DVD Workshop 2 buttons link to wrong menus after DVD burned

[rubygold]

I've created an instructional DVD in DVD Workshop 2 with many menus. All of the menus link to one another, and the buttons within them link to their respective video clips, or other menus. 9/10 of the DVD works perfectly when tested across several DVD players. However, there are five menus that link only to other menus which simply have a background image, (Workshop 2-generated) text, and one button on them--and this is where the errors are showing up on several players after I burn the DVD.

While I'm authoring the production (in the "menu" tab), I've checked and re-checked all my playlists, etc and links are associated correctly. Then I check how the production functions using the "finish" tab and the preview window. Again, everything behaves perfectly, just as I've created it. However, after I burn the thing to disk and test it on several DVD players (set-top and computer), one or several of the buttons on one or more of these five menus link to the wrong menus, or exhibit other bizarre behaviors. I've gone back to the file, with the DVD still in the player, and the very same menus that are linking incorrectly from the burned DVD are still showing that they are correct in the playlists and finish tab's preview screen.

I've tried about ten different solutions, from changing the buttons (which are text with highlight images) from text to images, deleting the menu(s) exhibiting the error and rebuilding them, burning at a slower speed (1x instead of MAX), moving the position of the buttons, deleting ALL of the menus around the ones that exhibited any errors and re-building all 10 from scratch, etc. Each time, I re-save the whole thing, burn it again, and when I re-test the new DVD, a DIFFERENT button or buttons within this same group of menus goes to the wrong link or displays the bizarre behavior. All the rest of the DVD continues to play perfectly. Because I've tested on several players, I know it's not the player--some of them play it fine. Some of them (more than one) exhibit the error(s), and SOME exhibit some of the errors from some of the burns and play others okay.

Again, all this despite the fact that, after re-checking, all the linkages are correct in the menu tab mode, and the finish tab's preview screen.

I feel like I'm losing my mind. This project is due and I don't know how to correct this issue. The U-Lead tech support has been great in trying to help me, but so far come up with no solution. Has this happened to anyone else out there, and do you know how to correct it? I'd be most grateful for a solution.

thanks!

[lordsmurf]

Sounds like you have some button overlap.

[rubygold]

If buttons were overlapping, wouldn't that show up when you turn the "show button info" on? None of them are indicated as overlapping, they're actually pretty far away from each other in the menu design. Also, the program has given a message of "overlapping buttons" when that's occurred in the past, so... I'm wondering is there some other way they could be overlapping that you're thinking might be the culprit? Thanks-

[lordsmurf]

Highlights can overlap.

[p_l]

When Highlights overlap, it shows up when you turn on that button that outlines overlapping buttons, and an error message pops up when you switch to Finish, so I doubt that's the problem.

If suggestions made in this thread don't help (like "jiggling the buttons"), then you might have no choice but to redo the project from scratch. On rare occasion, DWS has gone wacky for no discernable reason like that, and even though I rechecked everything, the only thing to do was start over. Frustrating, I know.

But at least don't waste anymore DVD's. Try producing an .ISO disc image and mounting that in a virtual drive, then playing with a software DVD player, to make sure everything behaves as wanted before burning.

[rubygold]

Thanks p_l. I'm realizing my only choice is to rebuild from scratch--since nothing else I (or posters) have come up with has helped.

Quick question--the reason I didn't do an ISO before was because it seemed the problems came after the burn (e.g. didn't show up in preview mode after the thing was built). So, I wasn't sure that the problem would appear in this form. Thoughts?

And, if I DO test with an ISO--how do I "mount it in a virtual drive."
Thanks again-

[p_l]

https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Daemon_Tools

[Paul D]

I have had a very similar problem to this with DVD WS2. In my case a small number of customers reported that on some menus whichever item you selected the machine always went to another (eg it didn't matter whether you chose button 2 or 10 because the player always went to 9). The menus were authored correctly and over 90% of my customers didn't have a problem. The problems seemed to be mainly with cheaper players, though Philips featured prominently on the list.

I tried a closed GOP structure which solved the problem on one disc, but not on the others. I tried DVD-R, +R, ROM, different discs and burning speeds, but no difference. I changed the menu backgrounds from .psd to .tif or jpg - that moved the problem around but didn't solve it.

I contacted Ulead Technical Support and the best they could suggest was to uninstall and reinstall the program (which made no difference). I even installed the program on another machine and then rebuilt the file, but the problem was still there.

At the moment I have no solution, but have wasted a lot of time on this. I am paying for a check disc to see if this problem disappears with replication and will let you know the result.

[p_l]

I just remembered Nero also has a virtual drive utility included in some recent versions. If memory serves, you can activate it by going into All Programs | Nero | Nero 6 Ultra Edition | Nero ImageDrive ...or something like that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Paul D]

I have had a check disc produced to see if this menu navigation problem disappears with replication and unfortunately the answer is NO!

I should stress that this problem only occurs with a minority of DVD players (less than 10%) and most of those are cheaper players. It seems to me that there is something in the coding of DVD WS2 which isn't compatible with those players and produces this problem. As things stand at the moment I have no solution other than to switch to another program.