How to create an Audio-Only DVD in DVDLab Pro (PART 2)

[GordRocks]

NOTE: THERE IS A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION THAT ALLOWS MANY MORE TITLES TO BE USED THAN THIS SYSTEM ALLOWS.
YOU CAN VIEW IT AT:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=287574

AUTHORING AN AUDIO-ONLY DVD IN DVD-Lab Pro (PART 2)
(DVD-Lab Pro is herein referred to as DLP)

This is PART 2 of a guide to preparing an AUDIO-ONLY DVD. To use it you need to have finished PART 1 of the guide before you can continue with this one. You can find PART 1 here:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1248790

This guide will show you how to add the feature of playing all the CDs you have put into your AUDIO-ONLY DVD without stopping between them. The original guide showed you how to play one of the CDs and then return to the Opening Menu. Sometimes I prefer to just let all of them play uninterrupted and then return to the Opening Menu. Okay, here goes.



1. The first thing we need to do is add one VMG Menu for each of the CDs. I've renamed each of the VMG Menus to allow me to easily keep track of which CD they refer to.



2. Now add one VTS Menu within each VTS. Rename them as above to keep track of them more easily. Your menus should look like this:



3. Remember that Opening Menu we set up in the original guide? It looked like this:



We need to add a new selection to it so that we can choose to play all the albums without stopping. This is the new menu I made. I just added the extra line and changed the spacing.



4. Now link this new selection to the first VMG Menu that you just created. In my case I've linked to VMG Bite Me because that is VTS 1 and contains the first CD that will be played. Remember to redraw the links on the menu so that you can navigate to this new selection after you compile the DVD.

In the Connections Window right-click on the VMG Bite Me Menu and edit the Pre Commands adding these lines:

GPRM5 = 1
GPRM7 = 25
LinkPGCN 5

I used LinkPGCN 5 because the first Play List is in PGC 5. You will use whatever number you need to match the Program Chain of your Play List. In each of the next VMG Menus just add the LinkPGCN # line with # referring to the PGC of the Play List you are going to. This is how you can tell which PGC (Program Chain) to use:



This Play List will now play through to the end just like it did when chosen as the CD before. The difference is that we now want it to go to the next CD when it reaches the end. To do this we need to edit the VM POST Command of the last song of the CD. This will tell the CD to go to the next Play List rather than back to the Opening Menu. Add this line:

if (GPRM5 < GPRM7) CallSS VMGM (pgc 12, rsm_cell 1)

I've used pgc 12 because that is the PGC that VMG Roadhouse is in. It looks like this:




The new Post Command should look like this:



Add this line to the Post Command of the last song of each CD except the last CD. If you add this line to the last song of the last CD it will not go back to the Opening Menu when the final CD finishes playing. Change the pgc 12 to pgc X where X is the number of the PGC for the next CD. In my example the last song on Roadhouse Research would use:

if (GPRM5 < GPRM7) CallSS VMGM (pgc 13, rsm_cell 1)


5. In the first new VTS Menu (in my case, VTS Bite Me) add this to the Pre Command:

GPRM5 = 1
GPRM7 = 25

Setting GPRM5 to a value of 1 and GPRM7 to a value of 25 will tell the DVD when it finishes the last song on a CD to follow the programming we did in the step above and go to the first song of the next CD. One problem with this; when you go back to the Opening Menu and choose Shuffle Play it will not work because Shuffle Play relies on GPRM5 having a different value. To make this work we need to add 2 lines to the Custom Pre Commands of the Opening Menu.

GPRM5 = 2
GPRM7 = 21

Add a button to each of the new VTS Menus. Link the button in VTS Bite Me to the Play List for the first CD and the buttons in the other VTSs to their appropriate CDs. Click on each button and then in the Properties Window on the Link Tab make the button Invisible All and on the PBC Tab change the duration to 0 which will then change it to a/v and change the Force Activate Button to 1.

Now for the new VMG Menus. In VMG Bite Me edit the Custom PRE Command to contain these lines:

GPRM5 = 1
GPRM7 = 25
LinkPGCN 5

The LinkPGCN 5 sends you to Play List 1. If your Play List is a different number change it as needed.

In VMG Roadhouse enter this line into the Custom PRE Command:

LinkPGCN 6

And in VMG Mind Back enter this line:

LinkPGCN 7

Again these lines refer to the PGC for the applicable Play Lists.

That's All Folks! It should work for you just as it's worked for me. Hope you enjoy it!

.....Gord

[joepic]

Is Shuffle Play valid if you have 200 songs? For 11 songs it looks like a lot of work but 200?

[GordRocks]

Is Shuffle Play valid if you have 200 songs? For 11 songs it looks like a lot of work but 200?

DVD Specs only allow a maximum of 99 titles. If you use this Guide each song is entered as a title. Therefore, you can only include a maximum of 99 songs.

.....Gord

[madvideos]

If you have Cool Edit Pro you could Join a few songs, export as one song ,giving you 300 songs. Just an idea. I hate wasting space on media. lol

[joepic]

Is Shuffle Play valid if you have 200 songs? For 11 songs it looks like a lot of work but 200?

DVD Specs only allow a maximum of 99 titles. If you use this Guide each song is entered as a title. Therefore, you can only include a maximum of 99 songs.

.....Gord

OK 99 songs but this process still seems like a lot of work to get Shuffle Play for 99 songs.

By the way, Audio DVD Creator can create multiple VTS's (not sure if that is the correct term) with 99 songs each. So on one DVD I am able to put in an unlimited number (currently have 4 catorogies with 99 songs each) of songs on a DVD.