Questions re: transitions and squeezing video to -R disc

[Neisse]

Got a couple of questions... First, some background:

Made my first, WORKING DVD-R yesterday. I didn't like how the menu turned out, however.

I redid the menu, but after playing with DVD-Lab Pro, there's a couple of extra things I'd like to put in, but I can't seem to figure out how, and I can't find a guide or something to help out.

I'd like to put in a "transition" that's like a fade-in/fade-out in between menus (main to chapter list, and back, etc). DVD-Lab Pro has this, but when I've tried to do it, it just loops the fade back and forth between the two menus, making it impossible to select anything. I'd like it just to fade to the next menu, then stop and hold that new menu until input is given.

The other thing:

I've been dubbing 1 hour shows from VHS or my DVR in XP (1 hour) mode onto a -RW disc, due to a recommendation I received (best quality). However, I'd like to be able to put two or more shows, once edited, onto a single layer -R disc. As it is, once commercials are edited out, there's 25% or so free space on the disc that's wasted now with just one show per disc. How can I do that?

My tools:

rip disc onto PC with DVD Decrypter
edit commercials out with DVD2VCR
menu authouring with DVD-Lab Pro, then compile DVD
create ISO image with ImgBurn Classic
burn disc with DVD Decrypter or ImgBurn (either works fine)

I also have Nero 6 suite, Photoshop 7, and a couple of other video apps that aren't installed yet, as the above have been just fine so far.

Do I need to buy yet another app for this?

[guns1inger]

You could use something like DVD Shrink to reduce the size of the finished disc, however you would be better off re-encoding using the correct bitrate once you know the total runtime of your episodes.

As for your DLP transition problem, I would be checking the menus to see if you have an auto activate happening on a button that returns you to the main menu. Personally, I never use these features in DLP. I create any video or transitions needed for the menus in my editor or similar, then bring them into DLP for authoring. I get more control over the outcome this way.

[Neisse]

DVD Shrink - OK. I'll get a copy.

Re-encode after I know the correct runtime and bitrate...? Huh? How could I figure this out?

How do you create a transition and what do you use for an "editor"?

Please be a little more specific... I'm very computer savvy, but I'm afraid this video and audio stuff is all new to me...

[guns1inger]

Work out the total runtime of the episodes (ep1 runtime + ep2 runtime etc). Put this into a bitrate calculator (tools section list a number of them, including one on0line at this this site). You can then re-encode with a good mepg encoder using this information. Tmpgenc, CCE basic or Procoder express are all good starter encoders.

I use vegas as my editor, but any editor will do. If you are doing simple static menus with transitions then just load the menu stills onto seperate timelines, create a transition and render the results. In DLP you create menu a (still 1), menu b (your transition) and menu c (still 2). A button on menu a links to menu b, menu b has a timeout auto-action to menu c

[Neisse]

OK. Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll have to give up on the transitions for now, until I can obtain Vegas or something like it.

I do have TMPGEnc DVD Author - would this work for encoding?

[guns1inger]

You could make them in Windows Media Maker and encode them with quenc or HCenc (both free). TDA authors, but doesn't encode

[Neisse]

Got a slight problem w/ the bitrate calcs. I tried Aspect, FitCD, and vcalc, and none works for my files. As stated, they are 720x480, MPEG-1, CBR 1150 Kbps, and I can't find a calc that has those settings - let alone the ability to add two clips this size/length together.

I think though, it might be easier and cheaper to just put each show on a separate disc. A pain in the butt, though, as I'll have to get up to change discs a lot, but at least my headache will be lessened - as well as my wallet!

[mikiem]

"I'd like to put in a "transition" that's like a fade-in/fade-out in between menus (main to chapter list, and back, etc). DVD-Lab Pro has this, but when I've tried to do it, it just loops the fade back and forth between the two menus, making it impossible to select anything. I'd like it just to fade to the next menu, then stop and hold that new menu until input is given. "

Menu button link to transition video with end action of desired menu.

"until I can obtain Vegas or something like it. "

Wax?

"As stated, they are 720x480, MPEG-1, CBR 1150 Kbps, and I can't find a calc that has those settings - let alone the ability to add two clips this size/length together. "

Sure they're mpg1? If you can create a DVD layout, you can shrink it if you want to go that route. Or could re-encode to lower bitrate mpg2, which might look a bit better to you. Calcs should work if you feed in length & desired file size -- they'll give mpg2 bitrate settings for encoder. If you want to do it the hard way, watch new file in Windows Explorer as it's written, hit view -> refresh just as encoder reaches new Percentage -> use calculator to figure out what 100% will be.

Adding 2 files is often easier as 2 titles in DVD authoring app. rather then trying to join if that helps.

[Shadowmistress]

Dvdlab Transitions:

Transitions act just like movie clips, so that you must draw connections to which menu you'd like it to go to after the clip plays.

1. Right click on your first menu and choose Transitions> Generate New.
2. Put in your start and end menus in the From and To dropdown boxes and select cross-fade. Proceed.
3. Go into menu 1 and find the button that should link to menu 2 and change the link so that it now links to the transition instead. (It will be named something like menu1/2).
4. Now go back to your connections window and make sure a connection line is drawn between the transition and menu 2. That's it. It will play and then go to and stay on menu 2 until you select something.


Bitrate Calculators:

Here's one: https://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
1. If your "movie 1" has a total runtime of 45 min 6 sec. and your "movie 2" has a total runtime of 47 min 20 sec, add these two times up and enter them into the calculator (for a total of 92 min 26 sec). With a standard audio bitrate, you will see what rate you should now be re-encoding your video. For re-encoding you can use tmpgenc, not TDA as that is mainly for authoring. (They have the same name because they're both made by the same company, but for different uses.)

You can put as many episodes onto a disk as you like, however, the lower the bitrate goes, the poorer the viewing quality. As long as it's acceptable to you, go with whatever rate you like. (Whether it's mpeg1 or mpeg2 does not matter to the calculator. The video size of 720x480 does not matter to the calculator. These things do not need to be factored into the equation at this point.)

Something you might not have considered though is the time it will take to re-encode. Depending on how good your computer is you're looking at a ballpark figure of 45 minutes of re-encode time for a 45 minute clip. It's up to you whether it's worth the hassle.

That's my 2 cents on the matter.