and auto pan and scan.

Easiest way to do this is in PgcEdit. Right click on any PGC in VTSM 1. Select domain stream attributes. Tick auto letterbox as well as auto P&S. OK. Save. Burn to a RW and test.



Regards

[C&C]

Ok, I think this is the one you're after:
UNDERWORLD_EVOLUTION - Still IFOs.zip

I'll give the VTSM editing a go - is there a way to determine if a movie will be like this before I burn it? I've looked at others and the 16:9 auto pan & scan is also selected and these movies work as advertised.

[blutach]

No, they're just the IFOs C&C. I'd like to know if on the original, the VOBs had DARs of 4:3 mixed in with 16:9s. I strongly suspect not. In this case, the IFOs are supposed to rule over the VOBs anyway. So, send me the menu VOB will all PGCs turned into stills (and not blanked) please.

Without knowing the setup of your player and TV, I can't really answer you about knowing in advance. Perhaps you have a setting on normal when it needs to be on wide (if you have a 16:9) or vice versa (although that would squish things up). I presume the movie plays OK (if you can get it to play!). I also presume the original does not exhibit this behaviour.

Regards