How to burn DVD that plays all chapters without stopping?

[billdz]

Hi folks,

First post here. I have a Canon FS100 that I bought to make videos of my son's football games. I stop the camera after each play, so the result is a large number of files.

Yesterday I downloaded the video files and tried to burn them to a DVD. My video editor is PowerProducer Gold 2. It burned OK, but, after inserting the DVD into the DVD player on our TV, each clip appears as a separate chapter, and just one chapter plays. To play the second and each succeeding chapter, it's necessary to select it and then hit Play again.

Is there any way to make a DVD that plays all the chapters continuously, without stopping?

My first thought was to merge each video clip into a single file, but the program only allows merger of 5 clips at a time, and each game has over 50 clips I would like on the DVD. Also, after merging about 20 clips, the program keep freezing and all my work would be lost.

Thanks for any advice,
bill

[sagat93]

try to merge with a different program

[hech54]

True DVD "chapters" play fluidly without any noticeable breaks or pauses. What you have/ended up with on the DVD are multiple titles.....not multiple chapters. Merging all of those clips would be a "last resort" scenario for me. I'd rather have each clip as a chapter IMO....but that is not what you have.

[billdz]

Thanks for the replies. So how to burn the clips as multiple chapters rather than multiple titles? If my PowerProducer software is inadequate, please feel free to suggest something else that would do the job.

bill

[jman98]

Yes, you can do this. VideoReDo and MPEGVCR are commercial editors (not terribly expensive but also not free) and you can try before you buy. Use one of them to merge all your files into one giant video and then make a DVD from that. I'm not familiar with PowerProducer so I can't help with that. I can tell you that it is possible to do what you want, just not necessarily with what you have on hand.

[hech54]

Why not just add all of his clips into one "title"? A whole lot easier than joining 50 clips into a giant lump....only to wish later that he had chapter markers between plays for easier reference.

[billdz]

I see a pictogram in the Preferences that may get me what I want, will try and advise.

[hech54]

ConvertxToDVD can make individual clips into chapters....but it's not free. It requires a "right click" option on the first clip you add to the project. The first clip and everything you add will end up as chapters inside a title.

[sagat93]

convertxtodvd doesnt have the greatest interface and menu creator.

[guns1inger]

DVD Flick is free and will allow you to add multiple clips to create a single title with multiple chapters. I believe the latest release of AVStoDVD can do this as well.

I would recommend you look at AVStoDVD. Use this to create a single title, and have it encode to elementary streams, and use these to author in a more flexible tool.

[billdz]

OK, well by clicking on the correct pictogram PowerProducer does produce a DVD that plays all the clips without stopping.

I did encounter an issue when trying to add background music. The music restarts on each clip, which is no good as each clip is only 15 seconds or so.

Is there a program that would play the music continuously?

For the future, I'd like to be able to add still photos between video clips and text captions on the clips, if there's a program that has these abilities.

Giving DVD Flick a try now, thanks.

[guns1inger]

What you are now talking about is editing, not authoring.

You need to first add all your clips together into a single clip, add your audio, output the results, and use these to author a DVD.

[billdz]

Thanks, it looks like DVD Flick has the same problem as PowerProducer. I can get the clips to play continuously but the music restarts after each clip. So, as you suggest, it seems that if I want music I'll need to combine all the clips into a single giant clip and then add the music. Are VideoReDo and MPEGVCR the best products for making a single file?

[guns1inger]

If your source is mpeg-2, then yes, they will do the job nicely

[manono]

Demux all the video portions (if already muxed) and add the M2Vs one after the other using the "Add" button in Muxman. Then when all done add the one audio track. Give them a "Destination Folder" and then "Start". That will also give you a single track DVD. No menus, though.

[billdz]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is "mux"?

I was able to merge my clips into one file with VideoReDo, but it's not quite right, the merged files has some freezes and skipping. How to ensure an error-free merged file? Or maybe my computer needs more RAM or something?

