TMPGEnc DVD Author3 Menu Mess :(

[Chocol8y]

Hi y'all - holy what a mess I am in...Tracks/Titles/Clips Etc. perhaps someone can assist me. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
<o></o>
What I am trying to do is make a "DVD" (after making DVD I will try DivX Ultra as well). I have 25 files, each about 50 mins long. Ideally I would like to burn 5 DVD's with 5 Episodes on each (Though on a single layer DVD I won't be able to so, will settle for less till I get a DivX Ultra player) Each "DVD" would have a "Main Menu" or a Title...E.g.: "Live Performances" that would show a looped 60 secs on disc insertion & show an option to "Play All" 5 Episodes as well as an option to go to the next page & choose from all the 5 Motion menus individually. The Second Pg would also have a "Return to Main Pg" option. When selection the "Play All" button all 5 would play without individual selection and return to the Main menu (Pg 1 I.e.: Live Performances) BUT when selecting individual performances/clips from Pg 2: at the end of each clip it returns to Clip selection (I.e.: Pg 2) and have a button to go back to main pg. Gosh hope I am explaining it right.<o></o>
<o></o>
Goal: DVD with 2 pg menu.<o></o>
<o></o>
Preferred results...<o></o>
On DVD insertion in player, 1st Pg would play 60 odd secs of looped Video with Audio. It would also show -<o></o>
a. Main title in Text.<o></o>
b. Text Button to "Play All".<o></o>
c. Text Button to go to next page or "Clip Selection"<o></o>
d. Second pg will have 5 clips of 60 sec motion menus with underlying text labels.<o></o>
e. Second pg will also have a Text Button to return to Main Menu or pg 1.<o></o>
<o></o>
wait !!!! It’s not just the menu creation… I tried to follow another post & was lost as I didn't know where, how, when to add the clips...under what track etc. Tried to make the copies of the 60 sec intro clips & got all confused on where to put the intro clips & what tracks to add the actual 50 mins clips on!! Gosh what a mess. Yea & I went to university!!<o></o>
<o></o>
I burned a DVD with 2 clips already & it plays fine...just without any menus so all file formats are compatible & output result is good. If I can understand "Top Menu" Track/Title/Clip...Sine/Cos/Tan/Theta & the atomic weight of Dilithium Crystals then I will do yer dishes for a week. Yup tried the included help files to no avail....pls help.<o></o>
<o></o>
Thanks in Advance.

[admin]

I don't think TDA will allow you to do exactly what you want, but you might get something that is really close to it. What I managed to create is something like this:

1. Insert the disc and it first plays 60 second intro clip (this is the only place this clip will play, it can't be selected for playback anywhere else, which is probably what you want anyway)
2. The first menu shows up - here, a "play all" button is present as well as a "track" button to go to the second menu (the clip selection menu) - you can replace both menu items with your own text/pictures
3. Clicking on the "play all" button will play all the clips and then return to this first menu
4. Clicking on the "track" button will go to the second menu, where all 5 clips can be selected (with animated thumbnail and stuff).
5. Selecting a clip will play the clip, and when it finishes it will return to the first menu

So basically, the difference is that instead of returning to the second menu after playback, it returns to the first menu. The alternative is to have a third menu after you click on each clip (this menu shows all the chapter stops within the clip, of if the clip doesn't have chapters, then just a single thumbnail to play chapter 1/start of the clip), and then after playing back the clip, it will return to this third menu. I'm not sure if this is any better though, since you might still have to go through the first menu to get back to the second menu. But if you already want chapter points for each clip, then perhaps this second method is not too bad to have. You might be able to use external tools such as PgcEdit or IfoEdit to edit the menu and the return action after you author with TDA (author to a hard-disk folder, not to disc), but that's a bit more difficult.

Anyway, this is the way I created this kind of menu:

1. First, have your 60 second intro clip ready as a separate video file. Use an external video editor if necessary, or simply load in an existing clip (in step 2 below) and use the "cut-edit" function in TDA to cut it down to size

2. On the "Source" screen where you add the track, click on the arrow next to the "Add a track" button and select "Add a firstplay track". The firstplay track is the intro clip that display before the menu. With this track highlighted/selected on the right hand side, use the "Add file" button on the right hand side to add the intro clip (or one of your 5 clips and cut it down to the intro clip - don't worry, your original file won't be altered)

2. For each of your 5 clips (I recommend having less clips, since 5 x 50 = 250 minutes, and that's quite a lot to fit onto a single layer DVD - 120 minutes is really the maximum for 4.7 GB DVDs, unless of course the quality of your clips are not DVD quality to begin with), create a track for each clip and then add a single file to each track.

