Are you a DVD genius? Solve this puzzle.

[simkiss]

Okay, here's the DVD puzzle. Can you solve it?

WORKING EXAMPLE:
SVCD disc with 80 songs, a still image to accompany each song which remains on the screen for the duration of the song.

Format PRO: the SEGMENT folder. It allows for still images, while not wasting disc space from creating MPEG movies of the still image files.
Format CON: the 700MB limit
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NON-WORKING EXAMPLE:
DVD disc with 500 songs. Cannot use still images. Software (VideoPack 5 and others) creates a VOB file for the still image, thus rendering it a 30 fps video with the same image for every frame. This is a total waste of disc space. A 250KB still file becomes a 100MB video file.

Format PRO: Space, ovbviously
Format CON: Still image support?
---------------

POSSIBILITIES:
1. DVD does support still images as stills but no one knows how to do it

(myself obviously included).

2. It could work somehow if you could play a 1 second VOB file continuously repeating until the attached song completes.

3. There's also the possibility (in my mind) that the DVD menu structure can use still images or use VOB files whose audio segment is significantly longer than the video segment without getting a blank screen once the video segment has completed.

4. The most interesting theory I've thought of yet, but cannot test because my DVD-R is on a 4-week backorder list is the following: What's the possibility of burning an SVCD on a blank DVD? Would a DVD player read the file structure as an SVCD? Essentially, is it the volume, the file structure, or both that determines how the DVD player reads the disc.

5. And finally, I'm hoping for some expert advice that will render my preceding 4 possibilities a waste of time and that someone will save the day with a simpler way to accomplish this goal.

I thank you for your time in advance and I appreciate your assistance.
I'm not sure how much of a pain this puzzle is, but hopefully someone's
got the noggin to solve it.

Thanks a million.

[Romper]

I'm at work so I can't look at the DVD in question.

I have a commercial DVD Single (Depeche Mode - Freelove), which has a live version of the song as a video, and two other live songs as audio only, what appears on my Pioneer DV535 Display when I play the audio only tracks is MENU, although there is a still picture on screen for those songs.

Also, I have never authored a DVD before so I could be leading you up the garden path so to speak, this was just to let you know what was done on a commercial disc.

Romper

[simkiss]

Let me know what you find. Thank you.
simkiss@ureach.com

[Cornucopia]

Here's my take on it-

1. DVD does support still images as stills but no one knows how to do it

Some of us do.

2. It could work somehow if you could play a 1 second VOB file continuously repeating until the attached song completes.

You can, but there's a catch...

The DVD-Video spec (as i know it) supports DVD/MPEG stills two separate ways-
1. As a timed still, with or without audio, or
2. As a "timeless" still-no audio allowed.

By the way, the DVD-Audio spec supports a 3rd type of DVD still dubbed "audio-still-video". This is cool, cuz you can have audio running seamlessly under stills-yet still be able to skip backward and forward in a series of stills! (it puts them in a buffer)

If you have the right software, using #1, you could set the still timing to be the exact length of the audio stream (read-without it becoming a "video" file). However, most of the consumer junk out there now-MyDVD/DVDit/SpruceUp/Videopack5/Ulead, etc. isn't gonna cut the mustard. To do it right ya gotta have something more POWERFUL. (Sonic ReelDVD/Creator/Scenarist/SpruceMaestro/Virtuoso/AppleDVDStudioPRo)

3. There's also the possibility (in my mind) that the DVD menu structure can use still images or use VOB files whose audio segment is significantly longer than the video segment without getting a blank screen once the video segment has completed.

I would be money that this "feature" is player dependent, so I wouldn't put my hopes in doing it that way.

4. The most interesting theory I've thought of yet, but cannot test because my DVD-R is on a 4-week backorder list is the following: What's the possibility of burning an SVCD on a blank DVD?

Nope. Not even possible. ALL DVD material (not counting incremental backups) gets recorded as a single track UDF (or UDF bridge) data file system. To even possibly play in a set-top, it would have to conform to the DVD-Video spec or the DVD-audio spec (or both). SVCD requires CDI/ISO9660 bridge Mixed Mode with most likely more than one track and expecting things to be in exact LBA places. Even more, (S)VCD tracks want are recorded to 2324-byte/sector increments, and DVD (non-CSS)stuff is recorded to 2048-byte/sector.

If you just want to take extant (S)VCD material and make a DVD out of it, there are already threads and a guide here that'll help you do just that.

re: #5, I don't see why you don't like your original (S)VCD with the stills/audio in segment area. So what you can only use 658 MB. That's still ALOT of stills/MP2's!

Don't know if I gave you the answer you wanted to hear.

Scott

[simkiss]

I apologize for writing "no one knows how to do it." What I should have written is that no one to date has shown they know how to do it.

Thank you for your response. It was like being told the exact location where the treasure was buried when I wasn't sure it existed in the first place.

Now's the hard part... getting there and digging it up.

I hope you don't mind, but as you might imagine, I've got another question. First off, I appreciate your taking the time to write such a thorough response. To preserve your time though, I'll ease off the thanks and cut to the chase...

Do you know where I could go to read up on how to do the "timed still with audio" ??

The SVCDs are great with the 80 songs. I agree with your point. The only drawback is that menu navigation is so tedious on an SVCD compared to a DVD menu where you can highlight and click. I don't have numbers on my remote so I have to browse through 79 tracks to get to song 80 on an SVCD. On top of that, I'm using these SVCDs in my car. I've got a DVD player in my car which I've wired to use the navigation system's screen as a TV. It's pretty cool, but again, too tedious--even a bit dangerous while driving.

In addition, increasing the capacity of the disc 7 fold isn't such a bad thing either. To your point though, I'd be happy with 80 songs if the menus weren't so damn user-unfriendly.

Thanks again. You've been a great help already.

Happy Tuesday.

simkiss@ureach.com