Dvd Menu With Audio Track Playing

[Chana1]

Hey people i was wondering what programme do i need if i want to make a menu and put a audio track on while the menu is played at the moment i use:-

TMPGEnc DVD Author

but i dont quite like it 1. because it dont let me add a track in the background of the menu and 2. when i add a picture as the backgroud picture of the menu it goes all blury and distorted.

So can someone please tell me which is the best programme to make menu's where you can add audio tracks in the background and add a image which u can resize to set as background image and dont distort or go blury.

Thank You 8)

[Nelson37]

GuiforDVDAuthor will do this, but -

I believe the audio is limited to 60 seconds, and

Do not resize the image, either with the editor or otherwise. Use a full-screen cap at best resolution. Any small image resized will get blurry.

The prog is Free, as well.

[Chana1]

This is how it comes on the menu thing i use as u can see not so clear at all!!

[Noahtuck]

1. because it dont let me add a track in the background of the menu and 2. when i add a picture as the backgroud picture of the menu it goes all blury and distorted

#1, you can join a .jpg and an audio track in TMPGEnc and make a .mpg video of the still shot that will play as long as the audio track is then import it into the TDA menu.

#2,

Do not resize the image, either with the editor or otherwise. Use a full-screen cap at best resolution. Any small image resized will get blurry.

What he said.... how large or what res. is the photo you are trying to use ?
If it's small and low res it will look like crap when sized up to fill the whole screen or what it should be to be in dvd specs.
I've done it 100's of times and it never blurs & always looks crisp and clear, but i start out with higher res still's and let it resize them down, not up.

That looks like you took a little photo and it stretched it out to fill the screen area.

[Chana1]

Umm which is better GuiforDVDAuthor or TMPGEnc DVD Author?

All i need is a menu creater which will allow me to set the background picture as i wish and let me add a audio track which plays while you are viewing the menu page. Can someone please help me!


Plus i also wanted to know is there any programme which allows us 2 make a proper menu page like you see on original movies with all the flash work and stuff? If not does'nt matter i just really need to know a good programme which will let me make really nice menus (which dont just have shit backgrounds to choose from) and which allows me to add any audio track of my choice.

Thank You 4 Helping Me Out

[guns1inger]

Plus i also wanted to know is there any programme which allows us 2 make a proper menu page like you see on original movies with all the flash work and stuff? If not does'nt matter i just really need to know a good programme which will let me make really nice menus (which dont just have shit backgrounds to choose from) and which allows me to add any audio track of my choice.

No. There are plenty of programmes that will let you create great menus with motion and sound and stills. Professional level stuff. But you have to put the time into creating the assets (editing video, prepping stills, syncing audio etc). Authoring applications don't perform miracles. They are tools that let you do a job.

[Chana1]

O rite cool so which should i use:-

GuiforDVDAuthor or TMPGEnc DVD Author?

i wnt the one which allows me to add audio tracks in which TMPGEnc dont well i dont fink it does so im gessing Guifor is beta?

[Tom Saurus]

Chana1: I did a search on google for "Tokyo Drift" poster, and found an image which I think you were probably trying to use for your background menu. The original dimensions of the image on the website were 510x755 pixels. If you want your image to fit within the TV Safe Area in Tmpgenc DVD Author 1.6 it should be 576x436 with a border of 32pixels on the left and right of the image and a border of 24pixels on the top and bottom of the image to come up to a size of 640x480. If the image was 640x480 to begin with you would find that parts of your image would be beyond the TV Safe area and would not show up on your TV Set.

I saved the image as a .bmp from the website. I opened it in Irfanview, I went to the Resize/Resample option in the Image Tab Menu in Irfanview. Now make sure there is a check mark in the little box that has the words "Preserve Aspect Ratio" next to it. In the box that is next Height in the section of this menu that says "Set New Size" I imputed the number 432. This gave me an image that was 292x432 and make sure you save this image as a .bmp. Keeping an image as a .bmp as long as possible is a good idea, because each time you work on an image and save it when it is in the jpeg format it gets a little bit worse with each save. You save the image as a jpeg as a your last step after you have done everything you want to your image.

