TMPEnc DVD Author Menus do not work

[CathyT]

Greetings-

Have been struggling with this for WEEKS!

I have 3mpg files of shows recorded from TV.
I create my DVD, but when I play it on my settop box, the menus do not function as expected.

What I Did:
Added MPGs to TMPGEnc DVD Author
Created main menu with 3 buttons-one for each mpg
3 submenus with 6 chapters for each mpg
Burn DVD.

Settop (Sony) DVD player loads up DVD and goes to main menu.
I select my episode and see the chapter menu. THen I select a chapter and press play. The audio starts playing, but the submenu is unchanging, I dod not see any video, just the submenu!

DVD File structure is something like: (3 titlesets with one subtitle each)
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_02_1.VOB
VTS_03_1.VOB
VTS_04_0.VOB
VTS_05_1.VOB
Of course there are the IFO and BUP files not listed here.

Previously, I had used a trial (now expired) version of Ulead DVDMF to burn a DVD of exact same MPG files and menu structure with DVD media from same spindle.
It played fine on my settop DVD player, but its structure was:
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB
VTS_01_3.VOB
VTS_01_4.VOB
VTS_01_5.VOB
Of course there are the IFO and BUP files not listed here.

Don't know why my settop does not like TMPGEnc DVD Author output structure (upper), but does like Ulead's (lower).

Any help would be appreciated.

One last thing, you ask, why not disc copy from the original Ulead one that works? I tried that first thing, but got Cyclic Redundancy Check Error and cannot do it! Tried cleaning disk etc, still no luck.

ARGHHHHH!

Thanks

CathyT

[steptoe]

I assume you have put each movie into its own track. Thats what you're first listing looks like, with each VOB allocated to each movie, nothing wrong there. Thats what I do and I've created some silly DVD's with multiple tracks with no problems

MovieFactory has just created one VOB set for everything


One setting I forgot about when first using TMPGenc was the 'menu' setting. When you create a menu, click on the tab called Menu Display Settings

If this is set to 'Main Menu Only' then thats all you'll get, no chapter displays, nothing


This is where the new feature of the latest release where you can simulate you're DVD before burning it comes in very handy, saves time and wasting a DVD to find out you're setting are not quite correct

[mikiem]

FWIW...

Usually you can create your DVD layout on your HD, test if you want, then burn. Also saves a few minutes if/when you get a bad burn.

If you can't read original or 1st disc, could it be a media problem? There's a fair amount of info here at videohelp re: media, including reports of discs deteriorating in an amazingly short period of time. Easy way to tell is take your current project, create a layout on HD, then test that.

Regarding the vob files... Usually (or at least often ) you'll see separate vob sets for each mpg2 file in something you author, but many retail DVDs will have them all in one set. Using separate mpg2/audio files, believe it's just a matter of how your authoring software likes to do it -- VOBs are just containers anyway.

Might also want to try DVD Lab trial, or free DVD Author & one of the GUIs.