VCD menu problem

[mja7]

Hi all. I have made a VCD with one mpeg file, broken into chapters and with 3 pages of menus with VCDeasy. I have set the menus up so that "next" should go to the next menu page and "play" (default) starts the movie. When the VCD is played in my Apex AD-3201, the first menu page shows up, but the "next" and "play" buttons do nothing, and the movie can only be played by selecting a number of a chapter. I got the mpeg stills for the menus by making them with Ulead dvd movie factory (easy with the templates) and taking the mpg stills from that using isobuster. The menu page seems to "play" for two seconds and then stop. when the movie is playing, the "next" and "previous" buttons work as they should. My questions:

Is this a problem with the menu or the DVD player?

Does the menu have to play for a longer duration? if so, how can i do this with an mpeg still in vcdeasy?

am I missing something obvious?

I have not seen this covered in any of the guides or in searches of the forum. Thanks in advance!
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[andkiich]

I think that is just the way that VCDs work. Not familiar with the program you are using, but I've created simple menus with Nero and in order to pick a movieto play or chapter, I had to press the number for that chapter. Play by itself did not work.

[pbhalerao]

Hi all. I have made a VCD with one mpeg file, broken into chapters and with 3 pages of menus with VCDeasy. I have set the menus up so that "next" should go to the next menu page and "play" (default) starts the movie. When the VCD is played in my Apex AD-3201, the first menu page shows up, but the "next" and "play" buttons do nothing, and the movie can only be played by selecting a number of a chapter.

Hmmm. I had the same problem the first time with VCDEasy. As it turned out, I had not set the interactivity properly in the "Interactivity" tab. The next time the VCD played properly.

Before burning, try creating a bin/cue image. Do not close VCDEasy as VCDEasy can't save the project. Use 'Daemon Tools' to load the image as a virtual drive. Use a sofware VCD player such as WinDVD or PowerDVD to play and test the image. For problems, go back to VCDEasy and "tweak" the interactivity settings.

I got the mpeg stills for the menus by making them with Ulead dvd movie factory (easy with the templates) and taking the mpg stills from that using isobuster. The menu page seems to "play" for two seconds and then stop. when the movie is playing, the "next" and "previous" buttons work as they should. My questions:

Is this a problem with the menu or the DVD player?

Does the menu have to play for a longer duration? if so, how can i do this with an mpeg still in vcdeasy?

am I missing something obvious?

I have not seen this covered in any of the guides or in searches of the forum. Thanks in advance!

Your DVD player is fine. Again there is problem with 'interactivity'. I author as follows:

1. The first menu page, I have an MPEG still with the options such as:
   
   1. Play movie.
   2. Scene Selections
   
   In this MPEG still, the option 1 is highlighted in different colour.
   
   The interactivity and navigation for this page is:
   
   - Wait for 15 seconds and then "play the first chapter of the main MPEG", i.e., start the movie.
   - Override default numeric keys. Key '1' does same as above.
   - Key '2' goes to the MPEG still that shows the first page of the scenes' menus
   - 'Next' button goes to the next MPEG still that shows 'Play movie' in the default colour and 'Scene Selections' in the highlighted colour.
   - 'Prev' button is disabled.
   - 'Default' and 'Play' buttons do the same action: "play the first chapter of the main MPEG"
   
2. The second menu page, shows the same as the first menu page with option 2, highlighted.
   
   The interactivity and navigation for this page is:
   
   - Wait infinite.
   - Override default numeric keys. Key '1' "plays the first chapter of the main MPEG", i.e. starts the movie.
   - Key '2' goes to the MPEG still that shows the first page of the scenes' menus
   - 'Next' button - same as key '2'
   - 'Prev' button - go to previous screen.
   - 'Default' and 'Play' buttons do the same action as key '2'.
   
3. The next few are the MPEG stills of the menu pages - as manay as created for the VCD.
   
   The interactivity and navigation for ALL these pages is:
   
   - Wait infinite.
   - Override default numeric keys. Key '1' "plays the first chapter", key '2' the second chapter, and so on ...
   - Key '2' goes to the MPEG still that shows the first page of the scenes' menus
   - 'Next' button - go to the next MPEG still of the chapters' menu.
   - 'Prev' button - go to previous screen.
   - 'Default' and 'Play' buttons - play the first chapter displayed in the menu, e.g. if the screen shows four chapters and the first chapter in the MPEG still chapter 9, then play chapter 9.
   
4. I usually begin the VCD with an intro such as a Dolby Digital trailer (for DVD rips).

The above has never failed for me. The only problem that I still face is 'Chapter X-Tractor' entry points do not match the MPG entry points. I have to manually choose the entry points in VCDEasy.

Regards,