Create Menu without the Thumnail

[Subhash]

OK people, I have now spent over 4 days in trying to recreate what I did four months ago but I just can't figure what I did.

I created a simple DVD containing 4 clips and one front end menu screen that initially had a button, about 1" by 1" square. This button is by default added by the DVD Authoring software, I think I either used Power Director 4.0 or Ulead Video Studio 8.0. Now that button was placed at such a position that was covering part of the face of the person in the background picture. So, I didn't really want that button to be there but still kept the button functionality i.e. the DVD will wait at the still picture background screen and will not start playing until you press Play button. This is exactly what I wanted and this exactly what I got. I still have bot DVD's stored on my Hard Drive. I have been trying to figure out four days now as to how did I accomplish that but just can not recreate it.

I also had GUI for DVD Author in my computer and I am not sure if I used that program or not. My source files were in mpg format and GFD does not allow me to add mpg files to the project. However, when I look at the VIDEO_TS.IFO with IFOEDIT, item VMGM_MAT contains "DVDAUTHOR 0.6.12-ALPHA-2907" as Provider ID. So, I really don't know how I did that. When I look at the menu in pgcedit, I can the see the still picture as background and just one button, the size of the original button but without the thumbnail of the button.

Other programs that I have on my machine are:

DVD Shrink
DVD Identifier
DVD Decrypter
DVD Stripper
DVD REbuilder
AVI2DVD
TheFilmMachine
DVDStyler

I have tried all of these to recreate what I did in December, but just can not. I am going absolutely nuts here and if someone can give me some hints as to what I could have done or if there is any way to find out what program was used to create those DVD folders, it will be very helpful.

Thanks in advance for reading this post and helping me out.

Subhash.

[adam]

They say memory is the first thing to go...

I don't use any of those authoring programs so I can't tell you where the settings are or how to implement them, but to make such a command using a non-visible button you simply set the opacity to 0% for everything. Somewhere in the software you should able to adjust color mapping (red mapped to red, etc..) and that's where you can adjust the opacity.

[Subhash]

They say memory is the first thing to go...

I don't use any of those authoring programs so I can't tell you where the settings are or how to implement them, but to make such a command using a non-visible button you simply set the opacity to 0% for everything. Somewhere in the software you should able to adjust color mapping (red mapped to red, etc..) and that's where you can adjust the opacity.

Thanks for the reply....

Neither Power Director nor Ulead Video Studio has that option.

[A_51]

If you want to make a menu quik and easy with even templates available use TDA (payware). You can even use a trial available from the net.
If you want to be in complete control of your menu production ( for free). You can use any of the front ends of the DVDAuthor proyect, DVDAuthorGUI , GUI for DVDAuthor and DVD Styler. These are very powerfull programs, highly custumisables. The thing is that they require elementary streams of video and audio instead of progam source. That only means that instead of improting an MPG file straight to the progam you gave to demultiplex it or in other words separate the video from the audio to feed them separatetly to the progam. It really sounds a lot more complicated than what it is. If you are getting your video from an editor you can choose to output to elementaty streams. If you allready have an MPG get a demultiplexer and you are in good shape.
DVDAuthorgui is the more simpler and the other two have the most features. I even think that DVDstyler take MPG as imput, but I'm not sure.
I forgot to mention that in order to do a good menu you should use a grafic editor like Photoshop, paintshop pro or even paint. Must people including my self use photoshop.

[Subhash]

Holllllllllllllllly s**t. Finally got it. After 50+ hours of digging, installing/uninstalling of programs, running and rerunning of various utilities, I finally recreated what I did in December.

I knew all along that it was something very simple but just didn't remember and now I wanted to do this again but had no clue how I did it last time. OK, for benefit of those who might want to do something similar, here it is:

To replace Menu background picture with the one of your choice:

1. Open Disk or DVD files with DVD Shrink 3.2
2. On the left side click on Menu and navigate to the menu you wish to change if you have more than one menu.
3. On the right side under Video, select Still Image in stead of Automatic from the Drop Down List.
4. Browse for the file you want to use.
5. Do a full back to the folder of your choice.

In my case what I did was that used the same .bmp file for background that I used in Power Director for the Menu. What Power Director did was place a thumbnail of the Title over the picture thus hiding face of the person in the background. I tried various layout options but I still found it annoying. After I replaced the background with DVD Shrink, the thumbnail was gone but the button functionality was still there. After inserting the DVD, it will stop at the background picture and wait for Play button to be pressed.

I know it was hard for anyone else to guess what I could have done but thanks for help to all those who tried.

Subhash.

[Keitho]

Thanks very much for that info, Subhash. That is exactly what I needed to know to fix a slideshow dvd I'm working on. WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING THUMBNAILS!