What is the best program to burn a VCD with a MENU

[ukcalibrauk]

The NERO Menu creator is rubbish it selects the first frame for the thumbnail which often is rubbish or black etc......

There must be something better

[twodogs]

There's a few options, but why not give TSCV a go.
http://www.vcdhelp.com/sefy/?id=chapters1.html Step 3e

or for the full guide http://www.vcdhelp.com/sefy/

[vitualis]

I don't think that TSCV actually correctly makes the menu still images.

I suggest that you use VCDEasy / VCDImager:
http://www.vcdeasy.org

Regards.

[ghoster]

sonic my dvd is prob the eaiest. you can still any pic you want for a menu...........

[LeveL_42]

If you want to be able to control EVERYTHING, vcdeasy is the most powerful yet easy to use program. Only drawback is you have to make your (moving) menu's by yourself.
I personaly use ULEAD DVD Workshop (IN DVD MODE !!!!) to create moving menu's and convert the files it creates to mpeg-1 and use these as menu's. With VCDeasy you have full control over every possible VCD feature. You find it at www.vcdeasy.org[/url]

[vitualis]

Actually, you don't have control over everything with VCDEasy. This may astonish those who find VCDEasy providing much more control over say Nero and Easy CD Creator, and indeed, VCDEasy is fantastic for simple VCDs, and is highly recommended.

For ultimate control and flexibility, and the ability to custom your S/VCD project as you see fit, nothing beats manual authoring of the XML file with a text editor and using VCDImager...

http://www.michaeltam.com

Regards.

[adam]

I've found the best combination is to use both VCDEasy and manual xml scripting. Actually, there have only been a handful of times where VCDEasy couldn't do everything I needed. In those instances I simply did the bulk of the authoring in it and used it to create the xml, which I than modified by hand.

The only things I really need manual xml scripting for are adding hotspots, which I don't do too often.

[vitualis]

I suppose it depends what you are used to...

I personally find the "machine-made" XML very difficult to read and edit and for complex projects, I find the GUI cumbersome and difficult to bugfix. Since I was one of the earlier users of VCDImager 0.7.x in the "pre-GUI" era, I simply find manual authoring of the XML, with a "human-friendly" naming schema easier to use.

In any case, as VCDEasy doesn't yet have the facility to save and load projects, anything that needs to be made over more than one sitting is rather difficult.

I think I kind of do the opposite to what you do adam. I edit the bulk of the XML by hand and use VCDEasy to automate some tasks (e.g., creating the entrypoint point times and code from ChaperXtractor info and creation of the filesystem code). Since I save the original XML files from all my projects, I can quickly and very efficiently simply canabalise old code (and since I use a consistent naming scheme, usually only minor editing is required).

However, as before, VCDEasy is a fantastic proggy and highly recommended for beginners and power users alike!

Regards.

[LeveL_42]

Actually, you don't have control over everything with VCDEasy. This may astonish those who find VCDEasy providing much more control over say Nero and Easy CD Creator, and indeed, VCDEasy is fantastic for simple VCDs, and is highly recommended.

For ultimate control and flexibility, and the ability to custom your S/VCD project as you see fit, nothing beats manual authoring of the XML file with a text editor and using VCDImager...

http://www.michaeltam.com

Regards.

This indeed surprises me. So can you tell me what more can you do by manual editting the XML file ? I felt that everything that makes sense and is needed was in VCDeasy. I agree with you about the fact that I miss a save/load option in VCDeasy.

By the way, VCDeasy inserts (optionaly) comments in the XML it produces that are very easy to read and understand. This way I also did some fine tuning on projects I dint't want to manualy enter again in VCDeasy.

I wished there was a comparable tool for DVD creation since I now have a DVD-recorder and will be making DVD's mainly now....

[vitualis]

For example, as what adam stated: hotspots.

Also, a number of features are easier to design manually rather than using VCDEasy. It's hard for me to describe, but complex menus systems (e.g., with bridging animations), multidefault menus, and a few other things are easier to make manually.

Another thing is that VCDEasy chooses to do things "a particular way" by default. Now, that's okay, but if you don't want it working in that default way, it's a hassle changing everything from the VCDEasy default.

As for VCDEasy made XML, it is really quite hard to read (at least when compared to my manually made ones). For example, all the segment items are named numerically by numbers. If you have a LOT of segment items, it kind of gets confusing. On the other hand, if I make the XML manually, I can intellegently name the segment-items (e.g., seg-mainmenu for the main menu image and seg-ss1 for the first scene select image, etc.). The comments help, but I find them cumbersome at the same time (e.g., if I manually edit something by doing some copy and pasting, the comments are usually no longer context appropriate and then need to be deleted).

