Is this kind of BOV possible with DVDAuthorGui?

[trolltuning]

What I want to do is have 2 versions of each chapter on an instructional DVD I am making (regular and slow motion). Each should link to its counterpart with a full size invisible button so that pressing enter on the remote will toggle between the slow and regular versions (I assume that it would always go to the start of the chapter which is OK as they are short.) Is it possible to do something like this with the xml editor in DVDAuthorGui?

Example:
chapter 1 goes to chapter 10, chapter 10 goes to chapter 1

chapter 2 goes to chapter 11, chapter 11 goes to chapter 2
etc.

[borax]

No, not that easy.
1. dvdauthor doesn't support 'button' commands during 'normal' video playing, nor commands like 'before/after chapter do...'

But... maybe we find a solution for your project newertheless.

Some questions:
1. Are we talking about dvdauthorgui or gui for dvdauthor?
2. How many such 'chapters' are we talking about (roughly 50, 100 or 1000)?

[trolltuning]

This project has 9 chapters (total of 18 including the slow motion versions). This is very typical of the instructional videos I make. Probably would not go above 32 in the same titleset.
At present I am using Liquid217's gui (I ran accross it first), but no reason not to use yours if it could do the job.

[borax]

1. I was wrong...
dvdauthor supports buttons in the playing movie!
But... using enter to switch doesn't work (at least not in WinDVD as the navigation is grayed out during movie playback). Using the numerical '1' from the keyboard as 'pseudo remote button' works!!!?

=>We should test this on a stand alone player...

2. With a maximum of 32 'chapters' there should be no problem to split them into titles, as up to 99 titles per titleset are allowed. The only disadvantage would be a short pause between the titles or your 'chapters' (if the 'chapters' are really short, there will be probably no noticeable pause).
My proposal would be to split your movie into titles, one title per 'chapter' and also one title per 'slow motion chapter'. Assuming you have elementary mpeg2 streams (with mp2 or ac3 audio), this can be done easily with mpeg2schnitt or cuttermaran. Using titles would be much easier as it is possible to set variables within the pre + post commands.

[trolltuning]

If you can send me the code you used I'll test this out in PowerDVD and with a stand-alone.

I currently have these in a vob, but I can either chop it up or take the lazy way and trancode each chapter to a separate title with InstantDVD
(don't think I could spot the difference without a wall-sized TV

[borax]

Sorry for answering a little bit late, but I had some other things to do today...
In order to provide you with a 'functioning' proposal, I need to know the dimension of your movie (width x height) and the video system (PAL/NTSC). I will provide you with a sample script as well as a png file with the invisible button (this needs to have the exaxt same properties as your movie).

[trolltuning]

Thanks I was out of town anyway.
It is NTCS 720 by 480.

[borax]

Ok. It works with the Enter button (the real 'Enter' button right down at the numerical keypad) with WinDVD too

The example project uses 4 movies (Film1.mpg to Film4.mpg). These will be muxed with the invisible button (MovieHigh.png and MovieAct.png according to the control file MovieSpu.xml) within the MovieButton.bat. This button (named 'B0') is then used in the author.xml file to jump forward or back. You will of cause have to change all path specifications to your own program/data folders. Actually this project has a main menu where all movies are accessible (but that's not essential).
There are no variables required.

During 'normal play' starting with movie 1 would automatically continue with movie 2 which will call the main menu at the end.
Hit Enter during the playing of movie 1 will jump to movie 3 which would call movie 2 if it would be played until end. If Enter it hit during the playing of movie 3 it will jump back to movie 1. Same for movie 2/4 but these would call the main menu if played until end.

Find all the corresponding files here:
https://www.videohelp.com/~gfd/download/MovieButtons.zip

With variables it would also be possible to jump to specific chapters, but that's much more complicated.

[trolltuning]

I currently have these in a vob, but I can either chop it up or take the lazy way and trancode each chapter to a separate title with InstantDVD
(don't think I could spot the difference without a wall-sized TV

Well my first attemt failed as DVDauthor did not like the transcoded files.
(The error message said src was moving backwards.
Looks like I need to combine the vobs, recut them and demux. I'll try again soon.

[borax]

I currently have these in a vob

Just run it through projectx. There you can cut and demux (to several files) in one step. The resulting streams can be used directly.