DVDLab Beginners Compleat Guide! Updated 1/30/05

[U2Man]

Can anybody please help me? I'm at my wit's end. A while ago I downloaded a dvd (nothing illegal/officially released) and when it came to burning in nero, there was a file reallocation error. Since then I must have tried 20 different ways and programs, including joining the files together to make one large file, however nero can then only burn this in udf mode which then doesnt work. I've tried using vobedit/ifoedit and a whole host of different programs to no avail. Finally, I discovered DVDLab pro and this shows promise. However, the dvd had the menus built in and I would like to use the original menues, however I don't know how or where to find them to link them to the video. This has been so frustrating. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[reboot]

DVDShrink.

[Xoanon]

Jim, did you see my post on the other page, bud?

[reboot]

@ GavSalkeld
Just click on the coloured square that's currently purple, select any other colour you want.
Change to activated, do the same thing.
If you have custom colours elsewhere in the project (on another menu for example) you can use the colours from it as well.

[U2Man]

I tried DVDShrink, but was unable to open the file as one of the vob's contains invalid info. This is obviously the problem, but is there any way to work around it? Thanks

[Xoanon]

Just click on the coloured square that's currently purple, select any other colour you want. Change to activated, do the same thing.

Thats what Ive been doing using the Colour Map but the group hot spot stays purple and white.

[reboot]

@ U2Man, try DVD Decrypter, then dvdshrink.

@GavSalkeld, I haven't had this problem, but I'll run a test, and if I can duplicate your results, I'll post back.
The only other suggestion I can make, is to post on the dvdlab forums.

[Xoanon]

Ah I can change the colour but it ONLY works using Map #3. But thats OK, I guess I just wont be able to use Maps 1 and 2.

[|Supreme|]

Hey reboot.. Do you know how to set a dvd so.. when I hit the forward button on my DVD player that it goes to the next chapter instead of to the next movie.

Nm I figured out the Chapter problem.. But now I'm having this sync problem. I previewed the dvd on my computer using PowerDVD. Hopefully it made an accurate judgement. I made one DVD disk that was in Pal format and it messes up sometimes. So I reencoded the files to NTSC and changed the framerate to 29.97 from 25 fps. Also changed the resolution to higher.

The first time I demuxed the video and audio. This time I didn't. Just used the whole mpeg file. However there is no sync issue in the mpeg. I think I'm going to try with the 2 separate streams (audio/video) see if that has an effect. I previewed

Also I'm trying to get the hang of DVD Lab it seems to be a real good program.. Any place where I can read more tutorials?

Edit

[reboot]

Other than the tutorials here, there's a couple of basic ones on the mediachance.com website.
I have looked at a couple of others on the web, and they are terribly out of date, and contain some blatantly wrong information.

[U2Man]

Hey reboot, I tried everything you said in DVD Decrypter. I tried writing as an iso file then burning as a video TS file following another guide but the result was a coaster. I then tried creating new ifo's with ifo edit for the original vobs and burning in nero, ignoring the warnings. Yet another coaster. I then ripped in file mode to the harddrive to see if that worked and tried burning another coaster. I then tried DVDShrink, however when I click open disc i'm now just getting c++ visual runtime errors and the program crashes, with and without video preview. I've tried everything I can think of, is there anything else you can think of? I appreciate your help

[|Supreme|]

Hey, so this is weird. When I use regular mpg files in DVDLab.. I seem to get audio sync errors. The sound plays too early in relation to the video. But when I use demuxed video/audio everything is fine. Any technical explanation for this?

[reboot]

Sort of...DVDLab's demuxer isn't the best.
Demux externally, and import elementary streams.

[reboot]

@U2Man, your problems have nothing to do with DVDLab.
I suggest you start a whole new post somewhere, as I really don't know f-all about decrypter or shrink, and own a grand total of ONE commercial DVD.

[U2Man]

Ok, will do. Thanks anyway. What I wanted to know though was was if there was a way of using the original menues of the dvd in dvdlab?