Don't get me wrong, VCDEasy is a great piece of software. However, as I've have gotten used to authoring most of the XML manually, I think that I can quite confidently say that nothing beats authoring the XML manually. For example, the demo VCD that is available at http://www.vcdimager.org could never have made with VCDEasy.

Regards.

[Steve4467]

Nero does allow you to select a different thumbnail for menu creation.I haven't used it for a while as I now use DVD Movie Factory.I think that when you have your files ready to burn double click the mpeg and click on menu, you can then drag the timeline to where you want the thumbnail.Hope this helps.

[adam]

Yes my two biggest gripes out VCDEasy are the lack of a save feature, though I hear this is coming, and the naming of the files. You often do have to look at the item for a few secs to determine exactly what it is but any time lost is made up with the [...] button in my opinion. I love that option. Hopefully a naming override option will be implemented.

Anyway, Vitualis I was wondering if you knew of any way to script an endpoint of sorts in XML. I have a dvd where the extra scenes are actually in the movie, but you can also go through and select them invidividually via the menu. I would like to jump from x time to y time within a single track and then return to z menu. It wouldn't need to be seamless, like if you used endpoints for chapters, but my guess is that there is no way to do this. The reason I though it might be possible, however, is because I-Author has an endpoint option which, for the most part, works as I described. Thanks.

[ukcalibrauk]

WOW 8) 8) 8)
So much discussion........

I will try Movie factory....It looks like it has flexibility and ease of use....

It's been interesting reading all the comments

Thanks everyone

[FoxGarrison]

Vitualis could you explain more about Hotspots. How are they written in the XML and what do I need to do for VCDEasy to pick them up?

Also...does this mean that I can move my cursor on my screen with the directional buttons so the hotspots are highlighted?

Thanks

[vitualis]

Anyway, Vitualis I was wondering if you knew of any way to script an endpoint of sorts in XML.

Yes, though the feature is not supported perfectly with all stand-alone players (especially when combined with entrypoints) so don't be surprised if it doesn't work properly.

You will need to make a <playlist>, use the relevant entrypoint as the <play-item> and then set a <playtime>. By default, playtime = 0 which means "play to the end". However, set it as any other number (in seconds), then it should play for that amount of time. For example, if a playtime setting of 60 is set, then it will play the <play-item> for 60 seconds, and then automatically go to whatever is referenced in <next>.

Thus, you are not setting an "endpoint" as such, by rather setting how long the <playlist> will play the <play-item> for. Either way, same result.

Regards.

[vitualis]

Vitualis could you explain more about Hotspots. How are they written in the XML and what do I need to do for VCDEasy to pick them up?

I personally don't use hotspots at all, so someone else can probably give you more detail. However, to author them manually, for each <select> option, you can additionally set co-ordinates for a rectangle that the "hotspot" occupies (in terms of x1, y1, x2, y2). The range of x and y are from 0 to 255 . (0,0) = top left hand corner of the screen (255,255) = bottom right hand corner.

Also...does this mean that I can move my cursor on my screen with the directional buttons so the hotspots are highlighted?

Only for CD-i players. They are not supported in either stand-alone DVD players or stand-alone VCD players.

Some software players support hotspots too.

Regards.

[adam]

Thanks alot Vitualis, that definitely helps. I'll see how well my dvd player supports it but it already cuts off the end of tracks so I'm guessing its going to be alot of trial and error to get the time right.

As for hotspots...yes they will essentially work just like a dvd does. I've never used a cdi player, but I have seen one. It has some pretty elaborate controls and I assume you can scroll through the buttons just like on a DVD. I have made some hotspots in VCDs that worked in WinDVD. You just click on the button and it takes you wherever you tell it to. If you have video pack 4.0 then it has some incredible hotspot features. You can really do alot, considering the format. You can animate the buttons when you click on them or when you hover over them and you can add sounds too I believe, its been a while since I used it.

I don't use hotspots very often but I do if I think I might be playing the movie on a software player because alot of the menu's I use will not work on a software player. For instance if you have a moving menu you have to use the # keys to navigate and software players don't have this option. You can always just manually select the tracks but I prefer to just stick a hotspot over each button instead.

[vitualis]

I've never seen a CD-i player in action, but I think that it uses a cursor device (i.e., like the mouse arrow) to select the hotspots.

Regards.

[FoxGarrison]

Thanks alot for your help, vitualis, I really appreciate it!