Now we have an image that is 292x432 and this will not do. We have to create another image, which will be a blank image, it can be any color you desire. This image will be joined to the image you have from the poster. Irfanview, can preform this task for you. I mentioned that image should be 576x432 before the border is added. We have the right height in the image from the poster 432, the width is not adequate though. That is why me must create a "Blank Image" to stitch to the right side of it. Click on the Image tab that is along the top of Irfanview. Select "Create New Empty Image". To find out what the width of this new image should be we subtract 292 from 576. The resulting number is 284 so this is the image with, we know the image height should be 432, so we input that number in the appropriate box. Now you will notice a tab that says "Background Color". You click on this tab to select a color for this image, in my case I chose green, but you can chose any color you wish. Make sure you save this image as .bmp

Now we stitch these two pictures together. Irfanview has a tool for this as well. We click on the Image Tab in Irfanview and chose "Create Panarama Image". Make sure the "dot" is in the circle next to Horizontal. We are working on putting this images next to each other and Vertical would place on image on top of another. We click on the "Add Images" Tab, and we select the first image and pressing CTRL we select the other as well. Make note of the names of these files, click on the word "open". Now you are to back to your original screen in this Irfanview tool. Now click once on the line referring to your Poster Image, and click on the tab that says "Move Up", this places the image to the left, though if you preferred the blank image could be to the left, and if this is the case you just select the line referring to that image and click "Move Up". Click the button that says "Create Image". Now you have an image that is 576x432.

Now we want to add that border to bring it up to an image that is 640x480. You guessed it, Irfanview has a tool for that. Irfanview is a "Freeware Program" and can be found on the Internet. It is small in size, but has powerful features. Someone should definetly add this tool to the Tools Section. It may not be as powerful, as Photoshop or The Gimp, but you can preform at alot of tasks with Irfanview. Well back to adding that border, we go to the Image Tab once again, and chose "Canvas Size" this is where we input the numbers 32 for the left and right and 24 for the top and bottom. Chose a border color, I prefer to use black and press the OK button to see your new image. This image will fit within the TV Safe area.

For anyone who has made a screen grab with WinDVD from a scene in the movie that you want to use as your menu page, you will notice that WinDVD save an image that is 640x480. If you want this image to fit within the TV Safe area in Tmpgenc DVD Author 1.6, you take your image to Irfanview, open the image, click on the Image Tab, then make sure the check mark in in the "Preserve The Aspect Ration" box. Now select "Set New Size As Percentage Of The Original". Type 90 into the box and click on OK. Now you have an image that is 576x432, you add the border as I described above and you have an image that will fit entirely within the TV Safe Area.

Probably this sounds like an long drawn out process, but with practice is is quite easy to do. I have enclosed a jpeg image for Chana1 to see the resulting picture. Chana1, you must realize that the poster is not in the dimensions that are suitable for a menu. It is taller than it is wide, and that is causing some of the distortion you referred to. Tmpgenc DVD Author 1.6 will take your image and stretch it until it is 640x480 pixels; so you end up with a distorted image. So to preserve the original poster, I had to create and image to go beside it, and a border to go around the combined images. This image you will see will fit, within the TV Safe Area.

Perhaps all this will be of some use to someone out there. It took some time to type all this out. I should make a Guide on How To Do This, so it would be easier to follow. Well here is the resulting image. On the blank image to the side maybe you could place your track names or images there to select so they don't cover over your poster on the other side of the image.

[Chana1]

Hey man thanks alotttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

[Tom Saurus]

Chana1: I am glad that the information I provided was of some use to you. Perhaps it will be useful to others as well.

[Nelson37]

GuiforDVDAuthor is free. As to which is best, that is a question only you can answer. You can DL a demo for TDA and test it. It has several "features" which I do not like, including a requirement for an internet connection which is not present on my capture/burning PC, plus it costs $50.00 which is exactly $50.00 too high when GFD does everything I need, including the ability to handle subtitles which TDA can not do.

[Chana1]

O rite kl i downloaded it yday i didnt have a clue how to use it lol i couldn't get the buttons up all i got done was the background image i wern't sure how to import a audio track etc

[mats.hogberg]

Have you read this guide?

/Mats