[reboot]

No, you cannot use original menus in dvdlab, unless you have ripped them in Menushrink, then you can import as a motion menu.
Not sure how good that works though, as you'll still have to reassign each link.

[SSJ4Thiran]

hi i had a question. what exactly is the output folder for and the temporary folder. it says that i do not have enough room on my hard drive. can i just choose where ever i want it or does that effect something?

also what do i have to do when i compile a dvd in pal? Is there a specific thing to do?

heres the image of what my settings look like:






Also will this affect my dvd? as in will the dvd still play?
[/img]

[Xoanon]

Is there a way to do seamless branching with DVD Lab Pro? For instance, an option to play a movie with deleted scenes reinserted? If so, how can one do this?

Thanks anybody!

[Xoanon]

Anyone?

[Matryx]

great guide. I got a question though. I'm trying to get a lot of episodes on one dvd with dvdlab. What I can't seem to do is make the videos play in order. Say movie 1 finish movie 2, starts play movie 2 finish, movie 3 starts etc..

Also how do you make it so when you press the next button it goes to the next movie and previous button go to back.

[reboot]

Use the playlist function for multiple episodes.
Put a chapter mark and the END of each episode, then the NEXT button will play the next episode.

[cybertoothe]

Ok, I need help. I am trying to burn something to dvd, the recent Blake vs Agassi match which I have gotten into mpeg2 dvd compliant format. Problem is it's about 5.7g and I want to burn it into one dvd. I wanted to create the dvd on my harddrive, then use dvdshrink to reduce it down to fit on a regular dvd. I changed that setting below the preview window to "DVD 9" so that it would turn green so I can start the compilation.


The compile starts but then after a while it stops after a while, but doesn't produce anything in the destination folder nor does it give me any kind of error, it just stops.


Also, I noticed there is a blue strip in my movie line definition. What is that and could it be contributing to me not being able to finish my comilation.


Can anyone help or shed some some light? Alternatively, can DVDShrink or another tool be used to reduce the mpeg size but still keep it dvd compliant to compile?

Thanks

[cybertoothe]

Hmmm, I used the DVDLabs reduce mpg size and was able to get a green to compile on DVD 5, but it still have a similar problem of it just stopping in the middle. Guess time to try another product.

[reboot]

Stop trying to make a DVD9. This introduces layer break, which won't work on a DVD5 burn.
Compile it, even if it's red (ignore the possible error message DVDLab gives you).
Compile to the hard drive, and use DVDShrink to make it fit.

Something is wrong with your video. If it stops half way through, even though it says done.

[dragon25]

Hi there, mate could you answer your pm's that i have sent you

[reboot]

I am not writing any new guides at this point, which is basically what your PM is requesting.
There are extensive help files built in to DVDLab, and even more help on the mediachance website in their forums.

[bronxxbomber]

you're the man. this is a great guide as well as every other one you have out. do you have dvd menu studio guides?

[TomDoc]

Hi reboot and all other experts,

came upon a problem I could not solve while authoring. It is like that: When adding an ac3 (448 kbps, 6-channel, 5.1.Dolby) to a fairly big m2v, then compiling, I get CONSTANTLY an error message saying: "Runtime Error ! Program .../DVDlabpro/compile.aux. Abnormal programm termination". When compiling WITHOUT the audio track the problem has gone, so the bug must be somewhere on the audio side. Can you help ?

Cheers

TomDoc

[reboot]

There must be something in your AC3 or M2V causing it, because I do 4 hour movies with ac3 with no problems.
Maybe try the same file with 2 channel mp2 and see if it hangs.
If it does, then there could be a problem with the video.
If it does not, then you know there's something in the ac3.

[bronxxbomber]

I'm having some serious problems with my DVDlab. The problem is that I have a .m2v with ac3 audio and when I mux it together it seems to work perfect, but after the compile and burning to dvd. The video is perfect, but no sound. Anyone have an idea on what I should do?

Just in case this may solve my problem, how do I change the audio of ac3 from 5 channels to 2 channels?