[PlaiBoi]

Vitualis, or anyone else, What do you use to make your "motion menus" for use with VCDEasy or writing your own xml? I want to be able to make motion menus, but dont know how to make the mpeg file itself. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[Metallo]

Hi,

I must say that the only thing I do not really like in VCDEasy is that when it comes to do slideshows with still pictures, you are obliged to accept the aspect ratio resulting out of the conversion from jpg in mpeg.
I mean, the aspect ratio correction is possibly the proper thing to do if you want to see correctly the picture but...visually I like more when the correction is not applied because the picture takes the whole screen and it is visually much more effective than if you see it cropped or simply striped.
This is a limit for me also because you only see the difference from a corrected and non corrected picture only if you really pay attention and you know the subject shown.

For the rest, I agree with Vitualis, VCDEasy is a great tool and even more, when they will enable people to create menus through GUI will be perfect.
I find the instructions to author xml targeted more for "technical" people than ordinary users, the glossary definitions sometimes, in critical points need to be more at ground level in order to make things easier.

As far as other softwares are concerned, I see people writing enthusiastically of them, say Ulead DVD Picture Show for example, but also other well known softwares.
I tell you, the quality of their still image is 352 x 288 (PAL) which is very bad for a still image, in fact VCD 2.0 can support high resolution of 704 x 576 (PAL) for them and when you test their demos you understand that this is not the right tool for still pictures.
The only two applications that really give you that quality, among the ones I have tested are: VCDEasy and Nero.
I have not tried WinOnCD 5 PE yet, does anybody know by the way?
They do not offer a demo and to me this is very bad.

Looking forward to read your comments (do not hate me for being so direct, please!).

Alex

[LeveL_42]

I only use WinOnCD5 for photo VCD's. It's great, easy to use. You can include background music AND the disc autoplays on a PC (via HTML files) as well as a DVD player so basicaly you throw it in a machine and it works, I like that.

You can include titles and frames etc.

It creates true still image VCD's so high resolutions.
The other software packages use the lower resolution only because people want to see fancy transistions between the pictures.

I prefer good quality still pictures, don't care for fancy transistions....

[vitualis]

Vitualis, or anyone else, What do you use to make your "motion menus" for use with VCDEasy or writing your own xml? I want to be able to make motion menus, but dont know how to make the mpeg file itself. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

If I'm making it from a DVD rip, I extract the original video sequence with DVD2AVI. For some linear video editing I'll use VirtualDub. For non-linear stuff, I use Adobe Premiere.

If I'm making my own motion menus, I generally use Adobe Premiere.

As for writing XML, I use Notepad and WordPad!

@ Metallo: VCDEasy can't do everything so if you want to use it to encode your stills, just target your bitmaps before hand. If you want the picture to completely fill the screen regardless of aspect ratio, then create a bitmap of the appropriate size (e.g., 704x480/576) and then use VCDEasy but with zero cropping/overcan adjustment and have it NOT correct for aspect ratio.

@ LeveL_42: VCDEasy creates high resolution still as well, and is probably the only easily available freeware encoder (based on MJPEGTools).

Regards.

Regards.

[Metallo]

Michael,

I just wanted to say thank you.

Following your instructions I managed to produce a nice VCD Photo album which includes a Menu with 4 choices.
The only thing which I want to ask you now is to know what shall I change in XML in order to have the possibility to choose a specific picture no. while watching one of the choices.

Right now, I do enter the choice, say choice no.1 and the sequence of still pictures realted to that choice begins to show.
I 'd like to be able to press "pause" and enter the number of the picture I want to see (of course still internally to that choice), say no.87.
Unfortunatly, for a reason to me unknown, the DVD remote control only accepts 1 digit and not the composition of two digits, therefore if I want to see picture no. 87 I am not allowed because the remote control accepts only the 8 or the 7 (in this case) and in addition doesn't work, meaning that it doesn't show picture 8 or 7.

Can you help?

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a successful 2003.

Regards
Alex

[PlaiBoi]

Check your remote and look for a button that says "10+". Most remotes should have this button, so you can enter double digit numbers.

[vitualis]

As what Plaiboi stated.

Most DVD players will offer some mechanism of entering double digits. For example, on my stand-alone DVD player, you have to press an "enter" button after the number so to enter "1" you have to press (1) + (enter). To enter "15" you have to press (1) + (5) + (enter).

On my VCD player, it has the 10+ button. So similarly, to enter "15", you press (10+) + (5).

As to what you want, you can of course do this! Since each high resolution still displayed is/can be a menu as well, you can author it so that it has many choices.

That is, use the <select ref="something"> tags in each one so that pressing a number will go to the appropriate image.

You can have a maximum of 99 choices in a menu.

Regards.