Too many languages ?

[VRYK]

A DVD opens with a Country (Language) Menu covering 50 countries and spanning 3 Cells. For 14 of the options, selecting a Country sets gprm(15) equal to its button number; e.g. button 3 command is : “Set gprm(15) = mov(3) ; Link T ailPGC”. For the remainder gprm(15) = mov(0). There are 5 spoken languages and as many subtitle languages. There are 4 different language versions of the Title and Root Menus, but in practice only the English versions are used . Would I be correct in considering that presenting 50 country options seems to add useless overhead ? Is it possible to delete or hide the menu (in PgcEdit), setting the Default value to 1 (United Kingdom) ?. Also what does “Link T ailPGC” mean?

I would be grateful for any help on this.

[blutach]

Yes, use Kill Playback (Ctrl-K) in PgcEdit on the PGC with 50 languages (warnings, I suppose).

To get rid of the surplus menus, remove the language units for the LUs you don't want (i.e. remove all LUs but en). Do that from the Menu menu. Then clean up each menu afterwards with VobBlanker.

LinkTail PGC is a command which order the navigation to jump to the post-commands of the PGC.

Regards

[VRYK]

Yes, use Kill Playback (Ctrl-K) in PgcEdit on the PGC with 50 languages (warnings, I suppose).

To get rid of the surplus menus, remove the language units for the LUs you don't want (i.e. remove all LUs but en). Do that from the Menu menu. Then clean up each menu afterwards with VobBlanker.

LinkTail PGC is a command which order the navigation to jump to the post-commands of the PGC.

Regards

Many thanks for your reply. Applying the Kill PGC Playback function worked fine. Two question spring to mind
1. Am I correct that removing LUs doesn’t affect either audio or sub-picture streams ?
.
2. The killed menu had 54 buttons (50 for the countries + 4 navigation buttons over the 3 cells). I would assume that Kill PGC Playback hides these buttons given that (as I understand) deleting buttons modifies the assigned reference numbers of all subsequent buttons.

I am unable to fathom what purpose the deleted menu was designed to serve. It doesn’t seem to have been linked to warnings (there are none), so I can only assume that it was somehow associated with the spoken and sub-picture language settings. However, the latter are subsequently set in the Language root menu.
The first Cell in the video’s VTS1 is a musical overture. Could this Cell be bypassed (and thereby conserved) rather than blanked ? (a pre-command passing control to Cell 2?)

Best wishes

[blutach]

1. Yes. However, each LU might set a different stream, corresponding to the language in the LU. But if you select the en LU, you'll be fine.

2. Yes, it hides the buttons and make the cell a dummy, which can be cleaned up with either of 2 programs. Read the dialogue and the help file. Just select the default button you want to be mimicked when you kill the playback (usually, your country).

3. To determine what the killed menu was about, carefully see what happens using trace in step mode if you press some different buttons (look at the registers and note what is different). I'll bet it plays a different cell somewhere, which is some sort of warning.

4. Re the first cell (this sounds like one of those old movies like The Great Race - it had a musical overture at the start of the movie, didn't it?). In the title PGC, Replace all Break and Link PTT Chapter 1 commands with LinkCN Cell 2. Also add a LinkCN Cell 2 at the end of the precommands. Should be sufficient but test thoroughly with trace in step mode.

Regards

[VRYK]

Many thanks for your reply.

3. I started Trace, but after a while decided that King Minos’ Labyrinth had nothing on this navigation. I shall have another go, setting Watch on Registers and see if this can shed some light on it.

4. Indeed, the film is an oldie – the 1951 version of Quo Vadis. Such an overture was no doubt conducive to creating an “atmosphere” in a picture theatre, but not for home viewing. There are no instances of Break and Link PTT Chapter 1 commands, so I just added LinkCN Cell 2 at the end of the pre-commands. The result is rather odd: In Trace mode, as with Power DVD and Windows Media Player the Overture is skipped, but in VLC Media Player playback starts on the Overture. I have the same experience with a video which was not returning to the main menu after completion. After deletion of a conditional post-command in the VTST; the same trio play back as expected while VLC doesn’t. Perhaps there is an explanation ?

How is the following condition to be interpreted ? Is the & a logical AND and the If condition that the value be not = 0 ?
If (gprm(7) & sprm(2:Sub-picture stream number)) then

Best wishes.

[blutach]

Sounds like VLC is wrong. Why delete post-commands? How can that affect things? By the way, are there any Link Program commands in the precommands? If so, and a LinkPGN Program 1 is executed, that could play the overture (as Program 1 would start with cell 1). You'd need to change that to LinkCN Cell 2, as well.

Post the title's precommands only here please.

