v2? Discuss...

[ChrissyBoy]

I have started some initial work on v2 of SVCD2DVD.

I would like to get a taste for what people would like to see in the next release.

Here are a few things that I hope to be adding:

- new GUI
- DVDMM integration (hopefully)
- DVDMM improvements (snap to grid etc)
- Audio on menus
- Motion menu backgrounds
- Elementary streams as assets
- Mpeg viewing
- Play All facility to menus
- Control whether a VTS returns to a menu or next VTS.
- Bi-lingual audio processing
- Process mpegs which have ac3 audio


Let’s see what this thread turns up. I shall collate a list from it.

[philmein]

nice work cb but whats dvdmm.

regards phil

[ChrissyBoy]

DVD Menu Maker

Also if anyone is good at creating Windows icons: true colour with alpha channel and 256 colour versions and would like to help - please let me know.

[madmuppet]

The new menus sound the business chrissboy.

As I mentioned in my other post I would like to see a better choice for extraction using vcdgear.

I think the raw extraction is a good option to have in there.


Will try and get a sample for you if I can get Bin1 or Bin2 back.

Also I think most people are using bin files not mpegs so to check if they are insync you need to extract them manually 1st anyway.
So maybe split the program into 2 and have extract bin files to mpeg which you can check in virtual dub and if ok then continue with svcd2dvd to get your videots folder.


Keep up the good work

[ChrissyBoy]

madmuppet: looking forward to the sample But yes being able to rip indepentantly of anything else is something I will be adding... Bulk BIN-> MPG

[psycaz]

Not sure if this has been requested or not - but any way to have Menu Maker automatically impot the names for the vts/menu buttons?

[ChrissyBoy]

psycaz: The integration idea i have will make this so.

[gazinc]

Some sort of status bar would be good, so x% to finish shows..
The other updates sound great ChrissyBoy,look forward to trying them out..

[psycaz]

Thanks, that's the last thing I really was looking for.
Also, thank you for a great product.

[madmuppet]

When can we hope to see v2 released Chris?

Soon hopefully

[guidorobben]

I would definitly like the ac3 option. Still have 5 files waiting to be converted and burned.

Guido

[yf2001usa]

- import of .mp2 audio with an mpeg files. So you can do the reencode audio without demux, remux etc.
- saving of a project
- audio offset per vts / or input mpg cause some times it is just 1 file that is out of sync
- align buttons in the menu
- create your own collor for the menu's not select them for default colors.

This is what i can think of now..

[duhmez]

OPTION to choose audio encoding bitrate. 448 for 2 ch ac3 is way too big! (this is a major wanted feature for me, i want to cram lots of vcd content and 448 kills my space in a huge way)


Batch multiplexing of samed named files automatically. For example movie_dvd.mpv wouold automux with movie_dvd.mpa (or movie_dvd.ac3)
in both progstream and dvd author mode.

(I've a milion elem streams I'd love to automux)

Autoapply pulldown of 23.976 mpeg2 streams when needed.

Less draconian copy protection system. (I have 4 pc's, 2 of them have svcd2dvd on them. one of my machines went down the other day and I can't use machine # 3 for processing in the meantime without emaling and waiting for response and al the hubbub.)
Does not seem right to have machine lockdown on a program that claims it is only looking for "Donations......"

[ChrissyBoy]

ok so added to the list is:

- audio bitrate for AC3
- ES processing similar to SpruceUp
- Project saving
- audio offset per asset
- custom colours

Registration: Currently it is 3 machine licences per registration, once a license is 60 days old you are entitled to another one.

This may improve but it stays in place.

[boggle]

What about a menu for only 1 title ie a dvd rip that is 4 discs long would be nice to be able to use a menu for it as well with a play button.

Also in the MM what about a chapter selection menu screen for each film on disc

[nixxed]

What about adding a batch process (ie. have a few different projects set up and let the the batch process do them say while I am at work). That way..just have the computer do a bunch of different projects..come home and have all the demux/remux done for all projects.

Can have it where you set up one project...instead of clicking start to do the encoding...save it. Then set up a few more and save them. Then have the batch loader where you choose the saved projects you want to be done..then click start. Sound OK?

[semi]

Totally agree with nixxed. I think it's the most important issue. The point with this software is automation. Would be nice with better DVDMM though

[semi]

...and it would be great if it would be possible to change config between batch processes...I sometimes get issues with mpgtx when converting vcd.

[phelix]

Ok, let's take this batch idea to it's logical conclusion. I want a text batch file (XML perhaps) where I can specify everything necessary to generate a disc. This includes:

1) The video files
2) All options
3) A DVD Menu template
4) Names for the buttons and what videos they're linked to.


