DVD menu disappears when i play a DVD!

[jbromusic]

i'm trying to figure out why i can't have a DVD menu open on the VLC player while i watch a dvd. this is insane. i put the dvd in the computer and the menu is displayed. as soon as i play the DVD the menu disappears and it makes it impossible to skip chapters or access the main menu. overall, i really like VLC player but i don't understand this. even the crappy windows media player has the ability to access the DVD main menu while a DVD is playing. anybody have an idea about this?

[Baldrick]

You can access the menu from Playback->Title->DVD Menu.

You can skip chapters with the buttons at the bottom.

[jman98]

overall, i really like VLC player but i don't understand this. even the crappy windows media player has the ability to access the DVD main menu while a DVD is playing. anybody have an idea about this?

I don't use WMP because it is a POS, so I'll take your word for it here. Congratulations on being the only person in the world who wants this feature. I don't know that Baldrick really understands your post as I'm not sure that it's possible for VLC to do what you want based on my 2nd sentence.

[Baldrick]

I see....I have never ever seen this feature....

[DB83]

I do not understand your issue.

On my version of vlc (1.1.7), I have a menu button in the controls whether windowed or full-screen.

So if they removed it in later versions.......

[jman98]

I do not understand your issue.

On my version of vlc (1.1.7), I have a menu button in the controls whether windowed or full-screen.

So if they removed it in later versions.......

I think he wants to have a menu display AND play the movie AT THE SAME TIME. This would require two different windows, if it even can be done.

Assuming I am right, of course you don't understand it. Because this is yet again what I call a situation where "I want to do something that nobody else in the world wants to do, so why doesn't software exist that allows me to do it?".

If I am wrong, then the OP needs to do a better job explaining what he wants.

[jman98]

Assuming I am right, of course you don't understand it. Because this is yet again what I call a situation where "I want to do something that nobody else in the world wants to do, so why doesn't software exist that allows me to do it?".

I forgot to add that is inevitably followed by a post of complete and utter disbelief by the OP, who insists that many other people, if not the vast majority of humanity, most certainly also want to do what he wants to do. Yet there is no way to reconcile his belief that this is actually a feature that anybody else wants with the fact that software doesn't exist that allows it to happen. If WMP can do it, then he needs to stick with that and be glad that something works that can do this useless task.

[DB83]

Well from where I sit, WMP can not do it either if we correctly interpret what the OP wants. The program (Win7 version) just offers extended menu options on the navigation bar.

And I agree. Most of us understand that it is impossible to play a menu AND a title AT THE SAME TIME IN THE SAME WINDOW.

[jbromusic]

hi guys. thanks for your replies! i think you are misunderstanding what i am saying. i simply want the little "dvd menu" icon in the toolbar to be visible while i'm playing a dvd. it's visible when i insert a dvd but then disappears as soon as the dvd starts playing. this is the icon that i'm talking about:

[jman98]

You should have described better what you wanted, but better late than never. It's VLC's default behavior to hide this toolbar during playback, but as VLC is very configurable, I'm sure there is a way to make this display all the time. Someone else will have to explain how as I've never been interested in turning this on all the time so I don't know how. And frankly you could look it up as easy as I could.

[jbromusic]

frankly i've wasted 2 hours of my time googling this and searching for the answer only to come up with nothing

[nic2k4]

Is this a home movie DVD and is the problem only with this DVD? If that's the case I would suspect there's something wrong with the navigation of the disc. Does the menu come back on when you play the disc to the end? If it doesn't it means there are no action selected after the movie ends (no post commands for the movie PGC) and VLC doesn't know how to get back to the menu. You could modify the navigation with PGCedit, but you might be better off re-authoring the DVD (if that's a home movie disc).