As for the & statement, it means if any bits in gprm(7) match up with those of sprm(2) then the & is true. So if sprm(2)=64 decimal (first stream turned on), in binary, this is 0100 0000. If gprm(7) was anything which had bit 6 set (they count from the right from bit 0), for example, 0110 0011 (= 99 decimal), then the & statement returns a 1 (true). Check the trace log when this happens and carefully watch those registers. Find out what gprm(7) is used for. If you don't know what a command is used for do not delete or modify it!

Regards

[VRYK]

Thanks very much for your reply.

Herewith the log of the (Quo Vadis) pre-commands: Is this how one should post -commands, or is it too verbose ?
------> Entering VTST 1 , 1 TTN 1 (1:28:25) Title 1
-- pre 1 : if ( gprm(6) == 1 ) then { Goto line 19 }
if ( 0 == 1 ) : false.
-- pre 2 : if ( gprm(5) == 1 ) then { Goto line 23 }
if ( 0 == 1 ) : false.
-- pre 3 : Set gprm(3) =(mov) sprm(18referred sub-picture language)
-> gprm(3) = 65535 (0xFFFF)
-- pre 4 : Set gprm(5) =(mov) 0
-> gprm(5) = 0 (0x0000)
-- pre 5 : if ( gprm(3) == 25191 ("bg") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 1 }
if ( 65535 == 25191 ) : false.
-- pre 6 : if ( gprm(3) == 25697 ("da") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 2 }
if ( 65535 == 25697 ) : false.
-- pre 7 : if ( gprm(3) == 26217 ("fi") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 3 }
if ( 65535 == 26217 ) : false.
-- pre 8 : if ( gprm(3) == 25701 ("de") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 4 }
if ( 65535 == 25701 ) : false.
-- pre 9 : if ( gprm(3) == 25964 ("el") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 5 }
if ( 65535 == 25964 ) : false.
-- pre 10 : if ( gprm(3) == 26741 ("hu") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 6 }
if ( 65535 == 26741 ) : false.
-- pre 11 : if ( gprm(3) == 28271 ("no") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 7 }
if ( 65535 == 28271 ) : false.
-- pre 12 : if ( gprm(3) == 28780 ("pl") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 8 }
if ( 65535 == 28780 ) : false.
-- pre 13 : if ( gprm(3) == 28788 ("pt") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 9 }
if ( 65535 == 28788 ) : false.
-- pre 14 : if ( gprm(3) == 29295 ("ro") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 10 }
if ( 65535 == 29295 ) : false.
-- pre 15 : if ( gprm(3) == 25971 ("es") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 11 }
if ( 65535 == 25971 ) : false.
-- pre 16 : if ( gprm(3) == 29558 ("sv") ) then { Set gprm(5) =(mov) 12 }
if ( 65535 == 29558 ) : false.
-- pre 17 : (SetSTN) Set Sub-picture stream = gprm(5)
-> sprm(2:Sub-picture stream number) = 0 (0x0000)
-- pre 18 : Goto line 23
-- pre 23 : if ( gprm(4) == 1 ) then { Goto line 32 }
if ( 0 == 1 ) : false.
-- pre 24 : Set gprm(3) =(mov) sprm(16referred audio language)
-> gprm(3) = 65535 (0xFFFF)
-- pre 25 : Set gprm(4) =(mov) 0
-> gprm(4) = 0 (0x0000)
-- pre 26 : if ( gprm(3) == 25701 ("de") ) then { Set gprm(4) =(mov) 1 }
if ( 65535 == 25701 ) : false.
-- pre 27 : if ( gprm(3) == 26741 ("hu") ) then { Set gprm(4) =(mov) 2 }
if ( 65535 == 26741 ) : false.
-- pre 28 : if ( gprm(3) == 28780 ("pl") ) then { Set gprm(4) =(mov) 3 }
if ( 65535 == 28780 ) : false.
-- pre 29 : if ( gprm(3) == 25971 ("es") ) then { Set gprm(4) =(mov) 4 }
if ( 65535 == 25971 ) : false.
-- pre 30 : (SetSTN) Set Audio stream = gprm(4)
-> sprm(1:Audio stream number) = 0 (0x0000)
-- pre 31 : Goto line 32
-- pre 32 : Set gprm(3) =(mov) 0
-> gprm(3) = 0 (0x0000)
-- pre 33 : Set gprm(4) =(mov) 0
-> gprm(4) = 0 (0x0000)
-- pre 34 : Set gprm(5) =(mov) 0
-> gprm(5) = 0 (0x0000)
-- pre 35 : Set gprm(6) =(mov) 1
-> gprm(6) = 1 (0x0001)
-- pre 36 : Set gprm(11) =(mov) 0
-> gprm(11) = 0 (0x0000)
-- pre 37 : Set gprm(7) =(mov) 1
-> gprm(7) = 1 (0x0001)
-- pre 38 : LinkCN Cell 2
******* Start playback VTST 1 , 1 TTN 1 (1:28:25) Title 1...

