Background audio for menus not playing (using TMPGEnc Author

[StevenT]

So far in my trials of different authoring programs, I like the simplicity of TMPGEnc Author. However, I sure wish it offered the capability to easily make a menu (still menu, not motion) that had background music. To get a menu comprising a still picture and a short audio clip, I followed an earlier post on this forum and used dvd-lab to create a short mpeg (comprising the jpg image and an audio clip). When I play that mpeg back on my computer, it works fine, displaying a still picture with a short clip of accompanying music. I then use that mpeg as the background for the main menu created in TMPGEnc Author. I have motion menus activated, and have indicated that the audio of the mpeg should be used as the background music in the menu. However, upon creating a dvd folder (video_ts and audio_ts) and playing the video_ts file, I only get the still picture - No Audio. Simiarly, creating a disc using TMPGEnc results in a main menu with a still image but no audio?

What am I doing wrong?

I think the inability to easily create still menus with background audio is a fatal flaw for TMPGEnc author. I know it can supposedly be done by creating and using an mpeg, but that means I need to have another authoring program just to create that, which seems to defeat the purpose of using TMPGEnc.

[falberni]

It seems like you have done all the right things. Maybe you try this see if the audio plays while still editing the menu:

1. Open you project file
2. Click on the Creat Menu button at the top.
3. Click on the Edit button at the bottom.
4. From the pop up menu click on "Specify Background Image"
5. Now a player viewing window should pop up. Click on the play button. If your mpg has audio, you should be able to hear it now.

Good luck.

[MavDVDR]

I followed an earlier post on this forum and used dvd-lab to create a short mpeg (comprising the jpg image and an audio clip). When I play that mpeg back on my computer, it works fine, displaying a still picture with a short clip of accompanying music. I then use that mpeg as the background for the main menu created in TMPGEnc Author. I have motion menus activated, and have indicated that the audio of the mpeg should be used as the background music in the menu. However, upon creating a dvd folder (video_ts and audio_ts) and playing the video_ts file, I only get the still picture - No Audio. Simiarly, creating a disc using TMPGEnc results in a main menu with a still image but no audio? What am I doing wrong?

Try creating the short (background) mpeg with TMPGEnc and make sure to set the audio bitrate to 224 kb/s. At other bitrates, you can sometimes get the "no audio" result.
Also, the length (in seconds) you set for the Motion Menu length should be the exact same length as the short background mpg.

I think the inability to easily create still menus with background audio is a fatal flaw for TMPGEnc author.

Even Pegasys-inc (the software developers) would agree that it's a shortcoming and have said that they are looking to add this feature in a future revision.

I know it can supposedly be done by creating and using an mpeg, but that means I need to have another authoring program just to create that

Not quite. You can create the background mpeg with the same program you used to create the mpg (or m2v + audio) ready for authoring, ie. an encoder such as TMPGEnc.