TMPGEnc DVD Author Menu Question

[likwid8]

I got an intro (mpeg-2 dvd), and the movie (mpeg-2 dvd), and what I specifically wanna do is, I would like to input the Intro first, then the menu (custom made), and following the menu the movie.... I pretty much know the Menu plays via the movie, but how do I make it so I can add the intro before the Menu starts, and to make sure when i hit play the MOVIE will play and not the intro, or the intro along with the movie?

thnx

[daamon]

Hi likwid8,

I, too, use TDA and have wondered if this can be done - though I've not got round to trying it. All I could come up with was:

1. Have a play with short mpg's and burn to a re-writeable and see what I can come up with, or

2. Try more versatile software - I've downloaded the trial of DVD-Lab as I've read it's much more powerful, but not yet installed it as I want to get to grips with TDA first (to see if it can do what I want, and to get a good basic knowledge of authoring).

Please post back if you crack it.

Cheers.

[Gildas]

Hello,

I came in this forum to ask the exact same question.

If somebody knows, please be kind and let us know.

The other day, I was looking at the file structure of a DVD that I bought and that has a little introduction video before the menu comes up. I was thinking that maybe it's possible to add the video yourself in the VIDEO_TS folder if you can convert the MPEG2 video to VOB and have the correct name of the VOB file so that it plays first. The problem is that this would probably involve modifying the IFO files too, which is not as simple as modifying a text file.

But maybe it IS possible with TMPGEnc DVD Author.
I'll have to play more when I have time.

[allaboutduncan]

1. Add your Intro and Movie on a Separate Track. Make the intro the first track.
2. On the create menu page, select PLAY ONLY FIRST TRACK as the Firstplay action.

When the DVD is put in a player, the intro will play and then go to the menu.

Hope this is what you wanted.

[Gildas]

Thank you so much, allaboutduncan !!!

It seems indeed that this is what we wanted to do!

Now that you've said it, it seems so obvious and easy.

As soon as I can, I'll try it!

Thank you again!

[allaboutduncan]

No problem, glad I could help. I use TMPGEnc DVD Author for pretty much everything I do. It's quite powerful and you can make some nice looking menu's once you get into custom templates and designs.

I'd recommend the new AC-3 plug-in as well if you do a lot of authoring. Anything else, let me know.

[somebodeez]

How do you get rid of the horrible yellow highlight it insists on using for the links?

[likwid8]

Hey thank alot allaboutduncan....


I will give that a shot, see I posted this thread 10 hour prior till my DVD encode was done because i had to give it time to sink in the forum and let people read about it and maybe get some replies, and which it did from and other helpful people I appreciate it. During that time I navigated towards finding my own research and it seemd DVDLab has the functions of doing that aswell, and it was going to be my only option if I couldnmt get an answer here. Thanks alot and I will keep you posted on my success. Bye

[Slowburn]

I also would like to know if you can edit that ugly yellow color when mousing over the links. Using TMPGEnc DVD Author and got a DVD+RW recorded that plays fine on my computer. The only drawback is that mouseover color.

Anyone?

[thiswilldo]

I have made a small intro film and set it as track one and selecting play only first track on the DVD. The thing is I don't want the intro video on the Menu - Is there anyway (Using TMPGENc) that I can delete the intro video from the main menu?

I would also like to know how to get rid of the yellow mouse over colour, if anyone has found a solution

thanks

[wwaag]

thiswilldo

Don't know about the horrible yellow thing. Hope someone does.

There is a "workaround" to removing an item from the menu. Go into the menu editor and resize the button you want to remove to make it as small as possible. Then drag the button into the overscan area. Technically, the button is still there, but you will never see it one the screen. Not an elegant solution, but it does work.

Hope this helps.

wwaag

[5t3v3]

thiswilldo

Don't know about the horrible yellow thing. Hope someone does.

There is a "workaround" to removing an item from the menu. Go into the menu editor and resize the button you want to remove to make it as small as possible. Then drag the button into the overscan area. Technically, the button is still there, but you will never see it one the screen. Not an elegant solution, but it does work.

Hope this helps.

wwaag

Is the button still highlightable when you do this though? Otherwise, when the button is highlighted for the intro clip, it will appear like there is a blank spot in the menu when you use your navigation keys.

Ive been wanting to add a Dolby Digital trailer clip to the start of my DVD's to play when the disc is inserted but it always adds the clip to the top of the menu

[wwaag]

Is the button still highlightable when you do this though? Otherwise, when the button is highlighted for the intro clip, it will appear like there is a blank spot in the menu when you use your navigation keys.

Ive been wanting to add a Dolby Digital trailer clip to the start of my DVD's to play when the disc is inserted but it always adds the clip to the top of the menu

Shouldn't be since you have dragged the button into the overscan area. No problem with "blank spot" since your background image will still be visible when the minimized button is dragged into the overscan area.

Can't you simply reorder your clips? You simply drag them to the desired location.

wwaag

[Ronaldus]

That workaround is moving a button off the visible screen so you don't have to see the yellow highlight when you start up, right?

I want to see all the buttons and thumbnails, but I'd prefer something less bright than that yellow highlight, such as an gray or green arrow or an underline. It sounds like these menu configurations are under the strict control of the program, and TMPGEnc DVD Author probably does not allow changing the highlight's color or type?

[ticos2000]

I want to do the samething (get rid of the intro over the main menu) but i do not know how you gain acces to edit the menu. It always prompt that i can not edit the template menu. Of course you can do that with a new menu but is there a way to edit or customize the all ready built in templates ?

Best regards

[daamon]

...but is there a way to edit or customize the all ready built in templates ?

I've tried myself, and I can't see that it's possible.

[wwaag]

Solution to the "yucky yellow" problem!

I think I have found a way using Photoshop. For info, go to the help file in TDA and look under "Specifications for original background images, button images, and frame images". This part gives specs on creating your own button and frame images. It's a bit sketchy, but therein lies the solution.

For test purposes and simplicity, I replaced the "play all" button with one that I created in Photoshop. For the test, this was only a solid color. The key is to create a layer entitled "Highlight". On that layer, you specify what color you want as the overlay including its opacity. Save that image as a psd file and then use that image as your replacement button. It also works for the frame image as well. In fact I used the same file as a test for both. Thus for all of your frames or buttons, you simply create an individual file with Photoshop wherein you specify what the highlight will look like using a "highlight" layer.

In any case, it does work, although it does increase the menu processing time. I created an iso image, loaded it onto Daemon tools and used Power DVD to test the menu buttons. Indeed they changed correctly. Since this is a common complaint of TDA, I might put together a users guide.

Hope this helps.

wwaag

[somebodeez]

Oh yes please a guide would be wonderful!

[boodo]

Hi Everyone,

I came across this post just today and I'm trying to do the same thing as 5t3v3 (i.e Add a Dolby Digital trailer clip to the start of my DVD's)

I'm using TMPGEnc DVD Author and I've got the logic of adding the trailer as a separate chapter. However, after selecting the appropriate title for the movie (being the longest recording time and capacity), whether you choose to read the chapter information or not, it only seems to read the first 50 minutes or the movie into the project (9 out of the 22 chapters).

Has anyone had a similar problem or know any way around this? I've got a feeling it has something to do with the layer information (ie. the first 50 minutes of the film is on the first layer and the rest is on the second) but I don't know what to do about it.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

thx

bdx