Video Clips For Buttons - Format & Spec?

[EViS]

In terms of the 'video clips' for various buttons (i.e. chapter selection). What format should those video clips be saved in? Also what resolution & bitrate? And are there any other limits?

I understand that videos are linked to buttons in Premiere Pro? Or is this done in Encore?

[edDV]

Premiere Pro CS3 has some canned DVD templates but you would normally use Encore for custom authoring.

[EViS]

Right, Premiere is used for video editing, whilst Encore is the actual Authoring tool.

Would you be able to answer my first question in regards to the video's used for scene selection buttons?

[guns1inger]

A motion menu will be 720 x 480 (NTSC) or 720 x 576 (PAL). The clips you use will have a resolution dependent on how many you wish to fit to a page. Total bitrate is down to the final motion clip, and has nothing to to do with the thumbnails.

Although I use different tools, the process is the same. You are better off creating the entire video, including thumbnails, inyour editor, than trying to do it in your authoring tool.

[EViS]

When you say 'total bitrate is down to the final motion clip', is there any 'figure' I can go by? Should the quality be anywhere near DVD quality for both background motion clips AND thumbnail clips used in the 'scene selection submenu'?

[guns1inger]

If the bulk of the screen is background and static, with only the thumbnails in motion then you might get away with a lower bitrate.

Bottom line though, and this holds true for any video encoding, there is no magic number. Yes, there are upper limits and other arbitrary boundaries that you have to work with in, but everything else is dependent entirely on what you are doing now. Experience will help you make better guesses, but you only get experience by doing.

My view on what it should be may vary a lot from your view, and may well be different from situation to situation. Personally, if I have the space, I can see no reason why a menu should not look as good as the video it leads to, but if space is at a premium, it is the menu that will be reduced ahead of anything else. In fact, if space is that much of a premium, then a motion menu is an indulgence that should be jettisoned in favor of a static menu instead.

Given a motion menu is usually a short clip (20 - 30 seconds, maybe 45), it will cost you very little time to render several versions at different bitrates to see which one looks the way you want it to. After all, you are the one who has to live with the results, not me or anyone else here.