GUI for DVD Author- how to forbid access to a 'hidden' bonus video?

[extent]

I am creating a family dvd which will contain two main videos.
In total there will be 3 screens on the dvd. The first video
is accessed from the main menu (screen1), which also has a
link to its own 'chapters' menu (screen2-the 'titleset1menu').
A second menu (screen3-the 'titleset2menu') contains both
the 'play video 2' button and its own chapters buttons, and
is accessible from the main menu (screen1) by clicking on
a small element, a graphic only 'button'. The second movie is
therefore almost 'hidden' in this way, like a bonus feature.

Everything works fine. My problem is that I am trying
to work out how to NOT allow access to the second video and
its own screen (screen3) from anywhere else other than the
default main menu which contains this graphic button.
For example, if I choose to play the first video, I can simply
right click and choose to play the second video at any time,
which is not what I want! I only want it to be accessible from
the graphic element I included in the first menu, so does
anyone know the 'advanced' command(s) which would allow
me to to forbid access to the 'bonus' movie (and even its own
'chapters' screen) from anywhere else?

I can right click on 'Film 1' from the 'GUI for DVD Author'
program menu on the left hand side to enter commands
(edit pre-post commands), so I would assume for Film1's
own commands, it would be something along the lines of
a pre or post action stating 'jump title 2=not allowed' but
I do not know the proper command, and exactly where it
would go, to disallow access to the second video, if this is
the simplest and quickest way of implementing what I want.
Since I do not know any very advanced commands I thought
having access to my bonus 'video 2' would be easiest by
clicking on an image from within the default main menu,
instead of having to press a certain exact combination of
buttons to make it play. Can anyone help me do what I want,
on how to forbid access to 'video2' whilst playing 'video1'?

thanks for any info if so!

[borax]

...I can simply right click and choose...
On a stand alone DVD player you cannot 'right click'
And with a soft player on a computer you cannot 'forbid access' with normal DVD commands.

[extent]

thanks for the reply! so how can i only make the second menu only
accessible from the one place?

I might not be able to right click, but on my non-pc philips dvd player, i can
still choose what menu to jump to from any location. Many retail videos
played on my pc wont let me jump to any hidden/bonus menu or video whilst
playing any non-hidden content, so I dont see as to why I cannot make
DVD Author do the same, unless it wasnt created with such a thing in mind?

[guns1inger]

If your player allows you to jump directly to titles without going through the DVD menu, then there is nothing you can do. By allowing the user to jump directly to any title the player bypasses the menus structures and any PUO (Prohibited User Operations) that you have programmed into the disc. You cannot intervene, and therefore you cannot stop the user going anywhere they damn well please.

[borax]

Maybe PUO (Prohibited User Operations) still work. I don't know. But dvdauthor doesn't support them. Either create the DVD with GfD using dvdauthor as engine and do the PUO changes afterwards with pgcedit or use MuxMan as authoring engine in GfD. MuxMan supports the use of PUOs. See: http://download.videohelp.com/gfd/Help/VMEdit.html

[deadrats]

@extent:

this might sound like a stupid question, but if you don't want the "bonus movie" to be accessible then why include it in the first place?

[extent]

deadrats-haha-its a bonus, so I dont want it easily accessible from using a pc or clever 'can do everything' dvd player! Its not that I want it inaccessible to everyone-its an added video that you can find, by clicking on an area of the menu screen! I can use the example of having a menu with someone wearing a large jacket, and by using the remote controls up/down/left/right you can highlight an area of the jacket (eg a jacket 'button', lol) and then select it ... this will play my 'hidden' video!

Its not a big deal since, as you say, not all dvd players can show a dvds complete content from any location, including any bonus content, but I just wondered as to how i could make sure its not accessible on a fancy player or computer from anywhere, by simply right clicking (or its equivalent) to choose the 'hidden' bonus item, or bonus menu. Retail dvds can have similar bonus hidden features that you can only access by clicking on an image on the screen that you normally wouldnt think would be clickable. This content is usually not accessible from anywhere else by simply cheating (using a pc and right clicking to list content and change to the bonus video or menu) so I wondered if these 'rules' could be done on my menu/dvd.

thanks for the replies! borax-thanks ill check it out

[jman98]

What you need to do is create what is called an "Easter Egg" in the DVD field. I can't help you to do that as I have no idea how it's done. borax's suggestions are a good start though.

Note that it is possible to have hardware and software DVD players that ignore PUOs. I have an old Apex DVD player that I added modded firmware to and it ignored PUOs. Some software players such as VLC may do so. And it's trivial to rip a DVD and remove PUOs (rippers contain an option to remove them).

[borax]

There are some tricks to hide such content...
One way is to add your bonus track as a menu (usually only the menu domains like title menu, root menu, audio menu...) are directly accessible with 'simply right clicking (or its equivalent)', but not their submenus. Using a menu as 'title' has some limitations (no selectable audio or subtitles and no chapters), but for an "Easter Egg" this should be acceptable. In order to 'obfuscate' the "Easter Egg" content even more, add several more animated menus with just some minutes of blank black video (which has only a very small file size). This way even if someone plays the menu vob file directly, only a black screen is visible (you would need to scroll and search the "Easter Egg" within the blank video surrounding) which is probably very boring

[Bjs]

Get a copy of cloverfield and digest the vm commands used in connection to the included "easter eggs"

Some info > http://www.dvdizzy.com/cloverfield.html, come down to Easter Eggs

Others with easter eggs and how their accessed > http://www.itsonlyamovie.co.uk/EASTEREGGSPAGE.htm

[extent]

thanks everyone. I never thought about trying a bonus menu linking to extra content- ill play about to see what i like. I dont think that link is working for cloverfield, but ill do a search. I still think "easter egg" is not the best standard name the media shouldve used for bonus movie content.. athough im still trying to think of a better more related media alternative! Lol. Thanks for the suggestions!