Creating JACKET_P Images

[Flarch]

I read the out-dated PC forum JACKET_P threads which had a few basics but weren't too helpful.

Popping a JACKET_P folder containing the proper images into Toast 7's UDF window along with the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders before burning, created a playable DVDr with working JACKET_P images, but i have a couple questions.

Resolutions given for the images are:

For NTSC:
J00___5L.MP2 --- 720 x 480
J00___5M.MP2 --- 176 x 112
J00___5S.MP2 --- 96 x 64

For PAL:
J00___6L.MP2 --- 720 x 576
J00___6M.MP2 --- 176 x 144
J00___6S.MP2 --- 96 x 80

First, how would i go about creating these .MP2 images on Mac (PPC)?

What's necessary for 16:9 JACKET_P images?

What is the "title.txtdt" file which is sometimes also included on a DVD?

An example contained:

DVD_TEXT_DATA
Version = 1.0

TEXT_DATA_ID = ""
Num_Lang_Units = 1

[Unit.1]
Language = English
Character_Set = ISO_646

$ Volume
@ name
VOLUME NAME <------------- all caps
@ sorting
volume name <-------------- all lower

$ Title #1
@ name
Title 1
@ sorting
title 1

$ Title #2
@ name
Title 2
@ sorting
title 2

$ Title #3
@ name
Title 3
@ sorting
title 3

[Case]

• Can't help you with a how-to. It seems like a lot of trouble for screen display when you're NOT playing the disc.

• Large (L) is used when the player stops. Medium (M) is used by 5-disc players. Small (S) is used by 50-disc players. Medium and small are used for a menu where the user can choose the disc by an image.

What's necessary for 16:9 JACKET_P images?

Jacket Pictures are always in 4:3 aspect ratio.

What is the "title.txtdt" file which is sometimes also included on a DVD?

If you found the quoted example on a commercial disc, then it shouldn't have been there as it isn't filled in; it's basicly empty. Some players may show and interpret the content, but it's optional. It's not related to the Jacket Pictures, other than the fact that it may also be used in a menu on multi-disc players. More info in this here PDF.

[Flarch]

• Can't help you with a how-to. It seems like a lot of trouble for screen display when you're NOT playing the disc.

I suppose i'm sort of picky. I don't care to look at the machine manufacturer's logo. :P

Must be a way short of a pro DVD package to make these.

Pictures are always in 4:3 aspect ratio.

Ah. That's what i thought, but one thing that i noticed was that the given resolutions aren't necessarily the only ones. I saw a commercial example that was 640 x 480, so i wondered.

Thanks for the link.

The "J00___5L.MP2" file is multiplexed with exactly two streams:

"video stream" 0x00 MPEG-2 Video 720x480 29.97fps 4x3 image aspect ratio
"padding stream" 0xBE (contains data bytes that are all 0xFF)

...a Jacket Picture is a non-DVD compliant Program Stream - non-DVD compliant because there is no Private_Stream_2

Each file contains a MPEG program stream with only one I frame.

The MP2 stream shall comply to ISO 13818-2. The picture aspect ratio shall be 4:3. Other than those, I do not find any limitations.

[BJ_M]

how is the pc section outdated ? (since i wrote it) , the specs have not changed ....

[G13]

I checked both Preview and Photoshop, but neither allow you to Export or Save an image to MPEG2 (Graphic Converter may be able to do this, but I don't have Graphic converter).

I was, however, able to open a jpg with Quicktime Pro. Once open in Quicktime, I went to File?Export?Movie to MPEG2 and converted the image to an MPEG2 file. I then changed the file suffix from M2V to MP2 in the Finder. Of course, this requires you to have the Quicktime MPEG2 Export Component installed which I believe only comes with Compressor. I don't have a set-top DVD Player that uses those MP2 files so I don't know how these images actually look, but they open just fine on the computer (Before Exporting in Quicktime, make sure you edit your images to be 640X480, etc., or the image will be stretched).

If you don't have the Quicktime Export Component installed you may be able to convert your image with a Freeware/Shareware app such as FFMPEG. If FFMPEG doesn't allow you to convert JPEG's, TIFF's, etc. then use Quicktime Pro to convert your image to an MOV file, then convert the MOV to MPEG2 using FFMPEG. I haven't tried this method.

Please let us know what you find out. Good luck.

[Cornucopia]

On a PC, I would use DVDA, Maestro, or other DVD authoring apps that support Jacket_P, as they usually have a feature that converts simple still picture formats (psd, jpg, png, bmp, tif) to the MPEG2 I-frame AUTOMATICALLY. Some are more compatible than others, so you'd have to test.

You could also encode as I-frame-only, single frame MPEG2, using TMPGEnc, Mainconcept, etc.

The MPEG still feature in MJPEGtools (as utilized in VCDEasy) may be appropriate for the Large picture (I'm not sure, but it might work in a pinch)--it DOES have the correct padding stream inserted.

On Mac OS 8-9, you could have used the old Astarte M.Pack (v2.16e), which allowed you to create MPEG stills for a BlueBook Enhanced Audio CD. It creates compliant files--in the same 3 sizes (I think that's where DVD guys got the idea from). They just need to be renamed correctly.

On Mac OSX or Linux, I think you're out of luck unless you run PC Emulation software, or have a capable/configurable MPEG2 Encoder AND muxer.


Scott