Previous chapters not working after using DVD Lab Pro

[vinnyp]

Here it is. I am trying to take several Music DVD's (James Taylor, Joe Cocker and BeeGees) and ripping hit songs from each and authoring a new DVD with menus to play at home when working around the house. I ripped the songs one at a time using DVD Shrink and saved each in it's own folder with song name so I could find them. I then imported the VOB's (assets) of each into DVD Lab Pro (DLP) and demuxed them. Then I created a movie for each song. I had a terrible time trying to establish chapter points until I rebuilt the frame index on each. Only then was I able to establish chapter points on the songs. After a week of trial and error and numbing of the brain, I was finally able to compile a DVD with all songs that would play OK. The menu is the only thing I am still having problems with. I have a title menu with a "Play Music" selection and "Select Song" selection which takes me to the next menu which has the songs listed. When I click on each title the song plays fine and while the song is playing I can click the "next chapter" button and the next song will play.

The problems I am having are: 1. I can not use the "Previous Chapter" to go back to the previous song. It just jumps to the beginning of the song currently playing and 2. I would like to know how to add a little fade out and in to the next song so it doesn't just jump at you. A smoother transition from song end to next song would help alot. Tutorials have been very helpful but finding the right one at the right time does not always happen.

I have only been doing this for about a week now and have gotten pretty far but there is so much to learn. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[guns1inger]

Most DVD players will go to the start of the current chapter if previous is pressed once, and to the start of the previous chapter if pressed twice. I don't think this is a DVD Lab problem.

You could look at 'transitions' in DVD Lab - I know it will do them for menus. You might also be able to do it between clips. If they are seperate clips, I would add the fade in an editing program. I would also join them together into one clip so that you are setting up real chapters in DVD Lab, not just title jumping.

[vinnyp]

Gunslinger, I think it is a DVD Lab problem. I can press my heart away on the previous button but it won't play previous chapter. Also, There are so many editing programs around and I don't want to install and uninstall a ton of programs to do what you suggest. So which would be the one whereas I can find the most support and help and has tutorials to help me along the way would do the transistions between clips.

[reboot]

Reset the default action for the arrow to previous chapter. It's all in the dvdlab help files.

[guns1inger]

Try Windows Movie Maker - then you don't have to install anything.

[reboot]

And what exactly has WMM got to do with DVD? At best, it can save a DV-AVI.

[guns1inger]

We was asking for something simple and cheap to string a pile of avis together with transitions, rather than using seperate clips in DVD Lab.

[reboot]

Oh. But then you have to save again with compression, and afaik, wmm only saves avi1, not avi2. I guess I don't get it.
Premiere, Pinnacle, Mainconcept EVE, and others are much better at this sort of thing than wmm, and won't require even more re-encoding of already compliant video.

[vinnyp]

I just installed Pinnacle Studio 9.3 and Hollywood FX 5.5. I am hoping that I can do what I want with this combination. Not sure if I will still have to demux or if PS will load from the VOB. Any suggestions with this combo would be great.

[vinnyp]

Pinnacle didn't work either. I demuxed the VOB and the audio files were AC3 Stereo and AC3 6.1 Dolby Digital and Pinnacle would not support either one. I have installed and uninstalled several programs and still can't find the one that is just right. I tried demuxing with DVDLab Pro, VOBrator, and VOBEdit and still could not use the demuxed audio file. Is there any way I can demux and convert using TMPGenc 2.5. I tried but, no luck. Thanks

[GeorgeW]

Is each song a separate Title, or are all the songs combined into one long video, and you have setup chapter points in the one lone video for each of the songs?

[reboot]

Pinnacle didn't work either. I demuxed the VOB and the audio files were AC3 Stereo and AC3 6.1 Dolby Digital and Pinnacle would not support either one.

Do you have any AC3 support at all?
I don't know anything about Pinnacle, other than it crashes when one least expects it, but at the price, it should have AC3 support.

Back to the original problem, change the default action for the previous chapter button, and add transitions between clips.
Is each song in it's own VTS or movie, or is it one big movie with chapter points?

[vinnyp]

I used DVDShrink to rip each song into its own folder. That way I only ripped the ones I wanted to keep. My problem seems to be putting it all together with fades and wipes and menus. DVDLab is great except for the transistions between chapters and it is cumbersome having to use a different VTS whenever there are different aspect ratios or different audio streams. But I am working through it as best I can. Also, I do have the AC3 plugin for TMPGenc and that helped. My last attempt today let me use the AC3 audio with Pinnacle but the sync was not there. It seems as though everytime I get one problem solved a new one develops. Thanks for the patience and the help.

[reboot]

Maybe it's time to try a different editing app. Pinnacle doesn't seem to handle the streams you want to use, and if it's going out of sync, I'd be asking for money back. Sorry, I can't justify using Pinnacle, if it's giving sync problems, and/or it's output is not dvd spec.
As I said above though, that's the extent of my knowledge with Pinnacle.

Having to use a different VTS is DVD Spec, nothing to do with DVDLab specifically. If you don't want to use different VTS, encode everything with the same audio type. Different video aspects can be mixed in the same VTS.

[vinnyp]

Maybe it's time to try a different editing app.

reboot, I am not tied to Pinnacle. It is slow. Can you recommend a couple of others that would work better and maybe a little faster.

[reboot]

Mainconcept EVE.
Sony Vegas.