Regarding the conditional statement:
If (gprm(7) & sprm(2:Sub-picture stream number)) then
Here gprm(7) = 64 and sprm(2) = 0. Since they have no common bit set, I take it that the condition returns FALSE.
Hence, the following command (which is the final statement in the post-commands) applies : (CallSS) Call the VTSM Root menu of the current VTS, resume cell 1
The following puzzles me: Had the condition been true then the following command would have executed ( (CallSS) Call the VMGM PGC 5, resume Cell 1 ). This PGC’s sole pre-command is: (JumpSS) Jump to VTSM 1, Root menu (TTN1).:which seems to me to accomplish the same action.

[blutach]

LOL - Just delete the conditional command. If the 2 things accomplish the same thing without any video being played, then there's no need for the condition.

And regarding the LinkCN, from what I can see, what you have done is correct. VLC is wrong. However, posting the trace log is not the easiest way of doing what I asked. To copy a section of commands, highlight them and right click and Copy as Text. You can then paste the text wherever you want.

However, one thing you should do is set up your virtual player (Trace → Virtual Player Setup) to set up your default languages, TV aspect ratio, parental management country and DVD player regions.

Regards

[VRYK]

Thanks very much for your reply,

What does LOL stand for ?

Re Trace → Virtual Player Setup, the PgcEdit help suggests that the preferred languages and parental management be usually left blank. What does preferred region codes mean ? - I am resident in Europe.
I have a problem with what my player holds in SPRM 7. When run in PowerDVD and VLC Media Player the test programme posts an error notice: “Unknown error! Your player has not stored the PTT (chapter), nor the PG (program), nor the Cell number in SPRM7!”. Run in Windows Media Player it posts the following: “Your player has stored the PG (Program)Number in SPRM7. It is not standard compliant”

I have sometimes observed a flash between when a video terminates and the main menu re-appears. What can this be due to.

Best wishes.

[blutach]

LOL

Re Trace → Virtual Player Setup, the PgcEdit help suggests that the preferred languages and parental management be usually left blank.

It does not! I wrote the help manual and here is what it says:

The first thing you need to do is setup your virtual player to imitate the system that you play your DVDs on. Click Setup in the trace window (or from the main menu, click Trace → Virtual Player Setup) and enter the data pertaining to your setup. This data includes:

· Preferred languages for menus, audio and subtitles (and extensions – you can usually leave these at “unspecified”)

· Video screen shape and for 4:3 TVs, whether you view in letterbox or pan and scan

· Parental management country code and level (usually leave blank)

· Preferred region codes

· Your system’s audio capabilities

· Whether your player holds the program number or chapter number in SPRM 7 (small test DVD available for download on the PgcEdit homepage).

It's the parental management level that we are saying should be left blank and extensions as unspecified.

The virtual player is just that - virtual. Set sprm(7) to be chapters - most players do that anyway (even though they perhaps shouldn't under the DVD specs).

As for your errors in the software players, ignore them. The test disc is meant for standalone players - that is what you are trying to emulate. But, as I said, set sprm(7) to hold chapters.

Regards

[VRYK]

Thanks for your reply and rectification. Mea culpa.

I observe sometimes a half dozen or so successive NOP commands ; this strikes me, as a neophyte, as strange – what role does such apparent “padding” fill?

Best wishes.

[blutach]

That's it - it's padding. Makes the commands easier to read sometimes if they are in "sections". Some people - myself included - don't like them and take them out. However, some you can't remove (if, for example, in a chapter menu, you get a goto the last nop to end the commands) the command would be bad if the nop was eliminated (not that it can ever be executed).

Usually, NOPs can be eliminated, especially if there are lots of them in groups and always if they are not the target of a goto.

Regards

[r0lZ]

I suspect that sometimes, these consecutive NOPs are added by the authoring program as place holders for commands that must not be present due to the authoring options. This way, if the author change his mind and modify the authoring, the authoring program can simply overwrite some NOPs with new commands, without having to regenerate all commands of the PGC.

Of course, since we don't have the original authoring project and program, those NOPs are useless for us, and can be removed, unless they are used as target for GOTOs commands, as blu explained. (BTW, you can easily locate the GoTo targets if the Highlight GoTos option is enabled.)

[blutach]

unless they are used as target for GOTOs commands

And most, if not all, times, even if they are targets, so long as "Auto renumber Gotos ..." is on in Options → Command Editor. Even if the last command of a section of commands is a NOP, it can usually be deleted, with the calling command similarly deleted (as you see in PGCs which test if a button has been pressed and branch somewhere depending on which one has been pressed).

Regards

[VRYK]

Excuse me for the late thanks f or your reply - it somehow escaped me. Where is the Highlight GoTos option located ?