Information based DVD in Sony DVD Architect

[NOn]

I am currently authoring a DVD with Sony DVD Architect 3.0 but it is necessary that this DVD includes a lot of text alongside the video. I do not want to render it as a seperate movie file, instead i would like to put it on the menu page.

My question is, if i were to insert this text first of all into Photoshop images and place it on the background, would i lose a lot of quality of the text on the final DVD?

I have tried one image produced in photoshop at PAL resolution (720 x 576) but so far the results on the preview screen do not look good, can this be improved starting with a larger resolution image, or would it be better to type the text directly into DVD architect?

If so, as the text is quite long, is it possible to create a scrolling screen to fit all the text?

Any information on authoring this type of information (text) based DVD would be useful, but i am short on time, so downloading new programs is not possible, please help me work round this somehow!

[Nelson37]

Large amounts of text on a TV screen is a bad idea. Suggest you consider alternatives, such as audio narration.

Another way would be to create a Subtitle file, using something like Subtitle Workshop. GUIfor DVDAuthor as well as others, supports subtitles.

[NOn]

The DVD is primarily going to be presented on a computer, but i am using DVD authorign because of the video files and that i want it to run automatically when started. But this text HAS to be there and i don't think subtitles are suitable, and audio we already have a lot of, (it's truely a multimedia compilation!). i'm thinking to write short amounts of text across a couple of pages, or does anyone know of some way i could incorporate a HTML style page that can provide links back to the videos??

[Nelson37]

Well, you could do the menu pages in that fashion. The "links" could be the menu buttons.

Text on a PC and text on a TV are dramatically different, what is comfortably readable on a PC is a painful frustration on the TV, scrolling text plus interlacing can be headache-inducing. The lack of resolution makes even stationary text problematic.

[NOn]

ok, thankyou i will bear that in mind, but am not sure of another way to get around it as we are aleady struggling with size, and making more video could be a big problem, i will try on the menu screens and hope it turns out ok, but mostly i think this DVD will be only on the PC, so the TV issue is not such a big one...

[Cunhambebe]

I can't think of a good reason why you want all this text on your screen. Anyway, I don't think scrolling buttons are possible but you can use the regular buttons to get the same effect as it's been suggested. Anyway if I were you I would use Arial 22, outline, bold and would also turn on the filter "reduce interlace flicker" (no one knows, maybe one day you decide to watch the whole thing on a TV).

[NOn]

The reason is, this is not just a film DVD. We have a series of art projects to present on a DVD, that combine text, video, stills and audio... so that's why... i will try also this suggestion but i have not yet got to this point of authoring the DVD so i cannot report on progress. It will go over a few pages, i think we have concluded that is neccessary.

Overall, it could be probably be presented better using flash, but i know even less about that. Unless someone can suggest a quick operating, free to download programme that convert AVI files to Flash....?

[Cunhambebe]

Overall, it could be probably be presented better using flash, but i know even less about that. Unless someone can suggest a quick operating, free to download programme that convert AVI files to Flash....?

Since Sony DVD Architect is sold along with Sony Vegas, you can use Vegas to convert the .SWF files to MPEG2. You can try this:
A. Animate a text sequence with Flash (for instance, the text scrolling up or down) and drop the file into Vegas, choosign render as MPEG2. Drop the result in DVD Architect creating menu pages for each file and choosing the end action for each one (what the DVD player does after the end of the file - for instance, looping or showing the next page).
B. You can use Flash to create the same thing but this time with no animation at all and follow the same steps described above. This way, if you wish, your text will not move.
Choosing A or B, you can always add a video envelope in Vegas such as Motion Blur Amount and render the file. Or you can turn on the DVD Architect filter called Reduce Interlace Flicker instead.
There are many ways to achieve what you want. Another one is to use Adobe Photoshop to make you text, dropping the file into Vegas timeline and animating the MPEG2 sequence. And another and easier one is to use nothing more than Vegas to create, animate and insert the text you want.....Remember, you'll always have the option to choose between inserting a video envelope (motion blur) in Vegas or turning on the filter "Reduce Interlace Flicker", when you author the dvd with DVD Architect.

[NOn]

This is much more useful, thankyou. I wasn't aware that you could also put in flash files like this! And also the idea to pick end action is better, then i will have one menu after to choose links to videos etc for each project.

The only thing i am worried about is the size of the files? to animate 8 pieces of text in such a way, will it take a lot of memory? already my video content is something like 1,5Gb

[skeg64]

you could make a webDVD with links from the DVD menus that point to HTML files in the DVD rom section. You wouldn't be able to link BACK to the DVD, but you would just close the browser.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=53510&highlight=webdvd

http://www.dvdmadeeasy.com/subscriber/articles/02122001-2a/