[hech54]

Is there a program that would play the music continuously?

For the future, I'd like to be able to add still photos between video clips and text captions on the clips, if there's a program that has these abilities.

My newest favorite for stuff like you are asking is Magix Movie Edit. It's cheap but man can you do almost
anything with it. And it's easy for us editing dummies. Just drag stuff into the timeline. Video clips, pics, add
an extra track just for your audio....adjust the audio between your clips and the extra audio you've chosen....I find
it VERY impressive.

[manono]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is "mux"?

Mux is short for 'multiplex'. When you author a DVD you multiplex all the different pieces - the video, audio, subs, chapters - merge them into one VOB container. When you demux or demultiplex you separate out everything again. So when I said to demux if necessary, I meant that Muxman takes only the separate pieces and you'll need to add in the various video-only M2Vs or MPVs or whatever DVD compliant form they're already in. However, if there's something wrong with the video, maybe you'll get results like you saw with VideoReDO. I don't know. I use Muxman's 'Add' button all the time though, when I encode different parts of a video separately, to rejoin them all. And I've never had any problems.

[lordsmurf]

It needs to be authored better.
I could playlist this in Ulead DVD Workshop or Apple DVD Studio Pro with no problems. Easy.

[billdz]

I've downloaded the trial version of Magix Movie Edit 15 and so far so good. What is the difference between Magix Movie Edit 15 ($50) and Magix Movie Edit Plus 15 ($80)? What does the Plus give you for the extra $30? And does version 15 have important features that the older versions lack? Version 12 is available on eBay for less than $20.

[hech54]

I've downloaded the trial version of Magix Movie Edit 15 and so far so good. What is the difference between Magix Movie Edit 15 ($50) and Magix Movie Edit Plus 15 ($80)? What does the Plus give you for the extra $30? And does version 15 have important features that the older versions lack? Version 12 is available on eBay for less than $20.

I've got the cheapo version. The only difference I've read about the two is 32 tracks vs. 99. The most tracks I've ever used is 5.

[billdz]

Magic Movie Edit was exactly what I needed, thanks for the tip. My DVD looks great. Is it worth the extra money to buy version 15, or does the cheaper version 12 do pretty much the same thing?

Thanks to all for helping me.

bill

[hech54]

Magix was sort of "unknown" until recently....at least to me anyway. The older one just might be junk....you never know....I never used it,

[billdz]

Hech, where in Europe do u live? I lived 6 years in Slovakia but am now back in the USA.

Is there any way to import multiple files with MMEP 15? When I made the DVD yesterday, I used the single big file I had created with VideoReDo. But it seems files must be imported one at a time with MMEP 15, which is a problem since each football games has over 50 files.

[hech54]

Hech, where in Europe do u live? I lived 6 years in Slovakia but am now back in the USA.

Is there any way to import multiple files with MMEP 15? When I made the DVD yesterday, I used the single big file I had created with VideoReDo. But it seems files must be imported one at a time with MMEP 15, which is a problem since each football games has over 50 files.

I'm in Deutschland now.
I haven't tried multiple files yet to be honest....I'll have to have a play this weekend.

[billdz]

Someone on another forum told me I could point the Import window to the folder with the video files, select multiple files and drag them to the timeline. But my program is not allowing me to do this. Are you able to drag multiple files? I only have the trial version, could this be the reason?

[hech54]

After you open the program....go straight to the EDIT tab in the top right corner. Navigate to the folder where you clips are stored, highlight the ones you want to add then drag them into the timeline.

[billdz]

The program is not allowing me to highlight multiple files. I press on shift, then scroll, but only one file at a time is selected.

This is so at least on My Videos and My Photos. It does allow highlighting of multiple files at least in some other folders. It seems that multiple highlighting is possible in folders where no thumbnails are in the window.

I don't get it.

[hech54]

My version only allows it from the EDIT tab....not the IMPORT window.