DVDLab defective?

[bek]

I have authored my first DVDLab DVD. It's from VOBs taken from a DVD recorder. Everything is perfect, except that the chapter buttons don't work! When I click on a button that is linked to a chapter, I consistently go to the beginning of the movie.

I've talked Oscar, the creator of the program, and he suggested clicking "Frame Index Chapters" (don't ask me what that does, but that didn't help.

I have the latest version. This should be a simple matter. I've worked on this for close to 2 days--I can't believe it's this troublesome.

Anyone else experienced this before?

Thanks,
Brian

[andkiich]

Nope, never had this problem, it's a new one to me. I use DVD-Lab all the time.

[bek]

Thanks for the response!

Do you import from VOB then add chapters? That's what I'm doing.

[racer-x]

When you added the buttons in the menu that you want to like to the chapters, did you right-click the buttons then select - link > movie > chapter?

Unless you set the links, they won't work. I use DVD-Lab all the time and it works perfectly.

[bek]

Yeah, sure did. And when I go back and look, the link is still there. When I click on the button itself, I get red letters below it telling me what it's linked to, like this: Movie 1 (Ch:5)

Since you use it a lot, can you answer 2 questions for me?

1. When I preview the menu with "Follow Links" on, it opens my "Movie1" window. The "red line" guide is always sitting at the very beginning of the movie. If it were working right, it would probably be sitting on the correct chapter, right?

2. On the "Button Link" in the property box, if I have a button selected and am looking at its properties, should it have a check mark beside the chapter that button is for? Mine never shows a check mark--seems like in this area, it should tell us which chapter that button is for.

[racer-x]

Question 1:
I never preview with "Follow Links", so I don't know. I alway compile with dummy files when I want to preview my Menus. It only take a couple of seconds to compile, then I preview in WMP Classic or PowerDVD.

Question 2:
The button links in the property box aren't selected because you can change them at any time.

I'll admit that I've never authored using Vobs, I only use my material.

[bek]

Hmmm... when I run PowerDVD, it never lets me see the menu. It just takes right off and starts showing the movie.

Is that a setting somewhere?

[racer-x]

Hit - Contol+O then select - "Open DVD file on hard disk" then navagate to the VIDEO_TS folder that DVD_Lab created and open the first IFO file.

[bek]

That's a nice feature--I didn't know it could do that. I am used to just double clicking on whatever file I wanted to run.

Thanks for the tip, racer-x.

[kmmoore]

I have the same problem that Bek is/was having.

Basically, I record TV shows onto my standalone DVD recorder, export the VOB file to my HD, then import it to a single movie in DVD-Lab (v1.31)

I then link the main menu button to the movie start, then add multiple chapters to the movie, all of which show in the timeline. I don't really want menu links to these, but I want my standalone DVD player to skip to these chapter points when I use the Next button on the DVD player (that's what happens with a normal DVD when I play it), so I don't link anything to these chapter points.

Next, I compile the DVD and burn it.

The DVD plays perfectly, menu is there, plays the movie, but using the next button on the DVD player has very erratic results. It will either simply go to the start of the movie, or it will jump to a point in the movie, but not where I set the chapter point.

It is getting very frustrating as I have been trying this for ages. Has anyone got any ideas as to how I can get the chapter points to work properly with a standalone DVD player.

Thanks,
Kevin.

[bek]

I have the same problem that Bek is/was having.

Kevin,

I couldn't make it work right, but there is a way around it! Just make sure to demultiplex your VOBs when you import them, and that fixes the problem!

Nobody seemed to know the answer to my problem, not even Ocsar, the guy who wrote DVDLab. That's the reason I will not be registering it. He never even responded to my last email.

Let me know how it goes!

-Brian

[FOO]

All you have to do is look at the compiled movie with Ifoedit to
find out that DVDlab puts insane values in ifos. I did one where there
were about 30 chapters. The first 10 were oK then one with a
10 digit play time , and the rest were 0.
I have it narrowed down to timestamps. I think demuxing may
reset those.

[JimJohnD]

I have been a registered user of DVDLab for awhile now. It's really a great program. The pro version looks like it will be a real killer app for the price.

As to your problem with the VOB file. Load your project and select the VOB movie. In the preview window check and see what the timecode looks like. Does it start at 00:00:00? If not select the TOOLS menu and then select REWRITE GOP TIMECODE. This should reset the timecode in the movie. ReCompile your project. Give it a try in something like PowerDVD and see if your chapter points work.

Good Luck...

[kmmoore]

I have the same problem that Bek is/was having.

Kevin,

I couldn't make it work right, but there is a way around it! Just make sure to demultiplex your VOBs when you import them, and that fixes the problem!

Let me know how it goes!

-Brian

Thanks for the advice Bek. I didn't consider de-muxing the VOB file first. I thought, VOB file, must be OK. I shall give that a go, hopefully that will sort things out.

I know what you mean regards Oscar. I e-mailed him a couple of weeks ago asking about this problem, but never had a reply back.

Thanks again,
Kevin.

[kmmoore]

As to your problem with the VOB file. Load your project and select the VOB movie. In the preview window check and see what the timecode looks like. Does it start at 00:00:00? If not select the TOOLS menu and then select REWRITE GOP TIMECODE. This should reset the timecode in the movie. ReCompile your project. Give it a try in something like PowerDVD and see if your chapter points work.

Good Luck...

That's something else for me to try. Thanks. Lots of really helpful replies today. Much appreciated guys.

Kevin.

[bek]

As to your problem with the VOB file. Load your project and select the VOB movie. In the preview window check and see what the timecode looks like. Does it start at 00:00:00? If not select the TOOLS menu and then select REWRITE GOP TIMECODE. This should reset the timecode in the movie. ReCompile your project. Give it a try in something like PowerDVD and see if your chapter points work.

Good Luck...

That's something else for me to try. Thanks. Lots of really helpful replies today. Much appreciated guys.

Kevin.

At Oscar's request, I tried it back when I was struggling with the same problem. Didn't work for me.

-Brian