3. Go to the "Menu" step now, and click on the "Launch Menu Wizard" if the wizard does not pop up immediately. Select "Create Custom Menu", and on the next page, check the box that says "Create a Title page in the Top menu" (this creates the first menu page with the "play all" button). Press "Next" to continue. This is where you will have to be creative with your menu designs. Just make sure that for the "Top menu", you select a layout that has as many buttons as you have clips, otherwise TDA will create additional pages for the clip selection menu. The "Track menu" is not used, so it doesn't matter which one you select. Press "Next" to continue.

4. Select "Top Menu" only to not create the "Track menu". The "Track menu" is really the chapter selection menu for each clip. As mentioned before, if you do have chapter points in a single clip and you want people to select them from a menu, then select the "Top and track menu" option. Press "Next" to continue

5. Select "Display Top Menu" to make the menu show before any of the clips are played. The firstplay intro clip will play first regardless of which option you select here. For the second set of options, this tells the disc what to do after it plays each clip - to return to the top menu (the "play all" menu), return to the track/chapter menu for the clip, or play the next track. Select "Display top menu" if you want to go back to the first menu when a clip is finished. Select "Display the track menu" if you have enabled tracks and if you want to return to the chapter selection menu for the current clip after the clip has finished playing (not that to get to the clip selection menu, you will have to go back first to the first "play all" menu). Press "OK" to finish the menu wizard.

6. You can now click on the "Global DVD Menu settings" button to change the highlight options, animation options ...

7. Go to "Simulation" and test the menu and clips to see if it is what you want.

[Chocol8y]

Thanks soooo much I will certainly try your directions .. u have no idea ow frustrating it was as the included tutorials were not very helpful in defining the terms & in general directions either ... again Thank YOu for taking the time to post a solution

Good day.

[Chocol8y]

Almost...what I did was make Top menu so I would get 2 pages :1st one had one 60 sec clip with audio and a Play All Button that took me to Pg 2. here I got 5 custom sized windows where I actually Inserted the actual clips (in the Option to add Files to the lil windows) in the effects for each I opted to loop play 60 secs of each (no Audio option) Now if I click on any of these 5 - the whole Clip plays (with audio) I then added another 60 sec clip to the background (with audio) put diff fade in & out effects on the 5 windows so when I go to Pg 2 a cplip with looped 60 sec Aud+Vid plays & then the 5 windows appear as they fade in. he ONLY trouble now is that AFTER any given cpli has ended it dosen't stay on this 2nd pg but goes back to the Main menu (with Play All) so I am wondering if I could juggle some stuff around & get it so it will play a "Header Track" with play all Option & when I hit play all it takes me to Menu with above stated 2 pages ?

[Chocol8y]

Open to suggestions for different prog/utility as I am not able to get TMPGEnc DA 3 to do what I want. If someone does know how to resolve my issue please advise further.

Thanks for u r time.

[admin]

Most of these "consumer" level authoring tools won't let you do exactly what you want. DVD-lab is a tool that a lot of people recommend, and it's not overly difficult to use. There are others like Sony Vegas Pro that includes the more advanced DVD Architech tool, but the price is a bit high.

[Chocol8y]

thanks for u r response ... have Sony Vegas 7 & DVD architect 4 will try on that (don't have the Pro version) - but I do wanna check out DVD-labpro as well too bad cuz I do like TMPGEnc just that I have now wasted over a week (since before I signed up here) & I still think there is a way to do what I want - but I am looking to close ..thanks 4 da input.

[gonwk]

Hi folks,

Hey Lt. Columbo & UncasMS or any Anonymous, Chewy, Blutach ... any ideas on this "Naivgation Problem".

I guess the Menu might be working A-OK ... since Chocol can go from Page 1 to Page 2 and select differnt episodes ... so after one selected episodes plays out ... it should be OK to jump back to Main Menu which is Page 1 ... RIGHT Guys!?!?!

G!

[Chocol8y]

Appreciate the muster Gonwk just stuck with TDA on one little problem. I want the menu to stay on pg 2 when a selection is made from pg 2. To go back to pg 1 there is a working button "Main Menu" there has to be a way ... I know I am looking at it too closely & thus missing the obvious.

Thanks folks

[blutach]

Perhaps edit that particular menu button to your liking with PgcEdit.

If this doesn't work, consider something like DVD Styler for your menus. Might be easier. Never been a fan of TDA (or any of these authoring packages) - wayyyy to rigid for my tastes.

Regards