VCD/SVCD Advanced Menu Creation

[Zeliard586]

Hi,
What I'd like to do is make a multi-layered menu system on a vcd or svcd. I created some mpeg stills with thumbnail pictures of each music video, 6 per still, and numbered 1-6. I'd like to be able to have it so that when the svcd is put in the player it brings up the first mpeg still as a menu and from there the number buttons 1-6 could be pressed, it'd play the music video and return to that menu, and if the previous, next or another number key such as 7 for previous and 8 for next is pressed it'd go to the second mpeg still which would be used for menu two, displaying the next 6 videos that could be selected via the remote as previously done, and so on for the last mpeg still/menu. If the clips have to be renumbered 1-18 so as not to confuse number 6 on menu two as number 6 on menu 1 that's not a problem at all. I *think* it can be done using VCD Composer (gui version of VCD Imager) but am unsure how. The ability to fast forward/rewind through the clips would be nice as well, I downloaded a .dat file that's supposed to let you do this with svcds...but I forgot which program uses it. ^_^ Any help you can give with creating these nested menus (a la dvd menus except w/o the arrow selection ability) would be appreciated. It seems to be quite easily done with win on cd and adobe premier from what I've seen while browsing, but currently I don't have the extra $ to buy win on cd power edition (why isn't this sold in the U.S.?), much less the way expensive premier. :(

[Zeliard586]

Hmm, actually, after becoming a bit more familiar with VCD Imager program (thanks to reading the links that it said to read in the first place in the authoring section ^_^) I've figured out how to make the menus using previous & next instead of the 1-6 on each page, with 1,2 & 3 being the menu buttons instead of playing the videos, as this seems to be about the only way to do it, and that's alright, that'll work. I'd still like a way to use the number buttons, so if anyone knows how please let me know. :)

[MarcosJP]

Hello there!
Me too am trying to create cool menus for my SVCDs. TSCV seems to me a great tool. You can create still/motion menus with audio and stuff and should be able to use the number buttons as well. Too bad I did not succeed so far. I can create the chapters, I can create the menus but cannot create the SVCD with all this working. Need some clearer tutorials..
Good luck!
Marcos.

[Zeliard586]

Thanks Marcos, good luck to you too. :)
I haven't burned the svcd yet (still encoding video with TMpeg ^_^) but if it works I'll let ya know how I got it, once understood VCD Composer (or VCD Imager, VCD composer is just a gui form of Imager, but easier to use somewhat) is pretty easy to use, and buttons can be used on it, but unfortunately it looks like only the menus can be selected using the number buttons, and since I don't want a ton of menus with just one clip each and a horrid looking interface I'll have to go with next and previous. Although, actually, it seems that I could make a single menu that shows a lot of smaller thumbnails and then they could be selected using the numbers AND prev/next/return, but I'd have to have 1 menu per clip...possibly by setting the sub-menu display time to 0 sec it would play just as if the mpegs themselves were being selected, but I haven't tried that yet. Will let ya know if I do. :) Sorry if I made this sound more convoluted than it really is, I'm bad about that. ^_^