Furthermore, svcd2dvd sould be launchable from the commandline with the batchfile as a paramter (ie., 'c:> svcd2dvd -b batchfile.xml') This would be automation nirvana.

As an example, take the case where you are buring multiple seasons of a TV show. I'm working on one now that will be about 40 discs when done. In this case, All the options and the Menu template are the same. With a batch file, I coulld just fill in the proper filenames and button names, and let svcd2dvd do all the work. That's much faster than going through the GUI every time.

Now for some more esoteric ideas:

1) when burning, add an option to verify the burn.

2) add support for par2 file generation. Par2 is a method of generating redundant information that can be used in file repair. A typical DVD will have some space left over at the end. I'd like to fill this space with par2 files. That way, if the dvd ever gets damaged, I can use the par2 files to repair it. See parchive and quickpar for details.

[pmk]

1
----
As this has just caught me out how about a basic free disk space check when you click the Start button. It will say you may not have enough disk space to complete are you sure you want to continue?

e.g. if you have mpg's totalling 2.25GB. It needs a further 2.25GB for the _DVD files and a further 2.25GB for the VOB files.

So the test should be 2.25GB+2.25GB+0.25GB(a bit of slack)
Is they 4.75GB of space available?

2
----
It has already been posted but the ability for the menu to automatically set the button text to the filename of the mpg (excluding the extension) would be fantastic together with aligning / snap to grid options.

Cheers

[ChrissyBoy]

Here's an sneak preview of the new GUI:



All coments have been taken onboard.... hopefully a few more screenshots soon.

[pmk]

The new interface looks good but with this level of change I guess there is going to be quite a bit of testing to do especially on the GUI. Difficult to comment further without seeing more shots / trying it out

I suggest not going mad with changes without a few testers giving it a try at regular intervals if there are 100's of new features none "externally" tested you will have a hard time trying to track down problems without affecting other items etc - e.g. fixing one thing breaks another.

Another feature request:

When creating menus in current version you can place buttons so they do not actually appear on the TV due to the "Overscan?" area or something. A configurable option to indicate this on the menu screen (e.g. 100 pixels around screen etc) would be good. Also if buttons are automatically placed on the screen it should take this 100 pixels into consideration also.

[ChrissyBoy]

pmk: Thanks for the comments. It will be virtually a total re-write, to accommodate the feature requests made. Thus extensive testing will be factored in.

[guidorobben]

I looks great. I tried a few other converters. But nothing worked as simple as svcd2dvd.

keep up the good work

guido

[Babbage]

I agree with pmk totally.

an indication when creating menues, so that buttons, pictures or texts don't dissappear/cutted off on the tv-screen would be very handy!

keep up the good work.

SVCD2DVD rulez!

[Crashuk2k1]

looks great. I tried a few other converters. But nothing worked as simple as svcd2dvd.

totaly agree with guidorobben Plz keep it simple to use


Hyperthreading support would be nice .Speed things up a bit

[rodrx]

can I put an mp3 sound file in the menu I create ?
can I save the menu I create to easily go back and edited it ?

great program well worth it . but i'm new to it .

[ChrissyBoy]

rodrx: Yes & yes

[toneman77]

Hi !

Good to see that you are going to improve your very handy tool, that i use almost once a week.
For the TV overscan issue: a PC displays the whole content of the screen whereas a TV has a TV overscan area which is 32 pixel on every side, so it would be a nice feature to show this area in the DVDMM so that ppl can avoid it for buttons etc and have optimal display on a television.

Greetings

Toni

[ChrissyBoy]

Status report:

- New GUI is pretty much there
- New mpeg analysis routines
- Mpeg/title previewer
- Core code is re-written
- Project saving/loading in place
- 1.5 functionality is replicated.
- Menu design now much more mature: snap to grid, alignment etc
- Audio menus

Need to add the new authoring features (Play All, Elementry streams etc) & tidy things up a lot then an initially testing period will follow.

One thing I am considering is separating the BIN extraction from the main execution of SVCD2DVD. I.e. You can load up several BINs, do a bulk extraction to mpg, and then use these mpgs in a new SVCD2DVD project. This way there is no ambiguity about the content of the bins (from a mpeg structure point of view) and also it encourages people to test the extracted mpgs for faults..... Any thoughts?

Also toying with the idea of an automatic mode (one click)..... From a given set of assets (source files) deduce what to do in terms of VTS structure, based on filenames/folders and mpeg compatability. So if you have movie A.mpg, B.mpg in one folder and A.mpg, B.mpg in another folder along with 1.mpg, 2.mpg & 3.mpg it will automatically produce a 3 VTS DVD.... Also if bitrates are incompatable new Titlesets would be created too.... Thoughts?