Nero Video has hard limit on number of menu entries

[ravenswd]

Hi. Making a DVD for friends and family - for Christmas - and I need some help. Yes, I know it's Dec 23rd and I probably won't get an answer in time.

I'm using Nero -- I'm not sure which version. It says "Nero Platinum 2018" on the main menu screen and when I go into the DVD authoring section it just says "Nero Video". So, whatever version "2018" would be.

I'm creating my own menus, using their "Advanced Editing" feature.

The problem is, Nero has a hard limit of 15 menu items. I'm trying to make a DVD with 18 videos on it.

I've thought of 3 possible solutions to this problem:

1) Some hidden setting somewhere which will cause Nero to allow more than 15 items on the menu.

2) Some third-party software that can edit a saved Nero file.

3) Allow Nero to author the disk (create the VIDEO_TS folder), and then use some third-party tool to modify or re-create the menu after the fact.

The problem is that I don't know how to do any of these things, so any help would be appreciated.

In the meantime, my workaround is going to be to create two menus with 9 items each on them. I'd rather try one of the methods above, if any of them are possible.

Also, I'd rather not start over and re-author the entire DVD from scratch. I've already done a lot of work on it. If none of the 3 things above are feasible, I'm doing the workaround.

For the future: Is anyone familiar with versions of Nero released after 2018? Has the limit been increased? I don't want to spend a lot of money on a new version of Nero unless I know for certain it's going to help me.

Thank you all in advance for your help.

[sageone]

This is an easy one to answer as I use Nero Video when I don't feel like "re-inventing the wheel" for a simple DVD project.

In Nero Video, simply modify one of the installed templates then edit which button (or menu item) points to which video.


To understand how it works:

(1) Create a dvd project and import four separate videos (you can also do it with a single video with defined chapter points).
(2) Select a Menu template that can only fit three items (ie videos) on a single page. You will then get two menu pages: MainMenu which has three items, MainMenu2 which has one item.
(3) Click the Customize tab and tick the Advanced checkbox to modify the selected template.
(4) Click on MainMenu2 to make it active then highlight (by clicking on it) the menu item graphic. Right-click on it and cut and paste it into MainMenu. You can then drag the items to arrange them according to your layout preferences.
(5) Right-click on MainMenu2 and delete it.
(6) You now have four menu items on a single page where before it could only accomodate three.
(7) Now, highlight each menu item in turn and double-check that each is linked to the correct video and button number.
(8) That covers the basic structure and function of the dvd. There are other optional aesthetic settings that you can experiment with but I won't cover here.
(9) Preview the dvd and test the button controls on the virtual remote control.
(10) Burn the dvd project to a Nero disc image file (.nrg). Afterwards, load the nrg disc image in a virtual dvd drive (eg Daemon Tools Lite) and test it again. If you are happy with it then proceed to burn it to an actual DVD disc using Nero Burning Rom. When burning a disc, a slow and steady write speed is best.

[sageone]

I forgot to add:

When editing the menu item layout, you can highlight and drag multiple items by using the <control> or <shift> keyboard keys - the same as how the Windows OS works.

[DB83]

There is an even easier answer.


A 16:9 dvd has a limit of IIRC of 18 buttons. Buttons are the critical factor since some will be allocated to navigation ie 'Previous Menu', 'Next Menu' and 'Play All'


So 15 is a logical limitation for actual selections.


4:3 dvd has a higher limit which, if memory serves, is 24 buttons.

[ravenswd]

So you're saying that this isn't a Nero limit, it's a DVD-standard limit? OK, then there's no way around it. Thank you.

[DB83]

Yes. That's it.


The 'work around' as mentioned is to have more than one menu page.