adding video to a menu with DVD Lab Pro 2.0

[jjpro11]

i have played around with this and cant find a solution. i dont even know if its possible anymore. i want to do one or two things. i cant really decide. but i cant do either.
one thing i was trying to do was adding a video clip on a static background for my dvd menu. my plan is to have a nice looking static background image, one similar to the backgrounds provided by dvd lab, and i want to put a video in the background with it. i want to edit its transparency so that it blends in and looks as if it is part of the background. i also want to edit the size so that it fits like in the top right of the menu and i can put my buttons and such at the bottom.
option 2 is to use an animated background premade and add the same video in the top right of the screen. again, i want to edit its transparency so that it blends in.

when i load the video i want and then add to project, it takes up the whole screen and acts as the only background. if i had another background already set it deletes that and fits right over it. i also tried loading it as a movie.. and clicking and dragging the movie to the menu as if you were to use it as a preview link. i delete the link so it doesnt actually link to a new movie, and i get the screen shot of my video to show, but i cant get it to actually play and loop like a normal motion background.

if anyone can help me out please post what you know. theres got to be a way of doing this, because i have seen similar menus done before. thanks!

[guns1inger]

I do this type of menu in my editor, where I have all the tools I need to blend, change etc the video. I output as mpeg2 DVD compliant, then just drop in on the menu screen in DLP to get a motion menu. I don't like the way DLP does it's owm menus, and I do not like any of the cheesy templates and effects that come with it.

[jjpro11]

i see what you are saying.. what program do you use? any suggestions as to other programs too? i need something rather easy and straightforward because thats all i really need to do.

[guns1inger]

I use Vegas because that's what I do all my editing in. Any editor with basic overlay and masking functions will do the job. You can use Quenc or HCenc to your encoding for free. DLP doesn't do mpeg encoding, so even if you use it to create the motion menu, it outputs avi that you have to encode anyway.

If you want text to fade in and out - menus etc - then do these in your editor as well, then use simple pointers etc in DLP. If you use cells you can have your menu fade in at the end of the video then loop around that point. Looks very professional.