[usually_quiet]

hi guys. thanks for your replies! i think you are misunderstanding what i am saying. i simply want the little "dvd menu" icon in the toolbar to be visible while i'm playing a dvd. it's visible when i insert a dvd but then disappears as soon as the dvd starts playing. this is the icon that i'm talking about:

What version of VLC are you using? When I use VLC 2.1.0 to play a DVD, the Menu button doesn't disappear from the controls at the bottom of the window while I'm playing a DVD. ...and there's also access to the menu via the Playback menu (on the menu bar), as Baldrick noted.

[jman98]

Do you want the toolbar always on? In less than 1 minute I found an official VLC forum that says that you cannot make the toolbar stay on all the time, unfortunately. Honestly, I think that is something that some users might want so I'm surprised that it's not supported.
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=105242
I searched for:
VLC toolbar always on
and got this as my first answer. I don't know what you searched for, but that's what got it for me.

[DB83]

@jman98

'Default behaviour' ?. I just re-installed my version and all previous preferences. The toolbar remains when you play in a window. True it does vanish in full-screen mode.

Even so, no installed icons just vanish. Si I suspect that there is an issue with the OP's home-made dvd.

Test it with a commercial one.

If there is an issue then, re-install the program and try again.

[jbromusic]

my toolbar stays on all of the time so i don't have that problem. it's very strange. the commercial dvd's that i have work perfectly. the dvd menu icon is visible at all times. it's the dvd's that i've made myself with nero that have the problem where the dvd menu icon disappears once the dvd is played

[DB83]

So, again, you failed, miserably, to explain the issue.

You need to look at your at your work-flow in how you authored your dvd's. If indeed you did author a video-dvd(dvd-video) rather than just a bespoke nero file with a menu. There is a difference.

And it was said above that certain programs give options of how a video-dvd reacts after playback >> return to menu or do nothing etc.

So I now suggest that you author a dvd in avstodvd and burn with imgburn rather than use nero. Then you will have a proper menu structure.

[usually_quiet]

my toolbar stays on all of the time so i don't have that problem. it's very strange. the commercial dvd's that i have work perfectly. the dvd menu icon is visible at all times. it's the dvd's that i've made myself with nero that have the problem where the dvd menu icon disappears once the dvd is played

There is your confirmation that the unwanted behavior could be the result of a DVD authoring problem like nic2k4 and DB83 suggested. Possibly you made a mistake or Nero did. You could try another authoring program to see if that fixes your problem. If you don't already have an alternative to try, AVStoDVD, DVDStyler and DVDAuthorGUI are relatively easy to use free DVD authoring programs. I also suggest burning with ImgBurn.

[jbromusic]

my toolbar stays on all of the time so i don't have that problem. it's very strange. the commercial dvd's that i have work perfectly. the dvd menu icon is visible at all times. it's the dvd's that i've made myself with nero that have the problem where the dvd menu icon disappears once the dvd is played

There is your confirmation that the unwanted behavior could be the result of a DVD authoring problem like nic2k4 and DB83 suggested. Possibly you made a mistake or Nero did. You could try another authoring program to see if that fixes your problem. If you don't already have an alternative to try, AVStoDVD, DVDStyler and DVDAuthorGUI are relatively easy to use free DVD authoring programs. I also suggest burning with ImgBurn.

thanks for your reply! i've been using nero for almost 10 years and have had success with previous versions of VLC player. it was always easy to add the dvd menu icon and have it be visible at all times. i'm not sure what has changed recently. i will look into another authoring program

[jbromusic]

So, again, you failed, miserably, to explain the issue.

save your quippy, little remarks for another thread

[DB83]

So, again, you failed, miserably, to explain the issue.

save your quippy, little remarks for another thread

Actually, no.

If you had explained the issue from the start, we would not be going off on wild goose-chases. The wording in your OP was very precise AND VERY IN-ACCURATE/MIS-LEADING. Call it what you will.

Tell a doctor you have a pain in the head and he will give you a pill and come back later if you still have the problem. But tell the doctor that you have the pain because you fell down and he will send you to hospital. Same here. Sure we mis-understood what you were saying. What chance did we have ?