DVDLab Menu Transitions

[VCDHunter]

I've been working on the same project now for about 2 weeks and it's the ******* menu transitions in DVDLab which has kept this project alive so long.

I have 2 problems

1. When played on the dvd player the audio on the menu transitions doesnt start until about a second into the transition. The audio is little sound bites that sound crap if its only half. I'm countering this by adding 2 seconds of silence into the start of the wav file. But why is this happening ?

2. Menu transitions. I've added the 2 secs of silence onto the start of the wav files and redone the menu transitions to match the timing of the wav file. I delete the original menu transitions from the Menus folder in the project window then rebiuld my transitions. Now when I try to compile I get warnings about "The Button On Menu has no valid link" and when i check the menu the buttons no longer link to the ep in question. My question here is do I re-link to the transitions OR to the menu ?

[reboot]

I'm confused. You say "menu transitions", then you say "audio on the menu transitions".
What exactly are you talking about?
The menu transitions being the fades generated by DVDLab, or what?

[guns1inger]

What is your audio ? If it is AC3 playing through a decoder (as opposed to being output as PCM by the player) expect a small delay (1 - 3 seconds) while the decoder catches up. I have seen this on the most expensive decoders and commercial disks. All you can do is allow a brief fade in or blank before the effect, or put up with the start being chopped off. This is not a fault of the authoring appliaction, just a fact of life.

[VCDHunter]

I'm confused. You say "menu transitions", then you say "audio on the menu transitions".
What exactly are you talking about?
The menu transitions being the fades generated by DVDLab, or what?

Well both - the menu transitions have audio.

@guns1inger - the audio is wav so I wouldn't expect a delay on from the amp but it seems like its there regardless, the introducing of 2 seconds of silence seems to have done the trick, just means the transitions are a bit longer than I would've liked.

[tharris]

You might want to take a look at "Designing DVD Menus", available at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1578202590/qid=1113492094/sr=8-1/ref=pd_...books&n=507846

It is a great guide/reference.

The problem you mention regarding audio and menu transitions has to do with the fact that some players drop frames/audio and you have to allow approx. 17 frames to compensate. The book goes into how to design your own transitions (especially what to watch out for), since most authoring apps don't do this automatically, using your NLE, After Effects, etc.

Anyway, the problem isn't due to DVD Lab per se but since it is creating the transitions, it would follow that the app may need a way to allow you to specify a delay to compensate for this type of problem.