DVD Lab Pro button selection

[windy022]

I'm still a relative newbie with all this. I'm authoring a DVD with DVDlab Pro, with about 10 short clips. I've added a clip selection menu. Is there a way that after you've seen the first clip and you go back to the menu that the button selected is the next clip to play instead of just the first one?

Thanks!

[guns1inger]

On the Connectiosn window, click on the clip. At the bottom of the connections window you should see a small section with the name of the clip, and two drop down lists. The first is called Menu Button on Remote, the second is called End Link (hi-lite button). Make sure this one is set to the menu that called the clip. Next to it is another drop down that probably ssays Default Button. Change this to either Don't Change, so the button you selected is highlighted when you return, or set it to the button number corresponding to the next button in the sequence if you want that highlighted instead. You have to set this for each clip.

[windy022]

Oh thanks so much guns1inger, that's exactly what I was looking for. One more question, the menu I originally designed has sort of a brownish gradient as a background. When I burned the test DVD it looked perfectly fine on the PC, but not on the TV. I've read about the NTSC issue, but the NTSC overheat thing says the colors are fine. Anyone know what could cause this?

[guns1inger]

What does it look like on the TV ?

[windy022]

It's a lot darker and it's more red than brown. Quite ugly to be honest. There's also a bit of flickering on the white writing.

[guns1inger]

The colour difference could be as simple as NTSC (Never The Same Colour) or just the difference in calibration between your TV and your PC monitor. If you have a DVD with the THX calibration tools on it, try using that you get your TV and PC reasonably closse.

The flickering comes from interlacing. Simplest fix is not to use fonts with thin horizontal lines, and to make the bold and anti-aliased. I usually do all my still menus in photoshop, and add a slight blur to them as well to prevent this.

[windy022]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate people like you taking the time to explain things like that to us newbies.
I think my TV is too old to get the correct calibration. I took the DVD to a friend and it looked quite good there. So I think it must be my ancient TV rather than the actual DVD.
Regarding the fonts it worked perfectly! Thanks again!

[GeorgeW]

In the DLP Compile step, there's an option to "remove jitter" on your menus -- that might help the jitter issue...

Regards,
George

[windy022]

Oh cool, thanks! I didn't even know about that. Does anyone know what can be done re the open GOPs? I use Womble MPEG Video Wizard to edit the mpg files, but whenever I import and demux them in DVD lab PRO I get a warning that there are open GOPs.

[guns1inger]

Ignore it. In the latest version you can turn the warning off. Many people do not close the GOPs because it gives a slighty better compression ratio. The only issue that might arise is if you require frame accurate chapter points. After frane indexing you may still find it rounds to the nearest I frame if you have open GOPs.

To date I have never found this to be an issue.

[windy022]

That's good to know. I sent a DVD I made to a friend and she was saying it acted a little jumpy and I was wondering if that might be the cause. She did say the case was cracked though, so maybe the DVD got damaged or scratched. Thanks again!