Question - intro movie + menu with no breaks

[poirot]

How can i make an intro movie followeed by menu with no breaks? When authoring a dvd i always like to have an intro movie which stoppes on one frame and that frame is displayed for the duration of the menu, but there's always that nasty break. I think it should be done as one video and then setting the start and end positions for both intro and menu but i can't do it myself. Can anyone help with this? I preffer to do it in DVDLab or if not possible, in DVDArchitect.

[guns1inger]

The only authoring apps I know of that can do this are Scenarist ($000's) or the lastest beta version of DVD Lab Pro. You will still get to a point however where the clip will run out, and you will have to loop or start a new title. Either way you will get a break. There is no way around this, which is why every commercial disk with a motion menu suffers from it to some degree. The trick to to make is as unobtrusive as possible.

[poirot]

You will still get to a point however where the clip will run out, and you will have to loop or start a new title. Either way you will get a break.

I don't mind that there is a break when menu ends, i would just like no break between intro and menu. I usually make a video that combines intro + menu and on the spot where i split them i apply some effects like zooming or flashing so it distracts the viewer from the break, but still it's not exactly satisfying. The length of the break, what does it depend on? DVD player or the way files are burned on the dvd or what?

[real2reel]

This was the one thing that used to bug the hell out of me but to achieve it with MAESTRO (perhaps you can apply the fundamentals to other apps?) was to make the intro to the menu (which i refer to as the premenu) was to make the premenu a menu with no buttons on it, with 0 seconds timeout so when it ends it goes to the full menu.

Dvd menu data is organised on track 0 which is basically like having different chapters on say Movie 0, where by each menu is like a different chapter point, cos they are all on the same track the transisitions are pretty smooth(unless you are querying with a command is GP0>2 etc.).

After selecting your PLAY button you could have another 0 sec timed out, buttonless menu playing another short clip that fades to black so when your movie plays as longs as it starts with a fade IN it will APPEAR smooth.

[real2reel]

Oh the length of the break depends on your DVD player, some are FASTER than others i.e. Hardrive on your P.C. Super Fast breaks are hardly noticeable : Xbox Fast but get a distinct black 1/25 blink (excellent way to test for seamless branching) : domestic DVD players vary HUGELY in processing time BUT do not flash black.